Volourn

"If Bioware did a black-and-white 2D version of Pacman you'd give it an amazing review. This is like asking Don Rumsfeld for a non-partisan take on US foreign policy!" That explains why I haven't even bothered to buy 2 BIO games nor bothered to download tow of their mods. Let's also ignore the fact, that I'm not thebiggest fan of KOTOR, and have no love for SOU. There's also the fact that I had the audacity to rate the OC an AMAZING 75%. It's also very easy to ignore my complaints in the review, and it's not like those are the *only one. R00fles! "Is Jade Empire worth getting an X-box for?" Only if you cna get the x-box for $80, and trade in 3 games for the game itself.

"You disgusting little fanboi! (Hey, you asked for it)" Hey, no problem.

"Is the enemy AI decent?" Decent? Yes. great or the "best"? At this time; I'm not sure. The AI will back off a bit if you are battering them and allow an ally of thiers to block your path items. They'll block, use speical attacks as well if they can. No really out there special attcaks except 2 of the main bosses though have lots of tricks up their sleeves. "Character development any good?" See my other thread. My answer is yes. It may not be as deep as say a NWN, TOEE, or FO; but it's pretty darn good in its own right. Of course, it lacks the non combat skills of more traditional RPGs other than its three conversations skills which *do* matter. "Deep story?" After finishing chapter 1, the story is not amjor breakthrough in story telling; but it holds it own. It reminds me kinda of BG1; but with its own twists. As for depth; I'll have to wait a bit for that comment.

UP WITH JE DOWN WITH KOTOR UP WITH JE DOWN WITH KOTOR P.S. I know there's more than few JE threads alreayd; but I cna't help myself. This post is pretty long... Just finished chapter 1 after about 3 and a half hours. here are my thoughts. Graphics/Music/Voice Overs: Not to say much here; but it's awesome. No voice is annoying, the music is beautiful, and the graphics are usually awe inspiring. At worst they are no worse than KOTOR's. The music simply fits. My biggest beef here is that I think the made up lanaguage is superficial at best. While the VO is well done; it just sounds like gibberish to me so I simply read the text and skip over it. That pales to the other dialogue where I actually listen. In fact, in this way, it hurts the immersion not help it. Just an opinion there. Role-playing/Story: Can't say much here; but the role-playing is good. No worse than KOTOR, aagin. I'm intirgue by the stoiry though I must say the story here eerily reminds me of another BIO - though it *is* different and should be treated as such. Situations in the game are nice. I love the husband + wife+ ox sitiuation. Nothing else to be said for fear of spoilin' too much. Character Creation/Development: First off, if anyone says this is shallow they better go play other RPGs to see what's real shallow. First off, you have three stats (yeah, nothing comapred to games with 80k stats). However, these stats are so important and lead to your character being varied. They effect combat, they effect dialogue, they even styles. Heck, let me put it this way, I was gonna focus on Spirit; but then by the end of the chapter I realized that would handicap my playstyle. Levelling up is not basic either as you have points to spend on both primary stats AND yoru styles. And, it's obvious you won't be even able to come close to master everything... And, oh, one last thing. One does not have a choice of 6 character types. You have a choice of many character types. You have a chocie of 6 models (or 7 with the LE which i have but didn't upload..). Sweet. Loot, Inventory, & Collection Industry: People whine about the lack of an inventory and how there'd be nothing to spend their cash on; but this silly. The varies gems you cna buy and find give each character a neat out look. For the record, I've focused on gems tht boost charm.Techniques thata re found or bought also add to characetr avriety. And, though we only had a chocie of a sword or staff style so far the fact you'll be able to buy new weapons to repelace them in the future is good news. There's enough management here to have fun with and not with the silly KOTOR way. While I eprosnally prefer a NWN/BG style of inventory this sure beats KOTOR's inventory and is fun in its own right. Combat & Controls: WOW! WOW! WOW! Best RT combat I have ever seen. On top of this it absolutely CRUSHES KOTOR, Crushes. It's fun; it's pretty intuitive and that's from someone who before tonight has played maybe 3 hours of x-box, and that was in a NHL 2004 torunament at my EB two years ago. This is *not* a button smasher. If you just smash buttons you *will* die. Uumping, dodging, blocking, using chi, and switching styles are all important ehre. i'm still not the mosta dept of switching styles on the fly; but I'll learn. Heck, chi is VERY important. Some battles simply werne't tocuhable without it. And, chi heal is also neccesary. I love the fact that your health, chi, and focus don't simply regenerate. It makes it that you simply can't your super attacks for the heck attack. Use wisely. This is a 10+ button combat system; but it's so intuitive you hardly can tell as comes naturally. Even battles where I won the first try were very, very close which occured most times. 2 battles killed me like 5+ times each alreadt. One was where I had to fight 6 enemies at once solo and they were literlally kicking my butt. In order to (eventually); I had to use a magic style and my kung fu style, use focus, use chi heal, dodge a lot, switch targets, and gobble up what 'power ups' they dropped. WOWSERS! I'm gonna do some semi spoilers; but I think this will be alright since it's about 2 types of enemies that have been discussed a lot pre release. 1. Ogres. All I gots to say is OWWWWWWWWWWWW! Now, first off, they are slow movers; but when they hit they take off basiclaly all your health. I fought two at once and they basically wiped out my follower right awya (they actually hit him both at the same time with their power attack which they love), and one hit me there. Luckily I wa sable to dodge bakc and forth while healing to eventually finish them off. I didn't die against them; but I should've. Got real lucky there. 2. Toad demon. Holy moly! This guy is tough. He's Mister Stretch for sure. I died 5 times against him before winning with just some massive chi strikes, focus, and heal and help from my follower. Owwwwwwww! Good stuff. Overall, combat is just plain awesome. Though; it would be fair if your allies and you can hurt eahc other like the enmies can hurt each other. 'Tis unfair; but I can understand why you didn't go that wya. Should add for JE2, I think. I have one other big beef with combat; but I'll explain below. Remember, combat is awesome here. Dragonfly Minigame: This is fun; but a tad easy so far; but I've only played it twice so far. Not really role-playingy; but fun nontheless and since you cna avoid if you choose after the first one no one should really complain about it all that much. Major Problems: 1. Load Times - I find them very slow. I find myself playing tiddlywinks when it's loading. that said, areas are pretty pig in size espicially when comapred to KOTOR most of the time so they are rather infrequent. Still; too slow for my tastes. 2. Combat escape Blockage - This sucks for two reasons. first off, I think the PC should be allowed to escape most battle sif he so chooses. Being artificlaly forced to fight to the death is silly. Secondly, it hurts my strategy. I like to dodge and jumpa round a lot as standing still just leads to death yet soemtimes if I dodge too much in oen direction I get stuck on this 'invisible wall' and the enmies just wacka mole on me. This cna be really bad with fighting 4+ oppoents. One on one it's not an issue. Overall: Quite frnakly, this game is awesome. It's better than the OC, SOU, KOTOR, and even HOTU. It *might* even land up being better than BG1 if the story holds up. I doubt BG2 though simply because of the length of it and the inability to run from combat really does annoy me. Still, an absolutely awesome game. Call me a fnaboy all you want; but if saying this game DESTROYS KOTOR makes me a fanboy so be it. Good suff.

