You start off by selecting a character type attuned to various skills: physical, mind, or magic-based attacks. "Chi," Jade Empire's stand-in for mana, allows your character to heal and deal more damage with attacks. "Focus" represents mind power, and is essential for wielding weapons. You can create a character whose specialty lies in one of the three, or a balanced character who relies equally on mind, body, and magic. Should you feel too restrained by the available types, you can always choose to go the custom route and define your avatar as you go.
It stands to reason that since Jade Empire is a martial arts-based action RPG, you'll get to do more than your fair share of kicking, punching, and weapon-wielding, all of which are accomplished through fighting styles. The styles include hand-to-hand, magical, and weapon-based attacks, and you'll need a mix of all three in order to defeat your adversaries, as certain creatures are only vulnerable to certain attacks. For example, ghosts cannot be killed using standard weapons. You earn quite a few styles as the game progresses, and in the Xbox original, it was more than a little annoying to constantly pause the game and remap fighting styles, as they could only be assigned to the four d-pad directions. The default keys for combat styles in the PC Special Edition are the number keys running along the top of the keyboard, which becomes convenient as you earn fighting styles faster and faster as the game progresses. The only time you will need to remap keys is to move older styles further down the list of commonly used styles; you'll spend quite a bit of time leveling up skills only to find better alternatives along the way, but even so, there's no reason to completely disregard a style you've spent so much time upgrading, as it could still come in handy at some point.
Since combat is the crux of the gameplay, it's important that the fighting styles not disappoint, and they are each unique enough in both aesthetics and implementation that you'll find yourself trying each of them at least once as opposed to becoming dependent upon one or two exclusively. The combat takes place in real time, though you can pause the action to reassign fighting styles and call out a different henchman should you need to. Each style serves a different purpose, and it is this component that makes the combat in Jade Empire stand out as more than just kicking in punching: fighting is the key to attaining power-ups. You do not open a menu to drink a health potion; rather, you perform specific harmonic combos to restore your Chi, Focus, and health. To perform a harmonic combo, you start out by switching to a support style and executing a strong attack via the right mouse button by default. This will slow or stun the enemy, allowing you to switch to a primary style such as Legendary Strike and execute another strong attack--which will cause your enemy to explode and drop a power-up, but only if they are vulnerable to harmonic combos; some creatures and ghosts are not. You can also slow down time via Focus attacks, allowing you to rush up to enemies and pummel them as long as you have enough juice in your Focus meter. This technique works well against enemies that are faster than you, as well as against many of the ghosts in the game with access to fast projectiles.
So, really, you can only restore health and energy in the middle of a fight if you're adept at executing harmonic combos. How can you possibly manage all of the enemies that will rush you, some with melee attacks, others with magic, by yourself? Luckily, you won't have to. Over the course of the game, other characters with different agenda will join your cause, and each has something unique to bring to the proverbial canvas. Most characters can be assigned to either Attack or Support, the latter manifesting itself in the form of your character meditating and restoring health or another stat. Some hireables only have the option of filling one of the two roles. One character teaches you drunken boxing, which you can only use by keeping a steady supply of alcohol in your system. When this henchman is summoned, he will support your character by throwing out bottles of wine when needed. Those characters that have a set boon to give you provide originality to what can sometimes be an otherwise cookie cutter selection of henchmen.
As fun as it is kung fu-ing everything in your path, the process of slowing down time and performing harmonic combos remains the same throughout the game. Once you figure out the strategies necessary to defeat each type of adversary, you'll often find yourself growing annoyed through yet another combat sequence when all you're trying to do is explore. Even gaining more advanced fighting styles loses its luster when you realize that they are simply alternatives to others that you've already received; they may be more powerful, but none of them really offer anything new.
Turn the page to read more about Jade Empire: Special Edition.
