Jade Empire Retrospective | An Extremely Comprehensive Critique and History
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- čas přidán 13. 06. 2024
- "I know, I'll do a review of Jade Empire next! That will be quick"
Today we're looking at Jade Empire - the bridge between Bioware's days as a hardcore CRPG developer and their more modern cinematic output. It's an incredibly unique game - critically acclaimed but also highly flawed - an iconic Xbox original game yet a complete commercial flop.
Strap yourself in because we're going deep and we won't be coming up for air.
Patreon - / ifinishedavideogame
Twitter - / ifinishedagame
Credit for the incredible thumbnail goes to the immensely talented - @MicahTheBrave
All media in this video is used for the purpose of review, commentary or criticism and is defined as fair use under US Copyright law.
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Chapters
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:02:40 - I - What Even is A Bioware?
00:12:38 - II - Set to Fail
00:20:58 - III - A World of Promise
00:26:09 - IV - Having Actual Morals
00:34:33 - V - This Charming Man
00:40:12 - VI - Real Time Stunt Action
00:44:14 - VII - A Heavy Dose of Bioware Narrative
00:50:57 - VIII - Twist and Shout
00:55:46 - IX - Rough Around the Edges
00:58:35 - X - Jesus, It's Still Loading
01:00:50 - XI - Follow the Yellow... Straight Line?
01:06:37 - XII - The Black Leopard School
01:14:11 - XIII - Faintest of Side Content
01:19:49 - XIV - The Walking Stick Conundrum
01:30:38 - XV - Refusing to Follow the Crowd
01:42:27 - XVI - The Grand Messy Finale
01:57:16 - XVII - Could Jade Empire Ever Come Back?
02:03:58 - Goodbyeeee
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#JadeEmpire #Bioware #Retrospective - Hry
I love this game. Instead of a sequel, I wish they’d just remake it. It’s an excellent story, it’s obscure enough, that most people won’t know the twist and the technology is there now to really do it justice.
I do wish that most remakes were of games like this where there is some real scope for improvement rather than remaking endless games which are already good! I feel like that philosophy would have such a positive impact on the industry and create so many more popular franchises!
Yes, I would love a reboot to this series. Fixing the short comings and building on the core game. This was one of my most memorable games I played.
A reboot would be amazing! And much needed. I'd buy it in a heartbeat.
@@Trace153 indeed. there is some grounds for some interesting improvements to the system and expanding on the options available to create unique paths and styles, maybe even following on later if sequels were made mass effect style where your choices and decisions shape the future in the long and the short term. a lineage or sect shaped by the player and passed down as it faces the evils of the past, present, and future, as one can chose to stick with their philosophy that they started with in the face of change, or remold and adapt it, or even abandon it entirely. just so long as they make sure you don't have it all boil down to only a few different coloured explosions at the end. there are ways it could be managed i am sure, and certainly could structured to make sure that the players choices matter while not dragging too far beyond the limits of the game. hypothetical example. lets presume that as part of the transitioning process between the games/era's, you can select a few of the types of moves/ techniques to act as a baseline for the teachings or philosophies of your new sect or lineage, with it influencing what your protagonist in the era ahead wields as an ability of the sect, making some of those abilities easier or more potent, but potentially coming with hidden pitfalls and weaknesses. your enemies might adjust to face such power, or maybe the power itself brings the burden of its own problems. i for one love some of the demon transformation abilities, but i could certainly see social issues if you made demon magic one of the founding techniques of a new sect, but even then it could be awesome to behold, where every time you encountered a student or disciple of your sect fighting some enemy, they would be transforming into some badass demon to fight their foes. how might enemies adjust their strategies to face them over time? lots of interesting questions and ideas that could definitely make for a very interesting trilogy or larger form game.
Dude! This game is sooo good. I played it all the time. I would so love a remake or sequel, with more styles and just more Chinese mythology. You can barely find any good games inspired by Chinese mythology, so much cool stuff and interesting stories/concepts not seen much in the west, especially in gaming. Anytime I’m reminded of this pain it’s like nostalgia hits… then I get sad thinking how it’ll probably never get remade or a sequel.
The Mirabelle rifle is actually super broken and probably by far the best weapon in the game. By using your dodge roll you can completely skip the lengthy loading animation and the rifle will magically be ready to fire when you finish your dodge. This speeds up your rate of fire like fivefold while also letting you reposition after each shot.
The only problem is the high focus cost but it's managable for a weapon-centric build with high focus.
That is actually extremely cool - I had no idea you could cancel the animation like that! I wish I knew as I'd have loved to include footage of that as it sounds absolutely hilarious
One you level it up it's goooood
Yeah I remember it doing massive damage. I didnt know about the exploit but it was so satifying to one hit someone who spent their life training with my gunfu
Way back when there was a thread on the Bioware forums about what Jade Empire style was preferred. "Mirabelle: Because I'm a cheap bastard" was my fave. It's too bad the dodge-roll reload-skip seems to be patched in PC version, it just cancels the reload. But on the other hand, anything not immune to weapons will die in a single ki-charged strong shot. This includes the final boss.
@@j.a.8224 Interesting. I played this game on PC on GOG like a year ago and it worked for me.
What's best about the twist is that every time they mention your fighting style, they always say something to the effect: "Your Master must have been an amazing teacher. While fighting you, I always felt like there was an opening - a flaw that I could take advantage of. But when I moved to strike, it closed up and I was punished for it."
Every time it was pointed out my first time playing I thought "Wow, that's the kind of style someone called "The Glorious Strategist" would create, something that tricks people into thinking there are opening where there are none, leaving them vulnerable." It's because Sun Li knows that flaw. Nobody knows how to exploit it except for him. It was such a perfect twist.
It honestly is fantastic. Back then Bioware really were the masters of the video game bait and switch and I think JE is their finest one. KOTOR is a huge surprise which I personally love but there is something so clever about JEs twist that makes it feel like a classic Kung Fu/wuxia movie
I feel old seeing everyone talking about playing this when they were kids. I bought this on day one and played it. I was 30. Such an awesome game.
That's awesome though! I sometimes wish I'd been able to enjoy earlier NES games more than I did!
Bought it the day i turned 17 on June 1st that year. . .first M rated game evver.
I was just think the same, i was 29 and for my 30th my husband bought it for me. I have to admit it was his way of turning me into an Xbox player because i was die hard PS lover then. And it would have worked if a sequel had come. But once i had played it through 10 times, i put down the controller hating microsoft for depriving me, and went back to my PC and PS. I still own my original copy, look at it occasionally, and dream of a day..........
I played this game on Xbox 360 when I was 15 years old, by then it was already 6 years old and I fell in love with the game.
I was also past 30 when this released. I was strictly a PC player, and having really enjoyed Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights, I was prepared to really dislike KOTOR and Jade Empire, as I assumed it would make my favorite RPG developer into yet another console-focused button masher producer.
Luckily both KOTOR and Jade Empire also released on PC and I loved them both, and I happily bought a PS3 to enjoy the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series.
As a side note I think that the word (and concept) of 'linear' has been unfairly demonized in gaming, and has led to a loss of creativity in games. I don't mind being led through a story if the story is a good one. Sometimes 'open' games suffer from unimaginative bloat and replacement of plot with meaningless combat and fetching, not to mention loss of player focus, direction and the sense of URGENCY that is so vital to good drama.
