Where Have You Been All My Lives? is a new segment (with a very clever title) where I will report on games that I have always wanted to play, but never had the chance to. Aside from covering my thoughts on the game, I will go in depth to who and what made the game what it is and why I regret not having it in my life sooner.
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| Jade Empire Cover Art |
My first game for this segment is one that, if you know me, will surprise you that it has been absent from my life for so long. Jade Empire was first released in 2005 by heavyweight developer BioWare. At the time, BioWare had only one other known console title, released just two years earlier.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KotR) redefined both what an RPG and a Star Wars game could be and the critical acclaim is, in my opinion, the reason why Jade Empire did not receive as warm of a welcome. Going from a universe defined by it's fans to create a new world focused purely on the
Wuxia (thank you, Wikipedia) genre was a daring move. Eastern culture is widely unknown to us Westerners, but taking such a unique genre and breathing new life into it made the game accessible.
The complex storyline of Jade Empire takes the Player Character (PC) from a humble school of martial arts training into the heart of the expansive Empire in order to chase down the evils that threaten to destroy the balance of all things. Pulling from many facets of Eastern beliefs, the PC interacts with more than just mortal characters. Demons, spirits, and gods all make an appearance and their order in life is firmly established through main and side-quests throughout the game. What makes Jade Empire enjoyable is the rich history that you are exposed to throughout the game, giving you time to both enjoy and process the strange, new world in front of you.
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| This is a boss fight. Surprise! |
To add to the storyline, the PC is given the opportunity to learn and refine a number of fighting styles with heavy influences from a variety of Eastern martial arts, including Shaolin Kung Fu, Hung Ga and Tae Kwon Do. With practice, players can seamlessly switch between different martial and support styles in order to create a Harmonic Combo, the most powerful and purposeful way to defeat an opponent. The inclusion of so many great martial arts styles makes the battle system unique, but Jade Empire also has some fun by including the very unique Drunken Master style. In an homage to the Jackie Chan film of the same name, Drunken Master is only available when you have the follower Henpecked Hou, the one who teaches you this unique fighting style, along for the adventure. During battle, Hou will toss out jugs of wine for you to drink and dominate the field with. The style, while not the strongest, is spirited, and adds a bit of fun well-deserved fun to the combat system.
Like any good game, it takes more than just a great story to make a game a wonderful experience. The scenery delivered in the game is breathtaking, but what brings it life is the music. Composer Jack Wall, the same man who has created music for BioWare's most recent Mass Effect series, brings the world of Jade Empire to life. YouTube offers a smattering of samples from the soundtrack, but you can never go wrong with the
Main Theme.
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| Hello, romance option. |
What else makes a world believable? The people. And there are a
lot of people in Jade Empire all given their own, unique voice. While there are the occasional repeats in conversation, it is forgivable in order to hear a voice that is real, both in script and delivery. Many of the voice actors in the game had and still have a fruitful career both with BioWare and in other parts of the industry. Robin Atkin Downes, who voices Sagacious Zu, a member of your party, most recently provided the voice (and face) of Talbot, secondary antagonist in Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, while Cam Clarke defined the
cartoons of many of our childhoods. Even John Cleese and Nathan Fillion offer their voices to fill some minor roles in the game.
The downfall to Jade Empire is how short it really is in the grand scheme of RPGs. Though the PC travels to many different areas, you are secluded in that, for the most part, you can do little more than walk path to path. A number of side-quests help to keep you busy in established areas, but once you reach the Empire itself, the story becomes more linear. Other BioWare games, such as KotR or Dragon Age provide a lot more pit stops and optional side-quests in order to fully submerge you in the world. I only wish that Jade Empire could have taken the time to do the same.
As a whole, Jade Empire has left me impressed. It's a beautiful game that knows when to be serious and when to let the player just have fun! Though it did not take the place of Mass Effect as my favorite BioWare produced series, it has firmly nestled itself into my top RPG Top 10.
Jade Empire is currently available for digital download through
Steam for $14.99 or on the Xbox Live Marketplace for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15).
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