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

How is the Origin copy? Should I play this on the Xbox One X?

RnRClown wrote:

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

OK, but bear in mind this is a HUGE hint/spoiler for something that happens later in the game and you DEFINITELY SHOULD NOT READ THIS if are playing for your first time...

Spoiler:

So this time around I paid a bit more attention to some of the dialogue and Master Li is one hell of an unreliable narrator during the opening section. And there are PLENTY of hints that something is not quite right with him that i'm not sure you'd pick up on first time through (or if you did, you'd probably notice it then forget about it, or put it down to bad writing).

The one that I really liked was his momentary surprise and panic at finding you outside the "trial cave" so quickly when he had clearly planned for you to be down there for a couple of days, rather than a few minutes. And the fact that he relaxes and basically goes "oh thank f*ck, something ELSE i can use to distract you with and get you out of the way" when the student shows up with word of Dawn Star going missing.

And this is all BEFORE people start commenting on your unusual fighting technique...

Yeah, so this definitely has the problem of starting a bit slow in terms of "talk to x, then talk to y, then talk to x again" type world building. I think I am through the opening tutorial-ish area though. I don't much trust Master Li after experiencing the cavern, though while questioning him I held my tongue from the harshest dialogue options.

Balthezor wrote:

How is the Origin copy? Should I play this on the Xbox One X?

I've loaded mine up on Windows, but other than "it runs" I'm not sure I have much to offer in comparison between the two. I'd think either would work fine?

Controller support workinn ok? Or is it wonky?

Balthezor wrote:

Controller support workinn ok? Or is it wonky?

I think a couple of people here have mentioned it's working okay. I haven't tried it yet, but can do so this evening.

Godzilla Blitz wrote:
Balthezor wrote:

Controller support workinn ok? Or is it wonky?

I think a couple of people here have mentioned it's working okay. I haven't tried it yet, but can do so this evening.

It works OK, but remapping is pretty necessary and the interface when mapping the sticks is odd. Also it only shows "Button #x" in prompts, and there are some oddities like changing the "fast" attack button changes all confirmations etc.
Also Xbox One controller triggers do nothing.

Just incidentally I ran into two other technical problems - if I didn't put a copy steam.dll into the program folder it would not run ("Could not find Steam"), and the game had extremely bad frame rate until I rebooted. Apparently if you tend to have your PC on for long periods something gets strange with the frame clock and you have to reboot to fix it.

imbiginjapan wrote:

Just incidentally I ran into two other technical problems - if I didn't put a copy steam.dll into the program folder it would not run ("Could not find Steam"), and the game had extremely bad frame rate until I rebooted. Apparently if you tend to have your PC on for long periods something gets strange with the frame clock and you have to reboot to fix it.

Yup. Technical issues and their fixes are mentioned in the OP.

imbiginjapan wrote:

Also Xbox One controller triggers do nothing.

They rotated the camera for me initially

I'm still playing with the remapping and getting it set up.

Downloading tonight. I'll be on my android tablet. Hope it plays well.

pyxistyx wrote:
RnRClown wrote:

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

OK, but bear in mind this is a HUGE hint/spoiler for something that happens later in the game and you DEFINITELY SHOULD NOT READ THIS if are playing for your first time...

Spoiler:

So this time around I paid a bit more attention to some of the dialogue and Master Li is one hell of an unreliable narrator during the opening section. And there are PLENTY of hints that something is not quite right with him that i'm not sure you'd pick up on first time through (or if you did, you'd probably notice it then forget about it, or put it down to bad writing).

The one that I really liked was his momentary surprise and panic at finding you outside the "trial cave" so quickly when he had clearly planned for you to be down there for a couple of days, rather than a few minutes. And the fact that he relaxes and basically goes "oh thank f*ck, something ELSE i can use to distract you with and get you out of the way" when the student shows up with word of Dawn Star going missing.

And this is all BEFORE people start commenting on your unusual fighting technique...

Question about this, and I don't mind spoilers:

Earlier, this game was described as, essentially, a re-skin of KotOR. How much of the stuff you describe is similar to the big plot point . . . you know . . .

Spoiler:

. . . that the main character is actually Darth Revan?

Played a little bit on the iPad - it runs fine but the controls are not brilliant. Then I installed the Steam version on my not-even-slightly-for-gaming laptop - it works perfectly and the controls are better, but still quite difficult. Muddled through on easy difficulty and I’m at the start of chapter 2 now. So far so good.

The first mini games were .. not what I ever expected to see in an RPG.

I got my feet wet tonight, just playing for a half hour or so.