Give me a great, focused, well-paced LINEAR story based game any day.
Master Li's betrayal absolutely broke my mind. Mainly cause it all made perfect sense, but I had no clue it was coming.
I think it's a really great twist! Bioware really were the masters at one point!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame If only that time had been longer/ more appreciated (particularly financially) at the time.
Jade Empire is right up there with Gladius for 'it should get a remake' for me
I found it to be extremely underwhelming, considering you barely spent any time with that character whatsoever beforehand. I found no reason to care about the lame plot
@@graysonguice5956 good for you
It's been almost twenty years, yet Sagacious Zu still randomly pops into my mind every now and then.
He's a pretty memorable character!
.... Dude same. From day one launch day, to everyday, Sagacious Zu occupies my thoughts briefly.
I feel like it's the name. It stuck with me forever. It's the most prominent detail I remember about this game.
In fact, the thought "Sagacious Zu", is what led me to search JE on yt and find this video lmao
His response when you find out that the husband was more worried about an ox than his wife sealed him as a great one for me.
One of the best BioWare companions ever, in my opinion.
1:03:00 I would like to point out that there isn't just one heaven that all of the gods reside in. Each god of major influence (like the Forest Shadow) has their own personal heaven that they reside in, which is what you go through during the forest section of the game. You're not going through "all of heaven"; you're just going through the Forest Shadow's personal heaven.
If any dev reads this:
I'd like you to know that I played this game during a particularly difficult time of my childhood. It helped.
They might not read it but I certainly did - I'm glad this game could help and I hope you hold onto that memory!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame I'd like you to know too :)
Thank you :)
Turns out that there's nothing wrong to "appeal to teenage boys fantasies", who would have thought.
@@DioBrando-qr6ye Completely irrelevant copium from you. He really bothered you with that one, huh? Got you right in the heart, because you were convinced real relationships work that way?
@@IzraelGraves no, it's because I know the difference between fiction and reality, so I don't need videogames to teach morality like they are a subsection of the church.
I'd like fantasy to be free from moralism (because I have morals in the real world).
I absolutely loved Jade Empire.. I played through it like 30 times as a kid. One of my all time favourites.
Hopefully videos like this can bring some more love to the series and encourage others to check it out too!
I love this messy masterpiece it's one of the few games I actually played with my mother or atleast I watched her play the game and beat it and i am currently in the process of beating it myself to honor her death so thank you deeply this retrospective really hits home for me ❤️
That's really touching and I'm glad that we could enjoy this game together through the form of CZcams videos! Peace to your mother and I hope you enjoy your way of honouring her!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame I do toad form forever 💖 much love brother
@@IFinishedAVideoGame if I could make a recommendation for a video? Maybe two? If you have never played it you should try lord of the rings fellowship of the rings lol I am curious about your thoughts, and then A very underated gem coliseum road to freedom it's a beat em up esc rpg with really interesting combat every body part has its own health and you can make people drop shit and pick it up, sorry for the stupid run on just some games I love and even if you don't make a video you should try em out just for fun! Thanks again for the awesome video!
@@solikeletsbenerdy It's funny you mention Fellowship of the Ring dude - I may have a large retrospective coming out in the near future that includes this game! Keep your eyes pealed as it should be out soon! (You read my mind somehow there!)
@@IFinishedAVideoGame fucking lit I love that game but the intro in the shire makes me want to kick Albert Einstein
I wanted a sequel to this game more than I’d ever wanted a sequel in my life.
It's a shame we never got it! Bioware should really care for their back catalogue beyond Dragon Age and Mass Effect!
Same here friend.... same
wu long fallen dynasty will surpass this game
I absolutely love the IDEA of the game's morality system. The way it's mean to be more morally grey, more realistic, and with justifications on both sides.
I loved meeting the two masters who describe the two alignment options, and the "Low Path" one explains how if you solve everyone's problems, be a hero, then they'll remain weak, fail to grow, never learn to solve their problems for themselves when you're not there to save them, while also saying that it's still within that belief to save someone's life, IF they would die. Corpses can't learn or improve themselves, after all. Or if you're rewarded, because wealth can be a form of strength in itself, applied correctly (ie: Into the hands of a mercenary like yourself.)
Aaaand then there's a bunch of blatantly evil choices in some quests, that even goes directly Against that ethos, encouraging you to let peasants get murdered by multiple armed men, or backstab people for no reason beyond "I want evil points to make Tempest style stronger."
One of the FIRST closed fist options is "Permanently cripple a fellow student to save a few coins on medicine.", How does THAT "promote growth through hardships"? It's actively Preventing growth!
I kinda wish the game had had Open Palm, Closed Fist, And "Just being a sociopath." Options, To help show how those last two Aren't meant to be the same.
But sadly, to a bunch of the writers, they apparently are the same.
Yeah it's a fantastic premise and the game does incorporate it in some interesting ways BUT it also really falls into the trap of "closed fist, evil - open palm, good". Ultimately I think they'd build on these ideas in Mass Effect with Paragon and Renegade but it's a shame we never got a more true RPG expression of this grey morality system.
Bioware was experimenting with something pretty new and probably thought that the two sides should be very differentiated to allay confusion. KotOR also had a problem with blatancy.
@@IFinishedAVideoGame If memory serves me, when reaching max Closed Fist you get the ability to literally kick puppies.
@@Mobysimo and monkeys
Man, if you ain't completing the perfect ending AND turning everyone possible to your way of thought. The twist perfect to odd ending ever.
Also the morality system was just a compass. The way of the Open Palm also allows suffering if it's justified by the divine - So when you do something like save helpless forest victims from your eyes from a literal god - Your not following the Open Palm for going against tye gods, you aren't being closed fist because you could sense this "victim" and would never waste your breath. So they are just compasses in human nature. One can be great, and some can reach even higher - One can dominate a nation and strike fear and resolve in his followers to strive to reach even higher - And then there is those select few who strike fear into hearts of millions, just to do it. Who wants to spread the joys of suffering and pain to others not to make them stronger, not to punish them for their sins or whatever, but just to watch them anguish? To watch the fleeting lights of hope slowly snuff out, and be engulfed by the despair of pain for eternity .
Some want to lead, some want to rule, some want to create, some even destroy..... But this man exist only to exist and make life miserable for everyone but him.
And Jade Empire tried to condense these 4 ways of humanity into a simple 4 paths. Open, Closed, Divine, and Fire to signfy destruction.
Anyway, I went way off track and got too into it. But their morality seems to be used more as a guide to a way of life, with the impossible and most impressive being finishing the game neatural on their morality compass.
Jade Empire is a true hidden gem. Great game.
It's definitely a hidden gem in the true sense of the word - hopefully videos like mine can help elevate it!
@@IFinishedAVideoGameThe fact that the Steam Version just doesn’t start up definitely helps the hiddenest.
@@InquisitorThomas There is a guide on how to get it to work. You have to fuck around with some files or something.
Just did the quest with the doctor trying to transplant the splean to his daughter. And if you chose to go to the other doctor and the father gives his life to save her, with wild flower as your active compion the Guardian will note that such selfless acts of love are very favord by the celestials and perhaps this will alow his to reincarnate a better person next life.
