Jade Empire

Actually, I have never played this game. I missed the Steam sale on Christmas, and from what I hear, this game doesn't go on sale that often. It's because I didn't even know that this game was available on the PC, let alone on Steam. I only buy games off of Steam when they're on sale, but is this game worth the full $14.99? I hear it's on the low end of praise for a Bio Ware RPG (which, admittedly, is still pretty high). Is it a good port? Stable? (had lots of problems with Knights Of The Old Republic on both PC and Xbox 360)

And on the chance that I do eventually get this game, no spoilers, please. If you do feel the need to discuss something that involves a spoiler, put it in tags.

A fistful of me.

You created a thread for a seven-year old game that you never played before?

(V)(;,,;)(V)

People create threads for Knights of the Old Republic, and that game's even older than this one

But yeah, I bought this on Steam a while ago. Haven't gotten very far in it (only just now spoke to Forest Shadow) but it's a pretty good game. Combat style is very interesting though the fact that you can only have one other party member is irritating.

That is the face of a man who just ate a kitten. Raw.

Well, it was more that the person's never bought or played the game before is what struck me as odd. But yea, one companion and kind of short. Game's beautiful though.

(V)(;,,;)(V)

It's a good game that was largely Overshadowed By KOTOR's Awesome. It's basically KOTOR in Fantasy!China. Decent gameplay, probably the best story in any Bioware game, but most of your companions are bland and forgettable.

My one complaint with it so far is that the PC interface is REALLY bad. Seriously, when you open the menu there's no indication of where your cursor is, or what you're clicking. Other than that it's a pretty solid port. I assume that you'd use the D-Pad or something in the console version.

That is the face of a man who just ate a kitten. Raw.

Yeah, you do. You'll need to use a gamepad to get the best bang for your buck.

I do think the fighting system's pretty clunky in general, though, particularly the lock on. On higher difficulties that can really get in the way of your game.

Also, playing a magic heavy style on a higher difficulty is so hard that there's just no point.

This post has been powered by avenging fury and a balanced diet.

Yeah, I mostly just use my chi for healing myself after fights, which in itself seems somewhat impractical because it isn't like Force energy and you have to manually refill it at one of those chi fountains instead of it regenerating over time.

That is the face of a man who just ate a kitten. Raw.

There's a reason why the only companion I took along was Dawn Star on support (I'm pretty sure she's the one who gives Chi regen when on support, been a long time since I've played).

I really liked this game way back in the day. It was Avatar before there was Avatar. Loved the setting and the story. Combat wise though, it was kind of unbalanced. Once you learned the right trick just about every fight became extremely easy. Also, the whole Closed Fist Open Palm sounded like a nice alternative to good/evil, but in the end it almost always felt like a good/evil choice.

Thunder, Thunder, Thunder...

Closed fist makes you such a douchebag it becomes pretty comical.

storm dragon style is kind of broken but I've played this game quite a bit, probably my favorite Bioware game. It's a bit lacking in depth(the world is very limited) but still fun. I like using furious Ming most.

Jade Empire 2 thread.

Jonah Falcon

I have trouble believing that. Not only does mouse+keyboad work very well, I can't imagine gamepad to be better. Of course, I'm talking about the game itself. I don't remember how the menu was (although I think it was pretty KOTOR-like), but I never had any problems with it.

All in all, it's a very good port. The game itself is... decent. Basically, if you like Bioware's later output, you'll probably like it.

People aren't as awful as the internet makes them out to be.

Oh it's a fine port, but the game was clearly designed for a gamepad. The rate at which the camera moves, the menus, you know the usual sorts of things, make sense if you're using a controller.

This post has been powered by avenging fury and a balanced diet.

So, if you guys were to suggest either getting this game on Steam or on Xbox Live, which would it be?

And is there any difference in the content between versions?

A fistful of me.

Not really that I can think of. I think there's an enhanced edition on Steam that gives you a separate demon enemy and whatnot, but other than that I can't think of anything.

That is the face of a man who just ate a kitten. Raw.

It does give you playable monk character too and new skills. And few other new enemies too. This is what wiki says This page has new fighting styles it has.

edited 17th Jan '13 10:00:05 AM by SpookyMask

Howdy y'all.

In case you didn't know I recently played Dragon Age Inquisition. It...didn't go very well. While I was planning to play a JRPG to recover, I figured this was a better idea. It gives Bio Ware a chance to redeem themselves. I owe them that much given that they are what started my love affair with WRP Gs.

I know there's Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights but I don't like what I've seen of their gameplay. I don't like using a mouse to move, clicking to go here and there. I know it's petty and I might get over that issue one of these days but I fell in love with BW's console-friendly games and that's where I'm gonna stay for the moment. I am playing this on PC but given it started its life on Xbox it's very easy to make the controls work on...well, a controller.

So was this BW's first unique universe? I wonder why it never took off like DA or ME.

