Jade Empire (PC)

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Yes, that is the one. My standards are high, but that is because I need high precision, which that gamepad fails to deliver. I suppose it does not matter much in a game like Jade Empire, as you would only use the D-pad for movement, where you do not need highly accurate controls. The analog stick problem is a known one, which at least affected the first production batches.

But enough of gamepads for now, if you like, I can continue in a thread dedicated to gamepads .

 

I've been playing this recently, and I have to say I think its awesome...thats two Xbox games converted to PC that I've enjoyed...the other being Fable.

I've mastered Legendary Strike, and am working on my weapon skills...my character is focused on...well, focus lol. My next main stat being Chi. The fights are entertaining and require some semblance of skill to dodge, rather than just being hack 'n' slash. As to the story...since I haven't completed it I can't say much yet, but I am enjoying it so far and I am intrigued by some of the backstories to the companions, I actually want to talk to them and find out more about them.

I'd recommend this game to anyone

 

I downloaded it Saturday morning to give me something to do over the weekend. I played it all day and a little this morning. I'm just about to nip out and play pool, but I think I've nearly completed it already. It's a pretty wicked game, but a little short. it's the kind of game I'll probably play again though after I've finished it. My guy is wicked tough.

As far as styles go, I like to use the staff a lot because of the range. Mix it with jumping and rolling and not much can actually get close to you. For stuff like spirits and other nasties that are immune to weapons, I have maxed out White Demon. When you get maximum speed, the damage output is stupid. Thousand Cuts is OK for the first couple of levels but the short range infuriates me. That Earth thing is good too, much better than Dire Flame when you need to hit stuff from afar.

 

Great game. A bit too gloomy with all those spirits, but I know Chinese mythology is a bit like that (read some as a kid). I liked it. Hope they're going to make some in other settings... but they probably are not, not any time soon at least.

My breaking the system combo was Spirit Thief with Chi Damage turned on. Pretty much beyond anyone's ability to counter (some folks were immune, though), especially when maxed out properly. For fun, I put some points in weapons and, of course, a martial style earlier on (Legendary Strike), but most of the fun was with Spirit Thief. Magic was nice, but I don't think I bothered improving the styles.

 

Leaping Tiger? I used it for quite a while with a custom "fast" character. Pretty neat, I have to say - fast and with good reach. I accidentally messed up the romance with Her Majesty, though, so my character only got somewhere with Dawn Star. A pity; Silk Fox is one of the most well-looking female characters I've seen in a while. I have to say leaping tiger is quite solid, with a good finish of the main combo and an okay-ish power attack for finishing harmonic combos. However, at the end I was happily slashing away at everything with Kanna's two choppers (the better version; imo it makes sense even for a CF character to want to have a real fight with her.) Around the end I started pounding with Anvil... a little more cumbersome but imo somewhat better than LT. Some fights were hard (Ravager for example - this thing can draw out for ages, and when you are a weapon fighter running out of focus is bad news), but then I was never that good at fight games. Well sometimes the camera was a pain, as well, but that's something I'm almost resigned to. Overall, it was an awesome game, doubly so because I hate not having any fighting games for my trusty PC.

As for styles, I've heard people say Jade Golem is broken and I guess it is, but I never used it much (and didn't put many points in it anyway). Now, storm dragon is also a bit unfair - it costs no mana and works on most bosses. Oh, and you get it from the start. I don't know if paralyzing palm is as good, but frankly I never needed to use it. Eventually, you can catch anyone susceptible to supports in a shock-hit-shock-hit combo sequence and then it's only a matter of time. OTOH, the final boss managed to pull something like that on me as well (with a Tempest PA and then going between paralyzing palm and some other styles). I didn't use nor need a lot of magic; I chose dire flame at the start and almost never used it. I put a few points in Stone Immortal, but except for a few times I wanted to hit an enemy from range (a few), get some HP off a tough enemy or enjoy having an improvised bonsai, I didn't bother.