That's a cool element that I'd not noticed!
just got through the intro, and had to pause to interject after hearing the statement D&D worlds were created by wizards of the coast. When released, Baldur's Gate was based on properties conceived under the TSR banner, and though TSR was acquired the year prior to Baldur's Gate by WOTC, and may have led to them offering some creative input in the last year of the games development, to give them world building credit just has to be wrong. Forgotten Realms, the D&D based setting for Baldur's Gate, was already richly established by the time the game started development and ownership of the licenses involved changed hands. Just a niggle, but I hate when corporate entities get wrongly credited as creators just because they had the monetary clout to buy the intellectual property rights to licenses.
You know what you are actually completely correct! Not sure how I missed that during research! Luckily I think it's only a very small part of the overall video and doesn't hurt the core arguments but it's always annoying to make a mistake!
Thank you! WOTC may have ruined D&D but they certainly didn't create any part of it.
Thankfully, DnD is impossible to ruin despite their best efforts. Thanks to the nature of the game, it's up to the players to create quality.
Otherwise, I'd be mad as hell
Honestly I always wanted a fresh reboot of Jade Empire rather than a sequel. The game had so much potential that they could honestly bring it back to life
I think regardless of whichever way they went it would need a lot of reworking. The potential is there in the setting and story but honestly the combat and level design could use an upgrade!
Lots of ideas for more videos so brace yourself for more deep dives to come! Obviously I hugely appreciate everyone who's watched, commented, liked and subscribed! It all helps so much!
Hell yeah, this is one of the best retrospective style videos I've seen on YT. Keep up the solid work dude!
@@rojothegreat4122 thank you so much my dude! Got more stuff in the pipeline that's in a similar vein so stay posted! Obviously they take a little while to write and edit but they are coming haha!
There is a "Celestial Master" balance mod for Jade Empire, I wondered if you've heard of that, considering your problems with the game.
Gotta say, I loved Jade Empire when I played it. Had multiple playthroughs and I did often think how on earth did it not get a second game. I think my age factored into me cutting it some slack. If I played it now I’m sure I’d feel a lot of the same points as you made. Still, great game. Very happy to to see it represented and critiqued.
I think that's really how I viewed it for the longest time until I made this video! Really sitting and trying to write about a game often has the consequence of throwing up all it's issues to the forefront! Still happy to give it some more coverage and hopefully remind Bioware that they have this property sitting there waiting for round 2!
Excellent review. Jade Empire hit me hard when I first played it, but every critique you've mentioned here is valid and explains why I haven't really gone back to it despite being obsessed with it earlier on. Still, there is one thing that I felt was missing from this video, and that was the game's soundtrack. I think it did a lot to draw me in when I was younger. Jade Empire was tiny and cramped even by the standards of the day, but the music made the world feel much more alive. Really, watching your video it's hard to see from your review how a game this limited and cramped could ever have drawn me in, but then I listened to a few of the old tracks and understood. Jack Wall's work is as stellar in Jade Empire as it was in Mass Effect, but it's rarely remembered. It's a bit sad how some of the standout, excellent parts of Jade Empire were relegated to obscurity.
That's an excellent point which I wish I could attach to the video. The OST really does play a huge role in expanding the "feel" of the game world, which is super important for older titles.
I'm kinda in an unfortunate position with music though as while it's really important - I don't feel I always have the language or knowledge to do it justice and as CZcams is so unbelievably picky about copyright infractions I tend to try to stay away from it (mainly as I think talking about music without actually showing it is a little redundant)
It's an awkward position as I feel like it's a big gaping hole in my videos, but I can't see a way to address it that wouldn't add in some subpar very general musical discussion and expose me to strikes. Very annoying!
If you're after more lengthy retrospectives about the golden age of videos games - czcams.com/video/feCqT1S5pxI/video.html - it's a full exploration about the history of PARASITE EVE - the most chaotic survival horror franchise ever made. The video covers everything from the novel to the film to the crazed way it burned out. Hope you enjoy!
Also please see below for corrections and clarifications which I will update as more comments come in!
- Wizards of the Coast of course did not create Dungeons and Dragons. This was Gary Gygax and WOTC later purchased it from him.
- I can't believe this needs further clarification but the PC gaming market in 2005 was a fraction of the home console market. The world of PC gaming pre 2005 was very different to what we know now and it wouldn't be until the release of World of Warcraft later that year that the market would really start to explode. Before that point console games outsold their PC counterparts by huge amounts which is why so many PC developers (Bioware, Bethseda, Obsidian, ID Software, Ion Storm) moved across to console development during this period.
- Dragon Age was the first blockbuster selling CRPG on home console. Without it's success it's highly likely other companies would not have bothered to port their PC efforts onto the PS3/360 - ergo without it there would be no Dragon's Dogma or Witcher 3.
- There is also a special edition version of Jade Empire for PC which contains a few slight changes to the base game (some additional stances and weapons, updated AI and some cosmetic changes. I didn't cover it in this video as I was sticking to the console version but in hindsight it would have been good to include at least some reference to it. It is probably the definitive way to play the game as long as you use a controller rather than KB+M
I played that game years ago and enjoyed it as well.
Great video. I stopped watching shortly after you began to review the game because i didn't want anything spoiled. I was a huge Bioware fan throughout the 90s and 2000s, i was the target audience for Jade Empire, i played every Bioware Game from Baldur's Gate 1 up to Dragon Age. I loved Morrowind and KotOR on PC. I even still played Xbox in 2005: NFS:U2, Forza, Fable, Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance 2 were all played heavily during that time in my college dorm room - although PC games still took the majority of my time...
...and yet, i never played Jade Empire. I remember it coming out and knowing nothing about it other than the setting, and honestly - that was enough - i wasn't (and still aren't) really interested in that setting. Like you said, just because someone loves a good kung fu movie here and there, doesn't mean they're prepared or really interested in spending 40+hrs in an RPG in that world.
However, your enthusiasm and intro into the game has convinced me to go back and give it a look. I'll be trying the updated PC version however. I do have it on Xbox, but at this point I want to check it out as a more polished and modern product - they totally should have waited for the next gen to launch it - i remember waiting eagerly for Mass Effect and being blown away - though i still preferred to play it on PC along w/ Dragon Age. My... how far Bioware has fallen... how sad.
bro I can't believe I'm watching you video eating my dinner then you just spoil the entire story for KOTOR in like 30 seconds. Have some fuckin respect
I absolutely loved this game. I can't recall how many times I played through it, but it was a lot (I was a younger man with less responsibility and infinite imagination) and I've always wondered why it fell into such obscurity. I was a bit too young to understand launch windows and copies sold - I just assumed a good game meant sequels. It appears I carried that assumption into my adult life, because I can remember bringing up Jade Empire to my brother or friends many times over the years and questioning why it never got a sequel.
I didn't know about its launch issues or its horrendous sales numbers. I also had a good pair of rose-colored glasses when looking over all the game's shortcomings (call it ignorance in my younger years and nostalgia in my older ones).
This was a great retrospective on a game that still doesn't get enough attention, all things considered.
Thanks for the kind words - yeah honestly I had no idea either until I started the work for this video, I was so surprised as it was a big deal for me and my friends. Clearly we were the odd ones out!
