Review 1UP takes a look at Jade Empire: Special Edition

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Tags: BioWare; Jade Empire

More of a <a href=http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3157458>footnote</a> than a proper review, <a href=http://www.1up.com/>1UP</a> takes time to look at <a href=http://jade.bioware.com>Jade Empire</a>, that whack Chinatown beat'em up from <a href=http://www.bioware.com>Bioware</a>. They give it a <b>7 out of 10</b> and mostly lament the "crippled combat":<blockquote>Jade's twitch-based combat isn't nearly as compelling as its fiction; brawls essentially boil down to button mashing, as you assail opponents with alternating weak/strong attacks. You can swap fighting styles on the fly, though you'll likely find yourself dumping all of your experience points into two or three stances and just running exclusively with those. For a game whose story hinges so much on the martial arts, Jade's strangely devoid of tactical depth or challenge; bumping the difficulty slider just swings things to the other extreme, and the on-demand Focus mode (read: bullet time) acts as an all-powerful panic button that trumps almost any foe you'll ever face. Oh, and the various traveling companions you hook up with (who run the gamut from a drifter to demon-child) make combat even less challenging.
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</blockquote>For a pretty actiony combat model, I'm surprised Bioware didn't look to titles being developed at the same time that provided more options and a greater challenge.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.1up.com">1UP</A>

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

And thanks to DarkUnderlord and suibhne for that Return advice

 

[kingcomrade]

And me

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Right you are

 

[Texas Red]

Wait. How come with this supposedly crappy combat, which is the main reason for the "low" score, was not pwnded away when reviewing the Xbox version? Oh, I know. Its because of the nice little corrupt circle in which the reviewing websites are dependant on the ad money they get from the very same companies which release the games they score. And now, as Biowhore is not hyping their 2 year old port, it is mystically bashed for the reasons which were around when the Xbox version was released.

 

[Elhoim]

Because Oblivion´s great combat (which is not button mashing... ) wasn´t around at that time...

 

[suibhne]

It's an interesting question, because real-time martial-arts or beat-em-up action is far better on consoles than on PC. Based on their own frame of reference, console reviewers should be less tolerant of bad action.

 

[Texas Red]

It's an interesting question, because real-time martial-arts or beat-em-up action is far better on consoles than on PC. Based on their own frame of reference, console reviewers should be less tolerant of bad action.

In the quoted passage the reviewer didnt mention any gripes with ported controls. He bashed JE for having no challange, button mashing, no tactics etc. I assume the situation was the same during the Xbox release, no?

In any way, was it IGN that gave JE 9.9? No game deserves such a score. You have to either border mild retardation or be corrupt to push out such a review. I wouldnt even give a 9 to any game I like.

 

[Volourn]

Complete and utter shit. I'll do the conpiracy theory that WD is fond of and claim that either SW geeks paid off the sites to bash JE in defense of KOTOR 9which JE is way better than in EVERY SINGLE FUCKIN' WAY!) or Bethesda buying them off.

JE > KOTOR

Only a retard thinks otherwise.

 

[Texas Red]

Volourn, huh? What are you talking about? The only part I understood was "JE > KOTOR" to which I have no objections.

 

[Volourn]

I'm referring to your lame conspiracy theory of mass bribes, and other shit and why JE PC is getting it's ass pretty much kicked in reviews (mostly for the supposedly 'poor' combat while the story and role-playing are still being praised to high heaven) as compared to JE XBOX which was getting it's dick sucked.

I think it's obvious. The game is two years old, and it's being 'punished' for being rereleased 2 years after the fact on a new platform. Obviously, the PC version really doens't bring anything new to the market.

There is no conspiracy.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

But did the console version bring anything new to the market in regards to games like Knights of the Old Republic or Ninja Gaiden?

 

[suibhne]

It's an interesting question, because real-time martial-arts or beat-em-up action is far better on consoles than on PC. Based on their own frame of reference, console reviewers should be less tolerant of bad action.

In the quoted passage the reviewer didnt mention any gripes with ported controls. He bashed JE for having no challange, button mashing, no tactics etc.

I didn't say anything gripes with ported controls, either. My point was that the martial-arts games and beat-em-ups on consoles are far better than anything on PC, so, logically, console reviewers should have higher rather than lower standards in this particular area.

 

[Greatatlantic]

I didn't say anything gripes with ported controls, either. My point was that the martial-arts games and beat-em-ups on consoles are far better than anything on PC, so, logically, console reviewers should have higher rather than lower standards in this particular area.

Indeed, "action RPGs" on the PC consist of mouse clicking or mouse holding. It doesn't get much more simplistic then that. On the other hand, they actually manage to have inventory management and detailed character sheets. Its OK for an action RPG to have simplified combat compared to pure action games, its far less OK to completely gimp the RPG portion.

 

[Julio]

Original version got the normal hype/blowjob reviews, now 2 years laters reviewers can finally admit the game sucked.

