Jade Empire review at IGN

[Volourn]

Another paid off review:

 

http://xbox.gamespy.com/xbox/jade-empire/6....html?fromint=1

 

 

And their pile on: http://xbox.gamespy.com/xbox/jade-empire/6....html?fromint=1

 

5/5 Stars. BIO better sell a lot of copies since they sure spent a lot of money on reviews.

 

A smaller website; but still a reviewer:

 

http://www.consolegold.com/Reviews/review/375.html

 

585/600 = 98%

 

LOL 586/600? WTF? LOL Still. More money paid out by BIO.

[J.E. Sawyer]

However, (this is slightly regurgitated from another thread) I remember playing Warcraft 2, Sim City, C&C2: Red Alert, X-Com: Enemy Unknown and Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat on PS1 with a PS mouse. All of them were perfectly enjoyable (especially X-Com) and the mouse functionality was as good as on the PC.

I think the general consensus is that most people don't want to use a mouse when they're on a console. Their consoles are often in places where mouse use would be difficult, to say the least.

 

So although I agree joypads are cumbersome I'm still not completely convinced; after all a bundled Age of Empires Xbox title bundled with a Xbox mouse would sell like hot cakes I'd imagine (geez, look how much you could spend on games with specific guns or Steel Battalions control gizmos).

Steel Battalion sold to a specific group of giant robot nerdlings, and not in any major volume. Also, Capcom pretty much killed that entire franchise with Line of Contact.

[sawyl]

Just read the Gamespy review, which has some interesting tidbits (and journalisitc "quality" slightly higher than that of IGN's):

 

Finally, there are the three endings (good, evil, and neutral), each one wildly different from the others.

Looks like they listened to the fans. I'm curious to see a neutral ending.

 

veryone you meet has something interesting to say, and the NPCs don't repeat themselves nearly as much as they did in KotOR. The dialogue is much better this time around, too, and there are some excellent flashes of black humor, as well as some truly disturbing sequences (ghastly dead children, anyone?).

If they pulled it off as well as Gamespy makes it sound, I'd be happy.

 

Be on the lookout for several celebrity voiceovers, too, including one particularly funny turn by a Monty Python alum.

OMG AAAH! (w00t)

 

One of the best things about the game is the fact that you won't have to spend the majority of your time swapping out armor, weapons, or items. There isn't much in the way of inventory in Jade Empire, and it's refreshing to be able to focus solely on the gameplay, rather than ensuring you're wearing the right boots or carrying the best sword for the task at hand.

Ugh, I'm getting horrible Fable flashbacks...

[Volourn]

"Looks like they listened to the fans. I'm curious to see a neutral ending."

 

Accoridng to Bioware, there is no neutral ending. "

 

Negtaive review @ http://www.game-over.net/reviews.php?id=204&page=xboxreviews .

[tol'Sorahn]

"Looks like they listened to the fans. I'm curious to see a neutral ending."

 

Accoridng to Bioware, there is no neutral ending. "

 

Negtaive review @ http://www.game-over.net/reviews.php?id=204&page=xboxreviews .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

"It's a lot of fun, and if you're an Xbox owner or RPG fan, it should be in your collection."

 

It's fun and even the 'negative' review says quite plainly that all Xbox owners and RPG fans need to have it. There isn't any other way to read that sentence.

 

Sounds good to me. I'll probably be picking it up when it comes to PC (and it will, Volourn)

[Baley]

Yeah Bio will probably port it if M$ says yes,and we all know how much M$ loves money

 

If they ever port it I'll probably buy,but right now I really don't care

[Volourn]

Um. I was being sarcastic. If you read the entire review; you'd know why. He goes on and on about this being crap that ebing crap yet he still rates it 90% and give the gamne a thumbs up. Someone with that many complaints shouldn't be rating a game 90%.

 

As for the PC thing, we shall see...

[Baley]

The same site gave Kotor 2 an 89% so it's probably not the best place for RPG reviews

[mkreku]

The Xbox is already significantly more powerful than the PS2.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

In what way is the Xbox significantly more powerful than the PS2? Do you know of any titles that just wouldn't run on the PS2 as opposed to the Xbox? Or are you just counting the amount of polygons drawn per second? Significant is a synonym of important, but are more polygons per second really that important?

