History YMMV / JadeEmpire

** Some people consider this to be the best [Franchise/AvatarTheLastAirbender Avatar]] game ever made.

* 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 both water and death. Ostensibly he did this to force the Water Dragon to save the Jade Empire from a drought, but in reality his plan was to [[CainAndAbel 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 last Spirit Monk, kills his brother for him, [[UngratefulBastard he kills the Spirit Monk]], takes the powers of the Water Dragon for himself, [[AndIMustScream raises his younger brother, Sun Kai, from the dead to be his servant]], and has [[SecretPolice the Lotus Assassins]] abduct and murder people [[HumanResources to use their souls to power an invincible golem army]] for himself. Sun Li is a [[TheSociopath sociopath]], incapable of empathy or seeing people as anything other than tools. He raised the last Spirit Monk since infancy as his own child, but kills them without a second thought after [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness they had outlived they usefulness]], and has no problem with [[OffingTheOffspring trying to kill his birth daughter]], Dawn Star, either. While he tries to paint himself as a WellIntentionedExtremist, he's obviously lying to save himself, and, [[TheBadGuyWins in the ending where he wins]], his "utopia" is nothing more than an [[{{Dystopia}} Orwellian dictatorship]] where [[AGodAmI everyone blindly worships him as a god]], and the mere act of questioning him can bring death upon the questioner.]]

* DudeNotFunny: There are quite a bunch of people who find the treatment Henpecked Hou suffers under his wife disturbing, rather than comical.

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: [[spoiler:The Emperor who attacked and mutilated a deity to save thousands of his people from dying in a drought is vilified for it, while the deity who caused said drought [[OmniscientMoralityLicense is treated sympathetically]].]] And that's not even the tip of the iceberg...
** Given that [[spoiler:after ending the drought, the Emperor goes off the deep end, proclaiming himself a god, then has golem factories kill people for the sake of his golem army, he's definitely still a villain. And then there's the whole "no one can enter the afterlife, therefore nobody new can be born so the world will be infested by ghosts" thing. And ''then'' there's the fact that he didn't stop the drought by ''creating'' water; he simply pulled the water from elsewhere, meaning someone else got the drought the Jade Empire was suffering. In the long run, his act did quite a lot more harm than the drought itself was doing.]]

* 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 both water and death. Ostensibly he did this to force the Water Dragon to save the Jade Empire from a drought, but in reality his plan was to [[CainAndAbel 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 last Spirit Monk, kills his brother for him, [[UngratefulBastard he kills the Spirit Monk]], takes the powers of the Water Dragon for himself, [[AndIMustScream raises his younger brother, Sun Kai, from the dead to be his servant]], and has [[SecretPolice the Lotus Assassins]] abduct and murder people [[HumanResources to use their souls to power an invincible golem army]] for himself. Sun Li is a [[TheSociopath sociopath]], incapable of empathy or seeing people as anything other than tools. He raised the last Spirit Monk since infancy as his own child, but kills them without a second thought after [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness they had outlived they usefulness]], and has no problem with [[OffingTheOffspring trying to kill his birth daughter]], Dawn Star]], either. While he tries to paint himself as a WellIntentionedExtremist, he's obviously lying to save himself, and, [[TheBadGuyWins in the ending where he wins]], his "utopia" is nothing more than an [[{{Dystopia}} Orwellian dictatorship]] where [[AGodAmI everyone blindly worships him as a god]], and the mere act of questioning him can bring death upon the questioner.]]

* 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 both water and death. Ostensibly he did this to force the Water Dragon to save the Jade Empire from a drought, but in reality his plan was to [[CainAndAbel 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 last Spirit Monk, kills his brother for him, [[UngratefulBastard he kills the Spirit Monk]], takes the powers of the Water Dragon for himself, [[AndIMustScream raises his younger brother, Sun Kai, from the dead to be his servant]], and has [[SecretPolice the Lotus Assassins]] abduct and murder people [[HumanResources to use their souls to power an invincible golem army]] for himself. Sun Li is a [[TheSociopath sociopath]], incapable of empathy or seeing people as anything other than tools. He raised the last Spirit Monk since infancy as his own child, but kills them without a second thought after [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness they had outlived they usefulness]], and has no problem with [[OffingTheOffspring trying to kill his birth daughter]], [[spoiler:Dawn Star]], either. While he tries to paint himself as a WellIntentionedExtremist, he's obviously lying to save himself, and, [[TheBadGuyWins in the ending where he wins]], his "utopia" is nothing more than an [[{{Dystopia}} Orwellian dictatorship]] where [[AGodAmI everyone blindly worships him as a god]], and the mere act of questioning him can bring death upon the questioner.]]