I got jade empire and an Xbox at a yard sale 2007. I played it like 4 times all styles and still hadn't seen all the possible paths. I told everyone how amazing it was and then mass effect dropped and bioware became my religion. If this had been on ps2 I think it would've succeeded
That's a great pick up to randomly find! I think I had a magazine which gave away a trailer of it on DVD - that was all it took back in those days to convince me that it would be a worthwhile purchase and I wasn't wrong. For all of its flaws it's still a game I very much enjoy and wish we'd seen more of!
I agree with you about BioWare’s weird take with romance in their video games. However, regarding the polyamory of the main guy being able to romance two women at once and it not being looked upon as bad, having more than one wife was actually quite normal in Asian cultures.
Typically, only one wife would be at the head of that household with the husband. Sometimes the wives to that one husband would get along well with each other and sometimes they would be rivals (there are too many historical Asian dramas about this). This was a pretty common practice back then for just about every culture in Asia or even in the cultures that were never conquered by the Romans or the Vatican’s influence later on in general.
That's a fair point but I don't think they do a good job of pointing the polyamory in that direction if that's what they were intending. It comes across very much as "we both think you're hot and we hate each other, wait why don't we share you" which is a bit of a strange direction to go in
man glad we don't have that today. if i had to share my husband i'd rather no husband at all
@@Iris-hp1xj We have something similar now plenty of people are in polygamous relationships these days.
@@tmerchead1 "plenty" yeah not many. And it's not like anyone HAS to be in one. idgaf I think it's dirty
Very dirty
This game is one I always go back to. I have fond memories of playing it as a kid, and for me it was just as magical as KOTOR
I still play it once every few years
Yep I had this game in Kotor as well
I was very much the same at the time. It's a shame in a way that this project uncovered so many of it's flaws and ruined the memory lmao
The Bioware everyone loved, ceased to exist when Muzyka and Zeschuk left.
You're not wrong to be honest. I feel like they are in an utter crisis at the moment - if their next game isn't good (which it's quite likely to not be) I'll consider them finished and a relic of a bygone era.
It's crazy how I completely repress the existence of this game every time until I see anything related to it. Then I remember having tons of fun with it, but none of the details.
It's weirdly forgettable, but it leaves you with a feeling of having spend your time well.
It's the curse of Jade Empire - memorable enough to be recognised but not enough to stand the test of time. It's a shame as it's a really unique title and deserved to have at least one sequel!
Jade empire was one of my favorite games in my childhood, probably was too young by today's standards to play it and I never finished it fully back then, but it was an amazing game and in many ways shaped my expectations towards rpgs
That's cool to hear - it can be really interesting to look at how our early games form out adult opinions. For example Ocarina of Time was one of my first games and it's meant that I've always been drawn to games that try to give a sense of the unexpected.
Glad Jade Empire can be that for you!
I love this game. So glad you brought up the conquistador part. One of the standout encounters in the whole game. Genius
Oh it's one of the finest parts! Good old John Cleese
Theres definitely an audience for that sort of Ancient Chinese mythology based style it just needs to be done with more care
Absolutely agree - I can't believe someone else hasn't tried to tackle a more expansive RPG with this aesthetic
@@IFinishedAVideoGame Why is there no Journey to the West game? Maybe there is, but I've never heard of or seen one. I feel like the source material would lend itself very well to this kind of game, for sure.
@@RedSpade37 enslaved journey to the west is loosely based on it (very loosely) and is a fantastic little adventure game with Andy serkis in it!
@@RedSpade37 Look up Black Myth Wukong; it's still in development but will release soon-ish.
@@BasilAbdef Thanks!
In a way I'm a kind of glad this title didn't take off as intended, because if it had it's possible we never would have gotten series like Dragon Age and Mass Effect. That said it does seem like a forgotten golden egg now lost to time due to the dust its collected. It'd be really cool to see Bioware pull the game out of the back pocket and remake it with modern tech. Seems like a franchise with massive potential if executed well.
You're absolutely right - it's the butterfly effect in a way isn't it. If Jade Empire had been a big success, Bioware would have never been forced back to the drawing board and might have never made Mass Effect. I think that Dragon Age was actually in development at the same time (as it was originally meant to be a pseudo Baldur's Gate 3) so we might still have had that although probably not in the same old school fashion!
As I said in the video I'd love to see modern Bioware return to it - I think an action RPG with a cool eastern aesthetic would work really well for modern audiences!
10:51 nice cameo of Greg Kasavin, who is now the lead writer at Supergiant games (For Bastion, Transistor, Pyre and Hades)
Haha yeah! I used to watch his reviews all the time and had to include this one! He's done some goddamn great stuff in the industry!
Bro u brought back a gem back in the day jade empire amazing game. Man I play so many MMOs in early 2000s
Thanks for the comment and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
This game is still a top 10 for me.
I had it on my phone until it did not get updated with the newer version of android.
I love how so many historical bits in China's history were stuffed into the game. When I learned about the 3 gorges dam, my mind was blown. I had never considered the idea of historical event being in videogames at that time.
I just wanted to gush a bit. Thank you for the video and allowing all of us to remember one of our favorite games once more.
Man I can't imagine playing it on a phone! It must have been so hard!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame That is why they did not update it. I bought a controller from wish. It was pretty cool. They port was the PC version that had the posin style. There was also a new game+ That became harder with each run.
I bought my first gaming pc to play Jade Empire, and it's still one of my favourite Bioware stories. Around the same time, I was deeply into Guild Wars: Factions with a similarly creative fantasy east-asia. I think there's a genuine market for a wuxia, particularly considering the recent success of Sekiro and Ghosts of Tsushima.
I absolutely agree - it's only grown in popularity since then and I think modern gamers would be really receptive to a wuxia inspired RPG!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame But frankly I don't trust BioWare anymore. They seem to have lost interest in RPGs as a genre, more interested in aping recent trends like open-world collect-a-thons and co-op looter-shooters; genres that were already tired by the time BioWare decided to give them a try. Recent gaffs aside, I think right now CDPR is really the poster child of adapting other people's work into an immersive RPG.
I was probably around 13 or 14 when my soon to be brother in law was getting rid his game collection and gave me a bunch of gaming CDs. One was this clunky steelbook with the words Jade Empire on it. This was in 2007 so I wouldn't call myself internet savy lmao. So without checking anything I just popped the disk into my PC and it blew my socks off. I remember it being SO GOOD I finished it probably 8 or 9 times to get all the endings, hidden easter eggs (it does have a lot of those) and would play it regularly on its highest difficulty (think it was called Jade Master mode).
Regardless, watching this review made me feel nostalgic. Thanks for uploading this and giving it so much thought. :) Hoping for a Jade Empire 2 one day.
I have such a warm nostalgia for that world! Picking up games randomly and just being blown away - everything had a bit of an air of mystery about it without as much internet and it made for some amazing moments like yours! I had exactly the same thing with Golden Sun on the GBA - given it randomly by a friend, thought why not and ended up utterly loving it. Turned out it was a critically acclaimed and highly praised game but I had absolutely no idea!
Anyway thanks for the comment and I'm really glad you enjoyed it!
While Jade Empire had many moments, I'll never forget when 'we' first entered the area with the Blue Dragon and the emotional weight it produced. That and the Village 'tutorial'/1st chapter since i'm sure others had multiple play thru's to sample other fighting styles.
