Jade Empire Retrospective | An Extremely Comprehensive Critique and History

i don't know about you but when i think of bioware  almost everything falls into two pretty neat eras   in my mind there's the early computer stuff  bowder's gate and neverwinter nights monstrously   huge computer rpgs that won massive acclaim for  replicating the world of dungeons and dragons   to an almost perfect level then later on you've  got the console stuff knight's the old republic   mass effect and dragon age which is where i jobbed  on board i'd always loved rpgs but never had a   pc i could game on so when bioware brought the  experience into the living room streamlined for   controllers pumped full of exciting narrative  and engaging combat i was absolutely hooked i   used to count down the minutes at school until i  could get home and return to the world of jedis   and wookies or trade theories with my friends  about who was indoctrinated and who wasn't in   the mass effect world sadly the studio has fallen  on slightly harder times recently in no small part   because of the massive commercial and critical  failure of anthem and mass effect andromeda   still there aren't many other studios who  can claim to have consistently made such an   impact on the video game landscape they're at the  same time responsible for not only codifying what   we would expect from the niche world of crpgs huge  worlds to explore hundreds of side quests huge   depth in character creation but also defining what  aaa console rpgs would look like with gripping   cinematic narratives and a hugely appealing  mixture of customization and fast-paced action   it's totally reasonable to say that without  bowdersgate there's no divinity or disco-elysium   and without dragon age there's  no dragon's dogma or witcher 3.   it's hefty praise but it got me thinking  considering how huge the gulf between pc and   console gaming was until only very recently you'd  be forgiven for being confused as to just how a   studio renowned for making complicated text-heavy  mouse and keyboard games managed to transition   into the controller-driven fast-paced and flashy  world of console development so seamlessly   well to answer that question simply and bluntly  they didn't today we're going to look at the   proverbial missing link in the bioware back  catalogue a game that tells the story of a studio   striking out and trying something new but sadly  ending up ultimately forgotten an important but   lost stepping stone in their transformation  from niche developer to global mega studio   this is jade empire and we're going  to look at why it never got a sequel while it seems obvious now that a studio creating  hit after hit in the pc market would eventually   want to take a piece of the much larger home  console pie the roots of bioware switch from   former to lata actually start with a huge  transition they underwent before jade empire   was even in development bioware's original  classic masterpieces were balder's gate   and neverwinter nights which took the dungeons  and dragons world created by wizards of the coast   and successfully replicated it on pc monitors  with keyboard and mice instead of pen and paper   i could talk for hours about just how good  bowdersgate is and i've already edited out   more waffling praise than i care to admit but for  the purpose of this video just take it from me   that baudusgate is an incredible mixture of depth  complexity excitement and replayability they did   such a fantastic job replicating the world and  feel of dungeons and dragons that they attracted   the eye of another media giant who despite having  multiple hit video games to its name already   wanted something that took influence from  this sprawling role-playing phenomenon   in 2000 lucasarts contacted bioware about giving  them the much sought after star wars license   and letting them loose on the world  of jedi's bounty hunters and wookies   obviously bioware jumped at the chance to create  the first ever star wars rpg with ceo dr greg   ziescherk saying they were honored to be working  with the extremely talented folks at lucasarts   developing a role-playing game based on one  of the most high-profile licenses in the world   for a studio that had exclusively worked  in the niche world of dungeons and dragons   it was a chance to evolve from a big fish in  a small pond to a real oceanic heavy hitter   lucasarts wanted many of the same things that  bioware had delivered for dungeons and dragons   a huge world to explore a gripping and creative  story to drive the game forwards and fleshed out   characters who players would be interested  in the difference however was that there are   some inherent demands that working on a star wars  game brings which are very different to the slow   paced role playing of baldur's gay for starters  the game would naturally have to be shorter and   simpler than the hundreds of hours of complex  gameplay that badass gate 1 and 2 represented   might seem odd to say in the age of steam and  xbox game pass but back in the 90s and 2000s   there was a sort of unwritten rule that pc games  were generally more complicated and ambitious than   their console counterparts while console gamers  enjoyed final fantasy and dragon quest pc gamers   were sinking their teeth into deus ex planescape  torment and fallout which meant bioware had to aim   for something slightly more accessible than they  had previously made a more streamlined experience   was also necessary as on top of the expected pc  version bioware were also going to be developing   for microsoft's fledgling xbox console which had  been released in 2001 project lead casey hudson   when asked about the decisions in an interview  in 2003 said they decided on the xbox primarily   because of its architecture being similar  to that for pc meaning that they could work   their in-house engine the aurora engine without  needing massive changes to how they developed   on top of this the xbox didn't have a major rpg  out yet so bios saw an opportunity to release a   hugely anticipated game with a massively popular  license onto a surprisingly successful new console   finally lucasarts and bioware both agreed that  the game needed to match the cinematic ambitions   of the movies that the rpg would be based on this  meant taking the world building in depth of their   previous games and combining it with fast-paced  combat stylish cutscenes and a cinematic story   something which according to hudson hadn't been  done in the industry before it was a premise that   was not only exciting for the video game media  but also the development team at bioware as long   as they hit these criteria they were essentially  given free reign to make whatever game they wanted   and z shack says at the time we felt like we had  the freedom to create something truly wonderful   frankly that excitement and passion shows in the  game knights the old republic when it finally   released in 2002 was an enormous success garnering  over 40 game of the year awards and has gone on to   be remembered as one of the best games of all time  all of the ambition that bioware had is realized   perfectly and it's become one of the most  revered parts of the star wars franchise   in fact it remains the only non-film pre-disney  story to be kept as part of the post disney canon   which just shows its relentless popularity not  only with rpg fans but average joe star wars   fans and everyday gamers but this is a video  about jade empire right not knight's the old   republic while ico republic was the sort of  success that most developers can only dream of   there was actually one element which prevented it  from being a complete success in the minds of the   bioware leadership it was someone else's property  and bioware wanted to be known for making original   worlds it meant that much to most people's  surprise their next game would not be a   follow-up to their star wars role-playing super  hit but would instead be a completely new and   completely original video game set in a world  designed by bioware themselves moving on from   being that company that makes amazing games out  of other people's ideas was the final step in   bioware's grand evolution and jade empire was  going to be the game that made it all possible   in an interview with computeranvideogames.com  senior producer on jade empire dermot clark talks   about how the idea for jade empire had actually  been knocking around at bioware for over 10 years   it's one of those ideas that was there at  the beginning of the company we had to wait   for the technology to get to the point where we  could make it the guys here are huge kung fu and   chinese action flick fans we've wanted to make  an action-oriented adventure rpg with chinese   historical influences for a long time while  there's no written confirmation of this i think   it's pretty easy to imagine that the leadership  at bioware felt that they had earned enough credit   with their fan base and rpg fans in general  to be able to position something totally new   while their previous games are all  riding on the back of a famous license   it wasn't like their fans had jumped [ __ ]  when they switched from dungeons and dragons   to star wars which realistically are quite  different properties with different appeals   clark continues in the interview one of the things  the designers were looking forward to the most   was not having the restrictions of a license  just being able to do anything you want and know   that you're not contravening the rules or someone  else's idea of how it should all go it's very cool on top of it being good timing for the studio  itself it also seemed like the ideal time to   launch a video game influenced by martial  arts and mythological china in december 2000   crouching tiger hidden dragon had come out  to unexpected critical and financial success   which led to an explosion of interest in chinese  action cinema martial arts movies had always had a   niche appeal in the west with the movies of bruce  lee and jackie chan being seen as something for   teenage nerds rather than something which could be  nominated for 10 academy awards and sell millions   of tickets worldwide with its beautiful visuals  mystic story and highly choreographed fight scenes   crouching tiger hidden dragon changed all of  that and paved the way for films like house   of the flying daggers hero and kung fu hustle  to make huge impact outside of eastern cinema   so we had a studio with a fantastic track record  finally able to put together their dream project   and what seemed like a market pride for more  dramatic rpg goodness the idea was to take the   bones of night seal republic and mix them with  real-time kung fu influence combat all while   building a completely new original setting that  could stand toe-to-toe with the likes of star wars   and dungeons and dragons it was a dangerous  tight rope to warg but one that the bioware   development team were just as excited about  as they had been during their last big gamble   jade empire eventually released in april 2005 and  got pretty great reviews from the gaming media an   ar10 from eurogamer an 8 out of 10 from gamespot  with david clayman of ign describing it as   the best rpg of the year if not the best game of  the year full stop it's currently sitting at an 89   out of 100 on metacritic which considering  it was bioware's second ever console game   ain't bad okay it's not quite the 40 game of  the year awards that knights the oral public got   but for something with zero brand appeal it's  pretty damn good going the bioware leadership   were on cloud nine dream project completed now  just to let the benjamins and acclaim roll in   only there was an ever so slight spanner in the  works it sold badly like really really badly here   in the uk it debuted at number seven on the charts  and had fallen out of the charts completely by the   third week of release by the end of 2007 two years  after release jade empire had only sold a poultry   450 000 copies worldwide which when compared to  night seal republic had sold 1.3 million copies   in the us alone in the same time frame it was  an absolutely huge disappointment for bioware   the series was quietly moved on from and luckily  for bioware their next game mass effect which   was another attempt at a new ip would go on to  be their biggest game yet and propel bioware   back to the top of the video game industry but  why did this first attempt a new ip so lovingly   put together by a passionate studio fail so  completely despite getting fantastic reviews as is sadly the way in the video game industry  often forces outside of the development studio   can have a huge effect on a game's success without  even discussing a second of gameplay narrative   or art design there are a few major factors  we need to talk about that meant jade empire   was struggling before it even hit the shelves the  largest of these and the one that's actually been   acknowledged by bioware executives since is that  they really screwed up the launch pretty badly   due to how successful the development  of night seal republic had been   and the increased pressure from having to develop  a completely new setting bioware had committed to   releasing jade empire on the original xbox in  order to simplify development it makes sense   your staff already have the skills and you've  already got most of the kit just make another   game in broadly the same way easy right  well there was a big unforeseen downside   by the time it was actually finished and ready to  be shipped jade empire ended up releasing deep in   the graveyard shift of the xbox's life in mid-2005  just as the much-hyped xbox 360 was scheduled to   release it men consumers were much less likely  to spend money on something not only unfamiliar   but also old looking and were much more likely to  save their money for the flashy next generation   jade empire wasn't actually the only  new ip to suffer from this phenomenon   within the same two-month period in 2005  both psychonauts and advent rising both of   which were completely new ips that released a  great reviews sold really poorly dr greg ziesha   said this launch window mistake was his only  regret from his time at the helm of the company   i think making jade empire a 360 launch title  would have been massive it reminds me of what's   going on right now with analysts saying that game  sales are down because people are waiting for new   consoles and we released jade empire into that  kind of window in retrospect it would have been   great to put it off a bit and polish the game  a bit more in addition to launching in a really   difficult window jade empire was always facing  an uphill battle when it came to convincing xbox   owners to dive in with its aesthetic and setting  when you look at the top 20 selling games on the   xbox original despite how varied it is there's  actually a common theme connecting a lot of them   it was a system that really catered towards a more  mature western audience with a lot of shooters   sports games and military inspired franchises in  fact the only games in a more rpg or fantasy style   were fable and morrowind which while they are  both absolutely fantastic games they benefited   from absolutely massive marketing campaigns and  online hype which jade empire sadly didn't the   ad campaign that did the rounds on network tv was  frankly awful the spots are only 15 seconds long   and barely really even sure what the game is it's  just short random clips from the game along with   a voiceover talking dramatically about the soul  of the jade empire it really shows that bioware   without a huge publisher or licensing partner  just didn't have the cash to create the sort   of industry buzz that lionhead and bethesda  were able to do in partnership with microsoft   it was a lot to ask of the average gamer in the  early years of mass internet media remember this   was still in the age of brick and mortar shops  where it was really common to have no idea what   a game was actually like until you bought it and  put it into your system