* CompleteMonster: [[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 both water and death. Ostensibly he did this to force the Water Dragon to save the Jade Empire from a drought, but in reality his plan was to [[CainAndAbel 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 last Spirit Monk, kills his brother for him, [[UngratefulBastard he kills the Spirit Monk]], takes the powers of the Water Dragon for himself, [[AndIMustScream raises his younger brother, Sun Kai, from the dead to be his servant]], and has [[SecretPolice the Lotus Assassins]] abduct and murder people [[HumanResources to use their souls to power an invincible golem army]] for himself. Sun Li is a [[TheSociopath sociopath]], incapable of empathy or seeing people as anything other than tools. He raised the last Spirit Monk since infancy as his own child, but kills them without a second thought after [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness they had outlived they usefulness]], and has no problem with [[OffingTheOffspring trying to kill his birth daughter]], [[spoiler:Dawn Star]], either. While he tries to paint himself as a WellIntentionedExtremist, he's obviously lying to save himself, and, [[TheBadGuyWins in the ending where he wins]], his "utopia" is nothing more than an [[{{Dystopia}} Orwellian dictatorship]] where [[AGodAmI everyone blindly worships him as a god]], and the mere act of questioning him can bring death upon the questioner.

* CompleteMonster: [[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 [[CainAndAbel 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 last Spirit Monk, kills his brother for him, [[UngratefulBastard he murders the last Spirit Monk]], takes the powers of the goddess for himself, [[AndIMustScream raises his younger brother, Sun Kai, from the dead to be his servant]], and has [[SecretPolice the Lotus Assassins]] abduct and murder people [[HumanResources to use their souls to power an invincible golem army]] for himself. Sun Li is a [[TheSociopath sociopath]], incapable of empathy or seeing people as anything other than tools. He raised the last Spirit Monk since infancy as a [=son/daughter=], but kills [=him/her=] without a second thought after [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness s/he had outlived his/her usefulness]]; and he has no problem with [[OffingTheOffspring trying to kill his birth daughter]], [[spoiler:Dawn Star]], either. While he tries to paint himself as a WellIntentionedExtremist, he's obviously lying to save himself, and, [[TheBadGuyWins in the ending where he wins]], his "utopia" is nothing more than an [[{{Dystopia}} Orwellian dictatorship]] where [[AGodAmI everyone blindly worships Sun Li as a god]], and the mere act of questioning him can bring death upon the asker.

** Although given that [[spoiler:after ending the drought, the Emperor goes off the deep end, proclaiming himself a god, then has golem factories kill people for the sake of his golem army, he's definitely still a villain. And then there's the whole "no one can enter the afterlife, therefore nobody new can be born so the world will be infested by ghosts" thing. And ''then'' there's the fact that in "stopping" the draught, he merely shifted the problem onto someone else.]]

** Mirabelle, a gun in a setting with swords and fists, though its somewhat balanced by the large amount of focus and the time needed to load after each shot.
*** The time needed to load after each shot is significant even when fully upgraded, it can misfire, and it's arguably not powerful enough for its rate of fire.
*** It is the most rigged thing ever in the arena though due to the fact that you are usually fighting one on one and it deals enough knockback to throw the opponent far enough away that you can reload another shot.
*** Similarly, the FinalBoss is laughably easy to defeat with Mirabelle as you can simply stun-lock him with it until he croaks.
** The Jade Golem transformation is completely unbalanced and will break through pretty much anything in seconds while exposing the player to almost no damage, even when fighting the game's final boss enemies. While there is a Chi drain active while using it, battle tends to end so quickly with it active that you lose little Chi (and one of your party members can simply meditate and constantly restore your Chi anyway.)
*** Oddly, the Jade Golem is weakest to, well, groups of Mooks. Jade Golem's strength comes from being invulnerable to all status effects and most advanced attacks... which Mooks usually don't have. Groups of Mooks can simply surround you and whale on you, chipping away at your health while you slowly kill them one by one.