Woww what a great video. This game meant so much to me growing up, my parents bought it for me when I was little and I’d never experienced something like it before. I was used to playing flash games and shooters, so this was my first time playing an RPG! People have a lot of nostalgia for games like Zelda, or Final Fantasy, but Jade Empire was my version of that. That twist hit me so hard, I’d never felt such intense feelings from a video game before. Honestly this game helped me get in touch with my emotions at such a young age, and I feel really lucky to have had the opportunity to play it. The music, storytelling, characters, sounds, environments, and music was amazing. I really think this game opened my heart up, and gave me hope in life. I think about it often, the influence it had on me is immeasurable. I attribute a lot of my happiness and peace of mind to the lessons I learned from playing this. Thanks for highlighting this game, I hope to see it revived in some form one day :,)
That's awesome that you have such a deep relationship with the game. I love that video games can have this sort of effect on us! Hopefully my video reignited that!
These videos retrospectives are amazing, you do such a great job. I'm so happy to have stumbled on your channel.
Thanks for taking the time to comment! I really enjoy making them so it's been really nice to see the response from everyone!
This is the first game I 100%ed. it was one of my most favorite games from childhood. Every character was unique and fully fleshed out, genuine attention to lore and storytelling, a really interesting morality system that really made you invested in each choice. It’s a damn shame the game didn’t do well sales wise. Two of my three favorite games from my childhood were busts commercially but praised by critics and deserved better (the other being the original XIII).
God I played so much XIII as well! It's a shame that the remake kinda botched it's big return - I'd have loved to see more from that world!
No clue why I got recommended your videos but they are really chill to listen to and very informative. Great job man
Glad you're enjoying them! I'm currently working on another very big complete series retrospective so hopefully you're into that too!
Really engaging video, and excellent analysis. It is absolutely criminal that you don't have a ton more views. I hope you make more videos with this long form analysis format. Man, I've been playing Jade Empire every now and then since I first did as a child. I love it to death, and hate how mired in flaws it is. It is simultaneously a really good and a really bad game. Hilariously, I never even knew about Lord Lau's furnace until this video. Maybe it was a bit too hard to find.
I especially found your take on combat really interesting. I ruined the difficulty curve in a very different way myself- by not levelling any of the styles until I got the most power style for each category. This made the early to mid game difficulty a bit miserable, though it did force me to become intimately familiar with support styles, harmonic combos, and style switching.
Thank you for the excellent video, I had a really nice time listening.
For starters I just want to say thank you for taking the time to watch and leaving such a great response.
As you said it is such an interesting game - incredible peaks and incredible lows. I honestly think there is something beautiful about games like that and they certainly make for great subject matter for 2 hour long videos haha!
That's interesting to hear your experience with the combat was so different to mine. I did original have a section about playing the game on the hardest difficulty but it clashed a little with my take on the combat in general so I cut it - in short, it forces you to specialise like I did because the HP bars become so thick you have no choice but to go for the most damaging style possible!
Anyway - I'm working on quite a few more long format videos so hopefully they'll be out relatively soon! Thanks again for the kind words, it's that kind of response that makes it all worth it!
I have a terrible time finishing anything, games included. The number of games that I have actually finished are small when compared to the number of games I've started. So when I do finish one it's special to me. Jade Empire is one of those games that I actually finished and is still one of my favorite games to date. Thanks for this video, a nice walk down memory lane.
You're more than welcome! Glad it was a good watch!
Was given an Xbox by an older cousin and this was the only game he gave with it in about 2008. I was pretty young but fell in love with this game. So surprised there wasn’t a sequel or remake, it’s so class
It's a real shame as I think a Jade Empire remake or sequel would be perfect for modern Bioware. They really need a win!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame yeah was def ahead of it’s time
I absolutely love Jade empire. I recognise its flaws but I don't have a problem with most of them. Yes the second half/third third is extremely linear to the point where you have very few important choices but I can work with that, Master Li just became emperor and you don't want to have him establish himself within the state structures, so you have to rush to take him down, no time to go off fetch some items for merchants or whatever. There is a few side quests, such as the one where you can fix the mantra machine thingie that gives you another bonus.
The linear world and the fact that there's very few side areas is a problem, I'll give you that. I wish there was more to explore and see, after all the empire is huge and has a well established history and geography. I wish I could travel to the steppes or the coast and see those places. It being modelled after China should mean that we get to explore some of the most diverse landscapes but that's just not the case. Sad. Though, again, the extreme linearity towards the end makes sense imo.
I love the martial arts gameplay combined with weapons and magic. Starting a battle by blasting an enemy away with what's her name? Mirabelle? and then charging in swinging your fists is awesome no matter how op you become.
I love the story, it starts like any other story, even though I didn't notice first time I played as it was the I think second RPG I ever played after Divinity 2 Ego Draconis, but the huge twist with Master Li killing you actually had me drop my jaw and stare at the screen a bit before I could continue EVEN THOUGH Divinity 2 Ego Draconis also had an amazing twist towards the end (highly recommend checking that game out too btw). I love Jade empires Charakters, they are all interesting and unique, often with interesting background stories and funny interactions, my favourite probably being Sky, followed by black whirlwind. I like the design of locations, the spirit world of night shadow looks beautiful as you mentioned, but Tians landing, the pirate hideout, two rivers, the great Forrest..... It all looks beautiful. As I said earlier, I wish there was more to explore and some areas should be bigger, but I also just love what we got. I even like the design of the world of the dead, though yes, there was little to actually explore.
This game probably kick-started my interest in and love for Chinese history and culture, even though it's a fantasized version of China. I am replaying this game to this day and will probably keep doing so.
And yes I figured Lao's workshop out on my own, in its entirety, without a guide.
When I was a kid I grew up watching Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Shaw Brothers movies. So I picked this up day one. One of the most underrated games ever made.
If you were a fan of RPGs and Kung Fu movies this would have been an incredible experience. I just loved how it was going for something different - not sci fi or classic European fantasy - would love to see more from it in the future!
This was so incredibly well done, fantastic work! Thanks for sharing this brilliant retrospective, one of the best I've seen.
Thank you so much for the comment - I really appreciate that and I'm glad you enjoyed it. I've got a lot more stuff like this in the pipeline so hopefully that will go down well too!
Jade Empire is one of my favourite games from that era, it's still a treasured piece of my collection and sits alongside a bunch of other amazing classics.
Honestly, we need more games like Jade Empire.
Absolutely agree - I wish more developers would take gambles with new IP and new takes on a genre. It's what made this medium big in the first place!
I remember my friend getting this on his Xbox and I would play it and complete it when I slept at his place for a few days during summer break. It was an incredible experience and I really enjoyed it.
I can imagine blasting through it with a friend in just a few sessions would be pretty awesome
Super through and so well written! Amazing effort 💜
Thank you :)
I'm glad you mentioned the 2002 Classic Hero. If you hadn't, I would wonder how you would explain it through popular media. However, Crouching tiger, Hidden Dragon but no House of Flying daggers?
Insanely well written, clever concise points. I have never even heard of this game and now feel like I've played it myself! The work you put into this has paid off. Keep them coming my friend!
Thanks so much for taking the time to watch it my dude and for the comment! It really was a lot of work but I feel like I've learnt a lot that I'm gonna take into videos going fowards! Hopefully onwards and upwards!