Thoughts...

Frame rate felt a bit choppy, even with the resolution turned down some from the highest setting. I might explore a fix. (Oh, looking up I see that I might just need to reboot. I'll try that first.)

I'm pretty clumsy at fighting, but I'm hoping I'll get better. I'm trying the Master level (one above easy I think). I'm finding it a bit challenging to turn as I fight.

I'm using a controller running on Windows 8.1 and out of the box controls seem to be working fine, although I'm not sure how I access my support partners in a fight, or if that's even something I actively do, or it just happens passively.

I'm still in the early stages, starting to fight some enemies now. So far so good, nothing overly dramatic story wise, just kind of setting the stage for things to come it would seem.

I'm enjoying things so far, but am hopeful I can fix the choppiness.

EDIT: Rebooting fixed everything. Framerate is buttery smooth at the highest settings. I ended up playing for another half hour or so, and combat was much easier with the better framerate. I still am clumsy; need to improve.

Lots of fighting in this game!

LastSurprise wrote:

Earlier, this game was described as, essentially, a re-skin of KotOR. How much of the stuff you describe is similar to the big plot point . . . you know . . .

Spoiler:

. . . that the main character is actually Darth Revan?

Actually, no...

(big plot spoilers - but going from memory so I'm fuzzy on the details)

Spoiler:

So the ultimate BIG BAD of the game is your Teacher, who wants to set himself up as the new Emperor - he's already the Emperor's brother in exile, which he admits at the start of the game.

Because you are the last in the line of "spirit monks" (which the current emperor and his men slaughtered previously), in order to facilitate this plan he sets you up as a "chosen one with a destiny" and sends you off on a quest to figure out why the dead are stuck in limbo instead of passing into the underworld, but in actual fact you are mostly just a tool for helping him get what he wants. The dead are stuck because the emperor captured the water dragon and is siphoning off her power to feed his own, and your mentor plans on taking that power for himself.

At the start of the game, he engineers the slaughter of the school and village where you grew up but had arranged to make sure you were out of the way first, hidden away meditating in a trial cave for a couple of days, which is why he's so disconcerted when you suddenly reappear a few minutes later and has to figure out a plan B to keep you distracted. Then he plots his own "kidnapping" so that he can be sure you'll chase after him, eventually into a trap.

In order to make sure that you don't accidentally turn on and defeat him, when he's training you he makes sure to include a 'flaw' in your fighting style - which people comment on throughout the game - so that when the time comes he can exploit it and defeat you with no effort. Which he does, killing you about two thirds of the way through the game.

Ultimately you fight back to life through the underworld and confront him again, but THAT twist completely blew me away first time I encountered it, even more so than the Revan stuff from KOTOR

Like I say, that's going from memory, so i might be fuzzy on some of the details...it's been a while!

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

EDIT: Rebooting fixed everything. Framerate is buttery smooth at the highest settings. I ended up playing for another half hour or so, and combat was much easier with the better framerate. I still am clumsy; need to improve.

There's a replacement d3d dll floating around out there to supposedly fix this, but I tried it and it hosed my gamepad settings. I'll just have to remember to reboot before playing.

I have made it to act two. I enjoyed the conversations, the sparring, and the quests of our opening act. The tiger puzzle was also a favourite moment. It reminded me of that particular lesson in primary school.

I have grown into the combat. It's all about spacing and patience. Make use of the area of effect sweep to create space when surrounded. Back up to get a view on everyone. Strafe opponents. Focus. Focus is awesome. Having the triggers toggle left and right on targets is great.

Vertical scrolling shoot 'em up sections. What! I love this.

I passed on flame to acquire ice. Prior to this I opted for the staff rather than the sword.

I'm enjoying the story and the dialogue. The setting is also brilliant, thus far.

This is a great change of pace from anything I've played recently. Loving it.

RnRClown wrote:

I have grown into the combat. It's all about spacing and patience. Make use of the area of effect sweep to create space when surrounded. Back up to get a view on everyone. Strafe opponents. Focus. Focus is awesome. Having the triggers toggle left and right on targets is great.

This is a great change of pace from anything I've played recently. Loving it.

All these things are good to hear! I'm heading on the road for a while starting tomorrow, and still want to finish up the aptly named Pillars of Eternity before I dig into this. I'm hopeful to start in earnest towards the end of July.

I'm hoping the palate cleanse of Jade Empire can refresh Pillars of Eternity so I can pick out up again.

I did a 100% run of this years back on the Big XBox, but it's gone from memory, so I'll probably jump back in and replay this.

