BioWare always wanted to develop game like this. Jade Empire was their first original RPG
Quite a few people may have already forgotten about Jade Empire. The brand is currently dead, but it was once the apple of BioWare's founders' eye. And it's hard to believe that they eventually abandoned this interesting world.
Martial arts stimulate the imagination of many people. For some, fascination is fleeting, for others it lasts for years, and sometimes even a lifetime. For me, the greatest period of interest in this topic was at the beginning of the 2000s. It was also an interesting time for games. For the purposes of this article, however, we are only interested in one studio - BioWare. It was on a roll then, releasing hit after hit. One of the games from the golden era of this developer is Jade Empire, which allows us to play as a martial arts master.
BioWare always wanted to develop Jade Empire
BioWare is a studio that probably doesn't need an introduction. No matter what people think of their games, this is one of the industry's veterans that brought the world iconic series like Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age. They developed Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, and Neverwinter Nights. Classics with a capital C.
Once they completed the licensed games for Dungeon & Dragons and Star Wars, BioWare began a project that had been developing in the founders' minds since the studio's beginning. Jade Empire was the brainchild of Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk (via IGN). They wanted to give the player the opportunity to play as a martial arts master. Ultimately, the game was released in 2005 for the original Xbox. This seems like a strange move, because the Xbox 360 was released just a few months later. After years, Greg Zeschuk admitted in an interview with Gamesindustry.biz that polishing the game and waiting for the new Microsoft console could have benefited this title.
The history of this IP might have taken a different path if the game had launched at the same time on PC or as an early title for the new generation. Unfortunately, this IP was ultimately forgotten. Well, maybe not entirely...
We know that work on the continuation of Jade Empire was ongoing. The working title of the project was Revolver. Over time, the idea evolved, but ultimately it was cancelled. So far, there is no indication that BioWare is going to make another game in this universe. It's a shame, because the world presented in Jade Empire was really engaging.
Demons, gods, mad scientists - in this world, we cannot get bored
Let's start with what seems to me the brightest point of Jade Empire - the presented world. It's clear that a lot of attention was devoted to its creation. The player arrives in a country which is inspired by ancient China. However, it's not a 1:1 copy. Devs gathered ideas from various sources and combined history with mythology.
This land is filled with unique and often memorable characters and interesting locations. Developers juggle the atmosphere just as smoothly. It's enough to say that we meet Henpecked Hou, a rather amusing companion, in a location filled with cannibals. He is a bun maker who once fought in the arena using the Drunken Master style, but his wife forbade him to follow his dreams. Our companions also include a girl who has not one, but two demons inside her, or a former elite assassin tormented by guilt for past crimes. We cannot also forget about the mad scientist, whose history is very mysterious. Is he who he claims to be?
As a result, players received a game full of colorful characters, good and evil demons, as well as gods. The Celestial Bureaucracy oversees everything, ensuring that mythological beings fulfill their roles... but if that's true, why are the souls of the dead reluctant to depart from the material world? It's our task to discover this.
Plot is also quite something
The story told in Jade Empire goes hand in hand with an interesting world. We embody a young martial arts apprentice who has just finished his training. We are quickly being forced to leave our family village. The journey leads the player through many locations - starting from small towns, through forests and swamps, and ending at the capital.
It's likely safe to say that the game falls into the Wuxia genre, which involves a heroic individual's battle against evil using martial arts and skills that often verge on the magical. Although it must be honestly admitted that Jade Empire offers us a choice. We can follow one of two ways - the Way of the Closed Fist or the Way of the Open Palm. In practice, this means that we can carry out certain quests either as an altruist, aiming to assist others, or as an egoist, solely interested in profit. However, this doesn't have a major impact on the mechanics or the main plot. Considering that at a certain point, there are 3 minor tasks exclusive to one side, we can assume that this mechanic was intended to be more significant, but it was cut down. Nonetheless, it is a good addition for people who like to role-play their characters in games.
The intrigue is so captivating that we follow the ensuing events with keen interest. However, don't expect deep reflections on life and death, but rather a solid piece of adventure, which mostly has clearly set boundaries between good and evil. Jade Empire enjoys misleading the player, offering information that ultimately proves to be false. During the game, we will even encounter a few twists. Unfortunately, you can usually expect them with quite a bit of advance notice.
Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer
In the following section of the article, you will find minor spoilers. Jade Empire is almost 20 years old, so you gotta forgive me! Skip to the next section if you want to approach the game with a fresh perspective.
BioWare has a certain narrative card that they like to play in their games - namely, friends turned into enemies. Beginning with Neverwinter Knights from 2002, the studio's games frequently feature an ally who switches sides at some point. Jade Empire doesn't abandon this cliché. No need to worry, I won't reveal who is with whom or how. However, I wanted to address this topic, because it didn't quite work out in this game.
A good twist in the game can leave the player with a dropped jaw and memories for many years. In Jade Empire, they probably wanted to do something similar, but it didn't work out. Unfortunately, I no longer remember how I perceived certain plot twists several years ago when I played this title for the first time. Yet, I am aware that today I followed the "betrayal" storyline with a sense of embarrassment. The game practically bombards us with hints about upcoming events, diminishing the joy of independent discovery and connecting facts, as well as the surprise when the plot advances.
Don't get me wrong, the idea was good. The right person was selected for the betrayal, and a storyline was created that logically explained everything to us. Unfortunately, the execution wasn't perfect. The instructions were given without enough delicacy, which affected the reception.
What about the fight?
"You talk about history, plot, but what about the combat?" "This game is about martial arts, and you haven't said anything about them yet!" - this is what some of you might have thought while reading this text. I had a reason for this... unfortunately, combat is the weaker part of Jade Empire. Don't get me wrong; I don't think it's bad. It just lacks depth. But let's start from the beginning.
Jade Empire offers many styles, which can be divided into several main types - weapon combat, bare-handed fighting, use of magic, and transformation into various mythical creatures. The more advanced abilities use Chi and Focus, so, at the start of the game, you should avoid overusing them against weaker opponents to prevent exhaustion before facing stronger foes.
We quickly realize that some styles are much better than others. For instance, using the Jade Golem, no opponent should pose the slightest threat to you. The downside of this strategy is the cost of Chi, but this aspect can be improved by using development points gained from advancing to the next levels. In most battles, however, you won't have to resort to using such powerful skills. In the end, many fights can be boiled down to just leaping behind the foes and striking them as swiftly as possible.
The diversity of enemies is also not a strong point of the title. We get to know all the main types of opponents that the game has to offer early on. Battle arenas are also quite boring, devoid of interesting interactive elements or obstacles. They are only backgrounds, often just an empty plot of land.
Despite the fact that the mechanics aren't perfect, you won't be grinding your teeth during fights. Mainly because they are quite dynamic, which somewhat conceals the shortcomings. Furthermore, testing different styles can be quite fun. A clear con of the game is the inability to reset skills. We need to be very cautious about how we spend our points. This limits the possibility of experimenting.
How to play Jade Empire today?
Today, you can play Jade Empire not only on older Xbox consoles but also on Xbox One and Series X/S ($9.99). I don't own any of these consoles, so I dusted off this title on PC. First, I tried the Steam version ($14.99), as I bought it a long time ago. Unfortunately, the game didn't launch.
Scrolling through negative reviews, I saw that I was not the only one who had a similar problem. I had a choice to either try to fix it or take advantage of the alternative offered by GOG ($14.99). Luckily, JE was on sale for just under 4 bucks at the time, so I decided that my mental health was worth it. I wasn't disappointed, as this version ran smoothly, up to a certain point...
Recently, when I tried to start Jade Empire to take some screenshots, I discovered that the game had stopped working, and, rather than launching, it caused my monitor to disconnect from the computer. Fortunately, fixing the files eliminated this bug. All you had to do was find the title in the library, and then, in the Installation Management options, select "Check/Repair" (the process may take a while). The problem sometimes returned, but never permanently, as it did the first time. A bit of patience was enough for the error to fix itself.
Jade Empire also got a mobile version for iOS ($9.99) and Android. However, for some reason, the second one was withdrawn from sale, so currently only Apple users can download it.
The title for PC and iOS is available in the Special Edition (there is no such label in the Xbox store, so I can't say what the situation is in this case). The SE is slightly improved compared to the original - the resolution has been increased, the AI has been improved, and a few fighting styles have been added. In later years, it appears that a number of extra visual improvements were implemented. At least the GOG version offers 4K resolution if we choose widescreen options.