I remember after being “evil” enough enemies just randomly started exploding in over-the-top anime style blood and gore. Totally unexpected but awesome.
That's the joy of older Bioware games - they're full of such great little touches like that!
Actually, that was just the harmonic resonance system. Debuff + correct heavy = pop
Never really played Jade Empire as a kid so this was a real discovery for me. Great video!
Thanks so much man! Still a lot of teething but I feel like I learned a lot making this and the next one should be a lot better!
If anyone wants to replay it, I recommend using going for the PC version and getting the mod: Jade Empire in Style (Edit: I just found out there's a new overhaul mod called Dunde's Ultimate Mods. And by new I mean from 2022, excited to try it out now and happy to see there's still an active community for the game) . Which I think I'm going to do right now. Problems and all, I find myself thinking about this game with certain regularity and play to completion every few years.
Feel free to put a link to the mod in the comments so other people can see it! Love that the game is still getting support from it's community all these years later!
Jade Empire is my favourite BioWare game, re-played it a few times since release, still holds up imo.
Such unique tone. I always get a little melancholic while playing this game, I feel it has such a sad undercurrent running through the entire game.
Ok, enough rambling, time to watch a 2 hour video on one of my favourite games of all time.
Edit: Also, I saw someone in the comments mention the soundtrack, and how it's amazing, and I just want to agree with that wholeheartedly, it's just a fantastic score all around.
Hopefully you enjoyed the video! It was a lot of fun to talk about both because of it's interesting positives and it's weird quirks!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame Yeah I enjoyed it a lot. I'm not sure I agree with your theory on why Jade Empire never got a sequel, but Psychonauts did(another one of my all time favourites) I think it's more down to the fact that Bioware had other, more "safe" IP's to fall back on after the success of Dragon Age and Mass Effect (Although, as you mention, now would probably be the ideal time to bring out Jade Empire again, to stir up some positivity around the company) And that over the years, the people at Bioware that had any connection to Jade Empire has one by one left the company(I know you touch briefly on this in the video) so I don't think there was any real internal push for a sequel.
While Double Fine really only had the Psychonauts IP that had any REAL positive buzz around it, even though it was a commercial failure at the time of its release. And the fact that Tim Schafer is still at the company, and I genuinely believe there was a true desire to make something great, to finally give Psychonauts the chance it deserves.
I would be interested to know if you've made any research into how much more Psychonauts where being held up as cult classic, compared to Jade Empire. As a member of both groups I kinda feel I've always heard about the same amount of positive comments about both of the games, but I have never actually made an effort to find out if that's true or not.
Edit: Just to make things perfectly clear, I loved the video, while reading my comment it might come of like I did not enjoy the video, but rest assured, I found it to be very well made, extremely entertaining, and excellently presented :)
I whole heartedly agree about the soundtrack! And there definitely is a sad tone throughout the game, but I love the atmosphere of the game so much.
This is one of the most slept on masterpieces in video games. I almost missed it myself. Picked it up in 2005, but I had just recently returned from 15 months in Iraq and had other priorities. Didn't actually sit down to play it till late 2006. Yeah, the controls were a bit odd at first, but after you adapted to them, it was beautifully easy to chain different attacks and styles together.
And the story was top notch Bioware writing. Still own it today on my PC. It was just as entertaining as the Dragon Age and Mass Effect trilogies.
I do think it deserves to be up there with those other Bioware classics - all of their games are flawed but this one is just bursting with a kind of creativity which we don't usually see in the RPG world. I'd love for them to return to it one day
This was an amazing game i miss this quality of game
It's never too late to play it again!
Great video man. I honestly don’t care about the flaws, I love this game so much. I try to tell anyone I can to play it but it’s tough when the pc version is so bad. If they can at least clean up the pc port so it’s easier to stream I think it can come back. I’d love to see a sequel
Yeah it's such a shame it's been so poorly looked after! It would really benefit from a true HD re-release where they can smooth some of the jank and bring those loading times down!
I think the big final reveal isn't that the brothers Sun have stolen the Water Dragon's power, but rather that they have her corpse strung up where it can constantly bleed water. It's the grotesque nature of the desecration that's the focus, there. (Whether it lands well or not, that's certainly debatable.)
Yeah. I don’t ever remember seeing any commercials for Jade empire on Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, Fox, G4tech tv, or any other network. I only seen it on XPlay and always wanted it since then. I bought it about a year ago and loved it. Probably one of the best games I’ve ever played. It should had sold more than 400k that year.
It feels like the Xplay coverage is literally the only thing Bioware bothered with! It's a shame!
I just finished the game for the first time and it was interesting. The art direction, world, and writing are all great and full of character. I loved how the debate quest made me use a notebook and also made fun of scholars and debates by making it about emotional appeal rather than an actual intelligent conversation. But good lord, I felt like I had to slog through the combat. It felt so slow and clunky. Enemies constantly walking away from you making you unable to finish combos, the guard break attack taking long enough for someone to walk up to you and punch you out of it and no real way or reason to try different builds. I started by using sword and fists and ended it that way, because it was the most effective. There were times I had to use spirit thief to get some mana back, but that just ended in me spamming heavy attack to stunlock an enemy while I syphon the mana. I was trying to play it like a hack n slash and constantly got annoyed at the clunkyness. At the end I thought that maybe I should've played it more like dark souls, but I don't feel like that works super well either. And having limited talents doesn't really encourage using the styles you get from midway through the game, as it's difficult to say whether they are objectively better and I had been leveling my basic skills for hours at that point. I would definitely be interested in a remake though as the different styles had a lot of cool ideas and I didn't feel like the characters were really given space and time to properly connect to. I know they were trying to make me care about Sagacious Zu, but I never had him in my party as I found others to be more interesting and so the revelations that came after didn't have a strong emotional effect either.
Feels like a lot of potential and middling execution
That's exactly why it's so ripe for a remake in my opinion! It's the perfect template for a game but with enough leeway to really tighten up a lot of the design issues
Next to KotOR this is probably my favourite ever Bioware game, all its little imperfections aside. The story, the setting, the characters, the style and visual direction, the music, ambience. It's all gold.
Probably the game I've replayed more than any other in my life, too. It's my ultimate 'feel-good' escape, when something gets me down. I always get such a sense of satisfaction/release/melancholy finishing it, but without fail, I immediately get the itch to start it over again from the beginning.
I'd love and hate a remake of it, because at this point and the state of Bioware and the games industry in general being what it is, they'd only ruin it.
It's really quite great to have those games you can always return to when you need a pick me up. Mine is Chrono Trigger on the SNES - it just feels me with a sense of warmth that is really quite welcome
To this day, I struggle to think of a game that really hit such a wide variety of themes and tones, without it ever feeling unbalanced. Especially in such a relatively small game, by RPG standards. So many moments in it that stick with you, for being funny, sad, or thought-provoking.
Few points I thought worth mentioning though. You 'can' move freely in combat. It's not clear, but using both L&R triggers, you can un-target your opponent and run around the combat arena to close distance more quickly. It's not super well implemented, but you're actually not stuck moving like a hopping frog tank. It took me a few years of playing the game to accidentally realise I could even do it.
My brother was the one who got me to play the game, he played it many times and told me it was one of his favorite games of all time. My dad got it for me on a whim on Origin, there was lag and it would crash, but it still played surprisingly well and I got through most of the game (final boss broke me man) and fell in love with the story and characters and the journey you went on. Shame it doesn't get the spotlight like it should.
