Game News Jade Empire on your home PC soon

[Spazmo]

Tags: BioWare; Jade Empire

To nobody's great surprise, BioWare is preparing a PC version of their popular Xbox martial arts themed RPG, Jade Empire. From the BioWare <a href=http://jade.bioware.com/pc/>product page</a>, here's what they plan to add to the port:<blockquote> * Customizable, intuitive controls including support for game-pads and keyboard/mouse.
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* Increased graphics resolutions and new visual effects.
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* New monsters and enemies.
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* New fighting styles.
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* Improved combat AI and difficulty levels.
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* New world map interface.</blockquote>Yawn. What happened to that Star Citadel business?
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Thanks go to <b>Greatatlantic</b> for noticing this.
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[The Internets]

A port that takes advantage of a PC's strengths? What a novel idea.

 

[Kendar]

Too bad it doesn't seem to add new quests, places and stuff like that. Yeah, nioo monstarz and nioo wai to kil them ! Maybe I could have bought it again otherwise, because I really loved this game. The ambiance was great, and since there were tons of (Bioware's) dialogs... sure, the choice were manichean and clichéd as hell, but at least you could be good or good-but-I-threaten-you-so-I-can-gain-evil-points. The voice-acting was fantastic too. The thing that pissed me off were these damn loading times.

 

[Hamster]

Is it worse than NWN?

 

[Fresh]

Mmwwhaha those people claiming it was a x-box exclusive = liars.

 

[Volourn]

Yo, moron, Star Citedal has already been announced. Idiot.

 

[Andyman Messiah]

That feature-list reminds me a lot about the feature-list for Fable, so will BioWare give us the same ultracool air guitar function like Pete M did?

 

[obediah]

That feature-list reminds me a lot about the feature-list for Fable, so will BioWare give us the same ultracool air guitar function like Pete M did?

Based on KoToR I/II, I doubt the jade empire port will hold a candle to the Fable port. I think Jade Empire is the better game (well it was a game at least), but Fable was a very well done port.

 

[Volourn]

"Based on KoToR I/II,"

The KOTOR games weren't ports. Poor comparison.

 

[Slylandro]

Well, at least it shows that Bioware still knows what its main market is.

 

[Andyman Messiah]

Yes, next to the shelves with Cheerios.

(Or is that Bethesda?)

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Meh, finished it but there's really no point in playing it again.

 

[Andyman Messiah]

Not even because of the new (copy/paste) customizable, intuitive controls including support for game-pads and keyboard/mouse?! I'm hooked, lemme tell ya.

 

[Volourn]

LOL You forgot to mention the spiffy new age world map!!!

 

[Andyman Messiah]

Actually I'm more interested in the new difficulty levels.

I'm sure BioWare will give us a teleport option so that we don't have to spend too much time exploring the linear paths they've set up.

Edit: I mean, if they don't have fast-travel, they suck! Fast-travel is everything that's hip and happening in today's RPGs.

 

[obediah]

"Based on KoToR I/II,"

The KOTOR games weren't ports. Poor comparison.

Good point. The KOTOR games were designed from the beginning to run on PCs. Jade Empire was designed solely for the x-box gamepad, so PC controls/GUI will have to be hacked in as best as possible into the existing code.

So that, combined with how shit the controls/gui of KOTOR on the PC are makes me way more optomistic.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Attack, wait for block, special attack FTW.

 

[Volourn]

Kinda reminds me of FO's crit miss by enemies, crit hit by PC.

Or the reverse; but with 'Game over' afterwards.


LOLZ

 

[dipdipdip]

I wonder how it will sell on the PC...

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Kinda reminds me of FO's crit miss by enemies, crit hit by PC.

You can't devise a counter attack to what you don't know will happen. A critical has a random chance of happening, as opposed to the constant attack pattern of enemies in Jade Empire.

 

[jasondragon]

Another game that was hyped to all hell, especially by IGN but was boring as all hell upon release.

 

[Drakron]

Well I remenber hearing some things well before the release that were interresting, one was that the player would have a stronghold and could send the recrutable NPCs on missions ...

Jade Empire is un-inspired, there is a lot of crap that was thrown in that the game could do without, starting by the whole "shooting mini game" and the idiot open mouth, shaved fist idiocy.

One of the things I remenber most is they saying they created a entire new language and then we got KotOR alien "saving disk space" speech, also in typical BioWare arrogance they stated it was a love poem to China ...

 

[Dgaider]

One of the things I remenber most is they saying they created a entire new language and then we got KotOR alien "saving disk space" speech

I don't think it was used very often, but the Imperial language in Jade Empire was indeed a full-fledged language of its own and not the KotOR "alien-speak".

also in typical BioWare arrogance they stated it was a love poem to China ...

I'm not sure what you mean, here. Jade Empire wasn't an ode to our love for China... it was a setting inspired by wuxia and Chinese mythology. We weren't trying to "re-create" China in any way. Depending on who you ask, people will say that it was either too Chinese or not Chinese enough.

Not that you were going for accuracy, obviously, but whatever.

 

[Greatatlantic]

The Chinese setting is one thing I won't complain about Jade Empire. It might not be as creative as Fallout's future of the '50s, but nothing is. Anyways, the majority PC RPGs seem to only have a very narrow Medieval/Tokienese setting. To point out the Codex current whipping boy, Oblivion, the developers seem to go out of their way to make it as typical fantasy as possible, despite the very Ancient Roman vibe I got from them in Morrowind. Anything outside of that norm is a welcome change (except for Star Wars).

You know, an RPG-lite game wouldn't be the worst thing for me to spend my money on, provided it at least gave me a charcter sheet to mess around with. I just can't see paying $50 for a port when games like Gothic 3 and Neverwinter Nights 2 are on the horizon as well. $20, I'd buy it on impulse. $50, not so much.

Here's a question for you, D. Gaider, if you care to answer it. I remember Microsoft published Jade Empire for the Xbox. Although you don't have a publisher listed yet, if Microsoft publishes the PC version, will it be Vista only like Halo 2? That would pretty much kill off any desire I had to get it.

 

[DemonKing]

Jade Empire is the better game (well it was a game at least), but Fable was a very well done port.

You thought Fable was a good port? I guess if you discount the horrible and unintuitive save game system...

As for Jade Empire PC...well, if the reviews are decent I might give it a go but I can't say I'm too inspired at this stage.

Is it true that the JE inventory system consists solely of swapping in and out bits of jewelery from a single slot?

 

[kris]

Too bad it doesn't seem to add new quests, places and stuff like that. Yeah, nioo monstarz and nioo wai to kil them ! Maybe I could have bought it again otherwise, because I really loved this game. The ambiance was great, and since there were tons of (Bioware's) dialogs...

Oh I agree, I see nothing worth getting it again (as in buying it) and could as well play it on Xbox again. The game is also very much made for a controller.

Depending on who you ask, people will say that it was either too Chinese or not Chinese enough.

I would lean to the first. While how much the world ambience being Chinese didn't bother me, I felt that the real China historical references was over the top. As in "mongols" pretty much being in and having a British arrogant "explorer" in. Then again, as you said, some may have loved these...