Jade Empire for the PC

[spectre]

I am an ex Penthouse Pet. Unfortunately, when I turned 24, they were not interested in me any more. I broke up with my boyfriend recently, so I thought I would start playing RPGs to pass the time. Although I am interested in Arcanum (the reason I came to this forum), I am actually looking for a meaningful relationship. Still, I think this is a little too early for me to be posting my pics at a forum full of strangers, don’t you? I am glad that you agree.

It's a trap!

 

[Texas Red]

:picard:

Explanation?

r u a grl. pics.

I am an ex Penthouse Pet. Unfortunately, when I turned 24, they were not interested in me any more. I broke up with my boyfriend recently, so I thought I would start playing RPGs to pass the time. Although I am interested in Arcanum (the reason I came to this forum), I am actually looking for a meaningful relationship. Still, I think this is a little too early for me to be posting my pics at a forum full of strangers, don’t you? I am glad that you agree.

I don't approve of yapping women. Close your mouth shut and do as you're told, or you will be banned.

 

[SuicideBunny]

right, the scorpion are not evil, and the spiders, i'm sure, are just poor lost souls in need of guidance.

 

[deranged]

I said manipulating - evil , not evil in the same way as Shadowlands (although if I recall correctly Soshuro actually had a pact with them). Trying to dishonor every other clan doesn't sound very virtuous to me... Lying, betraying backstabbing thieves the Scorpions are just like Crabs are a raging mindless savage killing machine. They protect the wall though so I hold no grudge against them....

In the end you would all benefit from some Dragon wisdom...

...
But then i may be biased after playing nothing but Bayushi characters for almost seven years ...

I had figured that out I think

 

[mikaelis]

Ok, quick question:

I need some new cRPG and this one is one of the few I never played. It does not have to have deep C&C and so on. Just some reasonable fun.
Just for directing you: Other Bioware recent games were not the pinnacle of the art for me by no means. Yet, I did not find them totally crappy. Well, Mass Effect was the bigest pile of guano, but I still enjoyed it a little bit. I mean, I do not remember the story really, but the grafix was gut and so on blablabla. Kotor, was okayish as I recall my playtime, but more I think about it, I found it HAHAHEHE. The same for the Obsidian's KOTOR2 (maybe because of the infantile Lucas's setting?) Overall, it was medicore, but still acceptable. Does Jade Empire do it well for me? Or should I not even bother?
A note: do not suggest Torment, BG, Fallouts, Arcanum, VTM:B, Witcher and so on and so forth. I played them all and enjoyed.

The question is very specific: Jade Empire - sink or swim?

One suggestion I will be willing to consider is Ultima V: Lazarus (mod for Dungeon Shit) as a possible replacement.

Anybody?

 

[dragonfk]

For me: sink.

 

[MetalCraze]

Jade Empire is not a cRPG. Except if by "c" you've meant "console".
But in reality it is just a dumb and very boring hack'n'slash where you just have to button-mash to win without any character development and gimmick bland dialogues that lead only to more combat. Mass Effect was actually better in RPG terms but ME is shit anyway.
Think of Demon Stone, except with dialogues and fedex quests with even more button-mashing combat - and you will have your Jade Empire.

 

[Balthamael]

I liked Mass Effect for what it was. I can't recommend this one. Boring and bland, mostly. I finished it, and felt no desire to replay.

 

[Volourn]

"Jade Empire is not a cRPG"

JE is an Action RPG. Just as it was advertised.

It also has more role-playing than many so called actual full fledge role-playings.

Not as good as ME, though.

 

[dragonfk]

Volourn: Its beyond me why you still bother to apear in every goddamn topic about Bioware and defend them... I admire your self-sacrifice.

 

[Volourn]

There's no sacrifice when there's so much fun watching people get Butthurt oversomeone liking a game they don't. R00fles!

 

[dragonfk]

You may be right, but people complaining about Bioware games tend to change, but you...You are a Guardian of Bioware good name since 2003. No amount of fun can counter the tedious quest you undertook.

 

[drunkpriest]

Jade Empire sucks. You are a moron to think so. Game over. Idiot. Lies. I win.
Roofles.

 

[Tigranes]

Leaving aside everything else, how can anybody think the story was any good?

"Hi, Generic Chosen One With Humble Beginnings, I am your Master and I WILL BETRAY YOU LATER IN BIG PLOT TWIST, but pretend you didn't hear that."
"Okay."
"You are, despite your level 1 crappity, a SUPER AWESOME FANTASTIC FIGHTAH. Except you have this SECRET FLAW in your style that nobody else can see and has no impact on gameplay and in fact does nto manifest anywhere, EXCEPT I KNOW IT."
"Oh, so you are totally going to use that against me when you betray me-"
"NA NA NA NA NA"

-5 hours later-

"Hi Master!"
"Yes, I am actually a super evil lord and you can't stop me, because I know the SECRET FLAW in your style and will use this UNBLOCKABLE MOVE to facepalm you!"
"Which makes some sort of strange sense, because the Iron Golem summon is totally broken and I just won the last 30 fights having popcorn while it stomps everything."