Yeah, it's one of those games that just has "magic" to it. It doesn't even do anything that well, but it's got all those right ingredients to make for a fantastic game!
@@IFinishedAVideoGamewell... 😅 Now ur being kinda harsh, by the end of the vid i understood that u didnt really enjoy the game that much.
But for us it has more than sentimental value.
Its still one of the most amazing games in that kinda style.. There are not many...
Thought it was older tho 😂😂
This was my first Bioware game. I played it as a kid, and I loved every minute of it.
Hey I'll never bemoan someone getting into Bioware through Jade Empire!
All I really remember is using 2 demon forms to abuse the game; one of them replenished your energy so you could basically stay in demon form indefinitely, as long as you were hitting enemies.
The game is so easily breakable!
Wow I used to love this game back in the day. Great video. Found this channel because the weekly planet mentioned it on their podcast
Glad you enjoyed it! Yeah had a few people pop over from the podcast - pretty cool to hear my video mentioned on there!
This channel is underrated. I wish you many more subscriber’s. You should have millions. This is very professional and entertaining
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoy my videos!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame yes sir! And thank you
I seriously loved Jade Empire
after playing fable all the way through, jade empire seriously was there for me as a teenager. i loved it
Yeah this game, Fable - Morrowind - KOTOR were my RPG jam on the console!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame I miss morrowing . I was too young to actually understand the complexity of the game. And somehow I stumbled upon a massive glitch for stats with a dagger or sword that made it insanely OP. That was before I understood hacks and such
Thank you for making this video!!!! I loved this game (I played through it 3 times). I'm still hoping for a sequel.
I'm glad you enjoyed it! I had a lot of fun making it too!
This is one of those games I always saw at blockbuster or in a magazine but never played. If I don't end up emulating and playing it, I'll watch a walkthrough to see what it's like. But watching videos like this are much more entertaining.
I do recommend checking it out as it's surprisingly short! Just about 12-15 hours so you can blast through it if you want to see it for yourself!
I thought I had seen all of your videos, but when I double-checked, I saw that I had missed one!
I had never even heard of Jade Empire before this video, and now I feel like I am fairly familiar with it! I love how you always include short history segments in your videos. Not enough to replace dedicated videos about the subject, but enough to get anyone up to speed on the developer and the climate surrounding a game's release.
I doubt I'll ever play Jade Empire, but your description of the game and its worldbuilding were genuinely fascinating to me. The idea of Jade Empire grabbed my imagination, but after seeing what the game is actually like, I think that fascination will be as far as I go.
Glad you enjoyed it! It's a really interesting game to talk about but potentially more interesting as a video than to actually play!
This was the first game I got reaaaally good at. This, and KoA Reckoning. Both really underrated gems. Happy too see someone talk about this!!
I'd love to do a video about Kingdoms of Amalur - I think it's been really harshly remembered as generic DA:O rip off but there is so many unique ideas in there!
I absolutely love this game, but I can't deny your criticism had real merit. This will always be my favorite Bioware game, even more than Mass Effect or KOTOR. The combat, though unbalanced, was at least memorable - I still remember flying around using Leaping Tiger, my favorite style. I especially love the characters and the world, which was so new and magical and a way I've rarely seen since from a major RPG.
Thanks for this retrospective. This was a real gem, and I'm glad I somehow stumbled upon it. It's a shame the game doesn't get much attention, but I think the only way for it to get a sequel or successor would be for a different company to pick up the IP and take a risk on it.
It's a shame the PC port has so many issues - I've tried to replay it many times since, but only encountered bugs or had my save data reset. This video definitely brought back a lot of fond (and a few less fond) memories of the game, but it'll always be a game I really admire.
Well thanks very much for the kind words and for taking the time to watch it! I really love the long form essay style but I find it tends to be the same old games that are discussed ad nauseum - I thought why not turn my hand to talking about some interesting titles, especially as these hidden gem/highly flawed but supremely ambitious games are often way more interesting to deep dive into!
You are very right about the PC port though - I did cut a section where I went through the "special edition" but it was just a tad dry. I do think it ultimately really hurt the legacy of the game as it kept it squarely in "jank" territory rather than polishing it up!
In regards to the PC port problems, maybe I can advise checking out the GOG version? I don't know if I'm just lucky or if the folks at GOG did a good job but atleast for me I haven't experienced save data corruptions nor major bugs (there is one I kept finding where from time to time when loading into another zone your camera would be in 1st person aiming at your feet but a save & load would fix that).
I haven’t thought about Jade Empire in probably 15 years, pretty excited to watch this.
Hopefully it's a good watch!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame it’s accompanying me playing Mass effect cause I totally forgot it was essentially the successor to the paragon renegade thing BioWare does…someday if the game is your style the persona series would be a massive retrospective. Also thanks for being a cool CZcamsr and replying, it’s a really cool thing.
The idea of looking at video games that never got a sequel is great and Jade Empire a deserving first entry. I loved this game back in the day and played it again a couple of years back. This time I tried an evil character and was positively shocked just how much of a maniac you can actually become. Really enjoyed the video, mate. I'll leave a sub.
Thanks for subbing! Yeah it's funny really there are so many retrospectives of classic games but in a way I think it's these weirder, less successful games that make for more interesting subjects. It's nice to have a game that has a good balance of creativity and flaws to discuss! Hopefully you enjoy my other videos too!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame I do. I've been watching a couple of them over the last few dayd during home office. I mean ... AFTER home office, of course. ;)
@@blackenedwritings that's amazing haha don't let them catch you!
the big one. i will watch in portions and comment accordingly. good effort man!
Thanks man! Cheers for putting up with my moaning while I worked through my own personal Vietnam
RADICAL 🤙🤙 Looking forward to making my way through this.
Ah man can't wait to hear your thoughts!
Absolutely exceptional essay, earned a sub for sure.
Always thought it flawed, especially during a replay during the first lockdown days.
You picked those apart, but still could admire the craft and skill where it lay.
Look forward to your future work!
Thanks so much Nicholas - I'm glad you enjoyed it! I think that's where I really want to be with these essays, especially when covering flawed games. I really don't want to be overly critical if there is still clearly love and effort there - I honestly think that counts for a lot more than perfect technical performance!
Hopefully you enjoy my other videos and my upcoming ones too!
Jade Empire sequel idea: follow the adventure of a massive Imperial air fleet sent to circumnavigate the globe as they become stranded in a fantasy version of Aztec Mexico. Aztecs vs Wuxia with plenty of exotic locations and magic.
I am actually replaying this right now. One of my favorite games of all times.
It's one of those games that's extremely close to my heart despite the flaws in it. It's just got so much charm and unique design to it's world - I dream of one day it getting the attention it deserves!
It was one of the first games with a proper developed evil playthrough I ve played.
Dominating the Death Hand, giving the possessed girl to her demon, becomin the new tyrant emperor... That was a ton of fun!
I think mine was Fable - I remember being amazed that you could actually play as the bad guys and how cathartic that whole process was
I got Jade Empire for my birthday and can still remember how fast I cycled back home after school to play it. I have such fond and gilded memories of this game.
That's awesome to hear. I did the same for so many games when I was younger
Dude, i discovered you because of your PoP video but this video was really interesting to see too.
