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nostromo
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Montréal, Québec
Mar 2002
time: 00:17
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Some reviews are in and its looking very good so far  I'll have a hard time choosing between Jade Empire and Splinter Cell...
http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/918890.asp
http://xbox.ign.com/articles/602/602787p1.html
IGN gave it a 9.9/10
quote:
I could write considerably more on what makes Jade Empire a great game. It is an early leader for RPG of the year, if not overall game of the year. And it ranks among the best Xbox games on the market. This isn't just a great RPG, it is also a brilliant action game that casual gamers can pick up and enjoy.
The real joy of Jade Empire comes from the hundreds of details that couldn't possibly be covered in a review: how a character centers himself after battle, humorous references to pop culture, and the spot-on re-creation of the many fighting styles. The only way to grasp how much effort has been put into this game is to experience it yourself, so stop reading and go pick up the game, an empire awaits. |
Another Take, from another IGN reviewer. As you can see, its even more critical... 
quote:
It's a strange thing to consider, but I believe David Clayman may have underrated Jade Empire at a 9.9. There is no such thing as the perfect game, but there are a few rare gaming experiences that so transcend any failings, they might as well be considered perfect. KOTOR was easy to love, but it had a lot of faults. The genius of that game so outweighed the annoying issues that it remains a classic for just about every RPG fan. Guess what -- Jade's story is better, its combat system superior and its morality system is more complex than KOTOR.
If there's anything to work toward for a sequel, it would be to add far more Wuxia elements. I want fights atop the trees of a bamboo forest and running atop the heads of a villain's minions. The morality system, while more rewarding then KOTOR, is still much more enjoyable as a follower of the Closed Fist. The only thing an Open Palm is good for is a ***** slap. And that's about where my gripes run out.
In an industry where story is often secondary, BioWare continues to prove that a great story needs to come first. Yeah, the combat is sweet, the visuals are slick, and the mini-games are a blast, but when people talk about Jade Empire five years from now, they're going to talk about the story. There are so many twists and turns that no one will be able to anticipate all of them. I almost feel like going back and lowering the scores of every other RPG on Xbox. Yes, Jade is that good. |
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snoopy369
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Of the Peanuts Gallery
Apr 2004
time: 23:17
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Never, i believe it is an X-Box only game. Bioware took advantage of the fact that they could make it xbox-only to make an all-new graphics engine, from what I understand, that is very cool, but limits it to only being on the xbox for the forseeable future ...
It looks pretty cool, although it annoys me greatly when reviewers pretend that KOTOR is a 'great RPG' ... they really need a new category for games like KOTOR/Jade Empire/etc. ... RPFPS perhaps? I just don't consider them in the same line as Morrowind or other real RPGs ... fun, absolutely (loved KOTOR) but in a different way; i don't find myself nearly as tempted to RP as i do in morrowind style games, and I find that KOTOR at least was way too limited in what you could (or wanted to) do - you didn't go back to a planet, generally, after you left it... meaning if you didn't do a quest right away, you never could.
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nostromo
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Montréal, Québec
Mar 2002
time: 00:17
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quote:
It looks pretty cool, although it annoys me greatly when reviewers pretend that KOTOR is a 'great RPG' ... they really need a new category for games like KOTOR/Jade Empire/etc. ... RPFPS perhaps? I just don't consider them in the same line as Morrowind or other real RPGs ... fun, absolutely (loved KOTOR) but in a different way; i don't find myself nearly as tempted to RP as i do in morrowind style games, and I find that KOTOR at least was way too limited in what you could (or wanted to) do - you didn't go back to a planet, generally, after you left it... meaning if you didn't do a quest right away, you never could. |
Morrowind is a very good game, but I'm not at all sure that it's more of a roleplaying game than, say, BG 2, KOTOR, NWN or Vampire: bloodlines. In fact, it seems to me there's less roleplaying involved in Morrowind. BG 2, KOTOR, NWN and Vampire are closer to the pen and paper roleplaying experience than Morrowind.
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snoopy369
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Of the Peanuts Gallery
Apr 2004
time: 23:17
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quote:
Originally posted by nostromo
Morrowind is a very good game, but I'm not at all sure that it's more of a roleplaying game than, say, BG 2, KOTOR, NWN or Vampire: bloodlines. In fact, it seems to me there's less roleplaying involved in Morrowind. BG 2, KOTOR, NWN and Vampire are closer to the pen and paper roleplaying experience than Morrowind. |
Absolutely not. Vampire and KOTOR are RPFPS games, FPS with roleplaying elements. They give you some small options for variation of your character, along essentially a single axis (ie, in KOTOR, you can be light side or dark side, and each action takes you one way or the other).
Morrowind, alternately, allows a wide variance of options. Each action has effect on your character, but not only one; and the game takes these into account, in Morrowind's case by having plenty of quests appropriate to any one roleplay style.
