Jade Empire, Bioware

4.5/5 stars

Before Jonathan, before IFComp 2009 (how many years ago was that, anyway?), I was playing Jade Empire.  I’d gotten about halfway through it by the time I got sidetracked with interactive fiction development, and then really sidetracked by Jonathan.  Even after recovering a bit from that, I was reluctant to pick Jade Empire back up, as I’d forgotten some of the combat mechanics and didn’t really relish trying to come back up to speed and figure out where exactly I’d left off.

Finally, though, I did.  A half-hour here, an hour there, and I finally completed it last night.  It’s definitely in the top echelon of Bioware games, which are all consistently excellent.  I thought the writing was quite good, the plot was interesting, and the combat mechanics integrated very well with the mood of the game and the more conversational aspects of gameplay.

Like many Bioware games, Jade Empire gives you a choice of morality.  Unlike most Bioware games, however, the choice in Jade Empire is not along stark good/evil lines.  Instead you gravitate between the Way of the Open Palm — an altruistic, communalistic, almost paternalistic ethic — and the Way of the Closed Fist, which is a more individualist, borderline-Nietzschean philosophy (“solve your problems yourself, or you don’t deserve to live”).  This gives the moral choices a bit more subtlety and interest than the usual “give money to the poor child or cut her throat” options that are found in some of Bioware’s other titles.

Combat uses three resources — health, chi, and focus, and all of these are emphasized in different ways depending on what style of combat you favor.  If you use standard martial arts, you are limited in range, but don’t inherently deplete chi or focus to fight.  If you use weapons, your focus drains as you fight, and if you use magic or transformation styles, your chi depletes.  On top of these basic mechanics, you have several different types of martial arts, different weapon styles, and different schools of magic and transformations, and you can choose to amp up your damage by spending extra chi, or slow down your opponents by spending focus.  The end result is a very option-rich combat model that is very adaptable to the way you want to play.

The plot follows a Hero’s Journey-type structure.  You’ve been trained in combat at the beginning of the game, and then discover that you have a Mysterious Past™ that gives you a Great Destiny™.  You are forced out of the nest, meet companions, learn more about yourself as you gain strength, and then learn the full extent of what’s been going on for the last twenty years.

The way these revelations are handled in the context of the player’s progression, however, is what makes this game such a high quality experience.  You’re given enough information to make successively wrong conclusions at several points throughout the game, and the twist at the end is pretty unexpected.  Also, by the time you’ve figured everything out, the game linearizes a bit.  I think this was a great choice; you already know what to do, and at that point it’s just a question of doing it.  Putting in a big exploration section near the end would have compromised the flow of the game — and taken me extra weeks to finish it.

Also, your companions are pretty fully-realized, with distinctive personalities and goals of their own, which helps immersion.  There are romance plots available, and while some of the dialogue seems a bit forced, they’re doing romance better at Bioware these days than they did back in the era of Baldur’s Gate 2 and Neverwinter Nights.

One great aspect to the game is the inclusion of several homages to the great Barry Hughart, author of the Master Li and Number Ten Ox series of novels.  I greatly enjoy these books, and was very excited every time a reference (and there were many) came up.  If you enjoy the game, you’ll definitely enjoy the books — they’re some of the best fantasy writing I’ve ever encountered.

All in all, Jade Empire is definitely in my top 5 Bioware and Bioware-derived games.  It doesn’t quite equal the Planescape: Torment or Baldur’s Gate 2 experiences, but it’s right at the level of other top titles like Knights of the Old Republic (the first one) and Mass Effect.  I recommend it to all who enjoy Bioware titles or fantasy with an oriental flavor.  You won’t be disappointed.

Tags: Computer, Game Review, Jade Empire