problem was that people   saw jade empire on the shelves didn't really  know what it was and therefore didn't buy it   now this is pure enough speculation but i think  that also maybe wasn't the audience that bioware   imagined for a game influenced by martial  arts films and historical chinese literature   while crouching tiger hidden dragon  in the house of the flying daggers   had brought that aesthetic and  style to the west in a big way   the world of cinema and video games were  very different arenas in the early 2000s   for example in his review of crouching tiger  for the guardian in 2000 peter bradshaw writes   anglee's achievement is to reconnect to the  genre with its innate latent sense of decorum   and romance qualities that have historically  been ignored or treated unintelligently   essentially these were movies that weren't just  exciting kung fu epics but they were seen as art   that appealed to more traditional film buffs if  i can don my film fanatic hat for a second let me   illustrate this by showing you the famous chess  courtyard fight between jet li and donnie yen   from the film hero it's a masterfully  choreographed beautiful battle between two   martial arts actors at the absolute peak of their  careers it's a sumptuous mixture of musical cues   interesting cinematography and incredible  fast-paced martial arts it's literally impossible   to watch this scene and not be completely absorbed  in the world of inhuman martial arts combat   it meant that the films had a  very broad potential fan base   yes a lot of people enjoyed them for the precise  and complex fight scenes but they had equal   amounts of admirers praising the fairy tale tone  the fantastic acting or the lush cinematography   it did however mean that people who saw ang lee's  oscar winner wouldn't necessarily look twice a   jade empire simply because they shared the same  aesthetic to these people jade empire was about   as similar to crouching tiger hidden dragon as  more combat or shinobi on the sega mega drive were   bioware were used to being able to rely on  a certain amount of sales via association if   you like dungeons and dragons you'll probably  like neverwinter nights if you like star wars   you'll probably like knight's seal republic  the same can't really be said for crouching   tiger hidden dragon and an action  rpg set in an original wuxia world jade empire was never going to be able to  capture the same wide appeal as its influences   so it was already destined to be a niche cult  classic at best but when paired with the launch   window and the lack of marketing push it  really seems like jade empire was doomed   before anyone had even played a second of it  but the thing is a poor launch a niche appeal   hasn't stopped other franchises from slowly  building a reputation based on word of mouth alone   a quality game rarely ends up hidden forever  especially in the era of youtube and social media   and there are a whole host of video games that  have been released to middling reception only to   eventually become classics the perfect example  of this is actually a game i mentioned earlier   psychonauts which was so beloved by its fans it's  so upheld as a hidden gem that it's now actually   getting a sequel almost 20 years after originally  released it's the wonderful thing about video game   discussion leaving magazines and media companies  and being reborn on youtube and on social media   there's nothing stopping you from making  a video extolling the virtues of that   amazing game that nobody else knows about and  contributing to the buzz even 15 years later   so jade empire initially sold badly because of  a poorly planned launch and some unfortunate   assumptions about its potential popularity but  that only answers the question as to why it didn't   sell well initially if it was really as good as  its review said it was wouldn't word of mouth   eventually spread along with cause for a sequel  where's the psychonauts-esque movement to get a   sequel made especially in the modern internet era  where interest can be directly measured in views   and likes the answer lies in the game itself and  how its smash reviews don't actually paint the   full picture of what it's like to play through  jade empire we're going to split our analysis in   half first up the things that jade empire does  well after all it must have done something to   earn those fantastic reviews and all those game of  the year nods secondly we're gonna dive deep into   the guts of the game and look at why ultimately  enough went wrong to kill any calls for a sequel jade empire really is a game that puts its best  foot forward as the star of the show is the   empire itself in almost every single interview  about its development bioware developers speak   about just how important creating a new world  was to them and how launching a completely new   ip would only work if people really felt  interested and connected to the setting   as with any rpg worth its soul they live  and die on their story and their world   so jade empires had to be good fortunately  it's pretty great the game takes place entirely   within the borders of the empire and despite  containing most of the typical rpg locations   monster filled caves towns for the quests and a  bustling multi-staged imperial city at the center   it also contains some really unusual and  inventive locations for the player to explore   you visit an imperial palace that floats high in  the clouds an ever-present symbol of the power   of the emperor over his people which can only be  reached by expensive flying machines you'll enroll   in fighting schools that sit deep in the mountains  picking sides between factions of students   and fighting your way up the ranks you discuss  philosophy and drink tea in the tranquil scholars   garden engaging in debates with travelers from  all across the world you even eventually visit the   astral plane of the gods and converse with spirits  who keep the world turning a huge amount of work   was put into the art design of the game to help it  realize the ambition of the world builders with a   particular focus placed on making sure jade empire  stood out from the legions of european medieval   role-playing games art director matt goldman in  an interview with gamespot in 2004 described how   virtually every era of chinese history was drawn  upon to create the unique aesthetic of jade empire   sun period monumental landscapes provide a model  for the ideal landscape tang period green style   paintings are a model for the ideal color palette  i think we have a particularly nice homage to the   huang shan area shang and zoo period bronze was  used to represent an ancient lost civilization   it all comes together to create a game that really  tries to push the xbox into a look that wasn't   really found on any other game on the system vast  mountainside vistas sprawl around cloudy temples   and the wind housing cavernous imperial tombs  when matt goldman says i think the art direction   was pretty decent he's doing his team a discredit  if the main appeal of playing rpgs is to see the   imagination of creative people in full swing jade  empire definitely hits that mark and it's not just   the visuals either something else i'm a huge fan  of is that the setting definitely avoids a lot   of the cliches that often come hand in hand with  an imperial fantasy setting for stars the world   of jade empire is generally speaking peaceful  land to live in most of the epic wars have been   fought by kings and soldiers many generations  ago the empire exists essentially unchallenged   threats and danger are usually confined to a  local level maybe a pirate group is raiding a   town managing to escape the local police force or  a tea house has been taken over by a scam artist   it might make it feel like the stakes are low  and unexciting but in my opinion it creates   a nice sense of realism how often were the  large empires of history really under threat   on the cusp of mass war or upheaval it's actually  very unique to create an rpg in an imperial   setting and ask the question who's good and who's  bad when the kingdom's at peace on top of this   the law and magic of the world is actually a fair  bit more interesting than it looks on the surface   this isn't just a kung fu world of rice farmers  and wandering merchants unlike more typical   fantasy settings monsters are much more than  simple enemies to be killed in combat it's a world   where it's totally normal to see spirits roaming  around to encounter demons or heavenly creatures   both of which have their own agendas which  don't necessarily line up with the world of man   the balance between spirit and human world is  actually the main focus of much of the story what   happens to the human world when spirits can't get  to the afterlife that being said it's not solely   rooted in fantasy magic you meet inventors keen  to bring industry and machinery into the world   creating flying machines that allow trade and  transport around the vast distances of the empire   an arms race rages between criminal and  governmental factions both battling to   amass the most powerful ships or harness the  power of ancient golems commerce and economics   is a huge concern for the ruling administrators  with the acquisition of wealth never presented as   something holy good or evil money corrupts people  but it also lifts the peasants of the empire out   of poverty it never devolves into the obvious  technology versus spiritual which has plagued   so many fantasy stories throughout the years it's  simply a world where these things exist in tandem   yes ghosts exist but also flying machines  this refusal to be drawn into moralistic   debate is actually one of the world's  big strengths there's very little good   and evil just people creatures trying to make  their way in the world which brings me onto one of jade empire's strongest elements is its  approach to video game morality and bioware's   attempts to break the good and evil system that  have helped cement with knight seal republic   for those not in the know knight seal republic  simulated being on the light or dark side of the   force by giving the player constant dialogue  choices to make which represented either side   a beggar asks for money and you can either  give him money or help with his issue   giving you light side points or beat him and  take his money giving you dark side points   the system is actually much more than a tool  to give flavor to the dialogue though with   abilities being gated behind certain light or dark  thresholds and large story moments that would play   out differently depending on where your loyalties  lay it was a fantastic system that has essentially   become the de facto video game morality system but  it wasn't without its problems the issue is that   presenting all morality is either objectively  good or bad is pretty cartoonishly absurd   it's fine for a setting like star wars where  good guys are saints and bad guys are literally   the devil but maybe it doesn't work when trying  to make a game that wants to tackle some heftier   questions bioware really wanted to refine the  system further and add more depth to the decisions   that the player had to make designer kevin  martin when talking to ign described it like this   what's evil to one person is practical to  another what's clearly the right thing to   do to one group of people is purely evil to  another the player is presented with these   competing views on what is right and what is wrong  all the time and must often choose between them   the player often has a chance to explain or  give reasons for his choices and how those   actions are justified reveals what side of the  philosophical fence the individual falls on i think the best example of this design  philosophy being used a fantastic effect   is during a quest called the scientist which  happens during the midpoint of the game   while exploring the imperial necropolis you  discover a doctor called mad when z whose daughter   is dying of a degenerative liver disease within  the empire itself medicine isn't really practice   and instead people are nursed back to health  by chi healers when z claims to know how to   take the organs of a healthy person and replace  those of the sick thus curing them essentially   discovering organ transplants in the world of the  jade empire though desecrating a body like this is   seen as completely wrong it prevents that person  from reaching the spirit world if their body is   incomplete which has led mad wendy to being cast  out by his peers but now his daughter is dying   and he begs you to help him break this taboo in  order to save her life sounds like an interesting   premise to a bog standard fetch quest but actually  the game gives you a huge amount of different ways   to tackle the problem largely depending on how  you personally feel about the doctor's situation   sitting in a world of advanced medicine in 2021  you might be tempted to think well the jade empire   wrong for being against transplants let's go  get the liver and save the girl but remember   spirits are very much real in this world  maybe taking apart a body really would prevent   some innocent person from reaching the afterlife  which again does very much exist in this game of   course the game also gives you an option to take  the liver from a recently zombified nobleman   who by all accounts was a pretty awful person  so who cares if he never reaches eternity right   well when you actually meet him you're given  the option to try and convince him to give it   up on his own and redeem himself of his evil ways  saving two souls in theory but potentially damning   both of them you could just take the liver by  force but doing this taints it leading to the   operation not going correctly forcing the player  into making a decision between saving the doctor   who might have discovered a procedure which could  save many others lives or honoring his request   to do everything possible to save his daughter it  doesn't even end there if none of the above sound   like the right decision to you you're actually  able to discover a second doctor who intrigued by   the idea of the procedure and similarly outcast  by the medical community will agree to perform   the operation in this instance however the doctor  is forced to give up his own liver dying to save   his daughter but preventing any innocence  from being killed or harmed in the process   it's the stuff of role-playing dreams and is so  beautifully orchestrated to give the player a   sense of real decision-making ultimately you're  just rewarded with xp points regardless of the   route you take but it gives a real opportunity  to feel like you're making actual decisions   and not just choosing between ludicrously  saintly and cartoonishly villainous the idea of moral ambiguity isn't something  simply confined to quests though it's actually   woven into the world building in a really unique  way that wasn't at all common in rpgs at the time   the empire itself is consistently presented  as both a force for good and evil and never   really comes to any true conclusions about  if its existence is a good or bad thing for   the citizens who live within it one of the main  quest hubs during the first half of the game is   the lakeside town of tien's landing a formerly  booming trading outpost which unfortunately   collapsed into poverty during the great  drought which was a cataclysmic drought which   devastated the empire's agriculture and caused  thousands of people to starve emperor sun high   the current ruler was actually able to end the  great drought with the mystery of exactly how he   did this central to the plot of the main game the  issue for the people of tien's landing was that   in order to get this new source of water to them  it necessitated creating a new dam which would   divert water over the location of the old town the  empire put up money for a new town to be created   for the citizens to move into but of course some  people refused to move unable to believe that that   all-loving hero of an emperor