[tol'Sorahn]

Um. I was being sarcastic. If you read the entire review; you'd know why. He goes on and on about this being crap that ebing crap yet he still rates it 90% and give the gamne a thumbs up. Someone with that many complaints shouldn't be rating a game 90%.

 

As for the PC thing, we shall see...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I know you were sarcastic. My comment was meant to show agreement about it being a non negative 'negative' review, but I guess it didn't come out like that. Damn internet.

[Volourn]

Agreed. Damn internet. Double damn, at that.

[J.E. Sawyer]

In what way is the Xbox significantly more powerful than the PS2?

Do you mean other than having twice as much memory, a faster clock speed, and a more powerful graphics processor?

 

Do you know of any titles that just wouldn't run on the PS2 as opposed to the Xbox? Or are you just counting the amount of polygons drawn per second? Significant is a synonym of important, but are more polygons per second really that important?

I certainly know of a lot of titles that don't or would not run on the PS2 as they do on the Xbox. Mercenaries and Riddick are two good examples. The PS2 just doesn't have enough memory to support the same amount of textures that the Xbox does. Polys pushed really isn't the issue. Having twice as much memory is the big deal. Twice as much memory at a slower speed is much better than half the memory at a faster speed.

 

Also, there's no memory swapping on the Xbox because it has a unified memory system, unlike the PS2, which only has 4 megs of dedicated video memory.

[Volourn]

A "low" score by Gamespot: http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/rpg/jadeempire/review.html

 

 

All I have to say is the following:

 

These same guys gave KOTOR1 a 9.1 even with its awful controls, super easy combat, and crappy inventory.

 

We know for a fact that JE doesn't have the inventory problem so that alone makes it better than KOTOR.

 

R00fles!

[Baley]

Here's another review (w00t)

98% WOW

Gamespot scored it lower then Kotor2

It seems they didn't let the hype get to them

[Volourn]

Um.. KOTOR2 had more hype - afterall, it's a SW game and a sequel to a best seller in KOTOR1...

 

Then again, theyr ated KOTOR1 9.1 so we know where their mouths are - on LA's butt. :D

[Baley]

Yeah but Kotor 2 was the first project of a new company.

Bio is considered,by most of the reviewers,one of the greatest RPG makers.

 

And all the JE reviews I read said that the game was going to blow you away.

 

Now that's what I call Hype

[Volourn]

They RATED kotor 9.1. kotor was no 9.1 game.

 

Besides, he contradicts hismelf. One sentence he's saying the game was fun then the next he says it's crapy.

 

First, he complains that combat is too easy then too hard.

 

OVerall, while reading the review, I elft thinking the game was crap; but he still rates it 8.4 Normally, an 8.4 is good. Afterall, I would rate KOTOR1 around 8.0-8.5 personally. However, after reading Gamespot and if I were to just base my opinion on JE on GS's review *only* I would never want to touch JE at all. That's how crappy he makes it sound... LOL

 

It's like he had to be the reverse of IGn who OVERRATED it so he UNDERRATED it.

 

Ah well.. Two days then I can rent it and I'll show how dumb both IGN and GS is. :D

[Leferd]

They RATED kotor 9.1. kotor was no 9.1 game.

 

Besides, he contradicts hismelf. One sentence he's saying the game was fun then the next he says it's crapy.

 

First, he complains that combat is too easy then too hard.

 

OVerall, while reading the review, I elft thinking the game was crap; but he still rates it 8.4 Normally, an 8.4 is good. Afterall, I would rate KOTOR1 around 8.0-8.5 personally. However, after reading Gamespot and if I were to just base my opinion on JE on GS's review *only* I would never want to touch JE at all. That's how crappy he makes it sound... LOL

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Wrong.

 

Unlike you, he doesn't think in absolutes. He writes what's bad about it, but then also praises what's good about it too.