Any tips on initial character creation? What should I spend most of my points on, Health, Chi or Focus? Or just go balanced?

There are companions, right? Three-man teams maybe?

The intro music is awesome.

Given this is a completely new setting and game, I'll probably be using this thread to ask for help and suggestions as much as reporting my thoughts and choices. Also feel free to make recommendations on what to do.

Health first. Chi or Focus, depends on whether you're using a weapon or not.

Speaking of Chi, I could never find out how to replenish Chi beyond those fountains. Is there a way?

That is the face of a man who just ate a kitten. Raw.

Okay so I invested all my initial points into Health and Chi. My character is Sholar Lin I think i twas. I like magic. My starting style was Thousand Cuts. It seemed appropriate is all.

Don't have any magic right now though. I'm getting the hang of things, just about to go to the Spirit Caves. I had some rough patches earlier on before I figured out for myself BACKFLIP EVERYWHERE. Hopefully though once I start getting powers things will be a bit more interesting and less annoying.

I really love the aesthetic. It doesn't sound like the most complex world - strange goings-ons? Ghosts or monsters appearing suddenly? The ruling monarch apparently tucked away somewhere? Gee I wonder if foul sorcery could be afoot? - but it's delightful in how it presents things. Even simple concepts can be done well and thus be intriguing. I'm eager to learn more about the world and its people.

Master Li fucked that ship up. I hope I can do that someday.

For Smiling Mountain's prize I did not sabotage the other girl's healing paultice or however you spell it. Seems like a scumbag move, and unnecessary. Kicked all their asses no problem. Had more trouble with the drunks or Gao, although neither was too hard. Still getting used to the combat is all.

I like the Open Palm/Closed Fist thing. The way Smiling Mountain described it, it's totally Jedi/Sith but I'm one who believes the Sith Code is actually pretty good and interesting. It can produce monsters certainly but, as SM pointed out, a Closed Fist person does not leave a man to die just because he's evil or sadistic, but because his philosophy demands it. Makes me think of LN, my fave alignment.

Of course, you're naturally going to get thugs attracted to this style as well but there are dregs in every school who don't really understand what it is they claim to follow.

I'm not sure if it counted towards either Open Palm or Closed Fist that I helped the girl. Closed Fist kind of have a Social Darwinist thing going. I'm pretty sure I got C Fpoints when I told the one guy asking about his father that his dad was weak and thus died.

On the other hand, I'm not a twat to Master Li or Dawn Star. He's like my dad and she's like my little sister. Calling him a fool or being an ass to her is the kind of petty thuggery that Gao does and I'm above that.

This is all just my initial stabs at characterization. Like Revan, it's not easy as you have so little to go on.

But teh game is really awesome so far. I've already had more fun in the las thour than I did for most of Inquisition. I look forward to completing this game. How long is it?

Oh and I have the staff because magic. I can trade it in later anyway. I've purposefully avoided spending any skill pints on it. Put all of them into Thousand Cuts.

edited 16th Oct '15 5:46:16 PM by Nikkolas

In practice, the ethical system in Jade Empire is arguably the weakest out of all of Bioware's attempts, the KOTOR MMO included. Way too much of the Closed Fist suggestions are purely selfish, or even outright spiteful for the sake of being spiteful. Would've been sweet if you could implement the type of ideology that the game's true villain was all about, but the Closed Fist suggestions never truly amount into anything really clever or Machiavellian, long-term-plan-eqsue like he does.

So don't anticipate much deep thought out of the moral choices here.

EDIT: Oh, and if you decide to suddenly re-roll, Leaping Tiger, once leveled up, is pretty much broken as all hell. WAAAAY too easy to combo-lock an enemy to death with that technique. And the gun Mirabelle, too, but that's much later in the game when you run into John Cleese... you'll see what I mean.

EDIT EDIT: Just out of curiosity, what made you give up on Inquisition, Nikkolas? You seemed to enjoy ME 3's plot just fine.

edited 17th Oct '15 2:08:44 AM by SgtRicko

I didn't give up on Inquisition. I played it all the way through. The story was fine. I loved the characters and characterization options for t he Inquisitor.

I just hated the gameplay and how much of it you were forced to do. For every little bit of story, you had to run around doing a shit ton of sidequests. You should never be forced to do sidequests. If the game didn't have the Power mechanic, I might not hate the battle system so much.

Hoo boy... you're probably gonna hate MGS 5 then. The pacing's good, but you're pretty much required to start grinding the sidequests for GMP, staff and other items after a certain point, especially if you want the high-end gear for Big Boss. And that's not even touching the story...

Yeah, the problem with Bioware's moral system in pretty much any game is that the evil options are just that-evil. You act like an unabashed jerk in every decision, and the only one where that doesn't happen is in KOTOR 2, which isn't even developed by Bioware, because your mentor in that game frowns on stuff that's decidedly good or bad.

That is the face of a man who just ate a kitten. Raw.