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Not recommended

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: May 13, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Jade Empire is a game that impresses at first. It presents lots of dialogue, fine graphics, and an interesting, different setting. As the game goes on, however, its problems begin to surface.

The dialogue quickly becomes an issue. Now, mind you, I'm not one to be put down by dialogue - bear in mind I'm an "old school" RPG fan - but after a while you realize that a lot of the dialogue is either redundant or just empty. Characters will almost every time use two or three lines to say something they could've easily said in one line. The seemingly never ending dialogue trees get old real quick. You'll soon notice that it really doesn't matter what you say, except for being "good" or "evil". As it's often the case, Bioware didn't put much of an effort into the "evil" storyline, and evil actions feel illogical or even counter-productive.

The interface has a very, very annoying issue: even though it's a traditional mouse and WASD, you can't look up or down. When you move the mouse up and down, your viewpoint just goes up or down a bit, but you keep looking straight forward. This might not be an issue for many, but to me it's a hideous gameplay breaker. It makes me feel stranded, as if I can't move freely. It's very annoying, it kills immersion, and it never goes away.

Character development is very simple - apparently intentionally - and there are no weapons or armor to buy. For RPG lovers like myself, that just means there's less things to do, and you feel less rewarded since there's not much you can do with the huge amounts of gold that you'll get. You can buy gems that upgrade your base stats or abilities, but that's pretty much it.

Another game breaker is how Bioware manages the group of characters. You can only have one NPC with the main character at a time. The others just hang at some point in the city or town. When you think of the classic 4-character group RPG's, or even Baldur's Gate and its 6-character groups, it makes Jade Empire, a game released a decade later, feel somewhat empty and very lazy.

The settings are graphically very interesting, even if the graphics aren't exaclty cutting edge, and the chinese mythology thing is a welcome change from your usual medieval Europe-inspired fantasy settings. Most open spaces, however, feel just like a series of corridors bordered by untouchable trees and stones. Again, Bioware manages to move a few steps back from decades old games that already featured open worlds, and its own masterpiece, Baldur's Gate. Incidentally, there's no day and night cycle and time doesn't seem to pass when you're in the same scenario.

I think what they tried to do with combat could have been very interesting. Once you really understand how it works, it gets old. Even if you're facing 10 enemies at a time, all martial styles are focused exclusively on duels. This means you pick one at a time. Then it's just hit, run, hit, run, ad infinitum.

Overall, Jade Empire is an alright game, but too often it feels like it's lacking something. There's no character development to be had, no weapons or armor to aim for, and the game world doesn't feel alive at all. The game is very short for an RPG, something like 30 hours with all the sidequests. I did have fun with it, but not for long. I can't recommend it.

A good immersive story

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 25, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I noticed on other reviews the complaints of too many cut scenes. I did not find the cut scenes bothersome at all. Its the story line. If you like first-person shooters this game is not for you. If you like real Role-playing games, this game is great. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

easy and fun and pretty to look at

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 29, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Very beautiful game world, interesting character abilities and combat, decent little quests and storyline, and even some arcade-like fun. This was a blast.

Incredibly Bold and Successful Endevour by Bioware

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: August 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is a very bold attempt to bring an eastern story into a game, and there's no one better than Bioware to do it. This game has a very nice depth in terms of storyline. Combat system is not as great some times, but it is still great. I purchased this in hopes bioware coming out with Jade Empire 2.

Definitely recommend

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: August 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The game is lots of fun. The only negative thing I can say is that many of the fighting styles are not very useful. You only need to develop 3 or 4.

Great Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: August 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is a lot of fun. Great saucy dialogue. Gameplay is simple to learn, and there is a difficulty level for everyone.

Jade Empire is not jaded at all for the PC

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: August 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I have played this game twice, once good and once bad. This game rocks. I was a little skeptical about it being a console game that made it too the PC, but it really is a game worth buying if you like RPG/Strategy.

Fanciful Oriental style empire setting with a Jade's worth of dialogue

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: July 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

If any game had so many(great) elements it wouild be "Jade Empire". The fighting is very interactive, the dialouge is something to die for(though a bit depressing in backstories told by some of your characters), the graphics are eye-tear dropping gorgious. Bioware always knew what they were doing when writing games. And no one writes better dialogue than "Bioware", not even Origin.(defunct Ultima under-company distroyed by E.A and ethics of law). Why do the good ones keep getting canned by the louses!
You can choose between eight characters of varing extremes and mediums and magical attunements(calld Chi). Each has a gender varient of male or female, which gives you the best choices unlike Diablo(or it's MMROG clones) or most RPG's in general, in which are not nessesarily the class and gender you wish(biased). These choices are much more than just for personal astetics though, each specific charater is of a special ability gained by no other and some commentary and even direct dialogu is effected by not only which gender but what character you chose. The best part of this game is the direct intervention of the player in fighting(unlike any other RPG even KoToR which is stat reliant). Your stats are utilized quite well in sync with your input, meaning the use of your mouse/keys in synergy with the character's Chi, focus, body and skill. game charatcer's skill is very important despite your own playing skill as it affects speed, damage, and a big part of the chi involived in this. your pivitol counterpart(despite your chosen gender) is "Dawn Star"-I don't go into plot spoilers but this is a name that means something vital to the game's plot she will explain this later. You do not control her directly but she not only has great dialogu but exceptional magic and a special abilty not gained by your PC or any other. It is important to choose the right charaters for the right quests. Thier are many who will be availible but she, and the very alooof, Sacacious WU(voiced by Cam Clarke who does quite alot of central characters in animations on TV) are piviotal to your sucess. Speaking of the voice overs John Cleese(Monty Python's Flying Circus) is also in this as the only non-oriental character giving an outsider's perspective on "Jade Empire". If you have a short attention span or do not like much violence do not get this game, otherwise it is the most variable and enjoyable game out there since the dawn of video games(I ain't kiddn' folks!) as a required reading of Lord of the RIngs novels this is required playing!(thouhg I am not so overbearing as to tell another that, very "closed fist!") I do hope for a Jade II but I hope Bioware, not Obsidan proclaims the rite to make it. I am tired of this pattern with Obsidian taking over the sequals to these great RPG's!-very "closed fist"!

great story and gameplay

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: June 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

awesome game, the story is great, very involving as usual with Bioware games. Gameplay is easy and very user friendly, only downside is that the game is too short!!! want more! ;)

Nice!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: June 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

A truly fine RPG and a real treat for anybody who played and enjoyed KOTOR 1. Jade Empire has all the Bioware trademarks: Good graphics, a fine story, great dialog, romance, challenging combat (on high settings) and interesting characters/locations. Like KOTOR, it has two paths to follow (something like good and evil), plot twists and even the opportunity to completely change your alignment near the end. Some people feel it's "cartoonish", but I definitely don't agree. Rather I think it tries to impart a sense of another culture's mythology, and it succeeds beautifully in my opinion. Think Titan Quest if you want an example (or Star Wars for that matter). I did almost everything I could find in the game (main quest, mini-games, sidequests, etc.), and it took me about 30 hours to complete. There are a lot of cut scenes, but they can be easily skipped by pressing the ESC key. If dialog screens bother you, you shouldn't be playing this type of game in the first place. It's really a shame that it took so long for Bioware to port Jade Empire to the PC. It would have been much more popular if it came out a year ago. Even so, I count Jade Empire among my favorites to be replayed many times.

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