would do anything  like destroying the homes that their families   had lived in for generations eventually the water  was diverted and tien's landing which you spend   a good few hours questing in was born anew while  the town's people were saved and given new homes   tien's landings struggled to return to its former  glory the scars of those who are left behind   haunting the rebuilding process metaphorically and  literally with horrible ghosts attacking anyone   who gets too close to the old town considering  this is just the background to the second town you   end up in around an hour into the game it's really  quite amazing how tied into the central concept of   different versions of morality it is the ghosts  see themselves as victims betrayed by the emperor   to create his grand municipal project it's hard  not to sympathize with them considering they're   just simple farming folk who served the empire  dutifully on the other hand they were given   ample warning and resources to make their move  so is the empire really to blame while dealing   with the bureaucrats who run tien's landing you  discover that the empire tends to send its least   capable servants out to the borderlands preferring  to keep the most effective administrators working   in the developed heartland it means that simple  incompetence might have harmed the evacuation   process maybe the arguments about leaving old  tien's landing weren't made strongly enough   or force wasn't used when it maybe it should  have it's a million miles from the expectations   we usually have of a fantasy role-playing setting  where town's issues are largely black and white   and are generally resolved by killing some monster  or retrieving some lost artifact while the player   can choose to leave tien's landing in a much  better state than they discover it ultimately the   fate of the town and how it moves on from its past  is beyond the power of a kung fu master to resolve   you can take out pirates and uncover fraud but  you can't stop generations of ingrained bitterness   it's a strikingly realistic take on a fantasy  world and the way it uses ambiguous morality   to paint a picture of a world full of nuance  is absolutely one of the main reasons to play   jade empire that's not to say it operates at  this higher level throughout the whole game   but i'm yet to see any other aaa console  rpgs really attempt to be as human or   realistic with the choices they ask you to  make if there is anything underrated about   bioware's kung fu epic it's definitely  this nuanced take on right and wrong something i really like about how jade empire  is written is that it isn't afraid to balance   out all these deep questions with just some good  old-fashioned silliness because jade empire is a   fairly short game by rpg standards they could so  easily have just copied the serious tones of the   films and books that inspired the main quest  producing a game that's incredibly serious and   leans completely on the darker side of their world  all ghosts and murder and betrayal now don't get   me wrong that's a completely valid way to write  a story and there's an entire market for grim   dark fantasy stories that pile misery on top of  misery but jade empire is much better for its more   varied tone and a lot of the light-hearted moments  are some of the most memorable parts of the game   it doesn't get much more light-hearted than  casting john cleese of monty python and fully   towers fame as a wandering conquistador who's  challenging the scholars of the imperial city   to prove that they aren't savages it could so  easily be another moral discussion about the   differences between a western imperial society  and an eastern imperial society but what a waste   of john cleese that would be instead sir roderick  debates people by getting drunk insulting people's   way of life and using an outlandishly huge rifle  to blow apart anyone who tries to move him on   the whole thing is just absurd he's got a slice  of cheese stitched to his chest and has taken a   squire who he's renamed percival apparently much  better off now as he was previously just planting   weeds in the mud and not wearing proper trousers  what's particularly funny is that the scholars are   so thrown off by his gaudy behavior that they're  willing to try all manner of strategies to get   him to leave you actually originally discover the  issue by being insulted by someone in the street   if you respond angrily he'll let you know  that he was sent out to insult random people   and find someone who wouldn't accept being  slandered apparently the scholars thought this was   the ideal way to find someone who could actually  debate sir roderick some of the insults he throws   at you are just so hilariously weird you have an  incredible physique you must be an impoverished   peasant as a nobleman could afford sloth it's  just hilarious that these are the insults that   the stuffy and upright scholars think would really  rile people up after confronting the outlander sir   roderick claims he's grown tired of debates  with people who can't grow proper mustaches   and agrees that he'll leave but only if you  can properly outweigh him in a battle of ideas   and best him in a physical contest your silly  dances and slaps versus his gun of course   the debate itself is actually quite clever  puzzle rather than a legitimate debate   there are five judges and depending on the tone  of the answer you give different judges will   switch to supporting either you or roderick you  can't convince everyone with every answer so it's   about making sure that the answers you give don't  convert too many judges against you you can work   out which judges like which answers by speaking  to them beforehand but it's actually a pretty   tough puzzle i had to try it quite a few times  and make notes to refer to which is something i   didn't expect from a kung fu rpg when you finally  put the smackdown on sir roderick he reveals that   not only does he have to leave but under the  duchess of ulms bottom's rules of engagement he   now has to give you a gift you've got the choice  of a few things but honestly who wouldn't take   the massive gun which is as hilariously unwieldy  as it looks borderline useless in actual combat   but just hilarious that it's even there as  an option the whole scenario is just great   use of john cleese who's perfectly cast as the  hyper-arrogant invader who's completely unaware   of how rude he's being it's got to be up there  with the greatest video game cameos of all time   my personal favorite weird moment is a quest  you can get just before things start to become   really relentlessly serious in the second half  of the game while wandering the streets of the   capital you can become embroiled in a tricky  situation thanks to a distressed playwright   in short he's written a historical play that's  being performed later on but unfortunately it's   caught the attention of the lotus assassins who  consider the content of the play to be seditious   a disgruntled actor has rewritten the play  to be a satire of the origins of the empire   rather than a drama about the human condition  now the quest is really sad for the player to   have to make a moral choice do they perform  the players it was rewritten endangering the   performing troop but raising the curtain on the  injustices of the empire or do they change the   lines back and save the livelihood of the  actors but at the cost of your integrity   an interesting choice only there's a third option  you can instead choose to completely derail the   play ad-libbing your own lines some of which are  pretty damn funny you can claim to be psychic   that the expansion of the empire was halted  because of boredom or just give completely   wrong lines altogether it's funny because giving  the goofy answers actually works as a resolution   the lowest assassins just leave confused about why  anyone would want to watch such a terrible play   sparing the lives of the performers but vowing  to kill the informant for wasting their time   call me old-fashioned but it's just nice to have  some moments of levity among all the intense   mystic storytelling it's what makes the  jade empire such a well-rounded setting   it's not just intensity and darkness but it's  full of goofy moments that make a smile break   out as you read them it's not laugh out  loud funny but really what video games are   well actually one moment did make me laugh out  loud there's a character called chandler ling who   has absolutely nothing to do with chandler bing  from friends i've got no idea why i found this so   funny and i have no idea why i wanted to include  it in this critique so badly but here it is   chandler ling the funniest character  in jade empire and i have no idea why something else which helps jade empire live on in  the minds of ign list makers or small youtubers   is that a lot of the ideas that underpin  the actual gameplay form a pretty valiant   attempt at meshing the worlds of fast-paced  martial arts with role-playing customization   when you encounter an enemy combat seamlessly  starts without anything resembling a loading   screen and you're thrust into an action rpg system  that seems to take more influence from the likes   of devil may cry and ninja gaiden than bowder's  gate and icewind dale attacking is broken up into   light and heavy attacks the latter of which is  very slow indeed but can break a guarding enemy   and stun them you can of course put up your  own guard which works by the same rules   take a glowing heavy attack to the face and  you'll be knocked over and open to damage your   final battlefield action is a pretty monstrous  acrobatic dodge which you can use to either jump   behind an enemy or dodge off to the side to be  totally honest it's an extremely basic action game   system much more akin to something found in action  platformers rather than something you'd expect   from the follow-up to knight seal republic's  host of special moves in class-based combat   where the game introduces some complexity and  strategy is in the implementation of its styles   by exploring the world completing quests or  literally paying for training from specific   masters your character can learn different styles  which change the manner or effect of those light   and heavy attacks there's actually a pretty  broad range of differing moves you can learn   22 different styles in fact which range from  different martial arts to weapons you can wield   styles that put debuffs on enemies or hit them  from range with elemental magic the most iconic   of these styles is clearly the transformation  styles which morph you into a huge demonic form   in this case a toad who swipes  enemies with his disgusting frog arms   these individual styles grow in power as  you level up by investing points into them   different elements can be improved such as  speed damage or prolonging debuffs it's a basic   but satisfying power curve you beat people up to  gain levels to get better at beating people up you   meet a guy who can shoot ice out of his hands  maybe he'll teach you how to do it for a price   you meet a guy who throws drinks out onto the  battlefield which you consume to become a jackie   chan style drunken master why not it's simple but  it's charming another simple but elegant system   is the actual stats that underpin jade empire's  character customization gone are the huge tables   from dungeons and dragons or night seal republic  and in its place is a simple three-stat system   you have body which governs how much health you  have spirit which governs how much chi you have   which is a sort of like a mana pool for spells  but can also be used to heal yourself and finally   you have mind which dedicates how much focus you  have as this is an early 2000s kung fu game it of   course has a bullet time mechanic which is tied to  how much focus you have for some reason this also   governs how long you can use weapons for which  are incredibly powerful but are a timed resource   more on that later before we're deafened by  accusations of bioware selling out to the casual   crowd i've got to say that i really think this  simplification works really well not just because   it's easy to get your head around but because  those three stats actually serve a secondary role   as dialogue checks in many conversations you have  instead of just having an arbitrary charisma stat   that's totally separate from the rest of  your character why not have it so that if   you have a really high body stat you're able to  intimidate people with your physical presence the   same thing goes for convincing scholars of your  philosophical arguments it's only going to work if   you have a really high mind stat and are playing  an intelligent learned character again it's simple   it's streamlined but the way it's implemented  in the game feels natural and satisfying i think it'd be impossible to discuss the parts  of jade empire that work without talking about its   much lorded narrative despite all the interesting  design decisions behind the combat or world   building ultimately the main reason to play a role  playing game is because of the exciting narrative   it's also basically impossible to discuss why  exactly is good without getting into spoilers   so spoilers for jade empire and knightsville  republic during the late 90s and early 2000s   bioware managed to carve out a really interesting  niche when it came to the storytelling style   of their games unlike other studios that  were often influenced by a specific genre   or kind of film they instead became known  for telling stories that always contained   a mind-bending twist now they weren't the first  studio to ever design their game story around a   twist but they were one of the absolute best  at executing it video game twists tended to   be mostly hard left field pivots which the player  couldn't have possibly seen coming a great example   of this is wesker's betrayal in resident evil 1.  