** In-story, the [[DoppelgangerSpin Phoenix Unity style]] was banned from arena matches for this reason.

* GoddamnBats: Lost Spirits attack in groups (that tend to be spread out), have homing ranged attacks that drain both your HP and Chi, and give ridiculously paltry EXP. They turn into DemonicSpiders when they're supporting an actual dangerous boss. Also, they respawn in most areas you find them in.
** Ghost Lords are equally annoying - their attacks are less powerful, but they have ridiculous amounts of health.
** Red Ministers even more so, since they constantly sap your Chi, have stupid amounts of HP and constantly block. Thankfully there aren't that many.

* ThatOneBoss: When playing with Jade Master difficulty, [[spoiler:the Dirge clones]] become this. With normal difficulty, you can use the Jade Golem transformation style and/or focus mode to beat them 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.
* ThatOneLevel: Rather late in the game [[spoiler: you are killed, must navigate the afterlife and the defiled temple of the Water Dragon, and face one of the hardest battle in the game against three very tough copies of yourself, in order to be resurrected.]]
** Dawn Star and Silk Fox needing to protect Kang from a horde of enemies while he places explosives can be rather difficult as the camera changes to a more 2D, movement is hindered and some enemies just spawn right past you to attack Kang who damages very easily.

** Earlier still, Toad style is pretty unbeatable too.

** Hell, at the default difficulty even the sword you get a few minutes in will make you an unstoppable whirlwind through most of the game as long as you upgrade the style and buy the upgrade later. The dual-swords style makes everything but spirit fights from that point on a total joke even at the hard setting. Dual-axes are even worse, if only because it doesn't cost Focus points to use when fully upgraded; however, if you can kill the guy who carries the Tang's Vengeance axes, [[InfinityPlusOneSword you probably don't need them anyway]].

* GoddamnBats: Lost Spirits attack in groups (that tend to be spread out), have ranged attacks that drain both your HP and Chi, and give ridiculously paltry EXP. They turn into DemonicSpiders when they're supporting an actual dangerous boss. Also, they respawn.

*** It is the most rigged thing ever in the arena though due to the fact that you are usually fighting one on one and it deals enough knockback to throw the opponent far enough away that you can reload another shot

* SerialNumbersFiledOff: ''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.

* [[spoiler:StopHelpingMe: There's a mild example of this regarding Silk Fox a.k.a. Princess Lian's female attendants. When you meet her in her true role as the princess, you can repeatedly say rude and blunt things to her. Every time you pick that option, one of her attendants scolds you for your impropriety or even faints on the spot on Princess Lian's behalf. Princess Lian gets embarrassed ''at her attendants'', since she feels their reaction is disproportionate to the actual scale of your offense.]]

* CompleteMonster: The true BigBad is Sun Li, the [[ManipulativeBastard Glorious]] [[TheChessmaster Strategist]]. Twenty years before the story began, Sun Li engineered and participated in the genocide of the Spirit Monks, the guardians and servants of the goddess who shepherded the dead to their rightful rest, the Water Dragon. Telling his brother, Emperor Sun Hai, that they could use the power of the goddess to save the Jade Empire from a drought that threatened to bring the empire to ruin, in reality Sun Li wanted godhood for himself. However this plan would have the nasty side effect of preventing the dead from being reincarnated and subsequently go insane as vengeful ghosts that attack the living. Attempting to kill his brother to usurp the Water Dragon’s power and his brother’s throne, he failed and was forced to go into hiding, formulating a new plan to achieve godhood, one which would require decades of planning and manipulation. Murdering the guardian of the last infant Spirit Monk, he took the child, assumed a false identity and raised the Spirit Monk as his own child. However, he felt no affection for the child, seeing the Spirit Monk as just another pawn in his schemes. Once the Spirit Monk had served [=his/her=] purpose by killing Sun Hai, he immediately killed his foster child by exploiting a flaw he had implanted in the child while training [=him/her=]. Succeeding his brother, Sun Li adopted in fact Sun Li is incapable of empathy for anyone the crimes Sun Hai had been committing, such as [[AndIMustScream raising his younger brother, Sun Kai, from the dead to force him into servitude]], and using the [[SecretPolice Lotus Assassins]] to abduct and horribly murder people to [[HumanResources use their souls to power an invincible golem army]] for himself. When cornered by the revived Spirit Monk, Sun Li will try to paint himself as a WellIntentionedExtremist acting in the Jade Empire’s best interests, but in TheBadGuyWins ending, where he’s convinced the Spirit Monk to die for Li’s cause, it’s revealed to be nothing more than another lie. Sun Li desires nothing less than a dystopian empire where all are indoctrinated to his glory and by questioning his Orwellian narrative, a citizen risks death, even if they’re a child. Sun Li is [[LackOfEmpathy incapable with empathizing with other people]], seeing everyone as tools to be used and equating the deaths of his wife and daughter as merely fury at the loss of possessions. Sun Li proves even willing to murder [[spoiler:his revealed to still be alive daughter, Dawn Star]], because heirs are no use to a god. Merciless, remorseless and calculating to an inhuman degree, Sun Li will stop at nothing to achieve ultimate power for himself.

