Let’s talk about a more well known game this time. Bioware is most known for their 3D RPG series Mass Effect and Dragon Age nowadays, but in the past they created isometric RPGs like the Baldurs Gate or Neverwinter Nights series. So how did that transition happen? Well, they published 2 games between those periods that helped them find their formula for 3D RPGs. While the first one was Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, which fits more to Dragon Age:Origins due to the pausable real time combat system with multiple party members (which I couldn’t play till now due to gamebreaking bugs), I want to talk about their second intermediate game today: Jade Empire.
Many of the elements found in Mass Effect were implemented first and tested in Jade Empire: RPG character development but real time action combat sequences, a group of companions of which a few are romancable and a great epic story with many twists, where the player can influence the outcome somewhat.
#Combat
The combat and character development was build around 3 ressources: health, chi and focus. Health is self explanatory, chi is mana and focus is a third ressource for activating time slow mode or special weapon styles. You can choose between different weapons and magic attacks (ranged or melee) and also later transformations, which were really awesome. Nothing like transforming into a giant golem and smashing the ground to attack all enemies around you. You can also select one companion to follow you around and into combat.
#Companions
The companions are one of the highlights of Jade Empire. By fighting with them side by side they will reveal their past to you and also comment on your actions regarding their own orientation regarding the Way of the closed Fist or the Way of the open Palm. For example The berserker like Black Whirlwind will congratulate you on a well done ambush but will scoff if the solutions don’t involve at least 2 murders. The characters are all a joy to experience. They even included a romance for three of the companions.
#Way of Fist/Palm
The way you could influence the main and side quests is also with a unique twist: You have the Way of the Open Palm, which stands for friendliness, understanding and helping each other BUT it could also mean you just want to squeeze a little higher reward out of people with problems by being chummy with them. The opposite concept is the Way of the Closed Fist, which stands for autonomy, strength and doing things YOUR way, but also for teaching people to stand for themselves instead of cowering. Both paths can be used selfishly or for helping build a world more fitting to your ideology. I haven`t really seen that concept elsewhere, in that the normally “evil” way is not only selfish, but rather wants to instill strength in everyone worthy.
#Story
While Jade Empire is set in a faux east asian world, it is an amalgam of many different concepts and best described as east asian counterpart to standard kitchen sink western fantasy with sword, magic, orcs & elves. You are a young spirit monk and after the destruction of your order in the tutorial actually the last one of your order. Due to your training you can interact with the spirit world, which is a highly sought after ability, since the spirits of the recently departed don`t leave the world any longer but linger around. Your goal is to find out why your order had to die and how you can help the spirits move on. The story contained some great executed twists which give the story a nice flow. And it is I think the first game I played, where you can agree and join the antagonist in lieu of a boss fight at the end.
Story spoilers:
As it turns out, your dear Master Li who raised and trained you is in fact the brother of the emperor and the master mind behind the attack on your order in the first place. The spirit monks were the monks of the water dragon and the emperor needed the water dragon (or rather its never ending blood, which is pure water) to end the drought that was plagueing the empire. But with the psychopomp removed, the spirits of the dead had no guide to the afterlife anymore, bringing a lot of unwanted side effects with it. When you attack the emperor, Master Li reveals his decade long scheme and kills you and his brother, making him the emperor instead. The water dragon saves you with its last bit of power and setting you on the path to dethrone Emperor Li, restoring the water dragon and thereby the natural order again. But you can agree with him in the end and subjugate to him, which was something I hadn`t seen before in games.
While this game is by no means a forgotten gem, I don’t really see a lot of discussion about it online. So if you haven’t played it yet, I highly recommend it, especially if you like Mass Effect.
The morality system was a huge disappointment for me. You said most of what I wanted to say, so I’ll be brief.
Right near the start of the game, an NPC outlines the Way of the Open Palm vs. the Way of the Closed Fist, more or less the same way you described them. And I was so excited to see a morality system in which both sides were morally defensible positions. But from the very first Closed Fist follower you meet (just minutes later), they may as well all be monacle-wearing moustache-twirlers who punctuate every sentence with “mwah-ha-ha!”
The worst example that I remember is a bootlegger who’s essentially holding a town hostage. Far from following either philosophy as described, he’s just plain evil, and in fact I easily came up with (IMO solid) arguments for actually swapping the game’s morality labels on the player’s options. But no, one option is clearly “evil”, so that’s Closed Palm, while the other is obviously “good”, hence Open Palm.