The GWJ CRPG Club - Game 3: Jade Empire (Over)

Big fan of bioware RPGs. My brother raved about this when it was originally on Xbox. Will have to try to get him to replay it too. Looking forward to getting started.

Might actually try this out on my iPhone... Game looks a little rough up close on a big monitor.

I managed to up the resolution to 1600, but no more. I didn’t tinker with it too long yesterday, because it was already super late. Hopefully, the configuration utility will let me do more. But it runs and it runs well.

I’m in, bought on gog a few days ago. Still have to finish PoE, let’s see if I can wait....

This is the one Bioware RPG I've never played so really pleased it won the vote! I have the version on Origin that EA were giving away "on the house" a year or two back so I'm in, just after I finished a new XCOM campaign. After all the Pillars of Eternity I've been playing lately, I could just do with a break. I'll let you know when I start

ubrakto wrote:

I'm in.

For folks with EA Origin accounts, it's worth checking to see if you have it already. I seem to recall that a few years back, for a short while, they made this available for free. (I need to check my account when I get home to see if I claimed it. Pretty sure I did.)

Good shout, turns out I have it!

Well, I'll be installing and will see if it grabs me. I burned out on Pillars fairly quickly.

jdzappa wrote:

Nice! Quick question - do I need to play as a martial arts character or do they have Asian inspired scholar/magic users? The reason I’m asking is my Pillars character was a fighting monk so I’m a little tired of unarmed combat.

Finally, I have a copy on EA Origin and will report back on how easy it is to get running on that platform.

I'm afraid pretty much all the Player Character types on offer are going to be fighting monks! There are magic infused abilities, and moves that use weapons, from what I recall but only insofar as they are tied to various martial arts moves. I don't remember there being any traditional "magic" spells and things but maybe I'm remembering that incorrectly?

I'm in. I've played most of BioWare's other RPGs, but never got to this one. And it turns out I own it on GoG already. (Since I didn't have to buy it, I bought Alpha Protocol instead for a whole $1.50 or so.) It might be a little bit before I start it though.

Eleima wrote:

I managed to up the resolution to 1600, but no more. I didn’t tinker with it too long yesterday, because it was already super late. Hopefully, the configuration utility will let me do more. But it runs and it runs well.

You can change the aspect ratio selection and choose different resolutions.

I'm in...

Wow. I was looking through the voice cast of this game and i think with the possible exception of Dawn Star (Kim Mai Guest) none of the other major voice actors employed on this game are Asian or Asian-American.

Unless I missed someone, that's ONE voice actor out of about 65+ actors on the imdb page. (With possibly a couple of bit-part actors who look like they have Asian surnames but their bio's are too slim to confirm that for certain).

That...seems like a bit of an oversight in your Asian themed fantasy world, Bioware. 0_0

*If this had been a live action movie, that would be an absolute scandal!

I'm in as well. Should be fun.

I'll be curious to see how this game compares to other Bioware RPGs and western RPGs that are made in that style. I get the sense that it's more of an action RPG. I wonder if it incorporates things like the dialogue wheel used in Mass Effect and plenty of later games, like Dragon Age II. I also wonder if it follows the structure of a pretty linear intro area, then 3 or 4 big story quests that can be taken in any order before the climax (Dragon Age, KOTOR, etc.).

i don't know if you want a direct answer to those questions or if you want to discover that stuff for yourself, so I'll spoiler this just in case...

Spoiler:

It's basically built using what looks like the same engine / structure as KOTOR in terms of it being a mostly silent protagonist with regular "pick from a list" dialogue choices. The Dialogue wheel didn't come into play until Mass Effect. Visually it's very similar to a fantasy reskin of KOTOR, too. It even has an awful "travel" minigame the way KOTOR did with it's space combat sections.

It is definitely heavy on the action (and, personally, I think that's probably the weakest aspect of the game) but there's a solid story behind it too.

It's also a lot more linear than KOTOR was. I can't actually remember if it lets you pick and choose 'global' locations to explore but my gut feeling is that it's generally very linear, with you not able to return to areas once you pass a point of no return. I'm not 100% certain of this though, it's been YEARS since I played it last!

I remember there's also something I REALLY like about where the story goes but i don't even want to risk hinting at it at this stage for fear of accidental spoilers. so....let's return to that point later

I aspire to play this! Though I also did with PoE, which hasn't quite worked out (maybe I'll still find the time! but probably not). I put a handful of hours into this years ago, but stopped fairly early on when I hit some sort of combat wall, some fight in an early tutorial that I kept losing for reasons I couldn't decipher. But I love Bioware games and would be happy to give this one another shot.

pyxistyx wrote:

i don't know if you want a direct answer to those questions or if you want to discover that stuff for yourself, so I'll spoiler this just in case...

Spoiler:

It's basically built using what looks like the same engine / structure as KOTOR in terms of it being a mostly silent protagonist with regular "pick from a list" dialogue choices. The Dialogue wheel didn't come into play until Mass Effect. Visually it's very similar to a fantasy reskin of KOTOR, too. It even has an awful "travel" minigame the way KOTOR did with it's space combat sections.

It is definitely heavy on the action (and, personally, I think that's probably the weakest aspect of the game) but there's a solid story behind it too.

