Volourn's Jade Empire Early Review

[Volourn]

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.

[Baley]

I doubt it will reach BG level though

[mkreku]

You disgusting little fanboi!

 

(Hey, you asked for it)

[Volourn]

"You disgusting little fanboi!

 

(Hey, you asked for it)"

 

Hey, no problem.

[Monte Carlo]

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!

 

Cheers

MC

[Sermon]

Sounds definitely very interesting, Volourn. Like I said, I like what I've read so far about the game and it's a pity that there are no plans at the moment to port this to the PC. If I had an X-Box I'd definitely buy JE. Here's hoping for a PC-version ...

[Spider]

So the question that needs to be asked.

 

Is Jade Empire worth getting an X-box for?

[Baley]

No just beg for a PC version

[Kaftan Barlast]

It might be the *** holy grail of games but I wouldnt know, cause I dont play *** console ***

[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.

[Drakron]

... There's also the fact that I had the audacity to rate the OC an AMAZING 75%.

...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yes, the OC is not worth even 50/100 let alone 75% ... unless you mean 75% barrel searching time.

[Leferd]

Since I don't want to type up a mini-review of my own, I'll just mostly agree with Volourn.

 

The combat isn't too difficult, but it is far from being easy. I'm getting the impression that this is a really well-balanced and polished game from Bioware. Looking at the back of the manual, it looked liked up to 200 Biowarians alone literally were involved with the project.

[kirottu]

... There's also the fact that I had the audacity to rate the OC an AMAZING 75%.

...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yes, the OC is not worth even 50/100 let alone 75% ... unless you mean 75% barrel searching time.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I would have given oc about 70%. It wasn

[Drakron]

I give low points for the insane barrel loot ... I found a +1 rapier on one.

[Baley]

I would have given oc about 70%. It wasn

[Volourn]

"Looking at the back of the manual, it looked liked up to 200 Biowarians alone literally were involved with the project."

 

Ya, that's a lot. just bec arefult hough as they even include a 'receptionist' in the credits. LOL

 

And, yeah, extremely polished game.

 

 

"unless you mean 75% barrel searching time."

 

If you are gonna exaggerate numbers to such a degree then why waste time. That said, good news for barrel loevers - they live on JE!

[LadyCrimson]

I'd like to play the game but I also refuse to get a console anytime soon. There's hardly any games (yet) I'd care to play on any of them, so not worth it to get one or more consoles just for a couple games now and then.

 

That and I don't like gamepads or no-patches and all of that.

 

But it does sound interesting, this game. I'd love to try it, even if it is short. Sigh.

[Baley]

M$ loves money : ...so there still is hope

[Aaron Contreras]

They really have made the engine look damn good. The look of the environments is a huge improvement over KOTOR.

[GhostofAnakin]

Question for Volourn,

 

Since you've played both JE and Vampire:tM-B, I was curious about the combat system. Are they similar where both "twitch" gaming and strategy are meshed? Or is JE's combat system different than Bloodlines'?

[Volourn]

"Since you've played both JE and Vampire:tM-B, I was curious about the combat system. Are they similar where both "twitch" gaming and strategy are meshed? Or is JE's combat system different than Bloodlines'?"

 

This is an easy question to asnwer. As you recall; though I liked BL; I hated the combat. the two combats while both RT are different. While your character stats and abilities do matter in combat; the player's ability for both decent reflex (you do need good reflexes like any half decent action combat); but you also need good strategy or you won't get very far...

 

I love the combat in JE. As for quality, it's real simple. JE is not tiwtch; at least not to me. If I just go in pressing random buttons I die. It's simple as that. I probably could have cut down half my deaths if I actually took certain combats more seriously. ie. I would enter abattle with 2-3 bandits after killing a few earlier very easy - next thing I knew I was on my ass crying about suffering through long load times. of course, when i tried, by approaching the battle with something resembling intelligence; I fare much better. And, oh, be real careful with enemies with long weapons... They're annoying. And, enemies with Ice Shard. Not fun. (but in a good way). Sure, you do have o press a lot of buttons; but it never feels like a chore as there is reason for it. And, oh, quite simply if anyoe says they can beat this game by just pressing the a buton; they are quite frankly lyimg.

 

I cna't guarnatee that you'll like it (as it always comes down to personal opinion); but that part is pure balony.

 

I hope I managed to answer your question in all that nonsense...

[Kaftan Barlast]

Hey, I just thought up something.

 

If I buy both an Xbox and JE, I can play it for a week before returning them and getting my money back. "

 

 

"Oh, the game was totally bugged. Unplayable. And to be shure it doesnt happen again, Im returning the Xbox too."

[Baley]

Worthplaying review-85%

 

Seems a little harsh at the end

[Nur Ab Sal]

So now it's Revenge of the Sith video game versus Jade Empire. Both games are released practically in the same time.

 

I prefer Anakin-made Jedi massacres than some freakin' kungfu quests if you ask me.

 

And JE is not an RPG. It is semi-RPG for console with just few elements of a traditional CRPG. Like ROTS video game No comparison to KOTOR or NWN.

 

Saying that it can beat BG! Volourn, you are mentally demented more than Minsc!

 

Where's your boo. Boooo.

[Baley]

(w00t) There are very few games that can compete with BG and I seriously doubt JE is one of them

 

Then again I haven't played a good Kung-Fu action game in a while ...I'll give it a try if it they ever release a PC version