Jade Empire

[JRMacumber]

Alrighty, foks, I got my Limited Edition copy of this yesterday, and so far I'm loving it. Since I had to work last night I've only played a few hours, but thus far I can safely say that the game is lovely to gaze upon, the sound is fantastic, and the gameplay is wonderful. Not so fast and furious that you'd think if was Ninja Gaiden, it is certainly more quick and intense than what we had in KOTOR. Much more hands-on combat. I had a tough patch with the fighting at first, but then I learned the beauty of blocking, and that really opened things up. I look forward to learning more styles, as well as getting more weapons. The story is pretty standard so far as well, but I've heard that it ramps up soon after where I am, so I have no worries there. In all, I'm glad to have the game, and I can't wait to get back to it. Damn my silly need for sleep...

Anyway, anyone else playing?

[Bleeders]

Mine's on the way from VG+ and just had it confirmed that this is indeed region-free too!

[JRMacumber]

Oh, and the first character I'm playing as is Wu the Lotus Blossom. I think I'll go through on the Path of the Open Palm this time as well.

[Sergeant Syphillis]

How bad is the framerate exactly? The framerate in KOTOR was nauseating at times and pulled the game down considerably because of this. Also, are the loading times really that bad? Cheers.

[Freddo]

IGN's review (where this somehow got 9.9, and then an editors note saying it was probably scored too conservativly lol :P ) said the framerate was silky smooth even with tons of badguys and loads of magic going on.

heck I hope its really as awesome as IGN say, guess I'll find out soon.

[Kevvy Metal]

Jade Empire is high on my list of wanted games, got the pal version on preorder (my xbox is pal) and now have a bit of a dilema. The usa version is region free and garenteed 60Hz ( I have my suspisions that PAL Doom 3 is 50 Hz only), but VG+ are slow as **** of recent, i want this game fast and in 60Hz. don't know which one to get.

I'm sure the Pal one will suport PAL60 but the signs like it's region freeness might mean a rushed conversion and no PAL60 suport.

I'm sure the game will be awesome.

Edit for marty: Sorry dude wasn't thinking where i was posting...

[MartyG]

Please use this thread for shipping/arrivals posts, and leave this one for first play impressions.

First play guidelines are here.

Many thanks.

[PeteJ]

I enjoyed the recent demo, felt more responsive than the demo from E3 last year, though the framerate took a few terrible hits. I understand they are fixed in the final release though. I wasn't so keen on the seemingly limited combat (despite the hype), though this also may have improved.

I will be getting this on UK release however, at the moment I'm enjoying World of warcraft far too much.

[JRMacumber]

How bad is the framerate exactly? The framerate in KOTOR was nauseating at times and pulled the game down considerably because of this. Also, are the loading times really that bad? Cheers.

You know, I don't think I've noticed a framerate problem yet. It really does play silky smooth. Initial loads are long, but once you're in the game it ain't bad at all. I'll let you know if I notice a problem with either of those issues as I go on though.

[dazza_cole]

I've read in some places about Ninja Gaiden-like difficulty levels....any views on that?

[Prine]

Nice, KOTOR is still the best game i've played this gen, so im looking really foward to playing Jade Empire. Should have it next week.

JR, hows the dialogue? As great as KOTOR? Not typical western-chinese accents?

[JRMacumber]

Naw, the accents are pretty strait forward. Nothing cheesy. At least, not to my ears anyway.

[Kotatsu Neko]

Got my copy (limited edition) this morning from VG+. I'm 3 hours in on one character and 2 hours in on another. (one evil, one good)

It's a lovely game, the characters are especially good. Distinctive and memorable, and despite the almost universal American accents are voiced well. The backgrounds are on the whole good, but not exceptional. Some nice lighting in there on ocassion. Music is superb, really gives it a nice Chinese feel.

The game plays a lot like KOTOR, but with more interactive combat. It's obviously the same team and engine (with enhancements, obviously). The combat I was worried about but it plays well enough. Nothing too complex, you basically have attack and special attack, and can jump/roll and block. You can also change combat styles and use magic attacks. It's enjoyable enough so far and I'm sure it will gain complexity later.

The difficulty has been fine so far. Nothing like Ninja Gaiden. It's harder than KOTOR, but I found both KOTOR 1 & 2 to be very easy. This is a more normal difficulty level. The fights are easy as long as you keep moving, at least so far. As for the technical stuff, the framerate is reasonable - better than KOTOR but splutters and lot and wanders all over the place from 60fps to around 20fps or so. Generally it's around the 30fps area. Loading times I probably shouldn't comment on as I'm running the game from the HD, so they're not too intrusive. Each area seems slightly larger than in KOTOR though, so the loading screen shows up less.

I'm playing as the magic user girl mostly, I forget what I named her. Used the random name function and it came up with something pretty cool. Phoenix something or other! She's clad in dark blue and looks very stylish! Started another character too, another girl (the girls are well done in Jade Empire!), but the cute one in the little red outfit and playing her along the good path. IGN said the evil ending is almost unspeakably nasty, so I look forward to seeing it first with my main character!

[Kotatsu Neko]

Surprised nobody else is playing this! I'm almost 7 hours in now, and really enjoying it. It's essentially KOTOR in China, but as long as you're okay with that, then there's much entertainment to be had. Plenty of sub quests to do, and even more good/evil choices than before.

[hankwangford]

I want it, but importing is getting to be a ****ing hassle with the VGP problems of late. When's the EU release date?