you spend virtually the whole game thinking he's   simply the leader of stars only to discover he's  actually working for umbrella during the ending   don't get me wrong it's a classic video game  moment but it's not exactly a great twist because   it doesn't really redefine your experience the  very best twists mean you go back and watch a   film or read a book again with a fresh perspective  noticing the little nods that your brain missed   that could have pointed you to the truth while  bowder's gate and neverwinter knights had   unexpected twisting plots knight seal republic is  really where this reputation exploded as they put   together something that stands toe to toe with  the most famous surprises of all the film and tv   essentially without wanting to spend 30 minutes  talking about how amazing the story of knight   seal republic is the twist is that you're  in fact not a faceless avatar for the player   but you're actually the main villain of the  story darth revan the whole game hasn't been   your player character waking up to their potential  as a jedi but is actually a lengthy reconditioning   by the jedi council trying to reprogram  their greatest enemy into a secret weapon   the reveal is amazingly well done considering the  restrictions in graphics and animation at the time   but it goes beyond that playing through  ignites the oral public a second time reveals   all these little moments that you simply just  look past the first time through the game   people are consistently impressed with how  quickly you're able to learn the ways of the force   or surprised that the jedi  agreed to train an adult at all   moments where you're able to activate an ancient  sith machine aren't just the good fortune of the   main character but a revan literally turning  on his own creations with muscle memory   it's absolutely fascinating to replay in a way  no other western rpg is despite the constant   name checking of chinese mythological classics  from the developers in jade empire's marketing   its biggest narrative influence is  clearly this element of nightside republic   bioware had clearly hit on a narrative  formula they felt really comfortable with   jade empire was planned to hit exactly the same  beats characters with mysterious pasts villains   with ambiguous morality and on top of it all  another fantastic twist after choosing one of   six preset characters to serve as the protagonist  of your story you're introduced to a martial arts   school in the quiet coastal town of two rivers  on the edge of the empire despite being an orphan   with no family or history you're the star pupil of  master lee and enjoy a special relationship with   the headmaster who spends extra time coaching your  abilities much to the jealousy of other pupils   these other pupils include the obvious  romantic interest of the game dawn star   and the highly jealous and competitive gal the  lesser who is inexplicably voiced by nathan   fillion despite only being in the game for about  an hour the relative tranquility of meditation   learning and training is broken when bandits  led by the empire's much feared lotus assassins   raid the town the raid is repelled by students but  master lee is extremely troubled by the appearance   of the lotus assassins and decides it's time to  reveal the truth behind yours and his identity   he is no mere martial arts teacher but is  actually son lee the glorious strategist   brother of the emperor himself long thought  dead but actually deep in hiding in two rivers   the emperor in his desperation to end the long  drought invaded the city of durge home of the   water dragon and her spirit monks slaying all that  were found there and taking the magical power of   the dragon for himself an opportunistic power  grab masked as a last resort to save the empire   your master suddenly disgusted with his brother's  actions abandoned his post and fled with the last   remaining spirit monk a baby saved from the  slaughter of his people none other than you   master lee tells you that this is his long  fermenting plan to train the last spirit   monk to be the finest warrior in the land to go  on a lengthy quest to restore the power of the   amulet of the water dragon and defeat the emperor  who has corrupted the natural order of the world   unfortunately for everyone involved gal  the lesser also overhears this conversation   and after being humiliated following the bandit  raid decides to enact a vicious revenge you see   the lesser part of his name refers to his father  a local crime boss gal the greater who's in league   with the lotus assassins and has access to a whole  bunch of men and a whole bunch of firepower while   away on the first part of your spirit monk quest  gal the greatest men attacked the village killing   everyone townspoken students alike capturing  master lee and destroying your home leaving   you with no choice but to head out into the empire  and begin your grand quest alone a journey to save   your master from the lotus assassins and realize  your potential as the last hope for humanity okay so this sounds pretty much as bog standard  as is possible for a fantasy story to be   you're the chosen one last bastion of a  holy order that can stop the natural order   from being destroyed by a power-hungry  monarch hometown's destroyed mentors   captured so you've got no choice but to  embark on the adventure of a lifetime   and the thing is it is bog standard while the  world is interesting to explore and the quests   are inventively put together the broad strokes of  the story that guide you from chapter to chapter   really are nothing particularly special it's  once you're high above the imperial city   in the climactic showdown with the emperor the  jade empire story bursts into life more than   making up for its generic opening with a twist  that stands up to the best in bioware's catalogue so far everything is run essentially as you'd  expect you go from two rivers to the slightly   bigger town of tian's landing and then onto the  massive imperial city quests get more complicated   you meet more followers beat up a whole bunch of  pretty bad dudes which eventually all culminates   in a showdown in the floating imperial palace  with the emperor you followed the trailer the   lowest assassins and over the course of  about 15 hours of questing and fighting   everything has led to this point all throughout  the fight which is the toughest in the game   the emperor is rambling about how he's a god and  about how the jade empire needs him to survive so   it feels like you're doing the world a pretty big  favor by taking him out when you eventually slash   that sword through him one final time it really  seems like you've saved the day upon killing sun   high ending the oppression of the lotus assassins  and freeing your master suddenly approaches the   throne and congratulates you on all your hard  work and all the effort you've gone to in your   journey he turns around and kills you where you  stand i mean holy [ __ ] what a freaking twist   you see suddenly had wanted the throne from the  very start and had pushed sennhei to capture   the water dragon feeding him tales of how it was  the only way to save the empire from the drought   hoping that he'd be able to steal the power for  himself despite careful planning his coup failed   and suddenly was forced into hiding having to  adopt a much more long-term and subversive plot   by training the last spirit monk from birth he'd  be able to craft the perfect weapon to depose the   emperor and by filling his head with tales of a  corrupt man abusing the empire he'd guarantee the   creation of a chosen one who would do anything  to destroy the power structures of the empire   it's a brilliant twist that redefines the  initial setup that we discussed earlier it's   a bog standard chosen one story because that's  exactly the narrative that suddenly has fed you   it's actually a really clever way of being able to  take the best elements of a simple fantasy story   but still being able to do the unexpected in  the final act it goes one step further though   throughout the game you'll meet various martial  arts masters who often comment on what strange   fighting style you have it happens just enough for  you to notice it on a second playthrough but gloss   over it the first time around and frankly even if  you do notice it it's extremely easy to read this   as martial arts masters simply being amazed at how  brilliant you the chosen one really are but it's   all part of the twist you have a strange fighting  style because master lee has trained a flaw into   your style one that only he knows how to exploit  it's pure kung fu movie nonsense in the most   fantastic way possible it's a narrative surprise  that's easily up there with knight seal republic's   revan reveal and genuinely floored me the first  time i saw it imagine if deep in the minds of   moria gandalf pushed frodo to his doom and took  the ring for himself leaving everyone for dead   revealing the whole fellowship to have been an  evil ploy imagine merlin betraying king arthur   because he was after excalibur all along it's a  fantastic twist primarily because it plays off of   those expectations of the fantasy genre which were  especially strong in video games at the time this   was a time of fable dragon quest and the legend of  zelda where learned old men give you honest advice   and help you take out villains who are definitely  not also being manipulated the fact that the first   two-thirds of jade empire play out in such  spectacularly predictable fashion is exactly   what makes this twist work so well and it's  absolutely the standout element of the whole game   we'll leave how the rest of the game resolves  to a later section of the video this is an ideal   time to deliver a shocking twist of our own in  the tale of why jade empire never got a sequel   so far i've essentially gushed with  praise about the elements that i like   and don't get me wrong there's a lot to like about  this game it has an original and aesthetically   interesting world a valiant attempt to blend kung  fu action and traditional rpg mechanics all while   delivering a smashing twist that most films  would be happy with the problem is that there   is also a lot that's not great about jade empire  really there's actually quite a lot to not like   in broad strokes jade empire is a pretty great  game but the issue as to why it's not better   remembered really comes from the detail and polish  that turns good concepts into a great experience   it's the classic example of something that sounds  fantastic on paper but lacks the execution and   vision to really live up to its potential  we've spent time building the jade empire   up it's time to deliver the crushing throne  room betrayal and bring it all crashing down the most obvious place to start is the issue  that's so obvious that the bioware leadership   themselves have acknowledged it earlier in  the video i showed part of an interview with   dr greg zieschuk freely admitting that he'd have  preferred it if the game could have been pushed   back to release on the xbox 360 and been polished  up essentially it's a diplomatic way of saying   there are some parts of the game that legitimately  look quite bad and feel pretty underdeveloped   now i am absolutely not the sort of person to  criticize a game for having poor graphics simply   because it's old in fact i'm a firm believer  that an original and inventive art style is   worth a thousand polygons games like chrono cross  and final fantasy are sumptuous visual feasts   compared to the high definition sepia nightmare  of games like gears of war of resident evil 6.   the problem is that the original xbox just simply  doesn't have the power to be able to realize what   bioware's artists and designers envisaged when  creating this world huge vistas of cloud-filled   valleys should sprawl out below mountaintop  temples but instead everything just looks   murky as the poor draw distance keeps  most of the visuals in the foreground   it means you never really get a proper feel for  the scale of the jade empire you're constantly   running around on pathways with raised banks or  walls to mask the fact that only a small area of   the game is ever loaded at once it's even worse  in a setting like the imperial city where every   section of what is supposed to be a sprawling  metropolis is sectioned off and penned in by walls   there's never actually a moment where you can  get up high and look out over your surroundings   which is pretty majorly disappointing when all of  the law is about an eternal empire that runs short   ashore and you never actually properly get to see  it finally reaching the emperor's floating palace   and being unable to actually look down on the  empire is one of the biggest missed opportunities   in the game's entire development although i've  got to emphasize it's quite clearly because of a   lack of resource rather than a design choice the  same thing even applies to the skies themselves   so much of the world is built around the idea  of flying machines and how control of the roots   through the empire's dangerous winds is such  an important part of the imperial economy   sadly it's not part of the world we ever really  get to experience flying is reduced to a scrolling   shoot-'em-up style mini-game or even a short  pre-rendered cutscene which means the majority of   the game is rooted firmly to the ground even the  sky boxes are generally just blurry dark shapes   with clouds rather than anything otherworldly  or unique which ironically helps put players   off of looking to the sky and wishing to sort  through them this kneecapping by the hardware   also frustratingly shows itself in how the  game's various environments are put together there are loading screens absolutely everywhere to  the point where there are literally 54 different   graphics used to load the game behind it means  there isn't really a sense of connection between   any of the zones or locations you visit well  it doesn't feel completely odd to walk up to   a large tea house hit a to enter it and get a  quick loading screen before going in it feels   extremely weird to walk up to an open pathway or  cave entrance and have to wait before it loads   on top of this to master the fact that  you've literally loaded into a new zone   you'll often start part way into the map which  just adds to a general sense of disorientation   and lack of place when you're inside some of the  larger maps small loading bars will often appear   and pause your momentum meaning it's essentially  impossible to feel like this is one cohesive world   and not just a series of levels this might sound  like i'm being overly harsh on an older game but   you've got to realize that even at the time  this was something that wasn't found in the   majority of rpgs especially those trying to  create seamless worlds to explore nobody likes   staring at a bar slowly filling up and it's  a hammer blow when trying to create immersion   or engross someone in your world final fantasy 10  is a really apt comparison because the two games   follow a relatively similar formula focusing on  enclosed detailed areas that are linked together   in a linear order rather than something  like elder scrolls which is extremely open   final fantasy 10 released four years earlier and  has virtually no loading screens going almost   seamlessly from location to location battle  to cut scene in-game dialogue to exploration   all while covering up the few loading times it  does have with stylistic little cinematic moments   it's the difference between a company like  square enix seasoned veterans who knew how   to build a game like this and bioware who only on  their second ever console game the implementation   of the infamous lift scenes to disguise loading  times in bioware's next game mass effect surely   is as good as an admission that they knew they'd  messed up here and needed to work out a way to   stitch their worlds together without ripping  the player out of the experience constantly this disconnection from the world itself also  bleeds into the actual experience of playing   through the game as jade empire is completely  and absolutely linear constantly pushing the   player onwards to the next story be with virtually  zero optional areas side dungeons or secret bosses   it's a huge step back from night sale republic  which around a quarter of the way through the game   opened up to being essentially non-linear and  letting the player feel like they were exploring   the galaxy at will that same sense of exploration  is pretty much completely absent here once you   reach a location in jade empire it essentially  serves as a hub for the main story quest and a   handful of side quests which you can pick up it's  not exactly linear in the sense of a game like   mario world where your only gameplay option is to  move forward but it's certainly linear for an rpg   and once a hub is cleared you really do have  absolutely no reason to go back to that area   the hubs themselves link to smaller  side zones which effectively serve   as the more combat orientated areas  where questing actually takes place   and unfortunately generally speaking  they're extremely limited and uninteresting during chapter 2 while helping cleanse a forest  of evil spirits near tien's landing you're able   to align yourself with a member of the celestial  bureaucracy kind of spirit government that makes   sure everything runs according to the natural  order of things the spirit of the forest asks you   to journey into the celestial realm and help with  a war raging between demons and spirits which of   course you as the last spirit monk are pretty well  equipped to help resolve any into the celestial   realm is absolutely one of the high points  of the game from a visual perspective it's an   almost glowing location floating amidst swirling  clouds with otherworldly vegetation growing out   of rivers that flow from nowhere into nowhere you  fight against toad and horse demons while battling   to the peak of the realm where you can finally  choose to either save the spirits or destroy them   it's a great moment to play through but