Then you go fight some ghosts in some random ghost world thing then fight the Master, where, for some random plot contrivance I forget, you can actually win now instead of getting :facepalm:

Seriously. How can you not see that in the first ten minutes? Especially after Bioware just Revanned you in the face.

However, all in all:

Just some reasonable fun.

Don't take it seriously and ignore the romances, up the difficulty and play with one hand.

Also, every single joinable NPC is a pale imitation of either Minsc or Aerie.

 

[Volourn]

"Also, every single joinable NPC is a pale imitation of either Minsc or Aerie."

This is the evidence I requried to know your post was just trolling. Sweet. :D
_________________

 

[Tigranes]

Oh no! Your mad detective skillz has trumped me once again, pretty Volo

 

[mikaelis]

Ouch! Seems like cliche crap. Well, I might be picking it up anyway as it goes for like 5 € nowadays.
Thx

 

[Witchblade]

Although I normally feel that Velourn is an asshole, here is one topic where we agree.
How glad I am that I 'm not old and doddery enough to be intimidated by buttonmashing. I have fun when button mashing. Ok, I don't like too much of it, but JE actually has less mindless button mashing than your standard Action game, and there is at least some degree of strategy involved when deciding what style to use.

JE is a fun game, and an aesthetically pleasing game, and therefore worthwhile playing. The combat is great fun if you are not a reflex-retarded, doddery old codger. The other fun part lies in choosing your combat skills and combat system/styles.

I feel glad that I'm not so elitist that I cannot acknowledge that I can indulge in, and enjoy, kitchy, relaxing material too. The fact that I read Aldous Huxley and Tolstoy and Dostoyevski and Thomas Mann and Dante and Cervantes and and Immanuel Kant, and Stehen Hawking, etc., does not preclude me from being able to enjoy comic books, and slushy fantasy, and comedy, when I read purely for relaxion and enjoyment.

WTF is with that perrenial pole up you people's bums? Surely that pole must hurt sometimes, you bloody bunch of stuck-up prigs!

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

The combat is great fun if you are not a reflex-retarded, doddery old codger.

Bullshit. Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden and God Hand are great fun. Combat in Jade Empire is slow and boring.

 

[Witchblade]

The combat is great fun if you are not a reflex-retarded, doddery old codger.

Bullshit. Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden and God Hand are great fun. Combat in Jade Empire is slow and boring.

Perhaps you need to upgrade your PC?

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

The combat is great fun if you are not a reflex-retarded, doddery old codger.

Bullshit. Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden and God Hand are great fun. Combat in Jade Empire is slow and boring.

Perhaps you need to upgrade your PC?

Nope. BioWare wouldn't want paralytic old ladies to miss the wonders of romancing Sky just because they aren't good at action games, would they?

 

[Witchblade]

Aww, c'mon, the "romance" crap only came out fairly early in the game. Did you finish the game? I just ignored the romance crap. It's pretty easy to ignore.

 

[Tigranes]

I feel glad that I'm not so elitist that I cannot acknowledge that I can indulge in, and enjoy, kitchy, relaxing material too. The fact that I read Aldous Huxley and Tolstoy and Dostoyevski and Thomas Mann and Dante and Cervantes and and Immanuel Kant, and Stehen Hawking, etc., does not preclude me from being able to enjoy comic books, and slushy fantasy, and comedy, when I read purely for relaxion and enjoyment.

So does that mean you enjoy every single comic book and slushy fantasy out there?

The problem with Jade Empire doesn't have to do with how shallow it is, mainly because you end up dropping any expectations of emotional attachment, deep story or whatever in the first 15 minutes. It was always meant to be KOTOR in East Asia with different actiony combat. The problem is that the combat is boring (and soon broken in terms of difficulty), not that it's simple. (Mash mash mash, then JADE GOLEM so you dont even need to mash) The problem is that the story is broken, not that it's simple (it takes the weakest link in its own plot and highlights it as the focal point of everything, working hard to give you a facepalm). The problem isn't that most NPCs are shallow and archetypical, it's that your own replies are just as bland and it's neither entertaining at the time nor memorable afterwards.

I mean, I'm being pretty harsh here because it's not as if I hated the game. It was still decent and produced with the standard Bioware formula, so you do have some amount of fun when you're playing. But it's neither a good game or a replayable one.

And that's without romances by the way. If you do romances it's Merilindaesque.

 

[racofer]

Number one reason why any codexer would give this game a go.

 

[MetalCraze]

The combat is great fun if you are not a reflex-retarded, doddery old codger.

Bullshit. Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden and God Hand are great fun. Combat in Jade Empire is slow and boring.

Perhaps you need to upgrade your PC?

Nope. BioWare wouldn't want paralytic old ladies to miss the wonders of romancing Sky just because they aren't good at action games, would they?

They will have a hard time doing that though, he is not interested.