Jade Empire is a polished and entertaining RPG that stands as one of this generation's best.
User Rating: 8.6 | Jade Empire: Hisui no Teikoku XBOX
BioWare has spent the past decade making excellent games for existing franchises, from tabletop RPG franchise Dungeons & Dragons to sci-fi mainstay Star Wars. Their reputation as a quality developer has grown greater and greater with each release, and when the company announced their first game under an original (and in-house) IP, it was something of a surprise. Taking a walk off the beaten path both in terms of gameplay mechanics and setting, BioWare has crafted an enjoyable game in Jade Empire. It has some flaws, but it is a quality experience all around and a promising start to what will hopefully become a full franchise. Jade Empire's most obvious distinction from the RPG genre is its setting. Taking place in a fictional land based on ancient Chinese mythology, Empire's setting is wholly unique. While many of the genre mainstays, such as swords, magic, and monsters are in the game, Empire's own particular visual style and approach make it seem new. Monsters are demons or ghosts largely, either restless spirits of the undead or animal-like representations of elements, like fire-based Horse Demons or earth-based Elephant Demons. The swords are decidedly Asian in influence, from the short curved blades of Crimson Tears style to the straight blades that the player can choose early on, though other weapons, like dual axes or monk spades, are optional as well (the latter with the Limited Edition’s bonus disc). One of the major foes in the game appears as an evil version of full Samurai war dress, from demonic mask to body armor, to be the omposing and mysterious villain. It's all been seen before, but it's so cleverly disguised by setting that it's hard to think of it in the same terms as players have come to know RPG stand-bys. The battle system is also very different from the genre norm, eschewing the turn-based menu-driven stylings of most RPGs and instead embracing a fully real-time combat formula. While this system does deliver the satisfaction of actually dealing mighty blows to opponents, it's oversimplified. Essentially, the player enters battle with four fighting styles mapped to the D-Pad. The styles are broken down into five different types (which is an unfortunate number, considering the player only has fast access to four at a time): martial, weapon, support, magic, and transformation. Martial style is the mainstay, dealing moderate damage at typically quick pace and requiring no additional resources to use. Weapon styles are generally more powerful and a bit slower than martial styles, but use Focus (more on that later). Magic uses chi, and different styles of magic have different effects. Support styles typically involve incapacitating a foe somehow, by shocking them, slowing them down, paralyzing them, etc. Transformation styles are acquired as the game progresses, allowing the player to transform into a given form, typically demonic, using chi energy to sustain the change and gaining the traits of said enemy. There is also a bit of an off-support style that restores chi energy by striking the enemy that’s somewhat unique. Battles commence with a short pause before the player character drops into their most recent battle style. They can cycle through targets with the L and/or R triggers and can kick in free movement by clicking both triggers in simultaneously. The player can change styles on the fly by pressing the aforementioned D-Pad to switch styles up, though for some reason it doesn't seem very accurate. Unless the player presses the D-Pad in exactly the correct direction, with little to no degree of variation, the style won't kick in. It can be difficult, then, to do so, as the player must often keep their character moving while switching combat styles, whether it is to avoid attacks or to keep the pressure on their foes. The typical flow of battle involves the player taking down one foe after another, using a mix of support and attack styles, and while it sounds complex, it's simple to a fault. Since each combat style only has two basic attacks (A for quick combo strings and X for guard-breaking attacks or more potent battle effects), most of the battles devolve into jamming A over and over again, switching styles to keep the opponent incapacitated and on their heels, and occasionally X if the opponent manages to up their guard. While this seems both boring and easy, it actually provides a fair amount of player-driven flexibility to Jade Empire's combat. Players looking to just get through fights as fast as they possibly can with as little effort as possible are able to hit the Y button to engage focus mode, which drains their focus bar fairly drastically but allows them to move extremely quickly, decimating even the strongest opponents while they move as if in slow motion. Players can cheese their way to victory by immobilizing foes and then working them over if they choose, or they can fight using quick reflexes and smart tactics. And while the open approach to battle is welcome, the overall simplicity of combat hurts it some. It feels like the player can choose from many different styles of battle and forms of martial arts (which they can through purchases or quests or plot points), but they all boil down to basically the same thing. Those who have played BioWare's last effort, Knights of the Old Republic, will find a fair portion of Jade Empire's progression very familiar; in fact, one of the game's biggest flaws is that, at times, it feels like Magical Asian Knights, instead of its own game. Quests of varying importance and experience, moral choices, and dialogue trees are prevalent during approximately 3/4 of the game's play time, and when players reach a new area to start picking up these quests, a strong sense of deja vu is bound to strike. In the end, the game shakes free of this feeling, but some of the earlier hours mimic BioWare’s prior work a bit too much. The morality system in BioWare is a bit different from the standard Good/Evil paths, but not by as much as one might think (or hope). In attempting to put a new spin on ethical perspectives, BioWare implemented two different in-game philosophies: The Open Palm, and the Closed Fist. Essentially, the former teaches empathy and compassion, the latter survival and selfishness. The Closed Fist path isn't always about evil; in fact, it's typically about nothing but selfish needs and wants. However, the follow-through isn't always consistent with this, as Closed Fist NPCs are often portrayed as evil and a player who chooses this path will often be doing things not necessarily in