ultimately  after finishing the game i'm largely left with a   sense of frustration that we see so little of this  place no conversing with spiritual bureaucrats no   exploring the heavenly cities no petty squabbles  of race to resolve just a linear march through a   few combat encounters and then a conversation  that dumps you straight back into the forest   it's disappointing in the extreme because the  potential in visiting the astral plane is so   enticing and yet it's really hardly used we get  four entire levels set inside of cave systems and   only 10 minutes spent learning about something  that's legitimately unique to jade empire part of the issue is that due to the  way the environments are designed   they're only really set up to accommodate one  quest or set of events almost every single zone   is effectively a series of corridors that link  wider circular rooms where combat takes place   it doesn't matter if it's a forest caves or a tomb  they really all follow this exact same formula   and it does get pretty tedious by the  fourth or fifth borderline identical zone   especially when you're having to backtrack all  the way to the entrance after completing a quest   the lack of ambition in map design is actually  quite ridiculous when you think about all the   influences that jade empire could have  drawn upon when designing locations   there's no wide open planes with lots of  skirmishes breaking out for you to get engaged in   there's no bamboo forest that requires you  to stealthily avoid lotus assassins there's   no wire food duel soaring high above a lake like  that famous scene from crouching tiger it's one   visit to a zone for a small dose of corridors  small scale combat and then you're out of there   it makes the zones of jade empire feel extremely  gamey which is one of the worst things you can   level the design of a video game world escapism  is absolutely driven by having a variety of   things to do within a game space and jade empire  is simply too linear for its quest zones to feel   at all memorable the problem goes further than  that though bioware is also trying to have their   cake and eat it just before the climax of the  game you unlock the ability to travel freely   between any location you've visited in your  journey so far it's essentially the you've   got an airship moment that's so famously in every  old school jrpg you've been traveling along a set   path feet rooted to the ground but now the world  opens up and you can fly back to pastures familiar   the issue is that there's absolutely no reason  to do this because of the linearity of the game   up until this point it's pretty massively unlikely  that anyone would have missed any quests as most   are tied into the zones that you visit during  the main story there isn't any shops to visit   or optional dungeons and nothing new unlocks once  you get the flyer meaning a trip back to tien's   landing or two rivers is really just for the sake  of sightseeing in fact it's almost like the game   doesn't even want you to do this as the main story  is generally framed as pretty urgent we've got to   go face the emperor to rescue mass elite as soon  as possible after all it's just a really weird   tonal clash this is a game absolutely not built  around exploration and yet has this function baked   into it and makes a huge deal about it it's almost  as if bioware was too scared after the free-form   structure of their previous games to ask their  players to strap into something so constrained   it means the whole game is haunted by the specter  of the empire a really interesting and original   setting that we simply just don't get to see  enough of it's absolutely crying out for more   meaningful optional areas and combat zones that  aren't just a straight dash to the quest marker unfortunately the single meaningful optional  area in the game where bioware tries to break   the gameplay formula up is also arguably  the worst location in the whole game   and really highlights some of the issues  bioware had with actually realizing their vision   once you arrive in the imperial city you're able  to enroll in the black leopard school the most   renowned martial arts school in the entire empire  you quickly discover that all is not well within   the ranks of the black leopard community the  school is currently embroiled in a deep civil war   the students have split into two factions one  group following master radiant and the other   following master smiling hawk you see historically  there's only ever been one master at a time and   the school is currently tearing itself apart over  who the legitimate master is as if that wasn't bad   enough members of the brotherhood who were the  senior students tasked with maintaining order   on behalf of the masters have been going missing  without a trace first brother kai after seeing you   dispatch a group of rowdy students asks you to  enlist as a student and help him uncover what's   happened to the other brothers and bring an end  to the strife it all sounds like a pretty enticing   setup for a questing zone i've always thought that  the school setting is absolutely perfect for rpgs   with lessons to attend which increase stats or  give you new abilities and teachers to impress   with your charisma and student factions to either  fight or align with games like persona and fire   emblem have used this formula to create literal  classics so the idea of a mini version of this   with a martial arts murder mystery twist couldn't  sound better unfortunately the specter of over   ambition once again haunts the game delivering a  zone which in reality feels completely unfinished   the school itself is absolutely tiny with  literally nothing to explore or find within   its ugly grey walls there's a mess hall with  nothing interactable in it an open courtyard   that's only meant to accommodate one-on-one fights  and a few sparsely detailed dorm rooms you might   be expecting too much to ask for something that  rivals bullworth academy but when it only takes 10   seconds to fully explore the zone the excitement  about solving a mystery or enrolling at the school   diminishes hard and fast this is also a great  time to bring up just how awfully the law in   jade empire is delivered rather than information  about the world being a reward for inquisitive   conversation with npcs or baked into quests almost  every bit of detail about the jade empire that   isn't used in the main story is just found on text  banners that are dotted randomly around different   environments you run up to them click a read the  text and get a bit of xp it's just an absurdly   clumsy way of delivering all of the interesting  background and fluff that makes original worlds   interesting in the first place yes nobody  reads all of the books in morrowind or oblivion   but the fact that you can actually learn about  ancient elvish history by reading ancient elvish   history books makes the world feel alive it's just  another undercooked feature that's particularly   frustrating because a lot of the lore in this  game is actually really funny and interesting   it's just had all of the fun slapped out of  it by being delivered like a revision textbook   anyway back to the black leopard school for all  the praise i gave earlier specifically for how   much creativity was found in the surgeon  quest the black leopard school shows the   other half of the coin a hyper simplistic and  borderline nonsensical quest that shares more   in common with nes rpgs than complex pc games  essentially you need to defeat six brothers in   one-on-one combat in order to meet the masters  and resolve the story and that's literally it   no murder mystery no martial arts classes no  breaking curfew to spy on opposing factions or   sneaking into dorms to find evidence just six  extremely easy one-on-one jewels in the courtyard   the brothers themselves aren't even varied  opponents you just wail away on them with   your strongest style and you can beat all  six in literally seconds it's underwhelming   in the extreme it doesn't get any better when you  finally meet the masters and get to the bottom of   the mystery you're invited to meet smiling hawk  in his dorm room who immediately reveals to you   that not only has he been killing the students  in order to steal their power but that he is   completely and unarguably evil and totally to  blame for everything that's happened in the school   all of the moral ambiguity and player agency  is completely gone and we're right back at the   cartoonish morality from knights the old republic  where villains are outlandishly evil and always   beyond redemption you're given a choice to either  expose smiling hawk to the rest of the school   or side with him and use a spell he's created  to kill master radian and end the conflict   things get pretty nonsensical when you  eventually meet master radian a few moments later   it turns out he's a ghost that's right  he's a straight up who you gonna call   ghost who's being sustained in secret by first  brother kai now apparently he was killed by   smiley hawk but is somehow living on as a ghost  which is also somehow preventing smiling hawk   from taking over the school and for some reason  it must be kept a secret now i've played this   section over and over recording footage for this  video and it just completely doesn't make sense   why does smiling hawk need you to cast the spell  for him and how on earth does he not know where   radiant is their rooms are about 20 feet apart and  the school isn't exactly full of places to hide   equally why doesn't master radiant just speak to  the other students and explained what's happened   he doesn't seem to have any issues speaking  to us so why doesn't first brother kai just   out the murderer in the scientist's quest mad  wendy couldn't go and get help because he was   caring for his daughter and needed a stranger who  wouldn't reject his views the player is an active   participant in the quest because they have the  out of the norm difference that allows the quest   to happen i'm genuinely unsure why anyone needs us  to do anything in the black leopard school other   than simply just because we're the main character  and we have to be involved it's just clearly all   contrived to give the illusion of choice while in  actuality just creates busy work for the player   i decided to go with master radiant in the end  because you know smiling hawk is clearly the bad   guy and during his boss fight he literally absorbs  the souls of some of his followers to draw more   strength not that it really mattered anyways i  killed him in about six hits clearly they don't   make them too tough at the black leopard school  ultimately it doesn't matter in the slightest   once you're done with the black leopard school no  matter who you choose to become the soul master   you'll never return here and your only reward is  a style specific to either radian or smiling hawk   both of which are likely much worse than any  other style you've invested 10 hours of points   into at this point in the game the whole episode  really highlights the key issue when it comes to   the design of jade empire's world and quests when  bioware are trying to break formulas and come up   with creative situations jade empire can be a  fun and sometimes really inventive rpg to play   the second it steps back into the knights the oral  public influence comfort zone things get extremely   ropey and it unfortunately contributes to a  game that feels undercooked and looks unfinished the same can be said for jade empire's various  mini-games which fall extremely flat despite   obvious potential when flying from location  to location you'll engage in an old-school   top-down shoot-em-up style mode where you have to  destroy enemy fires collect power-ups while using   special weapons and beat bosses to progress  to your destination sounds interesting right   the issue is unfortunately these shooter  sections are seriously clunky and balanced   so poorly that the missions range from either  ridiculously easy to eye-wateringly difficult   in my humble opinion shoe maps are usually  enjoyable either because of really tight controls   and inventive design which makes games like  ikaruga or rezo gun really fun to struggle through   or going a little easier but giving the player  lots of weapons to use and enemies to blow up   like in the snes classic un squadron which is  a bonkers over-the-top slaughter fest and is   absolutely fantastic it's frustrating because  bioware have clearly really tried quite hard   with this mode implementing a series of sub  weapons that you can discover throughout the game   and a whole quest chain dedicated to it it's just  never actually fun enough to actually sit down and   bother dedicating time to and the fact that you  can skip these levels without even attempting them   seems like a sort of tactic admission that bioware  knows this as well on top of getting you from a to   b the flying quests also tie into the other mini  game that you served up on the set menu that is   jade empire after discovering a mysterious wind  map you're able to access lord laos furnace a   crafting location that allows you to turn specific  items that you find into permanent stat upgrades   it is without a doubt one of the worst  crafting systems i've ever seen implemented   in a role-playing game and it's kind of baffling  that this even made it into the final version   unlike other games which have you exploring to  find craftable items and then experimenting by   combining those items to make gear jade empire  only allows you to craft once you've found one   of six recipes that are dotted randomly throughout  the game now these aren't given as quest rewards   or sold by wandering merchants oh no they're  literally just hidden in random chests which means   that rather than crafting being something that's  constantly done throughout the game you literally   only do it if you happen upon a recipe easily  miss as well let me remind you there is only six   in the whole game if you do accidentally stumble  upon a recipe you'll need one of three ingredients   to be able to actually complete the recipe how do  you find these you literally just buy them from   a spirit merchant who isn't even in an actual  location that you have to travel to but instead   is inexplicably just a menu that you open from the  start screen it's just so poorly implemented that   it's impossible to think that this was the actual  vision for what lord lau's furnace would be in the   game the rewards for miraculously completing  one of these aren't much better either they're   wildly inconsistent and range from as paltry as  an additional plus five mind to the absolutely   game breaking plus 30 focus what's even worse is  that should you actually be able to complete every   single recipe you'll be rewarded with a totally  blind choice between two permanent upgrades   either plus five to all three stats or plus twenty  five percent damage this is insane plus five to   every stat at the point in the game that you'd  have to be at to have completed every recipe   is absolutely god awful and plus 25 damage is an  absolutely insane buff that essentially makes the   game a complete joke in terms of difficulty you  would never choose the stats and yet it's a blind   decision that requires hours of scouring every  map to even get to i absolutely refuse to believe   that anyone has gotten to this point without a  walkthrough and the fact that it also requires   you to play the flying game to even unlock just  means you'll be begging to get back to the main   quest where at least things make a little bit  more sense i think it's admirable that bioware   tried to broaden the scope of the gameplay but  the reality is the game is at its best when   it's sticking to the linear story and really  shows its cracks when we step off that path   jade empire isn't a long game by any stretch  of the imagination clocking in at around 15 to   20 hours to be everything but in reality that's  it there's virtually no reason to stick around   doing optional content