It's also a lot more linear than KOTOR was. I can't actually remember if it lets you pick and choose 'global' locations to explore but my gut feeling is that it's generally very linear, with you not able to return to areas once you pass a point of no return. I'm not 100% certain of this though, it's been YEARS since I played it last!

I remember there's also something I REALLY like about where the story goes but i don't even want to risk hinting at it at this stage for fear of accidental spoilers. so....let's return to that point later

Thanks! I'm not actually playing this time, so everything in this thread will be a spoiler for me.

How well does the game control with a controller?
I'm still trying to get a handle on the combat.

It was originally an X-box game, so in theory it should work ok? But I don't remember if this was like Mass Effect where they stripped out the control scheme completely and replaced it with mouse/keyboard or not.

WizKid wrote:

How well does the game control with a controller?
I'm still trying to get a handle on the combat.

MathGoddess mentioned she got a controller working with it, and I thought I stumbled into a forum thread for the game that mentioned a controller being a good way to play.

It was built with a controller in mind. I'm playing with a dualshock 4, using DS4Windows to emulate a 360 controller, and it's fine.

For a given value of fine, anyway. I played through the first chapter, and man, the combat in this game is rougher than I remembered. Spiders rpg:s, all is forgiven.

I'm playing Tattoo guy, fast style, Open Palm. I toyed with going closed fist as well, but let's not kid ourselves. Mild snart is the most I can muster.

(I'm in, btw.)

Alien Love Gardener wrote:

It was built with a controller in mind. I'm playing with a dualshock 4, using DS4Windows to emulate a 360 controller, and it's fine.

For a given value of fine, anyway. I played through the first chapter, and man, the combat in this game is rougher than I remembered. Spiders rpg:s, all is forgiven.

I'm playing Tattoo guy, fast style, Open Palm. I toyed with going closed fist as well, but let's not kid ourselves. Mild snark is the most I can muster.

(I'm in, btw.)

That typo made me snart out loud.

I'm in too! Bought it on Steam, then realized I had it on Origin (thanks ubrakto!), now curious about the mobile version. I'd be exponentially more likely to successfully finish this AND PoE if I could make this my lunch break/waiting room/etc game...

Lu the Prodigy

I'm still tottering around the opening area conversing and sparring.

I had it on the 49" 4K TV (via a scart to HDMI converter) and it was mostly acceptable. I think I prefer the CRT, though. RGB is best but the converter doesn't support it and this CRT is not centered with RBG in mind. So, it's the standard composite cable. Kind of yearning for a One X again.

On the plus side the art and music is outstanding. And the OG Xbox controller (not the Duke) is great.

Lu the Prodigy for me too.

I have just finished the little introduction area. I'm playing on PC using an xbox 360 controller and it works very well so far. Even allows me to switch seamlessly to the mouse in menus which is quite nice.

Quick initial thoughts, combat is brutal, getting caught in a single combo saps a huge chunk of health, and the actual mechanics themselves feel very clunky (which isn't really a surprise for a game that falls near the start of the transition between turned based systems and the action combat we typically see today)

I'm playing as Radient Jen Zi this go around.
The combat itself still feels pretty smooth to me, especially being able to leap over people in combat and interrupting their attacks by bumping into them on the landing.
I'm remembering why the beginning area felt a little bit slow to start. A lot of the beginning dialogue feels like handholding your way through a tutorial, but it'll pick up.
I'm probably going to play somewhere in between open palm and closed fist, instead of going full into either philosophy. Most likely I'll lean towards Open Palm just going by the fact that I couldn't stand choosing any of those first mean dialogue options!

First impressions with iOS version on iPhone 6. Costs $10 which is reasonable. Looks and sounds great. Everything's smooth. Movement and exploration are about as good as they can be on a touchscreen. I'm always amazed I'm playing a game like this on my phone.

Combat is the one area I'm not too sure of yet though, having just done two battles so far. I might get used to it and it will be perfectly serviceable (the original Xbox version wasn't much beyond serviceable if I recall correctly anyway). Or it could become a major source of frustration especially when tackling multiple enemies. Guess that's what easy mode is for though.

So, if someone wants to play this on their phone and is mainly in it for the story, I think it's a safe bet.

I'm in on this one!

I'm in thanks to the kindess of others.

I will try to get started tonight.

I may try to clear this off the backlog. I have a save game with ten or so hours of progress. I run around and explore a lot in RPGs so I'm not very far into the game nor do I remember anything about what's happening and why.

Current progress : out of the school and entering the swamps.

I could probably do this part of the game in my sleep, given the number of times I've played it

That said, there's a number of observations I could make, but I'm biting my lip not to mention for reasons. Anyone who's played it before might know what I'm talking about! There's a few little things I noticed this time around that I actually didn't notice before that I think are rather clever. Hopefully I'll remember to mention them later once everyone has had a chance to play further into the game.

Spoiler tag it whilst it's fresh in your mind, Pyxi. Or at least jot it down in a notepad!

I am taking my time and enjoying the early combat encounters. I'm finding a calm methodical approach to be a good fit.

I tried each character on for size. I quite like the fast characters. Not so much the strong. Undecided on the leaping tiger one. Still rolling as a balanced. Although, fast is intriguing. *indecision creeping in*