* CompleteMonster: Captain Sen. At a young age, he pushed a child into a river and stopped his companion from trying to help him, saying that [[HeKnowsTooMuch he will tell the others what he did]]. He goes on to commit atrocities as an Imperial Army Officer, and doesn't care whether Fading Moon kills the poor. He shows no remorse for any of those actions, unlike Aishi.

** Although given that [[spoiler:after ending the drought, the Emperor goes off the deep end, proclaiming himself a god, then has golem factories kill people for the sake of his golem army, he's definitely still a villain. And then there's the whole "no one can enter the afterlife, therefore nobody new can be born so the world will be infested by ghosts" thing.]]

*** It is the most rigged thing ever in the arena though due to the fact that you are usually fighting one on one and has a throws the opponent far enough away that you can reload another shot

** Before the Jade Golem transformation is unlocked, there is also the Storm Dragon style which has a near ten-second stun effect, during which the play is free to attack away with impunity. Combined with its resonance combo producing an endless supply of Focus orbs, the player can easily activate and remain in Focus Mode for the entire duration of combat so long as the combos are activated. This effect does not work on ghosts, however - and many of the harder enemies cannot have Resonance Combos used against them. The Jade Golem transformation, on the other hand, works on ''everything''.

** Paralysing Palm. Hit your enemy a few times, go into focus mode, switch to a damaging style, go to town.

* CompleteMonster: Captain Sen. At a young age, he left a boy to die, saying that [[HeKnowsTooMuch he will tell the others what he did]]. He goes on to commit atrocities as an Imperial Army Officer, and doesn't care whether Fading Moon kills the poor. He shows no remorse for any of those actions, unlike Aishi.

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: [[spoiler:The Emperor who attacked and mutilated a deity to save thousands of his people from dying in a drought is villified, while the deity who caused said drought [[OmniscientMoralityLicense is treated sympathetically]].]] And that's not even the tip of the iceberg...

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: [[spoiler:The Emperor who attacked and mutilated a deity to save thousands of his people from dying in a drought is a DesignatedVillain, while the deity who caused said drought [[OmniscientMoralityLicense is treated sympathetically]].]] And that's not even the tip of the iceberg...
** Although given that [[spoiler:after ending the drought, the Emperor goes off the deep end, proclaiming himself a god, then has golem factories kill people for the sake of his golem army, perhaps his villain status isn't so "designated" after all. And then there's the whole "no one can enter the afterlife, therefore nobody new can be born so the world will be infested by ghosts" thing.]]

** Although given that [[spoiler:after ending the drought, the Emperor goes off the deep end, proclaiming himself a god, then has golem factories kill people for the sake of his golem army, perhaps his villain status isn't so "designated" after all.]]

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: [[spoiler:The Emperor who attacked and mutilated a deity to save thousands of his people from dying in a drought is a DesignatedVillain, while the deity who caused said drought is treated sympathetically.]] And that's not even the tip of the iceberg...

*** It is the most rigged thing ever in the arena though due to the fact that you are usually fighting one on one