or replaying the game i  don't think it's a coincidence that the biggest   rpg successes on the xbox original were morrowind  and fable two games which dedicated themselves   wholly to creating large worlds with customization  and side content at the heart of them rpgs were   deep into the transition from linear narrative  driven experiences to worlds that players could   really feel like they were living in within a  few years we'd get oblivion and fallout 3 on   the xbox 360 while jrpg play times were  beginning to balloon well over 50 hours   it's easy to see why a shorter linear experience  wouldn't really capture the attention of gamers in   2004 by nature of its design it wasn't a game  that you'd be playing weekend after weekend   meaning that the natural word of mouth that  built around its bigger cousins never happened   everyone i know who played jade empire beat it  but i don't remember anyone even playing it at   the time because it's a game you pick up blast  through and then forget about a perfect concoction   for a game that makes a big impression  early but then slips away into obscurity jade empire also has a serious balance problem  as we discussed earlier the power curve of the   game is defined by leveling up which improves  your core stats and putting points into your   styles which boosts damage and speed it's pretty  easy to imagine that this should be balanced   against the length of the game you're weak at  the start and then you should be reaching your   peak by the final few stages the issue is that  jade empire really struggles to walk this line   and is ludicrously easy to break when i played  through the game for this video without any   research beforehand i decided to go for a  weapon focus character who would stack focus   thus enabling me to use my powerful sword in each  battle rather than having to keep it in reserve   as the weapons don't affect spirit enemies i  also needed to drop some points into a martial   arts style and i also took a paralysis style to  be able to slow down bigger foes and bosses so   every level i gained i put some points in health  but most of them in focus and saved all of my   style points to get my sword up to maximum damage  and speed as soon as possible now call me naive   but after a few hours of playing it i'd imagine  the game's combat to be a fast-paced battle of   positioning and choosing the right style for the  right situation getting the sword out for enemies   weak to it and switching to fists in a flash  when i run low on focus using support styles to   control the flow of combat on the battlefield and  balancing healing with dodging powerful attacks   i was incredibly wrong jade empire is a game about  jumping over enemies and then slashing them with   your sword within around five hours i'd completely  upgraded my sword and had more focus than i could   ever use in a battle meaning i was absolutely  chewing through every kind of enemy in seconds   and hardly ever needing to change style dodging  was essentially only useful to get behind enemies   and cut them up and avoiding attacks is completely  pointless when you can just charge in and kill   everything so quickly the whole mechanic  of blocking and stunning with heavy attacks   ends up completely left by the wayside because  they take so long to charge up you might as well   just switch targets to someone who's vulnerable  and slash away the same goes for debuff styles   why waste time casting sleep or paralysis on an  enemy when three or four hits is enough to kill   most enemies in the game it's a tragic example  of poor balancing ruining an entire combat system   just to check i wasn't being absurd i went back  and did a second playthrough this time focusing   on a totally different style maybe it's just  that the weapons are really overpowered and i'd   accidentally broken the game to my dismay  it was exactly the same this time i chose   thousand cuts as my primary style and if anything  it was even more powerful now i was able to hit   spirits and it had a weirdly large amount of  tracking meaning battles were over even faster   despite this basically ruining the power  curve of the game i think it would have   been salvageable if the movement in combat was  far more fluid and dodging played a bigger role   movement during combat is really surprisingly  stiff and commands are extremely deliberate   because you would have thought that having  free-flowing fast pace action would be one of the   main appeals for basing a game in this setting now  i have no way to know for sure but i think part of   the problem comes from bioware's decision to base  all of the combat animations on mocap taken from   real martial arts masters in g4's making of  jade empire documentary it's something that   the developers are genuinely really proud of and  to be fair it's a cool idea it lends authenticity   to the movements of the characters and ends  up looking far better than the wonky and stiff   animations from night seal republic the issue is  that in preserving these movements exactly as the   actors performed them we're left with a combat  system that's largely built around quite lengthy   predefined animations that can't be cancelled  out of it naturally means that everything is very   deliberate and slow paced waiting his animations  play out in the exact same way every single time   you'll be amazed to hear that you can't even  change direction once you go for a light combo   or a heavy attack meaning you can be locked into  a whiff and be unable to do anything about it on   top of this your character moves incredibly slowly  around the battlefield and you can't move freely   instead only having four directions that you  can move in based on whoever you're targeting   being far away from your opponent is  genuinely agony as your character slowly   edges towards their foe making the whole  thing look more like drunks arguing in a pub   than a battle of martial arts prodigies it's  disappointing because this seems like such   an obvious miss for a game based around  martial arts and hyper-athletic ninjas   dodging powerful attacks by the skin of your  teeth and weaving between heavily armored targets   should be jade empire's bread and butter but  instead despite all of the chinese martial   arts imagery i ended up playing the game far  more like a heavily armored european knight   slowly edging into position and then blasting  away enemies with a flurry of heavy sword blows another system that's incredibly weirdly  implemented is the various techniques that   you can discover throughout your adventure now  calling them techniques probably conjures images   of special moves in combat or maybe abilities that  aid with exploration but unfortunately you'd be   very wrong instead techniques are literally  just permanent stat upgrades which you gain   from completing quests or just buying them from  merchants it's kind of weird because despite   this seeming like such a throwaway system lots  of effort was clearly put into justifying each   technique with its own unique lore explanation  which you can read from the technique menu   it's a weird case of a lot of effort being put  into the flavor but none into its implementation   which ends up being as boring as is possible  to find in an rpg at first it seems pretty   inoffensive that is until you realize just how  many of them there are in the game i think that   techniques are supposed to be a substitute for  the traditional equipment system you'd find in   most rpgs instead of replacing different bits of  armor swapping out and replacing items for gear   that you find or buy your character simply learns  more and more techniques sort of creating a system   that mimics their growth as a martial arts  master you travel around the world encounter   new challenges and learn new ways to conquer them  which is all reflected in your techniques and thus   power the issue is that terrible balancing  once again robs this system of any potential   gameplay narrative synergy by completing all of  the quests and buying every technique in town   which you'll have more than enough money to do  you can easily end up with a ridiculous amount of   techniques even in the early game which translates  to a game-breakingly large permanent stat boost   before the midpoint of the game i essentially  had enough focus to run around in the quest hubs   in permanent focus sprint go through every  battle completely in bullet time and use   my hyper-powerful sword non-stop combined with  the style system it meant that jade empire was   crazy easy and i beat every single boss in the  game first time without even coming close to dying another element that really throws the pacing of  the combat off is that the resource management in   this game is really weirdly implemented so like i  described earlier the only way to heal is to use   up your chi and there isn't any healing or buffing  magic as every single magical style is based   around attacking there also isn't anywhere to rest  like ins or campsites so once you're into a combat   zone it's you your health and chi and that's  really it it means that despite being able to have   ludicrous amounts of health or focus you will if  you stay fighting long enough or are somehow not   very good at the game eventually run out now games  where you have a limited amount of health or mana   and can't refresh it can be absolutely amazing if  the developers have designed the game around this   gameplay loop persona 5 for example is all about  diving into a dungeon and seeing how far you can   get before you need to leave to refresh yourself  the whole game's designed around this mechanic and   it works really well jade empire is not designed  around this mechanic what bioware have instead   opted for is to just place focus and mana shrines  at various points in the dungeons which refresh   whichever stat pool they relate to it's never  explained what they are or why they're there   but they're everywhere and it's just such a clumsy  admission that the combat zones just aren't really   designed very well it makes sense for there to be  a shrine at the school in two rivers for example   but why are there shrines deep underground in  abandoned caves or perfectly preserved in ancient   castle ruins the shrines also recharge while  you're in the same zone so there really isn't   anything stopping you from just waiting around  and eventually charging back up not that you'll   ever need to because i can't imagine anyone  would have that much trouble with this game   there is a whole additional system that we've not  spoken about yet which i think was supposed to be   the game's way of handling this if you do a power  attack with a support style and then follow it up   with a power attack from a martial style enemies  will drop little orbs on the ground which act as   potions with the color corresponding to what it  refills now there's no way to know but i'm so   confident that this was supposed to be the way  that you maintained yourself while exploring   not the shrines you'd be in a protracted  battle and be switching between styles on   the fly to control what orbs dropped full low  on health stay on the attack and get some back   full low on focus switch those styles up and heal  up thing is we've just discussed how the balancing   of the game means there isn't really any reason to  ever switch styles or maintain a pool of four or   five different styles it means that the whole  harmonic combo system is virtually never used   you'll take more damage and use up more resources  just trying to get them off rather than sticking   to your one powerful style and mowing through  everyone i feel like bioware realized this in play   testing that the system that they designed just  didn't work for repeated combat encounters and   then at the last minute just stuck these shrines  everywhere to keep the player momentum going all in all the combat ends up being an annoying  combination of poor movement repetitive encounters   and far too low difficulty which gives the whole  game an unavoidable sheen of tedium jade empire   lacks the depth to compete with the strategy  of most rpgs and has none of the fluidity that   might appeal to fans of action games it ends  up squarely in the middle satisfying nobody so by this point it's not hard to  draw some conclusions for yourself   essentially the parts of jade empire that  were similar to things bioware had done before   were pretty good while the new more  experimental parts mostly fall flat   an area of both bowder's gate and knights  the old republic that got a lot of praise   was their cast of characters to explore and  battle alongside they are so much more than   just another body for combat or someone that  joins your party and then stays silent for the   rest of the main story never contributing once  their allotted introduction quest is finished   bowdersgate had a really interesting system  where depending on who you had in your party   members could fall out and even attack each other  if they had conflicting affinities or allegiances   knights the old republic reduced the amount  of cast members but allowed you to engage in   lengthy conversations and build rapport with  them eventually uncovering hidden backstories   and quests jade empire is absolutely no slouch  in this department with an incredibly underrated   cast of characters seriously check out any list  of best bioware companions and i'm sure you won't   see a single jade empire character on there  despite them being an absolutely awesome gang   take black whirlwind for example who at  first just seems like a mindless barbarian   but it's actually based on the character lee  kui from the classic chinese novel water margin   a rebellious warrior with a habit of getting  drunk and spouting sedition against the government   too chaotic and powerful to ever  be held by any jail or sheriff   at first he seems like he's simply going to be  comic relief but through cracking some jokes and   cracking some heads together you can uncover a  really dark backstory and a character quest that   involves fighting in the imperial arena to avenge  his enslaved brother in fact it's actually a lot   of the less serious characters which i find to be  most memorable during your adventures around the   sickly forest in chapter 2 you meet a bun kirk  who's been kidnapped by a group of cannibals   and who after being rescued decides he'd actually  rather not go home and wants to travel with you   instead this is henpecked ho previously a champion  arena fighter but now married to a highly nagging   wife who's forced him to become a bun chef and  give up his wild ways of drinking and fighting   he's tired of being bossed around and decides  enough is enough the life of adventure is   calling him again only not to the degree where  he would actually do any fighting himself   because if his wife ever found out she would  absolutely kill him instead you have him   accompany you in combat and he'll throw alcohol  out onto the battlefield which you can collect   which enables the hyper-powerful drunken master  style an amazing homage to the jackie chan film   that sees your character stumbling and falling  around the battlefield while accidentally hitting   enemies for huge damage it's an absolutely awesome  combo of hilarious hen-pecked narrative and actual   unique gameplay that's genuinely really fun to  play ho himself is a fantastic side character   always commenting about how keen he is to stay  away from his wife but always paranoid that she's   going to somehow find out about what he's been  up to and why he's still not back from the market   another area where a follower brings unique  gameplay to the table is kang the mad an   inventor who joins your party after you liberate  him from pirate employment on the condition that   he continues to make his crazy inventions to the  benefit of your party unlike ho or black whirlwind   kang's a non-combat follower a first for a bioware  game and instead is the focal point of the flying   and crafting side games which unfortunately  as we've been over