Jade Empire

[Hoax]

Decent show, very well drawn but the story was fairly meh in my book.

[Strazos]

Yeah, methinks I was more drawn to the artistic style than the substance.

[Train Wreck]

If the voice actors are so good, it must be the dialog, then.

[Malderi]

Just started playing it, lost track of four hours.

Damn awesome game. Unlike others, I like the combat. I'm playing the tank guy, forgot his name - between the regen-chi style and Legendary Strike, I've had battles against big opponents last for 5+ minutes before. It's almost impossible to kill me, I'll take your chi and regen my health... and the pacing is good, too. Not fast enough that I can loose track in large battles, but not slow enough that it feels boring. I like it, I like it a lot...

Awesome game. Major props to Bioware.

[Trippy]

Finished the game. It was good but not as good as KotOR. GameSpot's review is pretty close to my feelings on the game. I'm not sure what IGN was smoking when they rated the game. I'd actually probably rate Jade Empire lower than GameSpot did if only because I can visualize a much better game if only BioWare was willing to learn from other action/martial arts games and to branch out from their tried but true, but now also repetitive brand of RPG storytelling.

BTW: If you do finish the game, make sure you "listen through" the credits -- there's some funny stuff in there.

[Sky]

How does Jade Empire compare to Shenmui 2?

Shenmui 2 was a little quirky(ok, a lot, I ignored all the crazy collection oddness), but I loved the fighting style in an rpg and especially the way the various trainers would actually make you practice the moves for a while before you gained the move.

[schild]

I'm not sure what IGN was smoking when they rated the game.

What you're smelling is the fresh scent of $100 bills being burnt.

[HaemishM]

Funny, I thought that was the fresh scent of publisher crotch.

[Yegolev]

Ahh, yes, the infamous Fable "hallway" level.

Bruce

You mean the infamous Fable "hallway" game, don't you?

[schild]

Considering how great the game is, I thought Eternal Darkness had far too many "Hallway" levels. Fable doesn't even compare to the poor level design of ED.

[Sky]

I wouldn't go that far. The way the Chapel develops over the ages, that's some cool level design. The Lovecraftian underground city?

Sure, the pyramid and temple were pretty hall-erriffic, but I thought the level design was pretty good. Or I was so entertained by the game I didn't notice. Funny how that works. I noticed every damned annoyance in Fable, because I felt the game sucked balls.

And at least the temple's halls had traps and stuff to make them interesting. The Fable hallway level is a pinacle in retarded design.

[Stormwaltz]

What you're smelling is the fresh scent of $100 bills being burnt.

No! My money hat! Aiieee~!

[Strazos]

Oh you can get another easily enough.

How much would a Canadian money hat cost, like $3.26 US?

KEKE ^_^

[Trippy]

How does Jade Empire compare to Shenmui 2?

Dunno, but I do plan on getting Shenmue II -- I'm a big fan of the Virtua Fighter series -- so I'll let you know.

[Rodent]

Considering how great the game is, I thought Eternal Darkness had far too many "Hallway" levels. Fable doesn't even compare to the poor level design of ED.

Then again, ED didn't take 10-60 seconds to load the next "hallway". You can get away with alot more "hallways" if the player doesn't spend 15 minutes of everyone hour staring at a loading screen, more if you were digging for treasure.

[Malderi]

I may not have given JE a 9.9, but at least a 9.5 o 9.6 is warranted. I haven't finished it yet, but the 11 hours I've put in it so far - (in the middle of chapter five, WONDERFUL storyline so far) - it's great. I love this game. =)

[schild]

Welp. My time with Jade Empire is over. The game resets every time it loads the next thing.

What is that thing? Made almost completely non-spoilish - Highlight the text below:

Whirlwind is about to fight the Serpent in the arena. Or....not. The game just feels like resetting.

[Trippy]

You don't have an earlier save or an earlier autosave? BTW, I love that hard drive -- I'm thinking of modding mine to stick a bigger one in there -- I had like over 350 saves by the time I was finished with JE.

