Jade Empire

[Bassman]

In the later stages I stuck with Jade Golem and Mirabelle mostly, both of which could do some serious damage. Got them well levelled. I think I got up to Level 22 or 23 in my 24+ hours playing.

[Kotatsu Neko]

I finally finished this today. Followed Closed Fist and was 100% evil. There are some seriously nasty things to do at the end, but once it's all over I was disappointed there wasn't some real evil payoff, seeing me take over the world or something.

Still an excellent game which I thoroughly enjoyed. Better than KOTOR and way better than KOTOR 2. For the innevitable sequel I'd like to see a better combat system. More moves per style - I seemed to end up bashing away with the A button, rolling out of the way of an attack, then repeating... And I'd like changes to the focus and chi systems. Running out of focus was a real pain, and running out of chi meant using spirit thief for several minutes of rather redious recovery. I'd also like to see more character customisation stuff, there was even less in Jade Empire than there was in KOTOR. Fable did this kind of stuff really well.

A very solid 8/10 from me. Very nice work from Bioware. Now to play through it again on Open Palm.

[Shoju]

I just started this and after what I heard before I put the combat on hard mode. Im just about to enter the caves and so far it hasn't been too difficult.

Has anyone played through on hard mode? How tough is the combat further in?

[Kotatsu Neko]

I just started this and after what I heard before I put the combat on hard mode. Im just about to enter the caves and so far it hasn't been too difficult.

Has anyone played through on hard mode? How tough is the combat further in?

There's the odd difficulty spike here and there, but it generally gets easier the further you go. Was the same in KOTOR and KOTOR 2. The last few boss battles were a total walkover!

[Wools]

I've had this game for a couple of weeks now and have only just got round to playing it last week.

So far it's excellent. It has a great heightining sense of importance to the player and atmosphere I havent experianced since Metal gear solid 3 and Metroid Prime 2.

Looking forward to delving deeper!

[giogi]

Finished this fantastic game last night. And I've got to say, IMO, it's better than KOTOR. Not sure why, as I am a massive Star Wars fan, but I thinks it's got something to do with not having to worry about hundreds of items and levelling up other characters in the party.

Just to raise a couple of points that people have raised about the game.

1. LONGEVITY - well I finihsed it in 17H and 33mins, though I am sure I didn't complete many side quests etc. In fact, I only really regularly chatted with two of my followers - the ladies!! :-) So, I can always go back and do more.

I do not see the game as being that short, yes you can rush through it if you want, but I think some of it is taking in the atmosphere and taking your time enjoying the game, part that enjoyment comes from...

2. COMBAT - the combat in JE has been described as simple, button-bashing etc. Yep, you can get by with button bashing. But you know what? You can do the same with Soul Calibur. I was pretty kick ass with Cervantes on Soul Calibur, but along comes my 10 year old nephew, picks Taki and proceeds to button bash the **** out of me while I am trying fancy moves etc.

I think this applies to JE. You can button-bash OR you can CHOOSE to make the combat more interesting for yourself. Hit them with a fireball, turn the enemy to stone, transform into a demon, decapitate them with a mighty dragon sword, slice and dice with Wolverine style claws, slow them down and finish them off with an exploding body Harmonic Combo - all in one combat!

The variety is great, it just takes a little effort on the players part to make the combat interesting, something I think Bioware should be commended for.

Anyway, a great game, bring on the next installment!

[Finsbury Girl]

Great game so far but what's with the loading times???!!! In my view this really brings the game down.

Apart from that the only other negative (which was the same with KOTOR) is that it would seem impossible to max out the characters abilities due to the limited amount of xp available in the game.

[Shoju]

The load times are really annoying yeah. The combat's dissapointing too as it's too easy and repetitive. Fable's combat was alot better. Diablo 2 LOD though still has the best combat in an action rpg and by far the best skill selections. I was hoping one of the above could match it but that hasn't happened.

[Bassman]

Most combat can get repetitive in games... to a greater or lesser extent. I had no issues with the combat in this game.