Jade Empire Review

Like an Open Palm to the Head

When citizens complain about a lack of street lighting, they don't usually mean all in one place.

Despite the number of games I've played which have come from Asia, I have only played two whose stories take place in Asian settings: Okami and now Jade Empire. The latter is surprising considering BioWare is located in Canada. Also, considering the controversy BioWare ignited in 2012, it may come as a surprise to many gamers that they created an RPG once that was not Mass Effect or a Star Wars derivative. I once started Jade Empire a few years ago but ended up abandoning it for reasons I cannot recall, but it might have had something to do with the difficulty. Thus, it ended up in my backlog again, not to arouse my interest until almost eight years after its creation. Regardless, I have been digressing for an entire paragraph now.

Jade Empire's story takes place in a fictional ancient Chinese setting whose name you can guess by now. You are given the opportunity to choose from a variety of male or female player characters, but they are not customizable in appearance whatsoever, just character stats. No matter whom you choose, the story is the same, and only a handful of interactions with NPCs and your romance options are affected by the gender. The player character begins the tale at a martial arts school up in the mountains in the village, Two Rivers. Here, you are Master Li's very special student with an important destiny that is continually alluded to during the introductory act. Eventually, the village and the school are attacked, your fellow students save for one, the spirit medium Dawn Star, are slaughtered, and your master has been kidnapped, presumably by the Empire's minions. So begins your empire-trotting tale to learn your destiny and save your master. If I sound sarcastic about having a wunderkind player characters, it may be because I think it's cooler to find out you're special than to have everyone at the beginning of the game remind you ad nauseam.

If you thought cell phones were huge way back when, get a lot of this coffee maker.

Overall, the story is a mixed bag. The setting and the folklore behind it are the most impressive qualities with just enough magic to make it intriguing without delving too far into high fantasy. The result is a believable land with strong traces of ancient mysticism and gods. Along your journey, you will also meet plenty of unique characters, which add to the rich setting with personal tales of strife and triumph, some of whose outcomes to affect through side quests. A number of pre-designated characters also join you on your quest and assist you in battle. The main narrative, which drives the player along, is just OK, though. Nothing is thrown at you that you've never seen coming, though the laudable twist is handled gracefully. Where the story fell short is in the rather brief cluster of chapters that make up the conclusion to the game after the twist in the fourth act. It feels like the developers felt a need to pad the time until the ending, so they just threw in some repeated areas with almost none of the exploration or the side quests offered by the first three quarters of the game. To top it off, your time is extended needlessly with battles of escalating difficulty instead. The pay off for your troubles is an extremely brief cutscene with the final boss followed by text explaining what became of your companions. I now question whether or not BioWare ever really knew how to wrap up a storyline.

That said, Jade Empire is still enjoyable to play; I clocked in about thirty hours of gameplay between the main quest and all the side activities. Before the crux of the narrative even comes to pass, Two Rivers offers a number of optional missions to complete, which net you bonus experience and money to really start prepping yourself for the challenge ahead. These are but a taste of the deeper, more relatable side quests that you encounter during your travels around the Jade Empire. Unsurprisingly, the game features a binary choice system where good is called The Way of the Open Palm, and evil is called The Way of the Closed Fist. Although one character argues that neither path is inherently imbued with good or evil, the system's implementation is pretty rudimentary. Open Palm is colored blue, and Closed Fist is colored red. I need not explain further. However, the methods behind gaining favor with either path are varied. Depending on your character's stats, you are able to influence NPCs into doing what you ask of them using charm, intuition, or intimidation. The leanings are situation dependent, but even if you're not being intimidating, it can be obvious when you're trying to convince someone to do something that is ultimately not right, so don't be surprised when you get that red glow about you. Killing folks with abandon isn't the only evil action to take.

We're all done freaking out about this kind of natural phenomenon, right?

The experience you earn from completing quests and doing battle allow you to upgrade your three main stats: body, spirit, and mind. Increasing these influence the bars for your health, chi (magic), and focus (weapon dexterity), but the three unique combinations of each affect your level of charm, intuition, and intimidation for conversation. Battle is focused on using an impressive array of fighting styles – martial styles involve physical attacks with your limbs, weapon styles need no explanation, support styles inflict status effects but no damage, magic styles allow for a bit of ranged fighting and status effects, and transformation styles allow you to turn into a powerful but chi-draining spirit. Not every style works on every type of opponent, either, so it's necessary to stay on your toes when fighting varied groups. Each level you earn also nets you points to apply to improving each of these styles to become truly powerful. The variety of styles you earn or buy during the game outnumber the amount you can bring into battle (10 on PC, one for each hotkey), so you should have no trouble customizing battles to fit your own perception of your ultimate martial arts fighter. I really enjoyed this aspect of combat, and I only wished there was an option later on to reallocate skill points to newer skills you wish to replace older ones with. This is a minor complaint, though.