line with the path; in fact, at times, the player is forced to do things that would require additional and unwarranted effort, for a reward that really doesn’t seem to be worth their time. The implementation of these philosophies is flawed, making the end result mostly just the same old good or evil, instead of a more ambiguous system that acknowledges empathy and open sacrifice as being possibly weak at times, and self-preservation as a pursuit that teaches strength among others universally.. The flow of the gameplay is pretty straightforward, as the player picks their character look, names them, and applies attributes points to statistics or goes with a pre-set character type, and enters the game world. The three basic statistics are Body (Health), Chi (Magic Points), and Focus (Weapon and Focus Time Energy), and each pairing of said stats applies towards a form of persuasion. In practice, the player’s ability to persuade is more dependent on the situation than their given conversational skills, however, so boosts to a given method are rarely worthwhile. The game also allows the player to pick a character from the stable of six initial characters, three of each sex, with one more available with the Limited Edition. Being able to choose between different protagonists is a nice touch, and instead of ending up with a somewhat generic hero, as in KOTOR, choosing from a limited stable of pre-made characters gives the player a choice in how they look without diluting their appearance to one similar to standard NPCs. After creating their character, the player begins the game, with various small tutorials seamlessly integrated into the game. The way they are implemented involves a quick battle that takes a matter of seconds for a seasoned player but perhaps a few minutes for a new player, and beyond that, the game's hint system is fairly hands-off, only offering small hints when necessary, including vocal hints form the character (like switching styles if one is ineffective against a certain type of enemy). Through a series of events and quests, the player progresses through the plotline. At first, it seems fairly simple, and at times, even boring. After a series of quests around the second major locale in the game, however, the plot picks up, and it continues to become more intense and compelling all the way through the finish. Without giving any spoilers, it's easily one of the most engaging storylines in recent memory and simply must be experienced. The pacing is a bit off, as the storyline's main thrust really takes control of the game about three-quarters of the way through, putting the side quests, mini-games, and party interaction to the side, but once that happens, the actual drive of the storyline is so riveting that it's hard to care. The ending to the game is pretty limited, no doubt due to the somewhat open-ended approach that comes with the morality system, but it's still disappointing to be treated with loads of text for a major part of how the game actually ends. Still, considering how good the journey is along the way, it's a minor blemish in comparison. It ties up the plotline’s remaining loose ends and provides the player with a sense of closure rare in today’s sequel-driven gaming industry. Jade Empire is a gorgeous game, with artistic flair that is both unique and very much reminiscent of how Ancient China is romantically thought of, with large dragon faces, stylized weapons, and beautiful environments, from dead cities and a necropolis to a heavenly realm and a grand city. The framerate is generally smooth, though it can sputter a bit if too many enemies and effects are going on in battles, and the entire game uses the nigh-ubiquitous light bloom effect, though BioWare is a bit more judicious with its use than Big Blue Box was with Fable, keeping the ethereal veneer intact without overdoing it. Also, as a nod to open criticism in regards to KOTOR, BioWare seems to have gone to great measures to make sure that every NPC looks unique, from hairstyle and build to facial hair and mannerisms. Running into exact clones of NPC’s one talked to just a few hours ago does not happen in Jade Empire. The sound is a real delight as well. The voice acting is professional, distinctive without being over-acted, subtle when necessary but never bored with itself. The music is authentic and moving, Chinese strings and violin swelling at important moments while normally playing in the background between major moments. John Cleese makes an appearance at one point, and his haughty accent and approach are welcome to the game, since his decidedly British sense of humor comes at a point when the game is slowly doing away with the lighter elements of the storyline. The only issue with the game's audio, really, is that one voice actor does a staggering amount of the voices in-game, being not only at least one of the party members, but also a fair amount of NPCs, especially early on. It's not a huge issue, but it would have been nice not to have to deal with the aural deja vu that one will undoubtedly run into a few times, especially since the voice actor in question has seen his fair share of game work over recent years, making him much more recognizable than many of the other voices. Jade Empire also throws a top-down shooter into the game, much like Galaga on a much better-looking scale, both in terms of basic genre and execution, in that it’s not very complex. The player mostly just shoots things and uses Chi to use special attacks as they have the energy for them. It's a bit off from the game's action/RPG styling and doesn't really fit within the game's basic thrust, but it's an enjoyable enough diversion that players don't have to participate in much if they don't like to. Jade Empire isn't perfect, suffering from a fairly simple and easy to exploit battle system, some plot pacing issues, and length (it's easily beatable within about 20 hours without trying to rush through the game), but the experience itself is tight and well-made, polished and surprisingly seamless after the somewhat glitchy KOTOR. The ambitious setting and gameplay elements work well, if not as well as one would hope at times, but after one has completed Jade Empire, it recalls the completion of a great book the player took an active part in. It shows great promise as a franchise, and even if it were the only effort in this meticulously created universe, Jade Empire would still stand as an excellent game. Story-driven games are a dime a dozen, but quality RPG’s have been few and far between this generation, and Jade Empire is a beautiful oasis in the current desert condition of the genre. It easily stands as one of this generation's best RPGs.
