[[2026 Games]]  ## 2026-04-11 I have been trying to play this game forever but it’s felt like Fate itself has not wanted me to actually get into it. It’s the only game to ever BSOD[^1] my newest computer on Steam, and it runs like ass on my Xbox. Thankfully I finally found an old APK that manages to run on my [[Thoughts on the Ayn Thor|Ayn Thor]] and not infect it with malware, so now I’m 4 hours in. **Jade Empire** is in many ways classic [[Bioware]], and in many ways an oddity for the company. The usual loop is there: talk to people in towns, do quests, talk to your companions, do quests, and choose to be an angel or an absolute shithead. What sets **Jade Empire** apart from both its elder and younger siblings is the combat and setting. Released between **Knights of the Old Republic** and **Mass Effect**[^2], the game runs on a real-time melee combat system. You press A to attack, B to block, Y to heavy attack through shields, and flick the control stick to dodge. The actual feel is relatively clunky but endearing in an “aww, they’re trying so hard!” sort of way. It’s no [[Spectacle Fighter]], and actually operates more like a fighting game. Your attacks are very commitment-heavy, so you have to time them around the enemy’s start-up and end-frames. The setting is all Wuxia-inspired, and that affects the combat as well. You equip different martial arts styles, and can switch between them at will during combat. Each one I’ve found has had use to it, from the general brawling of Thousand Strikes, to the freezing, AOE Ice style, to a style that even drains MP from enemies so you can keep popping off. It’s serviceable, and honestly more fun than I'm making it seem with my description. I’m having a great time leveling each of the styles up and finding what’s most entertaining for me. I was initially very worried about **Jade Empire**'s potential for being extremely offensive from an orientalist perspective. This was a game made in 2005, by a bunch of white dudes in Canada, so you can forgive my apprehension. Thankfully, so far everything seems mostly fine. I’m not too sure about Tho Fan existing as a ConLang to add “a level of exoticism for players,” but I suppose it fits the more general fantasy setting the game takes place in, as opposed to a distinct, existing country. But eh. Besides that, the game feels more reverential than insulting, hewing closer to a work like **Avatar: The Last Airbender**, than, you know, **Kung Fu Chaos**.[^3] >[!IMPORTANT] > Please note that my opinion in all of this doesn’t really matter, because I am not of the ethnicity that **Jade Empire** pulls inspiration from. I’m also early into the game, so who knows where it could go. I’ll of course update if it gets worse in any way. All that said, I come to Bioware games for the characters, but I haven’t met many yet. I’ll be back to speak on where **Jade Empire** lands with this particular aspect once I’ve spent more time playing it. ## 2026-04-13 I finished the game. 👀 I’m surprised how enthralled I was by the game, but I guess that’s Bioware for you. Overall I quite enjoyed **Jade Empire**. The plot, while relatively straight-forward, was still well-executed, and the party members were a blast once I grabbed them all. Wild Flower is an all-time Bioware character to me. I loved how she was utilized and how she mirrors the cheesy, ham-fisted morality mechanic that Bioware might be most known for. I am sad that I missed a lot of camp conversations, I didn’t realize there were so many because I could just swap characters where I was to talk to them one on one. A QOL mechanic screwed me over, is this that “friction” that nerds are always talking about? The combat never really changed in my playthrough, but I actually appreciated the simplicity of it all. This is one of those games that’s more than the sum of its parts, which makes it all the stronger. Very satisfied with my time. It won’t stand as my favorite Bioware game, but I’m impressed with how well it holds up in 2026, as a game from 2005. [^1]: Blue Screen of Death [^2]: And only three years before [[Bioware]]’s Magnum Opus, **Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood** [^3]: Fun fact, this offensive turd of a game was developed by a company called Just Add Monsters, but which you might now better know as…Ninja Theory.