Jade Empire™

In this game set in an ancient, mysterious world inspired by mythical China, players train under their master's watchful eye, learning powerful martial arts and mystical powers. When danger threatens, players travel across the world, from the harsh mountains of the Land of Howling Spirits to the lush gardens of the Imperial City. In their adventures, players face powerful human and supernatural foes, learn exotic and magical martial arts, and discover the darkest secrets of the world. Only by mastering the greatest fighting styles and defeating the most powerful enemies will players earn their place as a master of martial arts in the world of "Jade Empire."

Jade Empire Features:

• Innovative fighting system. As players journey through "Jade Empire," they can upgrade their starting combat style or learn entirely new styles, depending on their gameplay preferences. Gamers can learn more than 20 fighting styles, each with unique strengths and weaknesses, including martial arts styles (Legendary Fist, Storm Dragon), magic styles (Paralyzing Palm, Dire Flame), and weapon styles (Twin Axes, Halberd and improvised weapons such as chairs). Each fighting style has its own speed, power, multistyle combination and form that ranges from punches and kicks to weapon strikes, mystical powers and even transformations into supernatural monsters. Combat is fast-paced, and real-time martial arts action characterized by rapid style changes as players and enemies alike seek out their opponents' weaknesses.
• Become a martial arts master. Players can jump into the story right away with a pregenerated martial artist or customize a character with specific play preferences. Each character has a unique appearance, individual voice set, and a powerful combination of fighting styles and ability scores. A player can focus on strength, speed or magic, or build a character with a balance of all three. As their characters progress, players can focus on a narrow channel of fighting styles and become dominant in these forms, or study a wide variety of styles adaptable to many combat situations. Players must choose whether to act for good or evil, and their decisions have consequences that precede them throughout the land, impacting their game experience.
• Epic story set in the mythical Jade Empire. In an ancient, mysterious world inspired by mythical China, players train under their master's watchful eye, learning powerful martial arts and mystical powers. When danger threatens, players travel across the world, from the harsh mountains of the Land of Howling Spirits to the lush gardens of the Imperial City. In their adventures, players face powerful human and supernatural foes, learn exotic and magical martial arts, and discover the darkest secrets of the world. Only by mastering the greatest fighting styles and defeating the most powerful enemies will players earn their place as a master of martial arts in the world of "Jade Empire."

http://uk.special.reserve.co.uk

Back Top

Jade Empire Strategy Guide

Talk to Lord Lao in Imperial City that's standing by your followers. When you talk to him he'll offer you a quest to get machine parts. This will unlock more Dragonfly minigames.

Unlockable: Crimson Tears Technique Climb the ranks in the Imperial Arena to the Bronze Division. When Cho comes and asks you to poison Crimson Khana, make sure to refuse. Then find her and tell her about this. Defeat her in the ring she'll teach you dual sword style Crimson Tears.

Hint: Get All 3 Endings By saving your game near the end of the quest, you can play the ending and view all three different endings of Jade Empire.by DC Street Racer

Flawless Victory: If you can win the Imperial Arena flawlessly you will receive a new Technique from Sweet Poison Lyn.

Shadows Reaction: Let you character remain still for several seconds and then look at their shadow. It has different reactions based upon your open palm or closed fist status.

Exploding Gambler: If you win 20 dice rolls in a row against the gambler in the Imperial Arena, he will explode.

Defeat an enemy without using any chi: Transform to horse deamon style and start tapping X during the transformantion until you start to throw a fireball. Then quickly switch to a style thats not a transformation and the fireball will continue and hit the enemy without costing any chi.

Use style not equipped: During a battle equip a style that you like and keep it equipped until the end of the battle. After the battle change the quickstyle(unequip it with a new one). The next fight you start you will have the style automatically and use no chi or focus.

Instant Kill for Battles With Cutscenes: This glitch will instantly and completely kill whatever enemy you face if a cutscene is known to occur in the middle of the battle. To achieve this you must have a transformation style in your hot keys for styles. Then right before the cutscene is known to occur, transform. During the cutscene, you will notice that you have changed back to your normal form, but are blinking oddly. When you enter battle again, you will slide along the floor without walking, and will not be able to attack. Now use the transformation style again and the enemy will die, instantly.

Infinite health/chi/focus supply: Find yourself running out of one of the 3?Unequip your gems on your dragon amulet, and then re-equip, and your bar will be filled with the amount of bonus you recieve from those gems!This can be used repeatedly, at any time.Very useful when there are no shrines nearby or in battle.

Back Top

Jade Empire Gameplay

Jade Empire isn't your normal RPG. Everything is in real-time. This, however, doesn't mean that you won't have all the level ups, experience points, etc that you would normally find in your fundamental RPG. You still have all the good stuff, except now you get to kick ass in real-time. That's right, no more waiting your turn to open up some cans, now you can do it without any hesitation. For me, this is a breath of fresh air. I know all you fan-boys and girls that love the traditional RPG turn-based style might be upset that BioWare decided to go down the road less traveled, but trust me, they delivered. Sure, this might not be like Knights of the Old Republic as far as how it plays, but it's definitely of equal magnitude.

When you start out you have to choose your character and his attributes of your liking. There are multiple different combat styles to select from. Don't worry though; all styles can be obtained at some time or another, so you really don't have to choose wisely at the beginning. After you choose your character you have a choice to name him yourself; use the character's real name in the game; or choose a random name (I named him myself).  To begin with, you will be in training at a martial arts type school. Your teacher, Master Li, is a wise man. He will guide you and tell you what you need to do in the beginning of the game. The first missions in Jade Empire consist of doing random stuff such as small battles and discovering your past. Later on in the game you will venture out and create your own path that will be decided by your decisions.