[Malderi]

You know, you *can* overwrite and delete save files... I always overwrote them, so I only had 6 saves - the five autosaves, and the one manual.

Sorry to hear about that, Schild. Try going back a save... I encounted very few bugs, actually. The pathfinding was jerky, but that's not really a bug, that's a bad algorithm. Which is, I suppose, a bug, but one that is always present and not a "why is that happening" thing.

(If you want, PM me, I'll fill you in on the rest of the story =P)

[Lum]

Gamespot also has all 3 ending videos in their game guide, which does save on replay time, I suppose.

It's a fun game though. I like that they tried to do some things differently. It felt very much like a kung-fu movie. (Note: they're not SUPPOSED to be high art, Crouching Tiger notwithstanding).

[Yegolev]

Considering how great the game is, I thought Eternal Darkness had far too many "Hallway" levels. Fable doesn't even compare to the poor level design of ED.

Good thing for Eternal Darkness, then, that it is about a thousand times cooler than Fable.  If you could go insane playing Fable (your character, not you), then maybe it would have a chance.

I do realize that complaining about hallway games is dumb, since the halllway is as iconic as the crate in our chosen love.  Maybe I am just irritated that Fable pretended it wasn't constructed of hallways.  ED didn't pretend that you weren't trapped in some claustrophobic corridor with a shitty camera angle.  Not to re-rail this thread, but I didn't mind the corridorishness of KOTOR nearly as much as Fable... maybe because there was a good game in between loading screens.

[Xilren's Twin]

Game 1 done. enjoyed it.  I just know I missed a bunch of side quests.  Either that or there's a host of items with no real use like the nickel plated metal, bezors and other stuff that looks like it ought to be used somewhere.  Can;t honestly say I ever used a harmonic combo at all, but my maxed out long sword was decaptitating nicely by the end.

Have to take my time in game 2 and explore everything...

Hope everyone took the opportunity to listen to the ending credits; some fairly funny stuff in there.... in space!

Xilren

[Trippy]

Game 1 done. enjoyed it.  I just know I missed a bunch of side quests.  Either that or there's a host of items with no real use like the nickel plated metal, bezors and other stuff that looks like it ought to be used somewhere.

Spoiler:
You need to talk to Kang to use that stuff.

[Rasix]

Just got this.  I had to because basically I've been looking forward to the damn thing since its inception.   Returned my Guild Wars preorder to do so. 

Initial thoughts:

* Good voice acting.  Dialogue and writing isn't as bad yet as is made out here.
* Beautiful.  Wonderful scenery, they can really do good things with this engine.
* Initial combat is just jarring. It's like Fable but with more emphasis on anything killing you in 3 hits.  Ohh boy, I'm the chosen one and a drunken sailor 3 shots me because I can't hit block once he's statred pounding me.  (Yes, I later figured the only way out of that is to leap back).  I died a lot with at the beach scene until I got the hang of the combat.
* Monk character's martial arts style is pretty cool.  Fast as hell, which helps.  The spade weapon style completely sucks.  It seemed like I was trying to tickle people to death with it.  I'd love to keep it, but the longsword kicks its ass in comparison at the moment.
* Story's great so far.
* Load times are somewhat long.
* Bad, minimalist manual.  Being in ID this stuff annoys me.

Overall it feels like KOTOR with Fable like combat.  I'm not blown away by this initially, but it looks like it will be entertaining enough to play to the finish.   I still think it was worth not picking up Guild Wars for this.  I already have my MMO fix and was NOT very gungho on GW (I predict I wouldn't have touched it for a month and by then 90% of the people here will have quit. )

Edit: leaving out words is bad.

[Malderi]

Rasix, finish the game and tell me what you think ;-) My initial impressions were much the same as yours, but after sticking through it... needless to say, it's much better.

[Rasix]

Rasix, finish the game and tell me what you think ;-) My initial impressions were much the same as yours, but after sticking through it... needless to say, it's much better.

Finished it on Friday.  This is a game, unlike KOTOR2, that has a permanent place in my gaming catalog and will not be traded back to EB Games for pennies.   