Battles actually take place in the same environments you traverse, so it's highly possible that saying the wrong word to someone in conversation could result in a fight right where you stand. The only time this becomes a problem is when the battlefield borders feel arbitrarily drawn, and learning that you can't evade because of an invisible wall can lead to doom. Problems aside, what I did like about this feature was that some battles were actually total surprises. Compared to Mass Effect where a giant room or corridor with a lot of waist-high walls meant inevitable cover-based combat was afoot, environments in Jade Empire are varied enough that you honestly can't tell when battle is coming (unless it's a respawn point) and may end up surprised. Overall, combat is satisfying and offers a lot of variety and engaging difficulty. Sometimes, the difficulty spikes when fighting larger groups of spirits in one of the earlier acts of the game (I cursed a lot), but I did find that exerting patience and defensive maneuvers (things I suck at) do lead to triumph.

Even the chickens are holy.

Beyond combat, Jade Empire offers open environments to explore in its second and third acts, which comprise the bulk of the seven act game, believe it or not. The Imperial City in particular, aside from being the largest explorable area in the game, features a slew of side quests and activities to undertake. I was really baffled by how much time I spent there ignoring the main quest, though the writers did throw in squeeze points where you have to proceed with the story for a mission or so to continue with ongoing side quests. One of the city's side quests requires the player to go round after round in a fighting arena. But unlike similar implementations in games like Borderlands, as you progress through the rounds, more side quests and stories spawn from the characters you fight and those who control the arena. It is practically a stand-alone game in itself!

Despite being almost eight years old, Jade Empire is a treat to look at even if it is readily apparent that technology has come so far since its release. There are a lot of organic and large environments with winding paths, and many areas feature details which provide unique character and charm. Despite its impressive size, the Imperial City could have used more variety and colors in the wall and ground textures to be as captivating as the characters seem to think it is. (It's not the Citadel.) Also, the HUD is a rather blocky and large and could afford to be implemented more gracefully. The soundtrack, composed by the amazing Jack Wall (total fanboy), is wonderful. It manages to evoke the Asian setting while layering more modern orchestral compositions over traditional instruments. Most of the voice acting, by contrast, felt a little stiff and forced especially when coupled with the rather silly conversation animations of the character models. Now is a good time to mention that the player character never speaks aloud, only through text options, something obvious that BioWare fixed for its next game.

A ship! This can only have a positive outcome!

Jade Empire was a fun game, and I am glad I picked it up again (ah, the power of a Steam sale) and tried my hand at it a second time. I really enjoyed the battle system and how powerful I felt by the end, and the side quests added a lot of needed depth to the overall story that the main narrative really lacked. Even though it's showing its age, it's definitely a solid RPG to try out if you've got thirty hours to kill.

All screenshots taken by me through Steam. The camera turns with the character, so no face for you!

Mass Effect 3: Leviathan DLC Review

Oh, that's why.

I told you the weak spot is between the legs. Look!

BioWare released their first story DLC for Mass Effect 3, titled, "Leviathan." Well, this isn't the first story content per se, but it's a new original mission as opposed to an expansion on the controversial ending. The goal behind it was to offer up more information on the origins of the Reapers, and that's exactly what it does. In terms of pacing, "Leviathan" is remarkably formulaic. It starts with a trip to a new area on the Citadel, and from there you will be dispatched to another system and return to the Citadel two more times before completing the DLC in another system. Compared to "Overlord" for Mass Effect 2, which was huge and took place on a singular world, or "Lair of the Shadow Broker," which took the player to many locations with a lot of variety thrown in, this back-and-forth travel felt like a lost opportunity to build upon the quality BioWare established in the last round.

Still, this trip is undeniably more of the gameplay we love from Mass Effect 3, and formula aside, it does throw in some new mechanics including searching for clues in a laboratory and piloting a mech underwater. Though enjoyable, these novelties do not act as major draws, just as means to an end. In keeping with the triad of enemy types available in the main game, you only have one set of enemies during the two and a half hours it takes to complete "Leviathan" – Reaper forces. Given the backstory, this isn't surprising, but the developers didn't even throw in a boss fight for good measure. You only combat scripted sequences of gauntlets of Reaper forces until your next objective. One of the boons of "Leviathan" is a significant amount of discoverables including XP and money boosting supply reserves and new expansions for your weapons. The most notable expansion is a melee enhancement for assault rifles, but I did not test out its efficacy.

Underwater shenanigans.

The main attraction, the story, brings a lot to the table, however. It begins with a war-changing discovery, which leads to the DLC's main pursuit of yet another possible weapon against the Reapers. Without exaggerating, the lessons the player learns via "Leviathan" are a necessity for both players who have finished the game already and players who still have yet to finish. On top of achieving a much-needed backstory for all three games in the series, it also solves one of the greater paradoxes of the ending, extended cut included. For me, it really completed the mythos and put my mind at ease about how the writers chose to wrap up the series' events. I am dead serious about this.

At $10 (800 BioWare or MS points), the question of whether or not this is a worthwhile purchase is debatable. I would argue that this is a must play because of what the ending reveals to you. It makes the ending to the game as a whole much better. The problem is that the overall flow of the events that bring you to the end are not as thrilling, so it really depends on how much you want the excellent origin story offered here. I do not regret my purchase in the slightest, but for anyone less interested in absorbing the details of the Mass Effect universe, this would be a hard sell. But if you just want to know more or resolve some bitter feelings you've been harboring against the writers since March, buy it right now. Trust me.

