From all Bioware games, Jade Empire always seem the most interesting to me, at least in the term of setting. I don't think we have enough games inspired by Chinese or any other Asian country mythologies. Great video as always!
Thank you! 😊 It’s interesting, but extremely flawed. I’d want to tell people it’s worth playing just for the setting, but I can’t - the combat and the alignment system are just too janky
Hey man, thanks for the kind words and support! I actually came across your channel a while back, first in the wild and then on Grimbeard's discord. I loved your Shady Knight video!
In a way, the fact that it develops the setting and atmosphere so well ends up magnifying the gameplay problems; it's harder to overlook lacklustre combat in a genre where martial arts are so central.
I have played this game waaaaaay too many times for my habit to be classified as an addiction, but I did have frustrations with the combat; HOWEVER, the combat pays off once you learn how to chain certain styles together. I believe the combat is clunky because they wanted interchangeable styles that you could link together to cause massive damage, and they didn't have a good way of making that happen. Keep in mind as well, that they weren't using any of the modern gaming engines such as the ones Batman Arkham Asylum or Mass Effect used. Finally, this game is meant to tell a story. If you're an individual coming into the game with thoughts of playing some kick ass action and not with the mindset of exploring the world, then it's going to be rather disappointing.
I have replayed that game at least 50 times over the course of the years, even though is a really old game it has been the only game that has garnered my attention to that point with its world setting and writing alone. As far as the combat is concerned, i always assumed it was an artifact of the story, since a long the whole campaign it is mention that your fighting style seems broken and unusual. I mean, not so far into the game you are already throwing hands with ghosts and demons, while at the same time it is supposed you have been training your whole life up to that point, so it kind of made sense.
That part about the MCs fighting style being “off”, it was indeed very clever and it paid off later in the story. I don’t think it justifies the quality of the combat from a mechanical perspective, but I like your take nonetheless. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I love this game still always check for a part two idk for me the combat fit the time it came out the story is one of favorite video game stories ever it could of easily been a movie
The combat was really a sore spot for me. Like, I’d find myself enjoying the story and dialogue and vibe and shit and then I’d remember I have to fight ghost #6873 and deal with the clunky camera
@@thesummerofmark yea true an the difficulty didn’t scale well I think I was able to bare with it cause I played Avent Rising omg that game combat was terrible but I loved the story lmao
@@deraelevans222 I’ve never played Advent Rising, but I saw Mandalore’s vid on it. Might try it out in the future, it seems to have the kind of jank I love
I was really fascinated by the game for many years, but like you pointed out it was an Xbox game for a long time. Then it finally came to PC and I didn't even get past the intro zone :)) Once more, I am so thankful I get to see a game through your eyes. You had me bursting at the seems with: "dope ass celestial excel formula" :))))
Thanks for the kind words Mihai, glad you enjoyed the video. The joke about celestial excel formulas came to me in the middle of the night. Good thing I pulled out my phone and wrote it down, it seems like a lot of people got a kick out of it haha
Multumesc mult pentru suport si pentru cuvintele frumoase, n-ai idee cat de mult inseamna pentru mine! Mesajele de genul asta imi reamintesc ca exista oameni care-mi apreciaza munca si ma motiveaza sa continui 😊
Jade Empire didn't fail because it was a "new idea", it failed because it wasn't a very good rpg. Mechanically speaking, Jade Empire had ZERO depth, it was an action adventure game with very little rpg elements. This for a studio that built their entire legacy on in-depth rpgs was just bizarre.
Hey man. Big improvement vs old videos of yours. Writing, delivery, the accent is a bit less balkan, big improvements. The edit is top (but then again, editing was awesome from the start). Keep it up. Also, as a fellow romanian trying to start a channel much like yours (since early 2020) but never having the courage to do so, all I can say is kudos and hope you stick to it and grow this mofo channel into something big
Hey Radu, thank you for the kind words and honest feedback, you have no idea how much it means to me! Glad to hear you’re seeing improvements in the writing and narration department, especially in the latter. VOs are a constant uphill battle for me. Some words/sounds I just can’t pronounce correctly on account of not being a native speaker, and also because I usually record after work when I’m tired. Doing my best tho. That’s why I’m so happy when I hear I’ve made progress. As for your channel, I get it. While I can’t give you any advice, what I can say is that the first video is the hardest. Once you drop that bad boy and you actually see your opinions out there for everybody to hear, it becomes easier and easier. I say give it a try and make your first videos unlisted just so you have a psychological buffer until you build up enough courage to make them public. Worst case scenario, you nuke them and nobody’s the wiser lmao. Again, thanks for the kind words and cya around!
I'm pretty sure they only registered a few lines for the made-up language and reused them from every npc. They are so lifeless because they basically had no contest for the lines and were intentionally kept generic.
There is apparently a mod that makes the game's combat better (Jade Empire in Style), but i've only played vanilla and only made to around the half point before getting bored
I’ve seen people mentioning it around, but I’m not really into mods, especially those that alter the gameplay (even for the better). The only game I’ve modded extensively is Mount and Blade Warband
ok scratch that, I just finished the video. THis shit is just asian kotor. Looks good tho, that isn't a bad thing. I liked the video, I hope you continue.
Thanks for the kind words, I’m happy you enjoyed the video! I wouldn’t necessarily call it “asian KOTOR”, but yeah, it’s pretty close. Also nice catch with the head movements lol. I usually notice this stuff - in my Dark Messiah video I mention how Arkane recycled a lot of its animations for Dishonored - but this one slipped by me haha
@@TheRedMenaceProductions Singaporean Chinese here! Played the heck out of this game back then particularly with the Jade Empire in Style mod. Putting aside the whole "representation" thing (It does feel good to play a game built by a developer that does their cultural homework) I did play this right after finishing Kotor for the first time and whie the familiarity of how things felt (dialog, head animations, even how Tho Fan kinda feels like Twi'leki at times lol) felt like "more of the same, but a different flavour" which honestly isnt a bad thing at all. I'm with the OP on combat though. I do believe weapons make the game a cheese fest and there isn't any reason beyond curiosity to try different styles. (Leaping Tiger, Dire Flame, Longsword, and Storm Dragon were my go tos) The elemental stuff could have been fleshed out more (taking and dishing more damage for equipped opposing element, etc), and perhaps matrial styles also could have done chip damage to stamina, or even stun after a complete combo since taking hits realistically will take a little out of you. That would have provided an incentive to switch to a martial style to stun a weapon user before switching out to a weapon to follow up for maximum damage. Things like that could have handily elevated the combat to it's full potential.