_PAGE_BREAK_ Despite its eventual redundancy, the flaws in Jade Empire's combat system don't really do anything to lessen its overall fun factor, and you'll find yourself more than willing to put up with some redundant combat sequences in order to find out more about the story BioWare has crafted. The main story of the game begins shortly after you finish your self-guided tour of Two Rivers, the small town where you live and train under Master Li, an expert in the martial arts. The Two Rivers is attacked by bandits on the hunt for a particular someone--you, of course. After successfully turning away the attack, Master Li decides the time to introduce you to your destiny has come, and you start out on your journey of self-discovery while following either the way of the humble warrior--or that of a brash, self-serving nihilist.How do you choose which course to follow? Depending on your actions during quests, and to a much larger degree, your responses in conversations with others, your character will follow the path of the humble path of the Open Palm, the arrogant way of the Closed Fist, or remain neutral. Your allegiance will determine things like quest rewards and whether or not you can learn certain fighting styles. For example, one quest in the game has you making your way to a struggling town in order to close a flooded dam at the bequest of its desperate locals. However, on your way, you're approached by a merchant who wishes to keep everyone stranded so that they depend on his goods. If you see to it that the dam cannot be fixed, the merchant will give you a large percent of his profit, which has been very great indeed. Do you help the citizens and take a smaller reward, or reap the benefits of the merchant's selfishness? Your choice. I chose to help the citizens--I'm just that kind of guy--but there were consequences to be suffered, as the merchant and his posse were waiting for me on the outskirts of town.
The characters you will meet over the course of your adventure have been given well-written dialogue and voice acting that only occasionally sounds forced. I found myself doing as many side quests as possible for not only the experience point rewards, but because I was genuinely interested in what the characters had to say, and how my dealings with them would advance the plot.
There are only two minor flaws with Empire's story. The first is that some minor plot inconsistencies seem to crop up inexplicably, and from a company that prides itself on its story-heavy games. The most notable example came during an in-game cut-scene that featured a character dispatching ghosts with a pair of axes. That's fine, except that it is revealed early on that ghosts are not susceptible to weapon-based attacks; if you want to kill them, you have to use your fists and feet, so why is a character blatantly attacking--and defeating--ghosts with weapons? I thought at first that an explanation might be forthcoming (maybe the weapons are special?) but none was given; far as I could tell, it was a continuity error. Also, the placement of good/bad dialogue in conversations remains static throughout most of the game: the top selections are for the good path, the middle for neutral, and bottom for bad. There were some instances where the order of the good and bad paths were switched, and while I admit that I was reading faster than the voice actors speak, I sometimes found myself making "bad" conversation choices even though my character was practically a saint. Why mess with dialogue placement?
Gamers who have sampled the original Jade Empire will be pleased to know that two critical components of the Special Edition have received more than a little attention: graphics, and control configurations. Graphically, the game is absolutely stunning, able to support widescreen resolutions (I myself had the game running at 60fps in 1280x800) and updated textures that are sure to still the tongue of even the pickiest PC gamers. Most of the environments, characters, and spell effects don't appear as if they were quickly dumped from a lower platform up to a much more capable one; this is a PC game, and BioWare took the time to properly satisfy graphics enthusiasts.
There are a few faults, however. Some of the textures, particularly on characters' faces, are blurry and shaky, quivering when characters move and talk, which is typical of many console ports. Some NPCs feature bland detail on limbs and clothing, as well as polygons that jut out awkwardly. It's rather annoying, since these rare instances serve to slap the player out of the wonderful reality Jade Empire constructs. When compared to the whole of the package, they are minor issues, though they do exist.
The most significant additions come in the form of two new fighting styles, one for the way of the Closed Fist, and another for the way of the Open Palm. The Iron Palm is handy for slow but powerful attacks, while the Viper style is quick, allowing your character to dart in and out with attacks that slowly poison your adversaries. Viper is a lot more fun than Iron Palm, as the latter is slow to the point of being nearly unusable. It can be handy after slowing your opponent down with a support style such as Heavenly Wave, however.
Jade Empire: Special Edition can be viewed in the same light as the Xbox original: it's a fun action RPG with a great story line that doesn't last nearly long enough, but is great all the way through. The combat can grow tiresome, but it still holds enough appeal that you'll enjoy experimenting with the new styles earned late in the game. If you're an action RPG fan and haven't yet experienced Jade Empire, there's no reason for you not to do so now.
Jade Empire: Special Edition releases today, February 26, for the PC and is already available for the Xbox.