Yeah. I'd rate the game around 85-90% myself. there are couple of semi major fualts I ahve with the game. Of course, my rating system is very harsh unlike GS. Je might very well be the 5th game to deserve a 90% from me if the story holds up and the combat continues to kick behind.

"Damn, Need Jade Empire Badly!" Just be careful about load times! They're pretty long. LOL <>

I have it now as well as an x-box (the one I was borrowing it from decided to sell for a cheap $80). wowsers! I'm barely into it; but I can comment some on the combat. All I can say, is the combat is completely and utterly different than anything BIO has done before. Unlike KOTOR however; the combat is anything but repetive, crappy, or boring. And, if you just constantly click one button you will not get far. Period. And, don't go spamming your chi and focus. That's a big o.o. I've had maybe 2 fights, and the combat is alreayd better than KOTOR's. Of course, that can change if the combat is as repetive as GS says. We shall see... And, I can't believe how intuitive the controls are for this game. Impressive indeed. Volourn = JE Empire combat fanboy = Anyone who Prefers KOTOR combat over JE = does not know what good combat is. The only chance that KOTOR has to be better than JE is if JE's story turns out to be crap...

Just because the engine isn't eprfect doesn't make it suck. Why do people use such extremisms to express themselves. WOWSERS!

"Every review I've read about Jade Empire so far has mentioned that it's a bit on the short side. To me, that means one of two things: either the game really is too short or it's so good that no matter how long it is, people still want more." Well, I think it's obvious to most that no matter JE's actual quality; it is likely to be on the short end when compared to other RPGs. That's pretty much been consistent with all the reviews since the ranges are 18-25 with out doing all the sidequests. Of course, consideirng that BIo has said that the game was 20-40 hours depending what you do, and how much you rush through; this isn't too surprising.

Ahh.. Sarcasm is beautiful.. but, only when it's not retarded. Last i checked, the toolset needs to be used much like any aprt of the game. You gots to install it; but hey keep comapring a box to asoemthing that actually adds value to the game. R00fles!

"Volurn is slipping back into Volourn bizarro world again .." A. Who is the Volourn, Dakron? B. I never left that world.