Now I want to check the other styles, I think I'll try it again, probably with thousand cuts and a longsword. That, or maybe I'll start a Jade Master game with my last character and have him go to the dark side, heh. However, I get the feeling that Horse Demons can get to be quite a pain. Their damage shield was annoying enough even at Master level, at Jade Master it'll be a huge PitA.

 

Having eventually started it I really like it. Controls are something to get used to and so forth, but nevertheless a great game so far. I'm playing a custom strong character.

 

Ok, I finished it, twice. The second time my char was on lvl-25 and was mainly using l'sword and white demon. In fact I found that style pretty easy to use once sped up. Wht it lacked in speed it easily made up in punch and reach. It was far more difficult for me to use thousand cuts, which I found quite effective once I eventually figured out how to control it.

Sadly it lacked some reach, but I don't like leaping tiger (those claws imo look just silly) and wanted an alternate fast style to quickly shatter enemy blocks.

For supporting techniques/ magic I used paralysing palm, storm dragon, spirit thief and stone immortal. I didn't use transformation styles at all.

Stats were (with appropiate gems) 1100-something health & chi, and 1000-something focus, approximately 300 each higher than the first time around. I nearly managed to get two of those "The Path of the..." techniques, but was 4000 or so short of silver, probably bought something useless along the way.

Great game, yet somewhat linear, but all in all a great investment of time and, considering the now pretty low price, money.

 

I just beat Jade Empire last night, and think it was well worth the time and $11 cost (but apologies, Taluntain, I forgot to Amazon it through the SP link!). Slow-going at first, but it gradually got more interesting as the game progressed. My biggest complaint -- and this is a big one -- is that they killed off Gao the Lesser way too early. He's voiced by Nathan Fillion, the captain from Firefly, and I loved the way he read his lines. When I met up with his father, I wanted to tell him that no one regretted killing his son more than me! Heck, I wanted him to join my party!

I devoted most of my points to improving my Mind/Focus and easily slow-motioned through most of the fights, especially once I finished upgrading the initial longsword style so it hardly drained any Focus points. Tonight I'll try a CF character and ignore Focus entirely, instead using Chi styles.

...I do confess, though, that I used Jade Golem to zip through a few of the boss fights. This second time around I'll resist the temptation.

 

Damn you, Grey! Quit wasting your time on games and get to writing more short stories to post on SP!

 

Priorities, Splunge, priorities...

Would it help if I said that my current evil character, "Rosewater Aimei", may make a cameo in one of my stories? The only problem with this character name is that every time I say it aloud, I immediately start singing to the tune of "Raspberry Beret".

To justify this post, I should say that the second-worst aspect of Jade Empire -- as I'm sure others agree -- is the mini-game flying. UGH! They're totally out of place and wreck the atmosphere. The first time the game really grabbed me was when you emerge from the cave after very reluctantly bidding goodbye to Gao the Lesser, and you see the bamboo bombers soar overhead. That gave me Planescape-vibes with its utter weirdness and unexpectedness. And then the game immediately RUINS the ambiance by subjecting you to a shoot-'em-up. ARRGH!

Don't get me wrong, I like those kinds of games -- I owned a TurboGrafX-16, platform-of-choice for 2D shooters -- but their inclusion strikes me as one of the worst design decisions I have yet to see.

 

The console aftertaste of Jade Empire still lingers when I see the box. A shame, such a nice story and world, such idiotic combat.

 

Idiotic combat? What didn't you like about it?

Ok granted i played it on my Xbox after it came out, but i absolutely loved the way of fighting in Jade Empire. I should get that game of the shelf some of these days, i absolutely loved that game..so perhaps i should start playing it again.

 

Yep, the combat was good. But unfortunately it lacked in difficulty, the fights were too easy. Some styles could have been balanced a bit differently as well.

 

I agree, the figths fast become easy...but still great.

 

Most of the game can be finished by pressing E and holding Shift in Spirit Thief mode.