Jade Empire is awesome. I read the articles, saw the screenshots, subscribed to the newsletter, and tracked its slow progress over the year, but nothing could have prepared me for the game itself. Absolutely stunning!
As I usally do, I like to play as a female character in all my games, whenever I can (damn you, Ragnarok Online!). So, to begin, I started off with Wu the Lotus Blossom. She’s balanced in all abilities, but doesn’t excel at either, making her an ideal character to start with. As time goes on, I’m sure I’ll try other characters.
The music is excellent. Combining ambience with traditional Chinese instruments and a touch of a modern orchestra, it really adds to the mood and setting of the game. The dialogue, however, leaves much to be desired. Chinese always sounded really lame when translated to English, and they decided to keep this nuance by making all the characters speak as if “the tornado blew fiercely from the east just as words carry others out into life”. Lame, right? The made-up language in the game is also weird – it sounds kind of like a cross between Korean and Thai. Nevertheless, the storyline is quite promising.
The game really shines with its gameplay. There are quests in this game – some minor and some prudent. I love doing quests. Some of them are simple by nature or require some puzzle solving. Some of them require you to use your fists. Hehehe. Party members are known as Followers. Followers have their own special abilities, and you can switch between them as you wish. The battle system is cool. There are so many ways to upgrade your character as you level up, and these aren’t cheap upgrades either, like in some other game I know. *cough cough World of WarCraft*
I don’t think I’ll be playing WoW for some time. JE is on my mind 24/7, and even here at work, I can only think of playing it. Although, technically, I can, since there’s an XBox in a room down the hall. Hehehe. Nah, I won’t do that.
I did something dumb yesterday while my Shaw High Speed was being installed. I started making a video with Oborozukiyo~Inori as the song. I pulled out clips of my Cloudscapes and some family videos. As a result, I made a rather touching tribute to my family – that is, if we all died or something. Holy crap, watching it makes you think, ‘Wow, this is depressing. Did that family die or something?’
Current Music: Nakashima Mika – Oborozukiyo~Inori
Speak Your Mind
You must be logged in to post a comment.