Perhaps KOTOR is closer to pen and paper, but only in the sense that pen and paper are too limited. From what i recall of p+p, and i didn't play that much compared to most people here I suspect, most of the point was your own roleplaying in your head - perhaps not scripted into the game, but you decided your character was a 'good' thief who only stole from the rich to give to the poor, and you actually did only steal from rich people, and you actually did give to poor people when you could. KOTOR doesn't allow nearly that much variation; you just don't have that many choices in the game. (Which makes it more fun, in one sense, to me; I don't have to stress nearly as much about whether my character would have done something or not, pretty much it's black and white, or gray if that's where i'm going with my character.)
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Bkeela
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Brisbane, Australia
Oct 1999
time: 15:17
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I can't trust reviews after Knights of the Old Repulic was proclaimed the second coming of video gaming. I have never been so bored in my entire life, as playing through the tutorial level, and getting to that first planet. I couldn't muster the motivation to continue after that.
When you need a pen and paper to keep track of all the cruddy little missions you need to complete, the fun has gone I think.
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness is my idea of a fun console based RPG.
Last edited by Bkeela on 11-04-2005 at 11:13
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Dis
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Las Vegas, Nevada
Feb 2000
time: 21:17
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quote:
Originally posted by nostromo
Morrowind is a very good game, but I'm not at all sure that it's more of a roleplaying game than, say, BG 2, KOTOR, NWN or Vampire: bloodlines. In fact, it seems to me there's less roleplaying involved in Morrowind. BG 2, KOTOR, NWN and Vampire are closer to the pen and paper roleplaying experience than Morrowind. |
It depends on what you call roleplaying
seriously. You can roleplay in Morrowind all you want. But in terms of dialogue options- it's not really roleplaying. As you don't have serious interactions with the NPC's. But in terms of pretending what your character is- the game gives you plenty of freedom. I guess most of the roleplaying occurs in your head- just not in the game mechanics . but the game offers so much freedom, it's hard not to call that roleplaying. You can pick and choose what you do. If you don't give a flying **** about the neverine, you don't have to do **** about it.
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snoopy369
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Of the Peanuts Gallery
Apr 2004
time: 23:17
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quote:
Originally posted by nostromo
Its what I was thinking of when I said there's less roleplaying involved in Morrowind than in KOTOR or Vampire. Dialogues are not one of Morrowind's strong points. Maybe I'll have to revisit Morrowind someday. |
Hmm, I guess that's where we diverge I don't care much about dialogue, because even KOTOR, a game supposedly with 'great' dialogue, seemed stupid to me when I thought about the dialogue.
spoiler(highlight to read):
Remember the part where you solve the murder on Dantoine? The dialogue there seemed horrible to me, and comparing that quest - which simply involved asking people in the right order - to Morrowind quests of a similar nature, that although technically identical in the 'asking in the right order' method of solving, seemed to involve the player's mind more.
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True, that Morrowind could use a huge Dialogue Upgrade - and theoretically oblivion has better - and some RPGs, like Might and Magic, do a lot better job of dialogue/puzzles than either game imo. But you can't get everything right 
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nostromo
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Montréal, Québec
Mar 2002
time: 00:17
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Good dialogues give NPC's personality. Morrowind is great but it felt like a clockwork world populated by robots. A good dialogue system allows you also to play in character.
I agree that KOTOR isn't exactly Shakespeare. But the dialogues were functional. It's only a game after all.
Btw, Vampire pwns KOTOR's dialogues. Troika really pushed the limits in Vampire. It had great voice acting. Thanks to the Half-Life 2 engine, the NPC's were very expressive: if you say something that offends them, they look offended; if you say something that pleases them, they look pleased... And the dialogues were great. NPC's talk differently to you depending on your sex, on your clan, on your intelligence, on your sex-appeal, on your charisma. Some clans have different dialogues options. The Malkavians, who are nuts, have weird, poetic answers. Granted, some of this stuff was in previous rpg's, but Troika went farther than everybody else.
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Imran Siddiqui
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The Potterverse
Jan 1970
time: 00:17
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So far, so good. I'm not too far in it (like 1 hour). But it is very interesting. It has good dialog and characters. You really get the Far East feel. The combat takes a while to master, especially remembering to switch styles while fighting. The 'Focus' meter is something new. You can't wield a weapon if you have no focus, so sometimes in a big fight, you have to put your sword away and do some martial combat.
The game looks BEAUTIFUL! One of the best looking games on the system (though I haven't played Doom III yet).
The character creation seemed a bit weak, so I did something I NEVER do, I took one of the pre-made characters. I'm 'Wu the Lotus Blossom' (or something), who is a balanced character with Legendary Palm and Something Wave fighting styles.
So far its really fun. It has its own good/bad dicotomy, though they say it is more than good or bad in the game. Should be fun to see how it turns out.
Looks like a good game for replay purposes too, if what I've been reading is correct.
quote:
although when i see it on the shelf in my local store i want to get it, just to support bio-ware. |
Yep... I'd rather put money in the pockets of BioWare than any other game company at the moment.
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11-04-2005 00:19
makes them not worth buying imho.
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