History YMMV / JadeEmpire

* SpiritualLicensee: ''Jade Empire'' is not a straight rip-off of ''Literature/BridgeOfBirds'', but it is certainly heavily inspired by its concept and takes several important character names (Master Li, Henpecked Hou) straight from the novel, although the characters themselves are different. Additionally, "Lu the Prodigy" seems much like ''Lu'' Yu, a.k.a. Number Ten Ox, and they share a plot point: [[spoiler:a flooded city hiding a secret artifact.]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The description of the philosophies behind Open Palm and Closed Fist given by Smiling Mountain at the beginning was an interesting new take on morality, with Open Palm being gentle and supportive while Closed Fist advocated for tough love and teaching people to support themselves.[[note]]Smiling Mountain explained the difference between Closed Fist and evil thusly: If a traveler was attacked by bandits, an evil man would ignore the cries for help, but that's because he doesn't care. An adherent of Closed Fist would argue that the traveler should learn to take care of it himself, because there won't always be someone nearby to rescue him. On the other hand, the CF follower might intervene if he felt the odds were unreasonable.[[/note]] It had the potential to make the in-game morality meter less about what was being achieved, in both cases improving the life of the recipient, and more about the method in which it was accomplished. Unfortunately, the description given at the beginning is [[StoryAndGameplaySegregation rarely representative of how it actually functions in-game]], almost always forgetting the complexities and nuances of the philosophies in favor of a [[BlackAndWhiteMorality good/bad]] karma meter.
** The reason why Your Mileage May Vary is the fact that while it failed as a game mechanic; the philosophies themselves are mostly well represented within the game's world. Most of your Closed Fist party members are well developed (even sympathetic) and will actually, ultimately favor an Open Palm player character (likely part of the reason why it failed as a game mechanic). And Fifth Brother Shangjin[[note]]a Closed Fist disciple from in the Black Leopard School[[/note]] is actually courteous and pleasant to converse with.

** [[spoiler:[[BigBad Sun Li]], also known as [[TheChessmaster the Glorious Strategist]], helped to organize the extermination of the Spirit Monks with his brother. In truth, Sun Li was plotting to usurp Sun Hai with the intent of [[GodhoodSeeker becoming a god himself]]. Murdering a final Spirit Monk to take the baby protagonist and raise them to kill his brother, Sun Li then takes the powers of the Water Dragon for himself and plots to have more souls imprisoned within the golems, intending to create a "utopia" where [[AGodAmI everyone blindly worships Sun Li as a god]], and the mere act of questioning him can bring death.]]

* DisappointingLastLevel: The game loses its way in the final three chapters (which, it should be noted, are far smaller than Chapters 2 and 3, which contain hub levels). The morality becomes far more black and white, with none of the nuanced exploration of the Closed Fist philosophy that was attempted in previous chapters, each chapter is a straightforward slog through an army of enemies with very little dialogue and only a handful of trivial side quests, [[LastSecondKarmaChoice the ending is decided by a single choice that completely overrides your existing karma]], and the whole thing feels rushed.

* FairForItsDay: The LGBT representation in this game is lackluster compared to Bioware's later games. [[note]]The [[HideYourGays kissing scene before the final battle is censored]] in the console version, but the PC version has a mod that restores it. And Sky, the male GayOption, is [[GuideDangIt a lot harder to achieve]] compared to romancing him as a female, and involves a deliberate process of rejecting both Dawn Star and Silk Fox.[[/note]] But during the time ''Jade Empire'' was published, onscreen intimacy for same sex couples was still considered taboo and was a result of ExecutiveMeddling.

* CharacterSelectForcing: Mana and Focus don't automatically replenish, forcing you to fight with your basic skills
if you expend it all. Since you're only allowed to bring one character at a time, it's not unusual to bring Dawn Star or Sky along with you at all times, since they can do so as their character skills. Dawn especially, since Mana also allows you to heal.

* MagnificentBastard: [[spoiler: [[TreacherousAdvisor Master Sun Li]], the "[[TheStrategist Glorious Strategist]]", once orchestrated the downfall of the Spirit Monks and upon failing to overthrow his brother, Emperor Sun Hai, kills the guardian of the last Spirit Monk and becomes his caretaker in the wilderness. Training the Spirit Monk to defeat Sun Hai one day, Sun Li uses him to defeat his brother and leave the throne of the Jade Empire open before revealing he trained his student with a [[CrazyPrepared flaw in his fighting style]] so Sun Li could exploit it and kill him, before claiming the throne. Taking over, Sun Li plans to [[TheConqueror conquer all he can]], repeatedly showing himself worthy of the moniker for which he is known]].

* MagnificentBastard: [[spoiler:Sun Li, the "[[TheStrategist Glorious Strategist]]", once orchestrated the downfall of the Spirit Monks and upon failing to overthrow his evil brother, Emperor Sun Hai, kills the guardian of the last Spirit Monk and becomes his caretaker in the wilderness. Training the Spirit Monk to defeat Sun Hai one day, Sun Li uses him to defeat his brother and leave the throne of the Jade Empire open before revealing he trained his student with a flaw in his fighting style so Sun Li could exploit it and kill him, before claiming the throne. Taking over, Sun Li plans to [[TheConqueror conquer all he can]], repeatedly showing himself worthy of the moniker for which he is known]].

* FairForItsDay: The LGBT representation in this game is lackluster compared to Bioware's later games. [[note]]The [[HideYourGays kissing scene before the final battle is censored]] in the console version, but the PC version has a mod that restores it. And Sky, the male GayOption, is [[GuideDangIt a lot more harder to achieve]] compared to romancing him as a female, and involves a deliberate process of rejecting both Dawn Star and Silk Fox.[[/note]] But during the time ''Jade Empire'' was published, onscreen intimacy for same sex couples was still considered taboo and was a result of ExecutiveMeddling.

