I was wondering how long it would be before a Jade Empire topic popped up.
First up, something i’ve been puzzling over recently:
I don’t know what is it exactly, but for some reason Bioware’s RPGs always feel oddly short to me. It’s not that they actually are all that short, it’s just that it doesn’t actually feel like much actually happens in them… RPGs like PDS or Chrono Trigger or Phantasy Star 4 (which I finally got to play, hurrah for emulation ) only last 20 to 30 hours on your first play through, but it feels like a lot has happened in that space of time. Where as Jade Empire lasts about the same length, but it felt nowhere near as long.
I think this has to do with the actual content of the games. There are a lot of BIG events in PDS and Chrono Trigger or Phantasy Star 4 - there’s always something around the corner, and it feels like you’ve accomplished a lot when you reach the end. However, in Jade Empire and KOTOR, most of your time is spent talking to towns people and your companions, and the games often feel a bit drawn out in places by “well, we need components x, y and z before we can go anywhere, let’s start asking around” type quests.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the games while i’m playing them - the characters are brilliant - even regular NPCs have a lot of personallity, but the trade-off seems to have been the content of the main story, and by the time you reach the end, I generally just feel a bit dissapointed because it doesn’t feel like I’ve accomplished all that much… I’m not sure if i’m making any sense here, or if anyone else felt the same way… but, there seems to be less events in them and it just doesn’t feel as though the characters have been through as much.
This probably isn’t helped by the fact that the main events all occur using the in-game character models - as in-game graphics for when you’re just wandering around town, they’re brilliant, but when a big, emotional event happens, and all the characters can do is recycle animation you’ve seen 100 times before, which often look silly or out of place (such as the awful clutching-their-head-and-shaking animation in KOTOR) it just makes the scene a lot less dramatic.
And the whole good/evil thing is great, but it’s wearing a bit thin by the time you’ve played KOTOR, KOTOR2 and Jade Empire. I know it’s kind of a trademark system, but I think it would be great if there were more in the way of different paths, and more moral ambiguity. In a future Jade Empire, for example rather than two “Paths”, there could be many, and rather that just decided it based of “good or bad” decision, it could take into account cirumstances, such as whether you were being cruel, egocentric, kind, uncaring or just plain thugish.
Anyway, it’s probably begining to sound like I hate the games - I don’t. In fact I love them, it’s just that I’ve been think about this recently and wanted to get it off my chest. Sorry about that. :anjou_embarassed: And it’s hardly like I seriously believe that having a KOTOR or Jade Empire with everything i’ve said above corrected - if they did it would probably be the greatest game ever made.
Anyway, since i’m posting here, I might as well give my opinion of Jade Empire on it own.
I really enjoyed the combat system, I’m not sure if I prefer it to KOTOR, but there was a surprising amout you could do with an interesting set-up of fighting styles, and the fights often looked great when you pulled off some of the flashier move, such as magic-styles area attacks and transformation moves. The only down side was that there was less customisation, the gems were good, but I would have liked to be able to buy more weapons (there were only, like, 6 in the whole game) and to get other eqiuptment. I don’t mind your allies being AI controlled, but I wish you could level up your companions and equip them with things - towards the end they were practically useless unless they were in support mode.
Ther characters were great, as you’d expect from Bioware. I particularly liked Kang, and he had a pretty cool back-story and sidequests as well. You also did seem to have more of an influence over your companions - you can actually lead the love interests in the game down the same path as you, if you get them to understand why your philosiphy, which I thought was a nice touch.
Oh, and I agree that the plot twist was nowhere near as good as KOTORs, I saw it coming a mile off, and it seemed a bit cliche, but at least it was well executed… wow, this has probably been my longest post ever , well, i’m off!