This is one of the tightest and best paced stories Bioware has ever done.  My playtime came in at just under 15 hours, but I'd imagine with some do-overs with battles the actual time was closer to 17-18 hours.  This is NEARLY perfect for a these games IMO.  Game probably could have used another major town like area and another 2-3 hours of gameplay and then it would have been flawless.   

Couple things that bothered me:

• No direct control over henchman.  Henchman never attacks the mob you attack unless it's the last one.  Henchman might have not have been there they were so trivially useful (well, the dead monk guy was rather helpful). Also, one out at a time is a fucking crime, I really hope one day someone takes me back to BG/BG2's uber groups of doom. 
• Ranged ghosts were just annoying to fight.
• Did I miss something, or were there no romance angles at all?  I know that might have taken some focus off the main character's epic struggle, but these have been nice touches to Bioware games since BG2.  I just really enjoy love stories in games for some reason.
• Unspeccing a form at a certain point in the game would be kinda cool.   I hate building up a weapon style fairly high and then seeing an OOOH SHINEY weapon form I just gotta use.

This game will get a replay out of me, although I'm not sure I can pull a 180 and go complete cockmuch.   Playing the open palm path just seemed natural and the closed fist portions were a little too extreme.   They've still got to work better at putting in shades of grey into these games. 

Although this one is a tad too formulaic to get my game of the year nod,  it's definitely one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences I've had.   I'd give it about a 90-92 out of 100.   With tweaks to the henchman system, a better introductory experience,  and a slightly longer story I would push it above 95.  I don't understand the negativity towards this title, it was just hella fun.

[schild]

Whoa there buddy, you're getting dangerously close to actually reviewing a game.

I'm trying to play the lesbian angle with Dawn Star. It isn't working. There is no romance in ancient fake china.

[Rasix]

I could easily review this, but people have already done this, no?  (Plus, I would be useful. Can't have that. )

[Trippy]

I'm trying to play the lesbian angle with Dawn Star. It isn't working. There is no romance in ancient fake china.

You can do the lesbian thing, but not with Dawn Star.

[Sky]

I don't understand the negativity towards this title, it was just hella fun.

It starts and ends with "x".

;)

[Rasix]

I don't understand the negativity towards this title, it was just hella fun.

It starts and ends with "x".

;)

NO.  Like the game on its merits alone or don't.  If you don't like the platform it's on, that's fine.  If you somehow manage to resurrect the platform argument, you're going to earn my eternal spite and a virtual Doc Marten in your o-ring.   

Anyhow, reading through some spoilers on the bioware forums, I think I'm going to replay the game but at a much more leisurely pace.  It looks like I skipped over some significant minor plot points. I managed to play the game where I missed out on a relatively major relavation and didn't hit the romances although they are supposedly somewhat prominent and available in a variety of lifestyle choices.

I did this in KOTOR and was just amazed at how many sidequests and what not that I missed. I'm just wondering if I can stomach going closed fist or not.  It's just really difficult for me to be completely evil in these games.

[Sky]

Yes, without the annoying font size.

It's not a platform argument, there's no argument. The xbox is a pile of shit compared to my pc. Jade Empire is exclusive to the xbox. Thus I have a negative opinion of Jade Empire.

Besides the fucking smily that denotes I was poking fun.

It really is raging douchebag week, isn't it? See you all next week.

[stray]

If only you'd be as picky with guitars as you are with platforms. Maybe the guitar thread wouldn't be buried right now, eh? That's the kind of geek talk that I crave, man!

[Shockeye]

Just because it's raging douchebag week does not mean you can be a crotchpheasant.

Remember that, people.

Sky, if you hate the Xbox and all games that are on the Xbox, stay out of Xbox related threads.

[Stormwaltz]

Did I miss something, or were there no romance angles at all?

Romances are in there. You can read about them elsewhere, I'm sure, but in brief there are hetero and homo options, and if you play your cards right, you can even end the game with a woman on each arm.