* DemonicSpiders: Lost Spirits have the potential to become these. Especially at higher difficulties or NewGamePlus, which automatically makes your game much more difficult. They have an annoying homing ranged attack, are immune to many useful styles and tend to move away from the player while shooting at him. At lower difficulties, they avoid being DemonicSpiders due to having low health. On higher difficulties, they have huge amounts of health, making them ridiculously hard to kill, while doing insane amounts of damage, turning every fight against them into a frustrating ordeal.

* ThatOneBoss: When playing on Jade Master difficulty, most bosses will, at best, be bosses with stupidly-high health, but some will be like this. [[spoiler:The Dirge clones]] are perhaps the platonic ideal. With normal difficulty, you can use the Jade Golem transformation style and/or focus mode to beat them relatively easily easily. However, with Jade Master difficulty all the enemies can take much more damage than in the normal mode, which means your magic and focus bars have probably run out before you've defeated even one of the three [[spoiler:clones]]. The only way to defeat them without insane amounts of practice and very good reflexes is to exploit the weaknesses of the game's [=AI=], and even then it's hardly easy. Compared to the [[spoiler:clones]], the final boss of the game is much easier to beat, even with Jade Master difficulty.

* DisappointingLastLevel: The game loses its way in the final three chapters (which, it should be noted, are far smaller than Chapters 2 and 3, which contain hub levels). The morality becomes far more black and white, with none of the nuanced exploration of the Closed Fist philosophy that was attempted in previous chapters, each chapter is a straightforward slog through an army of enemies with very little dialogue and only a handful of trivial sidequests, [[LastSecondKarmaChoice the ending is decided by a single choice that completely overrides your existing karma]], and the whole thing feels rushed.

* OneSceneWonder: [[OverlyLongName Sir Roderick Ponce von Fontlebottom the Magnificent Bastard]] only appears in one sidequest but stands out due to being a MightyWhitey caricature and can give you [[GameBreaker the most powerful weapon in the game]], he was significant enough to get his own slide in the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue. It doesn't hurt he's voiced by the inestimable Creator/JohnCleese.

** The Mother. She is an ancient evil that had been fighting the morally gray Forest Shadow for ages and made her look heroic. She eats human flesh and manipulates people to become cannibals with dark promises of power, showing she is sapient enough to act beyond her primordial instinct and is aware of what she does. And unlike [[spoiler:both corrupt Sun brothers, who upset the balance of nature partially to help humanity]], the Mother sickens trees and destroys the forest the stronger she gets. She is a menace to both humanity and nature, has turned many humans into vile beasts, siding with her children is the evil option gameplay-wise in spite of her rival turning people to stone and burning her own forest, and overall this creature has no redeeming qualities.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Henpecked Hou. He's a ButtMonkey whose entire character was DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale played for laughs, yet he himself comes off as a massive sociopath when he nonchalantly mentions that he accidentally poisoned the ''entire family'' of his wife's uncle to death in an attempt to kill his wife.

* HilariousInHindsight: The only way to learn [[BlowYouAway the Tempest fighting style]] is to [[KarmaMeter lean on the Closed fist philosophy]]. Years later, come ''Franchise/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' and air is strongly associated with pacifism and non-violence.

** [[BigBad Sun Li]], also known as [[TheChessmaster the Glorious Strategist]], helped to organize the extermination of the Spirit Monks with his brother. In truth, Sun Li was plotting to usurp Sun Hai with the intent of [[GodhoodSeeker becoming a god himself]]. Murdering a final Spirit Monk to take the baby protagonist and raise them to kill his brother, Sun Li then takes the powers of the Water Dragon for himself and plots to have more souls imprisoned within the golems, intending to create a "utopia" where [[AGodAmI everyone blindly worships Sun Li as a god]], and the mere act of questioning him can bring death.

* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:[[BigBad Sun Li]] is also known as [[TheChessmaster the Glorious Strategist]]. Prior to the game he orchestrated the genocide of the spirit monks, the protectors of the Water Dragon, the goddess in charge of rain and reincarnation. Ostensibly he did this to force the Water Dragon to save his empire from a drought, but in reality his plan was to kill his brother, Emperor Sun Hai, and take the power of the Water Dragon for himself, [[AGodAmI becoming a god]]. This would have the side effect of stopping the cycle of reincarnation and cause the dead to rise up and attack the living. After his protégé, the [[PlayerCharacter last Spirit Monk]], kills his brother for him, [[UngratefulBastard he murders the last Spirit Monk]], takes the powers of the goddess for himself, raises his younger brother, Sun Kai, from the dead to be his servant, and has the [[SecretPolice Lotus Assassins]] abduct and murder people to use their souls to power an invincible golem army for himself. Sun Li is a sociopath, incapable of empathy or seeing people as anything other than tools. He raised the last Spirit Monk since infancy, but kills them without a second thought after [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness they had outlived their usefulness]]; and he has no problem with [[OffingTheOffspring trying to kill his birth daughter]], Dawn Star, either. While he tries to paint himself as well-intentioned, he's [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist obviously lying]] to save himself, and, in the ending where he wins, his "utopia" is nothing more than an [[{{Dystopia}} Orwellian dictatorship]] where everyone blindly worships Sun Li as a god, and the mere act of questioning him can bring death.]]

* GameBreakingBug: Newer [=PCs=] with '''Intel''' graphic cards crash in the Level Up screen.