Yeah so combat on the iPhone is... less than ideal. Interface is not great but the bigger issue for me is that all the characters are small so I have no situational awareness and can barely see what weapons enemies have.

Still I’ll probably just lower the difficulty and soldier on for the story. If I start this on PC I’ll never finish PoE.

I had a copy of this from Xbox days, but I can't remember where it is.

Okay, so finished chapter one, and am starting to enjoy it more than I initially thought I would. Toad demon style is pretty crazy.

Oof. I'd forgotten you could change the dodge control scheme. Changing over so block + direction results in a dodge as opposed to a double tap in a direction was like popping a zit, and now I get on with the combat much better, even if there's still a couple of things about it that really gets on my nerves.

Chiefly, the fact that the heavy attack roots you to the ground in a charging animation that is so inert and can't be cancelled feels awful. Either you're fighting a mook who just stands there and takes it like a moron, or you're fighting a higher quality of enemy that wisely cancels their guard and slaps you around and now you're the moron. Nothing about the block + heavy attack dynamic feels good.

There's also usually a step back att the end of a combo regular attacks that puts your opponents *out* of range and it's always the very opposite of what I want to do.

To be more positive, I think the art direction is really good. I really dig the use of color, particualrly in Tien's Landing, and the forest area really channels guohua paintings.

And Black Whirlwind is a lot of fun.

Alien Love Gardener wrote:

Oof. I'd forgotten you could change the dodge control scheme. Changing over so block + direction results in a dodge as opposed to a double tap in a direction was like popping a zit, and now I get on with the combat much better...

Oh, that's a good idea. I was having no luck getting the double tap to work consistently. I'm going to make this switch when I get back to the game.

Alien Love Gardener wrote:

Oof. I'd forgotten you could change the dodge control scheme. Changing over so block + direction results in a dodge as opposed to a double tap in a direction was like popping a zit, and now I get on with the combat much better, even if there's still a couple of things about it that really gets on my nerves.

I made this change too, and found it made a huge difference.

I totally agree about your other combat complaints.

I get along rather well with the combat. Then again, I also gelled with the combat in The Technomancer.

Aaand the Jade Empire lies conquered, at just shy of 14 hours. I did miss a couple of things, like the Wild Flower storyline (although apparently the game thought I'd resolved it) but I was fairly thorough.

It's alright, but very slight. The combat's not very involving, there's not many decisions to make about your character build, and once you acquire the utterly ridiculous

Spoiler:

Jade Golem

style, you basically have an "I win" button. The final fight was over in less than a minute.

Decision-wise, I was the most open of palms, except for the occasional intimidation, because Closed Fist is usually just being pointlessly dickish, occasionally gesturing towards some social darwinist bullsh*t to justify it.

The characters are a decent bunch, at least conceptually, but you don't get enough time with them for many to stand out, especially since only one can tag along. It's mostly the broad ones like Black Whirlwind that stick out in that small amount of time. (It also doesn't hurt that he's linked to the Arena questline.)

It's really down to the setting to carry it, and thankfully the setting is dope as f*ck, with some really good art direction to back it up*. The reveal is pretty neat too, and I think better executed than the one in KotOR it gets compared to. Although KotOR is still a stronger game overall.

Most important decision: I shacked up with Silk Fox.

*The models could use some work though. It's not just me that thinks Dawn Star's shoulders look freaky, right? They don't belong on that torso. She looks like she's been twisted to fit an animation skeleton.

Alien Love Gardener wrote:

Decision-wise, I was the most open of palms, except for the occasional intimidation, because Closed Fist is usually just being pointlessly dickish, occasionally gesturing towards some social darwinist bullsh*t to justify it.

That's one of the things that, increasingly over time, has bothered me about RPGs with a good / evil dichotomy, especially BioWare and Obsidian's games. I've definitely enjoyed games with more nuance, as in Pillars of Eternity where you can acquire character dispositions that are not necessarily bad or good. Also, with no clear good and evil in Dragon Age 2, I loved playing an aggressive Hawke.

Oof. I'm WAY behind this time (got distracted by painting + a sudden interest in Guild Wars 2). I'm still in Spooky Forest (tm)*.

* Which actually stands up pretty well as an environment, visually and stylistically. Better looking than the town area at least.

pyxistyx wrote:

* Which actually stands up pretty well as an environment, visually and stylistically. Better looking than the town area at least.

I think you're selling Tien's Landing short, but yeah. The forest bit was where I was looking for a screenshot button for Origin. (And sadly came up short.)