This is 2005. Don't live in 1880. The game is what we pay for. We paid for the toolset and the ability to play mods so they count. Afterall, no NWN; no (crappy) Volo mods. :D But, in a wya, I get your point. Either way we do agree. We're biothing judging the game and the seperately. For exmaple, I rate the OC 75% about, and I rate the total package (s you call it) around 90%+. See, I do judge 'em seperately. The terms vary; but our views (not the scores; but the seperations) do agree.

Um. That's why I call the OC the OC; and the game the game. Afterall, BIO used everything in the game - the OC, the toolset, the DM client - to sell the game. They were all selling points. There's a reason why NWN was $10-$20 more than the average game... you weren't just buying the OC. The toolset is part of the game though it's not part of the OC.

"I'm talking about NWN, the game, which has little to no lasting power." No. I'M talking about the game. YOU are talking about the OC.

I like Lady Shayna the Big Cahoona of LON; but LON hates me. Accused me of being evil; they did. But, anyways, that's old news. Anyone who thinks Gaider is a sexist becuase of characters he writes in games is just plain silly. So what if Bastila was 'brainwashed' by Malak? That doesn't neccessarily make her weak and it sure as heck doesn't make her weaker than male characters. Afterall, there's plenty of examples of weak male characters and also exmaples of male characters who lose to the main villain. Meh.

TOEE sucked. Arcanum was great. You are 50/50 in my book.

"Huh? I for one respect your opinions freind, but God damn - talk about inconsistency! I know it can be hard to suppress your NWN Bio fanboyism sometimes, but don't let it cloud your obviously adept critiquing abilites." You do realize that the 75% number that grom is quoting is for the OC. When I say NWN deserves it's high scores; it's the total package that I'm referring to right? "Too bad that the 150% dumped into NWN only came in patches and fan modules." Not to mention the fact that they were able to make a game that has lasting power. Anmd, a game where the best mod ever tm. will be made... eventually... I hope... :D "Now if he's not an RPG fan,and he said he didn't play any except Kotor how can he judge RPGs?" That's easy - like everyone else - he plays the game. If he played JE then he can obviously judge JE. WOW! What a concept!

"regardless, how vol gets tagged as town fool 'cause of his nwn fanboism seems manifestly unfair to Gromnir. he makes himself such an easy target that we not know why folks would continually harp on his mindless nwn support... considering he ain't never revealed such a flaw." Because, it's easier to label. Makes it easier to ignore another's view. Afterall, not to get political; but it happens in politics all the time. No different here. People tend to gloss over my many complaints about NWN... It would spin their heads to grasp the fact that I don't think NWN is perfect.

"Eh? Don't be a Bio Fanboy Volo. Neverwinter Nights is, I repeat, is *OVERATED*. " No. KOTOR is overrated. NWN is not. Don't be a BIS fanboy. And, I'll say that even though I love both FOs and PST is good in its own right. NWN deserves its score. Any game that is still playable 3 years after release, and is fact my most played game still is definitely not overrated. Then again, you are a KOTOR fanboy. That game did not deserve 90%. Of course, it's sad how I;m a fnaboy when I'm making fun of a BIO game in this thread. LOL

"when did a 8 out of 10 became a bad score?" Heh. When people have called JE a 'flop' because it got a 8.4. LOL Seriosuly, the score is fine itself. Afterall, there are only like 10 or so games that I have played that I would rate over 8.5 and only 4 at 9+. My problem with the GS review is the inconsistency within itself. Afterall, 1up gave the game an 85% yet hardly a peep. Yeha, i know that 1up is not as big a site as Gamespot; but its still pretty good sized in its own right. However, its review seems to be pretty consistent throughout. There's no the game is too easy yet it's too hard stuff going on. Or the combat is simple yet there's a lot to the combat type style you rea din the GS review. I'd be surprised if I rate JE anymore than 85% and that's if I like it. On line reviewers including IGN and GS's review systems are so skewed. That's the problem.

"Interesting that Volourn would choose this as his trademark statement." um. It isn't. LOLOLLIPOP. The end. Game over. Period. And, many more are good trademark statements.

"He just needs to copy/paste from gameFAQs forums ..." ? Never been there.

Why? I was reacting to your troll which would mean you trolled me. R00fles!

I love the following gem: "Bad: Reading is fundamental. Perhaps a bit too fundamental" Nothing more needs to be written. P.S. Demon, like I said before, there is no doubt in my mind that IGN overrated the game. There is no way a 9.9 is worthy. I have played ZERO games that good. Zero.

Absolutely absolute reply there. I believe you did in one of many threads on this issue.. or was that someone esle... who knows... I'm lost now. What I find funny is that 1up's review is only 1% more than GS yet I'm not as annoyed about it. Once again, proving that the actual number is meaningless; but the actual review...