Jade Empire

[Nostromo]

Some reviews are in and its looking very good so far I'll have a hard time choosing between Jade Empire and Splinter Cell...

http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/918890.asp

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/602/602787p1.html

IGN gave it a 9.9/10

I could write considerably more on what makes Jade Empire a great game. It is an early leader for RPG of the year, if not overall game of the year. And it ranks among the best Xbox games on the market. This isn't just a great RPG, it is also a brilliant action game that casual gamers can pick up and enjoy.

The real joy of Jade Empire comes from the hundreds of details that couldn't possibly be covered in a review: how a character centers himself after battle, humorous references to pop culture, and the spot-on re-creation of the many fighting styles. The only way to grasp how much effort has been put into this game is to experience it yourself, so stop reading and go pick up the game, an empire awaits.

Another Take, from another IGN reviewer. As you can see, its even more critical...

It's a strange thing to consider, but I believe David Clayman may have underrated Jade Empire at a 9.9. There is no such thing as the perfect game, but there are a few rare gaming experiences that so transcend any failings, they might as well be considered perfect. KOTOR was easy to love, but it had a lot of faults. The genius of that game so outweighed the annoying issues that it remains a classic for just about every RPG fan. Guess what -- Jade's story is better, its combat system superior and its morality system is more complex than KOTOR.

If there's anything to work toward for a sequel, it would be to add far more Wuxia elements. I want fights atop the trees of a bamboo forest and running atop the heads of a villain's minions. The morality system, while more rewarding then KOTOR, is still much more enjoyable as a follower of the Closed Fist. The only thing an Open Palm is good for is a ***** slap. And that's about where my gripes run out.

In an industry where story is often secondary, BioWare continues to prove that a great story needs to come first. Yeah, the combat is sweet, the visuals are slick, and the mini-games are a blast, but when people talk about Jade Empire five years from now, they're going to talk about the story. There are so many twists and turns that no one will be able to anticipate all of them. I almost feel like going back and lowering the scores of every other RPG on Xbox. Yes, Jade is that good.

[Jamski]

When is it coming out for computer?

[snoopy369]

Never, i believe it is an X-Box only game. Bioware took advantage of the fact that they could make it xbox-only to make an all-new graphics engine, from what I understand, that is very cool, but limits it to only being on the xbox for the forseeable future ...

It looks pretty cool, although it annoys me greatly when reviewers pretend that KOTOR is a 'great RPG' ... they really need a new category for games like KOTOR/Jade Empire/etc. ... RPFPS perhaps? I just don't consider them in the same line as Morrowind or other real RPGs ... fun, absolutely (loved KOTOR) but in a different way; i don't find myself nearly as tempted to RP as i do in morrowind style games, and I find that KOTOR at least was way too limited in what you could (or wanted to) do - you didn't go back to a planet, generally, after you left it... meaning if you didn't do a quest right away, you never could.

[General Ludd]

I wouldn't be surprised if it is ported to the PC... afterall, GTA: San Andreas was announced as being console only, aswell... it's just marketing crap.

[Nostromo]

It looks pretty cool, although it annoys me greatly when reviewers pretend that KOTOR is a 'great RPG' ... they really need a new category for games like KOTOR/Jade Empire/etc. ... RPFPS perhaps? I just don't consider them in the same line as Morrowind or other real RPGs ... fun, absolutely (loved KOTOR) but in a different way; i don't find myself nearly as tempted to RP as i do in morrowind style games, and I find that KOTOR at least was way too limited in what you could (or wanted to) do - you didn't go back to a planet, generally, after you left it... meaning if you didn't do a quest right away, you never could.

Morrowind is a very good game, but I'm not at all sure that it's more of a roleplaying game than, say, BG 2, KOTOR, NWN or Vampire: bloodlines. In fact, it seems to me there's less roleplaying involved in Morrowind. BG 2, KOTOR, NWN and Vampire are closer to the pen and paper roleplaying experience than Morrowind.

[Nostromo]

And, yes, Jade Empire is Xbox-only.

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by nostromo


Morrowind is a very good game, but I'm not at all sure that it's more of a roleplaying game than, say, BG 2, KOTOR, NWN or Vampire: bloodlines. In fact, it seems to me there's less roleplaying involved in Morrowind. BG 2, KOTOR, NWN and Vampire are closer to the pen and paper roleplaying experience than Morrowind.