[Volourn]

[Drakron]

I certainly know of a lot of titles that don't or would not run on the PS2 as they do on the Xbox.  Mercenaries and Riddick are two good examples.  The PS2 just doesn't have enough memory to support the same amount of textures that the Xbox does.  Polys pushed really isn't the issue.  Having twice as much memory is the big deal.  Twice as much memory at a slower speed is much better than half the memory at a faster speed.

 

Also, there's no memory swapping on the Xbox because it has a unified memory system, unlike the PS2, which only has 4 megs of dedicated video memory.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Mercenaries is a PS2 title, I played the PS2 demo.

 

The only game I seen that lag on the PS2 was GTA:SA, ZoE2 comes close but its a PAL format problem.

 

The Xbox is not much better that the PS2 in relation of what it can do, Fable and KotOR(s) tiny areas are a example of the Xbox lack of power.

 

With lead us to titles, Fable is smaller that FF X despite being run on a more "powerful" system and being younger that FF X so it does not matter how powerful something is, its what is done with it.

[Volourn]

"The Xbox is not much better that the PS2 in relation of what it can do, Fable and KotOR(s) tiny areas are a example of the Xbox lack of power."

 

Isn't x-box also home to MW which in spite of my dislike of it has very much "wide open" areas? If that's the case, I don't think that Fable and KOTOR's 'tiny' areas are an example of the x-box's lack of pwoerl; but the developers going a different route..

[Meshugger]

A "low" score by Gamespot: http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/rpg/jadeempire/review.html

 

 

All I have to say is the following:

 

These same guys gave KOTOR1 a 9.1 even with its awful controls, super easy combat, and crappy inventory.

 

We know for a fact that JE doesn't have the inventory problem so that alone makes it better than KOTOR.

 

R00fles!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Inventory problem? Sounds more like no inventory at all.

[Volourn]

"Inventory problem? Sounds more like no inventory at all."

 

Yup. And, I'd take that over KOTOR's inventory any day.

[J.E. Sawyer]

Mercenaries is a PS2 title, I played the PS2 demo.

And I own the Xbox version. It looks notably better than the PS2 version. The Xbox version hits 30 frames with ease. The PS2 version hits 30 frames with good engineering.

 

The Xbox is not much better that the PS2 in relation of what it can do, Fable and KotOR(s) tiny areas are a example of the Xbox lack of power.

This is pure garbage. Look at the system specs. Why do people even make claims like this? It's like seeing a pile of $1,000,000 and saying that you can buy less stuff with it than $500,000. If someone spends $1,000,000 foolishly and someone else spends $500,000 wisely, that doesn't change the fact that $1,000,000 is twice as much money as $500,000.

 

With lead us to titles, Fable is smaller that FF X despite being run on a more "powerful" system and being younger that FF X so it does not matter how powerful something is, its what is done with it.

And Ninja Gaiden still has better visual quality than Devil May Cry 3, which doesn't even run in 480p. And RalliSport Challenge 2 still clearly has more passes than GT4 and a full vehicle damage and dirt-ification system in place. Also, as some may have noticed, the only time you see people in cars in GT4 is when it's a fixed two-car race. In RalliSport Challenge 2, you can have multiple cars with drivers and navigators animating in the car in conjunction with their movements. Still not convinced? Check out Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory on Xbox. Now check it out on PS2. It looks far better on Xbox. AND runs in 480p. AND can run in 16:9, like all Xbox games.

 

Don't get me wrong; games like Tekken 5 and GT4 look very nice on their own and should be lauded for supporting progressive scan, but the best-looking PS2 games do not look as good as the best-looking Xbox games. And, if that doesn't convince you (since it's just a matter of opinion), just look at most of the simultaneous release cross-platform Xbox/PS2 games. Chaos Theory is the perfect example. The PS2 simply does not have the memory or processing power to do the graphical things that the Xbox does. How people continue to dispute this when there's obvious numerical evidence against them continues to amaze me.

[Niten_Ryu]

8.4 is great score.

 

Now I have to hope that Xbox 360 is backwards compatible or that there's PC version in the future.