already aren't very good   it's a shame as kang himself is great with his big  googly goggles and obsession with blowing things   up he's more like something from jack and daxter  than a serious rpg which to be honest i didn't   mind at all after all it's a world where monstrous  toads roam the highways and spirits openly   complain about their ex-wives it's a bit silly to  break up the deadpan kung fu drama and it's pretty   welcome here we've got to take a detour to talk  about how the followers actually function because   despite all of the great designs and interesting  backstories there's a really weird decision taken   that's clearly due to the limited resources of the  original xbox unlike in bowder's gate where your   entire party travels with you all of the time or  in knights the old republic where you choose your   favorites and the rest stay behind to guard the  ship jade empire restricts you to a single party   member at a time during combat your follower  either engages enemies directly controlled   by a very rudimentary ai or goes into support  mode and just provides either healing or buffs   it's actually surprisingly bare bones and  you'll hardly notice them contributing in battle   none of the support modes really make any kind  of meaningful difference to your health or qi   and in combat as you can't control who they're  fighting or what moves they do they're essentially   irrelevant it's just such a huge step back from  night seal republic where you'd level your whole   party and choose what moves to give them and  issue commands in battle it's not even like other   games at the time weren't coming up with more  interesting systems final fantasy 12 got around   this by coming up with the gambit system which is  a set of pre-programmed commands the player can   set for ai controlled party members it's something  bioware would steal completely for dragon age   origins so it's clearly an area they felt was  lacking and it makes jade empire feel like a very   solitary experience despite the broadcast this  extends to the non-combat zones as well as you   can only take one character at a time with you if  you do want to talk to anyone else you need to go   to pre-assigned places where everyone is standing  around and you're actually allowed to have a chat   it's just weird in knight civil republic it  made sense because you're landing on hostile   planets and you need to leave people behind to  guard the ship in jade empire it makes no sense   whatsoever because there's absolutely no reason  why the rest of the gang can't just follow you   into the imperial city or up to the black leopard  school it's literally just the game wearing its   limited resources openly on its sleeve and it's  incredibly immersion breaking it gets even worse   in the moments where key followers have to appear  if you speak to an npc who relates to a character   who isn't traveling with you the correct companion  will just teleport in beside you out of the blue   once the conversation's over they're nowhere  to be seen it works in the way that hammering   a nail into the wall with the heel of your  shoe works the damn thing goes into the wall   but there are just other more elegant ways to do  it what would be wrong with the npc hinting that   they know that character and needing the player  to just go and get them and bring them to them   the whole system means that you'll settle into  this weird pattern of questing and exploring   before returning to your designated follower  camp and making sure to exhaust all of the   dialogue options that are now open the fact  that it always takes place in the same location   and always all at once is just a wonky system  these are conversations that should take place out   in the world and importantly spaced out from one  another this is also where all the romance happens   something which has always been a huge part of  bioware games but not something i'm a fan of   i feel like i could write an entire essay just  on how weird these romance systems actually are   but let's keep it brief if you make sure that you  always exhaust the dialogue options of the girl of   your choice eventually she'll admit that she loves  you and you'll be able to either accept or rebuff   her advances i just find it so weird because it's  such a poor gameplay interpretation of how romance   actually works the idea that simply paying someone  a lot of attention automatically leads to them   falling for you isn't exactly a mature take  on relationships i guess the rebuttal would   be that it's not really a very well developed  system because it's not a big focus of the game   but then why even put it in in jade empire's  contemporaries romance actually served a purpose   in fable it's all part of the role-playing where  you can buy a house and have kids in dragon quest   it's actually got gameplay function you can  level up your family to fight alongside you   in jade empire it's simply just ego fulfillment  all of the girls love you because you're the   main character and damned if you aren't amazing  i say girls because trying to pursue a same-sex   relationship in this game is incredibly difficult  for some reason if you're playing a male character   dawn star and silk fox will come on to you  incredibly hard you need to have zero other   romances active to be able to get together  with sky the only male love interest if you   do somehow manage to see that sky romance through  to its conclusion the scene where they kiss right   at the end of the game is actually cut short it's  not a great look from a western developer in 2005   and it's not even like the demand is in there the  most downloaded mod from nexus is an adjustment to   prevent the camera from fading to black what's  even weirder is this was neglected but for some   reason you're able to pursue a polyamorous  relationship with both dawn star and silt fox   it makes zero sense outside of just appealing to  teenage boy fantasies as throughout the game dawn   star and silk fox are shown to pretty intensely  dislike each other only developing a friendship   really late in the game the idea that they're  both so head over heels in love with the main   character that they'll look past this and engage  in a three-way relationship is just ludicrous   i don't mean to rag on the idea of including  atypical relationships but it's just not something   that you can just shove in as a reward for  romancing all of the girls at once if you're going   to put it in you've got to deal with it properly  and bioware just has no interest in doing that   exhausting all the dialogue options at camp  actually ends up being quite important to the   backstories of the more serious companion  characters you can end up missing quite a   bit of important information if you don't  make sure to speak to everyone each chapter   dawnstar is the big one she has a whole backstory  that you unpick over the course of the entire game   eventually discovering that she's  actually master lee's daughter   a pretty huge revelation what's frustrating  is if you miss even one of these conversations   the whole subplot shuts off and you're not  able to pick it up again if you miss a step   it's so strange because it actually feeds into  the finale of the game in quite an interesting   way but it's something that a lot of players might  miss especially given the weird gameplay loop of   returning to camp after every single quest despite  not needing to if you manage to reveal the truth   about her parentage she'll actually appear in the  final confrontation to try and redeem her father   appealing to any humanity he might have  that he should turn back and leave with her   it's a pretty awesome reward for actually  being invested in your party members   and seeing their stories through until the  end even if it is slightly too easy to miss   it has shades of what bioware would go on to do  in the suicide mission at the end of mass effect 2   where decisions you make with your party genuinely  affect the ending it's a cool touch or at least   it would be a cool touch if lee didn't immediately  turn around regardless of the choices you've made   and say guess what chumps i don't give a [ __ ]  about my family with the game just proceeding to   go on to the 1v1 boss fight you'd have had anyway  revelation or not for a game that broadly does a   pretty stellar job of giving the player true  agency it's pretty ridiculous that the whole   dawn star quest is essentially pointless master  lee can't be redeemed no matter what you do so   all of those long campsite chats with dawn star  despite feeling like an important mystery to solve   don't actually end up contributing anything it's  a great idea that falls apart in the final moments   by wanting to make sure that the character-driven  role-playing never trumps hard and fast   action sadly it's a problem that the entire finale  of jade empire struggles pretty massively with we live in an era of hype and  internet driven anticipation   where developers and publishers race to get games  finished in time to hit release windows that are   painstakingly calculated to maximize profits it's  given us all sorts of wonderful new concepts like   crunching before launch and the constant  embarrassing delays from developers that simply   can't meet the schedule set for them the rushed  final act might be the most famous one of these   the release date is bearing down and sacrifices  need to be made in order to get the game into a   state in which it can be released the most famous  during the original xbox era was probably halo 2   which had such a fractured development that bungie  had to cut the entire final section of the game   and publish it with one of the most  brutal cliffhangers in video game history   the other way of getting around not having  enough time to fully finish the end of your game   is to do what i'm going to call scope streamlining   essentially as you approach the end of the game  you reduce the amount of stuff the player can do   funneling them towards the end of the game  reducing gameplay options and upping the pace   to make sure that you can get the player to the  credits jade empire suffers from this absolutely   massively and it's really obvious that the final  few hours of the game were made in a serious rush   after being killed by master lee during the  twist in the imperial palace your character's   spirit wakes up in the afterlife resurrected by  the remaining power of the water dragon but only   partially you see you're gonna have to travel  through the world of undeath guided by spirits   you meet to go on a quest to regain your body  and return to the world of mortals and finally   get revenge on lee betrayer it's a pretty awesome  setup to the second half of the game i mean how   many games can you think of that are designed  to have you actually die and then legitimately   explore and spend time in the afterlife after the  showdown in the imperial palace it's a fantastic   idea from a pacing perspective to shift things up  and get a little bit weird before we barrel down   on the final act the only problem is this whole  section is pretty freaking terrible there are   early warning signs when the water dragon implores  you to discover the abbott song a spirit monk   who died in the siege of dirge and who can help  guide you on your journey back to the human world   it sounds like it will be a major quest  like how journeying to the imperial city was   and after all each chapter has been roughly three  to five hours so far so it's reasonable to expect   the spirit world to be similar the problem is you  literally bump into abbott song about 10 feet down   the road from where you start he's literally  just sitting at a bridge seconds away from   where you resurrected you can basically see him  from where you're standing it's absolutely absurd   that this is framed as a major quest and it's  emblematic of everything to come in the finale   i've also got to take a moment to point  out how massively ugly the spirit world is   at first glance it doesn't look so bad with  its weird clouds flashing overhead and it's   odd translucent blues but that's genuinely  all it is grey blocky textures with a blue hue   literally everywhere every zone every npc  every combat encounter every texture gray   and blue and murky just remember how badly  we wanted to spend more time in the heaven   sections with their weird off-kilter designs this  is the opposite of that while it might be thematic   because you know it's the plane of death but  it's an absolute slog to play through because   it just looks so damn boring and don't even get  me started on the weird joey tribiani itchy band   lipstick for men look that they've gone for with  your character it's quite literally impossible to   take any scene you're in seriously when you  look so utterly and profoundly ridiculous   so anyway you fight through the fortress of durge  which is now somehow in the spirit world cleansing   fountains in order to reopen a portal to the  mortal realm it's about 20 minutes of linear   combat with zero strategic concerns on new enemies  there's no side quest to complete or branching   paths to explore just a straight run from fountain  to fountain and then straight into the portal   thanks abbott song see you around by the way we  never see him again and that's it chapter five   over and on to the next one the whole thing barely  even takes 30 minutes so you emerge from the   portland durge which is now also in the real world  and you've got your body back and all of your   followers have been magically transported to dutch  along with their flyer and all of their tents   i get that it's an rpg and magical deus ex  machina it's pretty much how a lot of these   stories are supposed to work but the fact that  it's all magically resolved and brought together   is really weird there's no section where you play  as dawn star having to guide the team to dirge   escaping from the empire and heading to the outer  rim no quest to regain and reforge your body it's   all just pulled together after a loading screen  because the developers are running out of time   the whole of chapter six is essentially just a  final round up with your gang to finish off any   dialogues that you might be pursuing and then you  have a final battle against the forces of sunley   as they siege durge once again it uses exactly the  same map as the spirit realm but thankfully it's   now free from its hellish blue tones the problem  with the siege is that there's virtually no actual   planning or strategy that goes into it you just  split your party up into groups and then take   control of them in turn while they fend off waves  of enemies on a locked screen you might think this   would be pretty cool you know controlling your  characters is changing things up a little bit   but your companions don't really do anything they  have a fraction of the moveset that your main   character does so it feels pretty awful actually  to switch over to silk fox and only be able to do   rudimentary swipes and guarding it doesn't bring  anything new to the table so you're just mashing   through enemies and then as fast as that section  arrives it's over it's just another really rushed   half-baked idea that was obviously crammed in at  the end chapter six ends with a boss fight against   death's hand the leader of the lotus assassins  and a character who's central to the plot of a few   of your companions i've not really spoken about  him all that much throughout this because really   he's just incredibly boring you discover that he's  the third brother of the emperor in master lee   who died but has had his spirit bound to a set of  armor making him immortal there's a whole subplot   where people think he's going to depose the  emperor and even spend a bit of time infiltrating   the lotus assassin headquarters to find out  what they're up to but it just doesn't really go   anywhere they're making golems out of the spirits  of dead people but the golems don't ever do   anything and as soon as master lee takes over the  empire the lotus