Those aren't crows.

Although Origin does not feature a screenshot feature, I ran it through Steam, creating a software platform Voltron, whereby I could take screenshots.

Mass Effect 3 DLC: Extended Cut Review

A glimpse at what could have been softens the original blow.

When I originally finished Mass Effect 3, it was about a week after the rage started about the ending. I had no idea what to expect, but I managed to make it to the end without any spoilers. I will also grant you, the reading audience, the same courtesy. There will be a spoiler break where you can cut off and go back to your spoiler-free realm and drink spoiler-free beverages.

I initially thought the ending was good, but I could see where people had problems with it. As time went by – maybe a day – I realized the ending was disappointing. That said, I was not on the ending revision bandwagon. While I do think the creators of a product owe quality to their consumers, and the ending definitely was not consistent in quality with the rest of the story, I could not summon the ill will towards BioWare that many people were feeling. The fact is, Mass Effect, as a whole, is an amazing series of games. They are a lot of fun, and you meet so many wonderful and memorable characters along your adventure that you will genuinely care about almost all of them. The ending sequence and following cutscenes were subpar, but whether you have played the game or are thinking about it, I can assure you that the entirety of Mass Effect 3 is the ending to the series. You get so much closure on almost every open topic brought up within the Mass Effect universe that the disappointing last 15 minutes should not be permitted to taint what is such a quality experience. Naysayers may contend that there were also some gameplay features which did not meet the quality of the first two games, but I honestly think they were nitpicking. There is so much rewarding content in the final entry in the series that I did not feel anything lacking.

I could have handled a sad ending; I could have handled a major character dying if it was executed well. However, whether all of Earth lives or dies, the ending  BioWare offered was not executed well. The biggest problem is a giant rabbit as big as the universe being pulled out of a hat, and in turn, it makes almost everyone act out of character. Then, it's over. There are so many huge questions left to ask about what you just witnessed, and  BioWare responded to their fans claiming that they had no idea we would want something more.

What?!

Regardless of the fact that the game serves as the ending itself, it is not such an ambitious leap of thought to think that the people who spent upwards of $180 to play all three games, excluding DLC, would want

1. A long, satisfying ending sequence that sufficiently wraps up storylines without creating new ones.
2. For the ending not to offer events in which characters act contrary to their personalities or where the rules of the universe you created are disbanded for the sake of wrapping up.
3. Some kind of acknowledgement for being a paragon or a renegade throughout your play experience.
4. A big party.

Lo, the fans did not receive any of these things. Well, some received what they wanted. People who enjoyed what the original ending had to offer are more than entitled to think so. With expectations set so high, it is understandable that not everyone will be pleased. However, I do not think it is hard to imagine where people started having problems with what they were being fed.

Moving on, BioWare responded with a compromise: they were going to offer up more closure and fill in plot holes, but in acknowledgement of their great effort being offered completely free, the core of how the game ends would not be changed. Before playing, I knew I could accept this. They went above and beyond to please more fans, in my opinion, and they were entitled to not have to undo everything they worked hard on. It did mean keeping the giant rabbit, but all of his little furry friends were put back in their cages one way or another.

Back to the point of this unintentional word dump, does the Extended Cut makes things better? I can say, "Yes," without hesitation. Despite what I would argue is the silliest of concepts to maintain, the extras offered in this ending serve to soften the blow of what used to be an utter disappointment. There are still going to be people who played the original ending and are left disillusioned. To some, the arrow hit their hearts already, and BioWare is only dressing the wound. You will either acknowledge the effort they put into the Extended Cut, or you won't, and I obviously will not sway you either way. Still, if you have not yet finished the game, I am happy to let you know that what you will experience will not be perfect, but you will not feel the rage. You can continue (or start) playing, and I feel you will enjoy what they've given you.

As far as what they have provided, there are a number of additions. For the most confusing parts of the original ending, especially those regarding the rabbit (I promise it is not a real rabbit), they added a ton of new dialogue that makes it easier to understand and/or swallow. And if you do not want to take it as it is, they have even given you a new option to utterly reject it. I did not experiment with this option, but I know it made some people feel better. Along with the dialogue, the ending features extremely important new engine and pre-rendered sequences, which offer plausible explanations for the character and universe-defying events of the original.  What is still disappointing is that they did all this work, but they opted to throw in motion comic-style animations for the first time in the entire series. I am not sure how the decision was made, but it does not take much away from the overall better quality of the Extended Cut DLC.

While I am happy BioWare decided to respond to the outcry over the original ending to Mass Effect 3, I am cautious about the precedent this may have created. If enough people don't like something about a future game, will it just take the rallying cries of a disheartened populous to make a developer spend a lot of extra time and money to please them? Sure, this was the ending to a revered series of games with a rich lore spanning comics and novels, too, but what will stop the villagers from lighting their torches over something arguably petty? So kudos to BioWare for placating a section of their fan base, but I think they should stop there.

No images provided because there aren't any!

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