Has all the tools of a classic but is set back by its shallow combat system, lame dialogue and painfully long load times
On the downside, the game is plagued by numerous and lengthy load times with an average of 30 seconds per wait. The great voice acting is numbed by the stale dialogue and the story, while somewhat interesting is nothing special.
Jade Empire starts off with an intriguing premise, the protagonist's village is attacked by marauders and his or her master is kidnapped. Thus, the journey begins to rescue him and along the way a varied cast consisting of gigantic mercenaries, drunken boxers and rogue monks.
The plot has a few major twists along the way as well although as a whole it's nothing to write home about. Only a few characters are memorable as well with the vast majority including half your party members being uninteresting and not playing much of a role in the plot. Combined with the bland dialogue, it makes conversing with them feel like a chore even if romance is involved.
The romance aspect of the game is interesting however, since it gives players the freedom to pick either male or female lovers regardless of gender.
The core of the gameplay outside combat involves decision making based on either the Open Hand or Closed Fist philosophy. Unlike in KOTOR, where the Light Side and Dark Side clearly stood for good and evil, either philosophy has both its merits and shortcomings. This adds a gameplay dimension where players are encouraged to use the most suited action to fit the situation regardless of its alignment.
In complement to the multi-dimensional decision making aspect is the combat system. Players have a plethora of skills to choose from both magical and martial arts techniques that range from throwing ice bolts to summoning monsters to some high-flying kung fu attacks.
Despite all the options, customization is stripped down and limited only to the main character with barely anything to equip. The combat system is also imbalanced and easy to abuse using the right attacks. As such, players may be inclined to use the proven button mashing martial arts attack then jump and block and just keep repeating it. Virtually all opponents including bosses can be beaten with this technique, which only makes for redundant gameplay.
If there's anything to admire in Jade Empire though it's the well-crafted world as mentioned. Players should really take their time and just enjoy the scenery. There's a lot of optional quests and missions to keep the player going back to play including the fun fixed shooter game inspired by games like Galaga.
Jade Empire is great-looking game with a lot of potential but the redundancy and shallowness of combat and sterile dialogue only hampered what could've been another western RPG classic.