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With all the commotion I've heard about Jade Empire, I would've felt almost guilty not to check it out for myself. Knowing that this was a game from the same people who brought us Knights of the Old Republic, I ended up with something I didn't exactly expect, but enjoyed thoroughly.
Upon creating a new game, the player is required to choose a character depending upon stats, and gender if it really matters that much to you [being picky here may limit your options, but not a whole lot]. Once a character has been chosen and named, the adventure begins.
Although Jade Empire plays as an action/adventure-esque RPG, it is ultimately unlike any game I've played before. I've heard it be compared to games such as Fable and even KOTOR, but such comparisons really don't do this game justice.
The story is one that deals with war, loyalty, friendship, betrayal, and in a sense, growing up. It's the kind of game that may keep you on the edge of your seat. And if it doesn't do that for you, it'll at least keep you wanting to fight on in order to see the hows and whys of what's going on in the world of the player-character [since some parts of the story can be down-right confusing].
Jade Empire takes place in a medival era where magic is common, spirits of the dead roam the earth, and an Empire rules the land. You begin your story as the top student of a martial arts school, and your master is a man who found you orphaned as a child and raised you your entire life. And one day, while everything is all hunky-dory, things begin to take a turn for the worst when a group of bandits begin attacking a nearby village.
Through your tale, you'll meet a bunch of NPCs that will give you a bunch of side-missions to keep you busy, and in the end even give you an extra sense of accomplishment. You'll also cross paths with a handful of people that join you on your journey, and will be able to help you out in battle one at a time.
Gameplay, mostly the battle system, is as unique as a person could hope to expect. Throughout the game, you'll learn various combat techniques depending upon who you talk to, which ones you buy, and how you've made decisions throughout the game. Various techniques - including martial arts, magic, weapons, support, and transformation - all have their advantages and disadvantages in battle, and come into play even more when facing certain enemies. Also, all of your character's techniques can be upgraded multiple times to make your favorite fighting styles reach their maximum potential [i.e. eventually decapitating those who oppose you with a sword].
Your techniques can be set to any direction on the D-Pad you want, allowing for you to change fighting styles quickly and easily. This can come in handy to pull off 'harmonic combos' [the term used for special attack combinations that deal extra damage if you're able to successfully finish them], or even if an enemy you're battling is immune to a style you're currently fighting with.
You can also put your comrades to good use in battle by either setting them to attack mode and make them help you wipe out your enemies, or setting them to support mode to help you out during battle in their own unique way. Support modes range from regenerating things like health, chi, or focus, to strengthening a certain fighting style.
That brings us to another thing about the game. When your character reaches the next level, there are only three stats to add points to, which makes decision making relatively easier when it comes to trying to figure out what needs to be improved about your character. Body deals mainly with your health, which really needs to further explaination than that. Adding points to your spirit will increase your character's chi, which is used to heal yourself, use special chi-consuming attacks, or use transformation-style techniques. And lastly, mind translates into focus, which allows you to go into 'focus mode', a bullet time-like state where everything around you is slowed down a bit, and allows you to attack using weapon-style techniques.
Along with leveling up your character to make yourself stronger, you can also work on making the decision of walking the Way of the Open Palm, or the Way of the Closed Fist. This feature is much like going into either the Light or Dark side while playing KOTOR, but either way you go, your goal at the end of the game remains the same. Whether you chose to follow the Open Palm or Closed Fist sometimes makes an impact on what you can equip to your character, what techniques you can learn, and even which side-quests you may take. Outside of that, though, it basically comes down to whether you want to go through the game as Mr. Nice Guy, or just a complete asswipe.
So if an action/adventure RPG is your thing, or even if it isn't, I'd say that Jade Empire is definately worth a try. Work of art or not, it's definately fun as hell. And if you're into going through games more than once to discover another path to take, this is going to be a game in which you'll be able to do that. And probably again after that.
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