 

[Volourn]

"But did the console version bring anything new to the market in regards to games like Knights of the Old Republic or Ninja Gaiden?"

Sure. If you played the game, you would know.


"Original version got the normal hype/blowjob reviews, now 2 years laters reviewers can finally admit the game sucked."

No. They can show their stupidity by lowerings cores because it's just a 2 year old 'port', dumbass.

BNesides, the reviews are saying the game sucks. They're FALSELY claiming taht the combat sucks. they're actually praising the story, role-playing, and characters. Go figure.

Still, anyone who whines about JE's combat but praises KOTOR's combat is either a SW fanboy or just plain moronic.


JE > KOTOR


P.S. "detailed character sheets"

JE's character sheet is fine. Tell me something. How many PC agmes have 3 dialogue skillz. Not a lot.


"inventory management"

JE's inventory management is 100x times better than KOTOR's.


Game over, KOTOR LOSERS, game over.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Sure. If you played the game, you would know.

If you played the game, then you must know. Tell me.

 

[Volourn]

Morality that isn't just black and white, a good mix of action combat and role-playing, lesbian, bi, and homosexual romances, high quality, great dialogue (as opposed to good), and the list goes on.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

You're not being very explicit. How was JE's combat better than that of NG?

 

[Volourn]

Did I say it was better than NG? No. It certainly was better than KOTOR's though. I cna't comapre it's combat directly to NG (as I haven't played the fancy new NG.

However, it combines role-playing and action combat better than any other game ever created. Not even BL which i liked (but had rather shitty combat), or G3 (which has its strengths) can compare in that regard.

NG is just a striaght up action adventure game pretty much. It's pretty much cna't be comapred to JE since their goals are so vastly different.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Did I say it was better than NG? No. It certainly was better than KOTOR's though. I cna't comapre it's combat directly to NG (as I haven't played the fancy new NG.

Then why:

But did the console version bring anything new to the market in regards to games like Knights of the Old Republic or Ninja Gaiden?

Sure.

? So you haven't played it but can claim it brought something new to the table that NG couldn't?

NG is just a striaght up action adventure game pretty much. It's pretty much cna't be comapred to JE since their goals are so vastly different.

I wasn't comparing between both games, just how they handle similar gameplay aspects. After all, Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire also have a different focus - but you compared between both their role-playing. If both Jade Empire and Ninja Gaiden also have similarities in combat models, why not compare both those elements?

 

[Volourn]

"? So you haven't played it but can claim it brought something new to the table that NG couldn't?"

Because I can read just fine, thank you very much. NG was (is) a popular game so I got the chance to read all the spam 'articles'/'reviews' about it.

NG is just a plain old fashion action game. Nothing wrong with that; but it is what it is.

And, unless you tell me that NG has actual role-playing; it seems to me JE brings soemthing NG doesn't. *shrug*


"If both Jade Empire and Ninja Gaiden also have similarities in combat models, why not compare both those elements?"

'Cause from what i've seen, outside of them both being real time 'kung fu fighting', they relaly don't have all that common combat wise. While JE is heavily player influenced; stats do play a role in combat much like a role-playing game does.

If you are looking for NG type combat; JE simply isn't the game for you. That's what certain dinks on the BIO didn't udnerstand while whining that JE wasn't NG - because it wasn't trying to be.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Either I didn't get my point across or you didn't care to get it. I'm not going to bother trying to make it clearer, specially since I can't use crayons on the text box, so I'll once again point out to my original observation in regards to the review's observation and hope someone can understand it.

 

[Ladonna]

Your talking to a mindless Fanboy RP. Give it up :wink:

Diddums whines about others loving games, and now we see him in full song about his own prescious. Very cute indeed Vollie

 

[Crazy Tuvok]

I tried JE, but never even came close to finishing it. It didn't suck exactly, but lord it wasn't good. What makes no sense to me is why didn't they try to do something even remotely interesting with combat and play to the strengths of a console. Action combat can be pure joy on console. God of War is an outstanding combat/brawler and fuck knows I can't imagine playing it on a PC. Of course GoW is a lot more interesting than just the combat, but it gets combat perfect and in a way only a console could. I don't expect JE to have combat as good as GoW, but they could have done something like it. Or at least something more. As it is...bleh. Not even the worst of all possible configurations, just dull.

Other than the mildly unique setting there is nothing really to recommend JE. Combat is a bore. The plot and the characters you have seen a million times before and it is all smothered in typical Bio...adoloescence and simplicity. The characters never hooked me or made me care one fucking bit whether they lived, died or played Yahtzee. There is just nothing to this game to recommend it. If you own a console there are other fighters out there whcih are far superior and have better stories and characters. If you own a working computer there are better..everything out there but especially RPGs.

JE - not the worst game ever made, but the best you could give it is a 4/10 which to me says - nort a complete steaming pile, but why bother.