I'm really glad to hear that! Jade Empire was a super interesting game to talk about, definitely isn't discussed enough especially considering how big Bioware are! Got a few more videos in the pipeline which should hopefully be done soon!
I never knew this game sold poorly!I only saw the great acclaim it was receiving from the gaming journalists and reviews. I remember playing the game for days on end and not even sleeping before going to school the next day. It was so amazing
It's such a shame isn't it! It really had a lot of really fantastic qualities that I wish could have got some more attention from the developers!
Just here to say that Jade Empire owns and it still feels like such a unique RPG.
Chandler Ling might be a reference to an episode where Joey brings pizza and Chandler brings Chinese. Joey says " i brought the food of my ancestors, you the food of yours"
Holy shit - I really hope it is actually a reference to that scene especially as that's basically the only thing that could actually make sense! Thank you for giving me an explanation to this mystery that could actually be correct!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame slight possibility that Jade Empire is a prequel of Friends.
@@WideOldDan Now that is a head canon I can get behind
Yes! Thank you for making this video! I played this game years ago on the original Xbox, and I was blown away and hooked. Still one of my all time favorites to this day, and I share with my siblings now.
I'm glad you enjoyed it and thanks for sharing it! It was nice to give this level of attention to something that is usually so overlooked!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame You did an amazing job at that. I honestly hope that people who have not played this game sees your video, and gives it a try. It deserves more attention.
Jade empire is a masterpiece one of if not my favorite BioWare game
You know - it's a tough one because Bioware have made so many games that I truly love (KOTOR / Dragon Age: Origins) but there is just something about the aesthetic design and storytelling in Jade Empire that I just absolutely love! I wish it had lived on as it's own little action focused franchise!
One of my favorites of all time when I was a teenager. I wish they would do SOMETHING with this game. It was amazing to me!
It feels like such a waste to have it just sitting there in Bioware's back catalogue doing nothing at all!
Such an absolutely underrated beast still have my copy hoping it’ll get a revive
I love that you are talking about this video game. I really enjoyed playing this game when I was younger and even my older sister would come and ask me to play "that jade empire game." She was really interested in it. And loved watching me play it.
That's awesome
I just want them to release either a revamp of this or a Sequel. Either way, probably one of the most unique RPGs and I still have fond memories of this game especially because I was in martial arts at the time
Absolutely the same for me. It's a shame it released when it did as I think just a few years later and it would have been a big hit
This game was decades ahead of its time. If they released it today, it'd sell like water in a desert
What an epic video man. Think this has to be added to the long list of games I need to play! I really wonder what would of happened to Jade Empire if it just waited to be released on the 360... you never know, it may of been a huge huge series! What could of been :P. Amazing job once again - on to the next!
I reckon it actually would have been been big! Early 360 had like zero RPGs so it would have filled that gap!
Anyway thanks for the comment my dude - fingers crossed the next one doesn't take 3 months to make haha
I've watched a few of your videos now and I feel like I started to 'know' you. You just seem like a good person. Someone who found peace and solace in the stories, art, and all the excitement and adventures that game bring. I hope you're doing well, and that you will remain as fascinated and kind as you seem to be.
Thanks so much! Honestly, I just think there is something magical about video games from the 90s-2000s. It's the perfect combination of ambition and quality with just enough space for our imagination to get involved too.
Hopefully, that comes across in the videos and that passion and interest come through!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame Most definitely! I got Jade Empire in 2006 when I was just a kid and it immediately became one of my favourite games of all time. Even though I can't bring myself to finish it these days, the main theme and the world and its colour palette are ingrained in my memory. I feel like most gamers who were born in late 80s and 90s, the golden era of RPGs and then BioWare renaissance were hugely inspirational and definitely played a role in shaping our characters and knowledge to some degree; we did spend hundreds of hours involved in their stories and writing and art after all. I played KOTOR I and II with a notebook next to me, jotting down every word I didn't know, and then excelled in my English class (I come from Poland). What I'm trying to say is that the 90s-00s era of games was indeed magical and I feel fortunate to have experienced it. I know this is becoming a long read but I found a lot of that nostalgia through your videos, as I feel like you have a similar taste and need for expression when it comes to art and storytelling. Having spent hours in bed due to sickness, watching your Prince of Persia and other retrospectives left me in awe of your comprehension and the ability to formulate your thoughts very well, I agreed with many of your points without ever knowing such things bothered me in the first place. I imagine you have loads of plans and ideas for other videos, but I think the comeback of the Divinity series would be entertaining and informative to watch and explore as many people have never got to experience Divine Divinity, it's a true rollercoaster of development quality when it comes to the series. I have many other wishes and ideas but I wouldn't want to interrupt your creative flow, I bet you have a lot of new videos coming, you deserve more recognition but if you keep up such good work, it's only a matter of time. All the best
I remember playing Jade empire back in the day, and I loved it.
Hopefully this video could bring you a dose of nostalgia for those days!
One of my most beloved games
Thanks so much for watching! Here's to hoping we get another wuxia kung fu mythological RPG some time soon!
Dude with this and your prince of persia retrospective youve definatly earned my sub! I imagine you probably have plenty of videos that youre either working on or planning on doing in the future but i would LOOOOVE to see a retrospective on the og gears trilogy in the format you present in. Theres like no decent ones that are similar to yours as most people that do the same kind of videos as you focus more on rpgs where as you seem to be quiet vaired in what you play. Sorry to be asky
Thanks a bunch!
Haha thank you so much! I do indeed have quite a few videos in the pipeline so I'll have to see where it all fits in but I would very much like to cover Gears at some point as I think it's actually quite a unique AAA series! The way that it's a full balls to the wall action game and quite a developed sci fi story is pretty unique and I don't think it greats enough credit for that!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame nah dude, your videos are giving me something to watch in the downtime so thank you! Its awesome you see that series in the same way i do, i actually think its a super unique atmosphere and story and definitaly has all the best moments in the original trilogy in my opinion. Not to mention that cover system was hella influential to a tonne of devs after the release of gears one throughout the remainder of the 8th gens life cycle
Thanks for your response man!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame also gears balls to the wall attitude and charecter design where the charecters must have like diets of 10,000 calories a day to sustain their muscule mass!😂😂
I would not have known about 'Jade Empire' if not for the cashier at my local gaming store recommending it to me (all those many years ago). It is one of my favorite Bioware games and I desperately wish it would get a remake, though I fear what a modern company would do to it. I had read 'Bridge of Birds' a year or two before this release and adored the similar settings; the fact that they borrowed a character - Henpecked Hou - from that novel was also delightful.
That's great to hear you got such a good recommendation! It's such a unique game that I wish got more love - like you said though I'm not sure that a modern company would take it in the right direction. That being said my pipe dream is for a game that builds on these ideas and explores more of the Jade Empire - it's such a fantastic setting it's such a shame we never got more of it!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame I've had good luck with the workers at my local stores. The owner of the ttrpg game shop I used to frequent would often hold games that he believed I'd be uniquely interested in and he was always right - I got some of my all-time favorite ttrpg games from his advice.
I remember when this game launched. The promotion was pretty much just a poster that said it was coming. It was one of the many games I never played on Xbox. I was one of those unfortunate people whose console exploded.