assassins just start serving him   so i guess they weren't planning on conducting  a coup once you've beaten death's hand you   can choose to either bind him to yourself as a  companion which is pointless because he has no   dialogue and as we've already discussed companions  don't do anything in battle or you can do the nice   thing and set them free which i did but that's  it that's all of chapter complete in about   15 minutes maybe even faster if you blast through  the dialogue it's a perfect example of that scope   streamlining i spoke about earlier it's the exact  same environment as the afterlife there aren't any   side quests or exploration and everything is  just barreling towards the finale you press a   and go to the next chapter and it just  teleports you immediately to the final zone   so finally back in the imperial palace we  fight through the same corridors that we saw   when we originally came while being guided  by a cryptic water dragon who implores us   to delve deep into the imperial palace and  discover the true nature of the crimes of   son hai and sun lee now you might think that  most rpgs end with their most complex dungeon   full of the most dangerous enemies with the most  fiendish traps but jade empire decides to go its   own way here ignoring those traditional ideas for  its own take on the final location in the game   instead we get a handful of hallways full of some  fairly weak enemies that we've been fighting for   most of the game and instead of a complex map full  of puzzles and enemies we just get the big reveal   we finally break into the nexus of  the imperial palace and discover   that the water dragon spirit has been captured  by sun high and sun lee and they've been using   this to save the jade empire from the long drought  while also abusing her power to enrich themselves   wait a second didn't we already know this we  already discovered this in the throne room the   first time we were here and didn't master lee  literally repeat it again when he betrayed us   and then abbott song repeat it literally again  in the afterlife what the hell is going on with   the writing here it's like they went all in with  the twist and then realized they didn't have any   other plot left to pad out the rest of the story  so they just had every single npc you meet recap   the twist in exactly the same way in what would go  on to become true bioware tradition you're given a   final choice to either free the water dragon or  steal its power for yourself which i'm not 100   clear about because i thought you had to take that  power from durge and that master lee currently   held it but i think that might be thinking about  it a little harder than the developers want us   to at this point after all we got an ending  to get to regardless of what you decide you   end up back in the same throne room again i mean  jesus this is seriously reusing some environments   you approach the throne of the jade empire  and the final showdown with sun lee begins   what follows is a boss fight that would probably  be more interesting had i not become completely   drained with the battle system by this point  seriously there is nowhere near the depth   required for a 15 hour long game which really says  something about how fun it is also if you remember   i was completely and utterly overpowered so i  slapped suddenly around while barely taking it   here and downed him in about 30 seconds flat  you engage in one last dialogue which to be   fair to jade empire is somewhat interesting  essentially suddenly gives you the choice   to either kill him or allow yourself to be  killed in which case he promises that he'll   make you a legend in the new jade empire a  figure of history that will live on forever   it's kind of interesting but the issue i have is  that it's not really a moral decision it's more a   test of how much you trust son lee which if you've  paid any attention at all should be not very much   i admire the attempt to mix up the final boss and  maybe bring back some of the grey morality but the   problem is that the whole finale of the game just  totally undermines this and essentially tells a   story about pure evil versus pure good regardless  of how the earlier parts of the game played out   we've seen suddenly slaughter thousands of people  harness the darkest of magics and even completely   turn a blind eye on his own daughter there's  just absolutely no reason to trust that he would   ever stay true to his word regardless you make  your choice i obviously went with killing him   and in return you're treated to a shortcut scene  where a handful of people in the imperial city   cheer their returning hero except and i don't  mean to get too picky but how did they even   know anything had happened maybe only a day or two  had passed so i can't imagine much should actually   change for the people of the empire how did they  even notice and isn't the whole point of freeing   the water dragon that their lives will actually be  worse i mean another drought and they'll all die   it was all about restoring the natural balance  of the world and fixing the afterlife not making   the citizens of the imperial city any better off  anyway after that it's the credits and i kid you   not text screens for each character which give you  a brief paragraph about what they got up to after   you save the world it looks terrible and it feels  bad games on the super nintendo literally did   character send-offs better than this just look at  dragon quest 4 an nes game developed by about 10th   of the people you beat the final boss and then  post credits you get a melancholy song playing   as you drop your individual party members back  to their homes there isn't even any text and it's   more emotionally engaging than reading dawn star  went home to plant flowers there's no post game   no new game plus just right back out to the main  menu a few minutes after throwing the final punch that's a lot to take it's a pretty hardcore  anticlimactic ending after everything that   was building towards such a fantastic  twist about the 80 mark for me this really   wonky ending with its ugly textures and highly  linear gameplay is actually pretty telling about   why jade empire never actually caught on as a cult  game my theory is essentially that along with all   the reasons that average gamers didn't pick it  up that we've discussed throughout the video   and the fact that the game is a real mixed bag  anyway this is the final critical mistake which   means the way people view this game doesn't line  up with the reviews if only the most dedicated   fans are getting to the end of the game by  delivering such a compromised final few chapters   you're essentially leaving the people most likely  to recommend your game with a sour taste in their   mouth just picture the scene you've been  excited for jade empire after reading about   it in magazines you get it on release and  power through the whole thing over a weekend   someone on monday asks you oh yeah how was that  game you're excited for and the first thing you   remember is the endless linear hallways of durge  fortress or the god awful itchy band lipstick   you reply ah it was all right  and then never speak of it again   for any game to have lasting critical appeal you  always need a group of dedicated super fans who   are going to keep talking about it keep making  videos about it be guests on podcasts to tell   people how amazing it really is how worth all  those flaws it is that enthusiasm is dampened   by giving them the very worst part of the  game right before they stop playing for good   that subsection of people who love jade empire  regardless of its flaws just get smaller and   smaller the further through the game you get the  issue is that there aren't enough of these people   to create a buzzing long-term community which  would create that demand for a jade empire too   it's a victim of being good in the right places  to get great reviews out the door but poor in the   right places to damage player enjoyment and kill  that word of mouth which can make games immortal   it's the bottom line as to why jade empire never  got a sequel despite all its ambitious design   an interesting world thrilling twist and great  characters as a game it's simply just not that fun so where does that leave us could jade empire  ever make a comeback is it definitely too   late for our world of spirits and martial  arts masters to ever get run out on the   playstation 5 or the xbox series x well actually  earlier this year bioware released concept art   for a potential jade empire 2 that they were at  least partially working on it's not surprising to   see that they'd switched up the saying moving away  from the chinese mythology to a more modern sci-fi   cyberpunk saying where characters would  use guns and race across city rooftops   if it sounds quite different that's because it  really kind of was and it was even eventually   renamed project revolver to separate it from jade  empire even further ultimately it was cancelled as   the project struggled for direction never really  solidified into a concrete idea for an actual game   as jade empire was really the long-term brainchild  of bioware's original founders ray mizuka and greg   ziescherk who have both now left the company  i think it's unlikely that we're going to see   anything from the ip anytime soon the last mention  of any future jade empire games was all the way   back in an interview in 2011 and even that was  just a fleeting comment but here's the thing   i actually genuinely believe that a true jade  empire sequel set in the empire that we explored   during the first game could be a real success  for starters the aesthetic is a lot more popular   nowadays the neo series and shaqiro have mined  the depths of wooxie imagery to massive success   both are absolutely oozing eastern mythology  stuff full of jade golems massive serpents and   wide-rimmed farming hats warriors orochi and  dynasty warriors have both become long-running   established franchises we live in the era of  the intern now where tastes are extremely broad   and minds are much more open than they used  to be there's no way a jade empire 2 would   be passed over in a world where gen should  impact is one of the biggest games on steam   we've spent a hell of a long time going over  all the great and not so great parts of the game   but when considering a potential  sequel there isn't anything   so wrong with the core formula that couldn't  be improved on in a hypothetical next game   smoothing out those rough edges into something  that realizes all the incredible potential   a lot of the main issues that i have with  the original game are simply that it doesn't   match the designers ambitions and that the  hardware is clearly to blame for a lot of that   a new game developed on a modern console that  allowed your party to fight alongside you against   hordes of enemies or in detailed interactive  environments is really not outlandish to imagine   i mean bioware have developed games like this  since jade empire with tons of enemies swarming   the battlefields of dragon age inquisition or  mass effect andromeda what would really help a   potential sequel is simply being bigger in almost  every way with much more of the empire to explore   less restrictions on where we can go and what  we can do bioware pretty much exclusively makes   absolutely monstrous video game worlds now and  have an absolute ton of experience making them   on console so there's no reason to believe that  we get another linear boxed in set of hallways   the idea of exploring wide open planes on  horseback or soaring freely through the skies   in a flyer is enough to entice anyone in finally  one of the main reasons i think bioware should   head back to this ip is that since the release of  dragon age inquisition they've really had quite a   bit of a rough time and could really use something  fresh to reboot interest in their projects   it's fair to say that bioware really need a hit  and i think they could get one without having to   go back to the same old franchises yet again which  would avoid the risk of franchise fatigue which   can sometimes hit huge series despite anthem's  flaws it had a huge amount of hype around it   people were willing to follow bioware to a new ip  because of their pedigree in making interesting   and engaging worlds jade empire could hit that  nerve while already having an established law   to call upon it wouldn't have to be designed from  the ground up but it would feel fresh because it's   been so long since the last one so few people  are actually familiar with it we're living in   a time when nostalgia sells people absolutely  adore remakes and remasters with youtubers and   streamers working tirelessly to mine the depths  of people's childhood memories for content   anything that throws back to something people are  even vaguely familiar with is guaranteed a little   bit of attention a huge developer resurrecting a  franchise to finally do it justice 15 years after   its release would be a huge headline grabber you  can already see the e3 or state of play as jade   empire 2 appears on the screen amidst thundering  chinese drums it literally doesn't matter that a   lot of people haven't played the original name  recognition alone would generate interest and   fuel the next hype machine which i think modern  bioware would actually have a good shot at meeting   it's all completely hypothetical but despite  it sounding crazy i think it could work but here's the real kicker while jade empire  never got its own sequel in a way it sort of   did with the next few projects that bioware worked  on bioware would follow jade empire up with the   creation of two absolutely monstrously successful  original series mass effect and dragon age while   neither of them have even the slightest in common  jade empire when it comes to setting or world both   games were really informed by the experience that  bioware gained by making their eastern action rpg   those fantastic sections of the game  we discussed earlier they're very much   present in both of those series extremely engaging  and detailed world building quest structure that   doesn't always have binary good or bad outcomes  and a second go at blending the world of action   games and role play which frankly i think they  completely realized in mass effect 2 and dragon   age 2. while we might never have got to walk  the streets of jade empire again that wasted   potential wasn't completely lost and eventually  was realized in games that came after it   jade empire was an important lesson for bioware  how to design an interesting new world how to make   combat work in real time and most importantly how  to develop a totally new role-playing experience   that worked for console gamers we may never  get a jade empire 2 but it was instrumental in   giving us some of the greatest games of the hd  era and i think on balance that's a fair trade so anyway that's jade empire the good the bad and  the weird it's an interesting game that never got   a sequel i think i've done a pretty comprehensive  job of assessing exactly why that was   i hope you enjoyed this video and learned a  little something about a game that maybe you   didn't know much about if it inspired you to  play it i hope you enjoy it as there's a lot   in there we didn't cover and if not well i'm  amazed you made it to this point in the video   i'm matt and i finished a video game and that  was no sequel number one see you on the next one you

Channel: I Finished A Video Game

Views: 624,322

Keywords: jade empire, knights of the old republic, bioware, baldurs gate, mass effect, dragon age, anthem, chrono cross, resident evil, final fantasy, xbox, xbox 360, retrospective, review, analysis, critique, video essay, RPG, kung fu, wuxia, crouching tiger hidden dragon, house of the flying daggers, kung fu hustle, henpecked hou, black whirlwind, dawn star, MDK2, PC gaming, IGN, Gamespot, Morrowind, Fable

Id: R6KYjj-cN3I

Length: 124min 39sec (7479 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 10 2021