You can switch between different fighting styles by using the d-pad. It is particularly easy to do and is required to survive. For example, you might not have enough Chi Power to use your sword, forcing you to switch to a more conventional style. This helps to mix things up a bit and really adds depth to the game. To win battles you basically just mash the A button and occasionally block. When your opponent blocks an attack this doesn't necessarily mean you can't strike him. All you have to do is hold X and you will do a powerful attack that will burst through his shield. Attacks differ on what type of fighting style you are using. Different styles do not mean just fighting. In Jade Empire, you will use spells, fire, and other sorts of magic in order to defeat your enemies. Jade Empire does a great job in mixing it up. Not just with its many combat styles, but in level design. You will go through dungeons, small towns, and a wide variety of forests as you travel your own path. 

The story in Jade Empire is very mystical, and is best for you to find out what it's about by playing the game yourself. So, with out giving much away, I'll just say that you're a young student who has had a troubling past that you will soon learn about early on in the game. Your teacher, Master Li, will help you on your way to uncovering your past, and discovering what you are meant to become. You are meant for great things, but will you choose the right path? It's all up to you. Each and every decision you make will determine you destiny. For an action RPG, Jade Empire has a very deep and unique story; it's also very well presented via the many cut-scenes.

Back Top

Jade Empire Graphics

Very, very nice visuals are found in Jade Empire. Some of the best special effects I have seen in an RPG. The different day and night settings are gorgeous. Character models look good, especially any of the characters you have to choose from. Your character moves so graceful. The actual characters in the game could use some work though. For example -- Master Li's beard looks like a gray piece of paper. Facial expressions (which I was really hoping for in this game) are almost non-existent. The spirits/demons look really great, even more so in the cut-scenes than in the in-game action. I'm sure that was a surprise.

The different climate elements all look fantastic. When you see fire in this game, it will take your breath away, and when it hits whoever you throw it at, you will be astonished by the animations. You will fall in love with this game's atmosphere. The pink flowers, the wind slowly lifting the leaves, the sound of your footsteps quickly grazing the ground beneath your feet, and the leaves falling off of the trees as you swarm past them. The environments look supernatural.  In other words, Jade Empire is set in a fairy-tale like setting, but what lies beneath is a dark and sinister story. When it comes to setting an ambiance, Jade Empire not only delivers -- oh no, it doesn't just deliver, it's setting an example for other games of this genre. Bravo BioWare, bravo.

Back Top

Jade Empire Audio

The audio in Jade Empire is of top-notch quality. Everything from the voice-overs to the fighting sounds, to the music; it's all tremendously well done. They did an excellent job on the voice-overs, especially since there was so much to do. Line after line of dialogue, everything stays first-rate. They took the time and, trust me, it paid off. What was really refreshing is that there are actually voice-overs throughout each discussion, unlike just text in Way of the Samurai. There weren't any misspelled words that I could find either. Jade Empire screams high production values, as should every AAA game.

The music in Jade Empire is very fitting. There's Chinese tribe music that will play throughout the game. It can get upbeat and slow at any given time. As mentioned, it fits the game's setting perfectly. The combat noises sound great -- including magic spells, fire, swords, and, of course, straight up fist fights. The developers took the time to make each sound unique to this game. These aren't just some generic sound effects, no; BioWare had their crew working around the clock to produce these exceptional sound effects. Once again, well done BioWare, well done.

Back Top

Jade Empire Gameplay Controls

One of the best things about Jade Empire is how responsive and intuitive the controls are. The button layout is in all sincerity, one of the best layouts for a console RPG I have ever seen. Pressing right, left, up, or down on the d-pad will switch between the different fighting styles you have unlocked. The right thumb-stick controls the camera, but there is really no reason to do this because the camera barely ever needs fixing. The camera is always right behind you making for a seamless experience. 

The A button will do your normal fast attack on most fighting styles. You can win most battles (especially early on in the game) by just pressing the A button over and over again. When someone blocks an attack all you have to do is hold down the X button and it will shatter their shield. When your health is low pressing the white button will restore it, how much it will restore depends on the length of time you hold down the white button and how much Chi you have. In short, the controls in Jade Empire are unmatched when it comes to console RPGs. 

Back Top

Jade Empire Replay

Jade Empire's single player campaign will last you approximately 20 hours the first time through. This includes completing the main missions and most, if not all, side quests as well. There are mini games that you can unlock by doing side quests, and once unlocked can be played at any time when you boot up the game from the main menu. The question is though; will you want to go through a second or maybe even a third time? The answer is, yes. There are many different choices you can make, making each run through a whole new experience. The first time I played through, I went down the more conservative road, meaning I was nice to everybody and did what I was told to do. The second time though, I was a rebel. I was discourteous to everyone including Master Li. Yeah, he got ticked off at me many times. But, oh well, that's what makes this game so much fun. You can say almost anything you want thanks to the many reply options. You can choose to be polite, rude, or just plain stupid.

Jade Empire is an open-ended real-time RPG that will last you a long time. Those disappointed with Fable's length are in for a real treat. Not only is Jade Empire's main crusade longer, you'll want to go through it at least twice. Not to mention the unlockable mini games.  You don't even have to start up the story mode to play them, all are selectable through the main menu! Jade Empire is a masterpiece, which has an incredible amount of depth, and can be enjoyed for many plays through. http://www.talkxbox.com

Back Top