Absolutely not. Vampire and KOTOR are RPFPS games, FPS with roleplaying elements. They give you some small options for variation of your character, along essentially a single axis (ie, in KOTOR, you can be light side or dark side, and each action takes you one way or the other).

Morrowind, alternately, allows a wide variance of options. Each action has effect on your character, but not only one; and the game takes these into account, in Morrowind's case by having plenty of quests appropriate to any one roleplay style.

Perhaps KOTOR is closer to pen and paper, but only in the sense that pen and paper are too limited. From what i recall of p+p, and i didn't play that much compared to most people here I suspect, most of the point was your own roleplaying in your head - perhaps not scripted into the game, but you decided your character was a 'good' thief who only stole from the rich to give to the poor, and you actually did only steal from rich people, and you actually did give to poor people when you could. KOTOR doesn't allow nearly that much variation; you just don't have that many choices in the game. (Which makes it more fun, in one sense, to me; I don't have to stress nearly as much about whether my character would have done something or not, pretty much it's black and white, or gray if that's where i'm going with my character.)

[Bkeela]

I can't trust reviews after Knights of the Old Repulic was proclaimed the second coming of video gaming. I have never been so bored in my entire life, as playing through the tutorial level, and getting to that first planet. I couldn't muster the motivation to continue after that.

When you need a pen and paper to keep track of all the cruddy little missions you need to complete, the fun has gone I think.

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness is my idea of a fun console based RPG.

[Dis]

Originally posted by nostromo


Morrowind is a very good game, but I'm not at all sure that it's more of a roleplaying game than, say, BG 2, KOTOR, NWN or Vampire: bloodlines. In fact, it seems to me there's less roleplaying involved in Morrowind. BG 2, KOTOR, NWN and Vampire are closer to the pen and paper roleplaying experience than Morrowind.

It depends on what you call roleplaying

seriously. You can roleplay in Morrowind all you want. But in terms of dialogue options- it's not really roleplaying. As you don't have serious interactions with the NPC's. But in terms of pretending what your character is- the game gives you plenty of freedom. I guess most of the roleplaying occurs in your head- just not in the game mechanics . but the game offers so much freedom, it's hard not to call that roleplaying. You can pick and choose what you do. If you don't give a flying **** about the neverine, you don't have to do **** about it.

[Dinner]

The problem with reviews is no one ever seems to give a bad review because if they do then the developer just stops giving them pre-release versions to review and the reviewing company loses sales.

[child of Thor]

Yes, thats a good point Oerdin - its much worse in console circles as well, especially the console specific magazines makes them not worth buying imho.

Anyway this Jade Empire thing - I've been looking forward to it since it was announced.
Then i played the demo that the 'offical xbox magazine'(uk name) had on its cover disk this month.

Now i'm not so sure - ok it was a demo, and will get some more work on it before a final release; but somehow it just was a little dissapointing to play. It didnt seem to have the class that KOTOR had, it just seemed to lack something.

Maybe it was just a poor demo? Whatever - i'm not as excited as i was and i guess we'll see/hear from bods here what the full game is really like?

I hope it is a cracker - it will be more likely to get a pc version then, and it's always a pleasent surprise to get a game with some depth to it on the xbox.

[Nostromo]

But in terms of dialogue options- it's not really roleplaying. As you don't have serious interactions with the NPC's.

Its what I was thinking of when I said there's less roleplaying involved in Morrowind than in KOTOR or Vampire. Dialogues are not one of Morrowind's strong points. Maybe I'll have to revisit Morrowind someday.

[Nostromo]

The problem with reviews is no one ever seems to give a bad review because if they do then the developer just stops giving them pre-release versions to review and the reviewing company loses sales.

Yet, bad games do get bad reviews. The trick is to read a lot of reviews of the game before buying it. Its a bit more objective this way. The result: I don't think I ever bought a bad game.

[Dis]

yeah but Black and White got all good reviews. and I hated it

[Nostromo]

I admit there are exceptions. If I had a decent PC at the time, I would have probably bought Doom 3. Doom 3 got rave reviews irc. But having tried it recently, I don't think its very good. But that's the power of hype. Even game reviewers are victims of hype. So the moral of the story is: if a game is overhyped, wait till the dust settles before buying it.