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AramisKale's Jade Empire (XBX)
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| [January 26, 2007 10:36:45 PM]
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Often in games, one gets tired of combat as enemies spring up from nowhere and, in the case of some RPGs, a tedious and one-sided fight will ensue. This is not the case in Jade Empire, where I find myself actually longing for more combat. The design of combat is simple enough, with multiple styles to accomplish multiple goals, and the ability to combine said styles. However, while sometimes the combat feels quite epic with characters leaping and dodging and kicking, at other times, it feels rather, well, mundane or slow, and sometimes there's simply not enough of it.
The progression of the story is definitely interesting, and it's the kind of story where I can (and have) stay up much too late at night playing just so I can find out this one next element of the story, only to have that element lead me to want to learn even more. It's very hard to roleplay a mean character for me, but this time through I decided to do just that, seeking out the most cruel and rude dialogue options and solutions to problems. This game makes sure you know that there are consequences for your actions. If you are rude to a student, or call them weak, they will dislike you and that will not change unless you do something to change it (which is not always an option). Also, if you do something bad, the immediate repercussions might not be the only things you experience. For example, early in the game there is another student with a wounded leg. The merchant in town sells the kinds of herbs you need to make a healing poultice, but the old medicine man warns you that one type will heal her, and another type will only make her feel better; she will still be weak. Of course, the obvious cruel choice here is to get her the stuff that doesn't actually heal her, give it to her, lie about the price so she gives you more money than you paid, and challenge her to a bout, where she will be further wounded. Oh, and if you're really mean, later you can tell her what you did and that she should get her *own* solutions in the future. All of these actions earn you "Closed Fist" points. But, if you do this, later, when your village is under attack, the attackers will easily kill her because of her wound, and at that point you will again get closed fist points.
In my opinion, story is one of the top three most important aspects of gameplay. This game has an excellent story; the writing is incredible. Though some of the dialogue is a little campy, there are a number of very funny exchanges. However, the overarching story dwarfs everything else about this game and keeps one pretty engrossed the whole time. More than once while playing this game I would exclaim "I can't beleive that just happened! That was awesome!" or even better, I would just stare dumbfounded at the TV as something totally unexpected and awesome unfolded before me. The adaptability of substories to the character's actions, including love interests with followers, reputation in towns, etc, makes this game flow so well and have so much to do that I really can just go on and on about how great it is.
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| [January 26, 2007 08:46:55 PM]
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I thoroughly enjoy this game. It's a good kind of RPG in the fashion of Knights of the Old Republic, only it's set in an Asian type atmosphere. The ability to make moral decisions and have them affect the world is a great part of this kind of game.
Instead of having "Good" and "Evil" as the two paths, there is "the way of the Open Palm" and "the way of the Closed Fist" and neither is ever proclaimed to be evil (though being a jerk is a great way to follow the closed fist).
The first allied character, Dawn Star, is somewhat annoying, and I found myself skipping most of her dialogue after reading the subtitles, but later characters are excellent additions. Also, many have incredible names, like "Bladed Thesis".
Combat is simple if you want it to be, but the rewards of making complex sequences are impressive and well worth it. The only gripe I could offer is that sometimes it feels like combat is moving slowly at the beginning of the game, but by the end you can be making lightning fast strikes to dazzle your enemies and onlookers alike. I recommend using "Thousand Cuts" or "Legendary Strike" styles, because they are faster, and, naturally, cooler.
The game has a fairly standard RPG beginning, what with the whole "You are a student or learner and all of a sudden your world is upended", but the rest of the game becomes far more original and amazing.
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AramisKale's Jade Empire (XBX)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Thursday 25 January, 2007
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