Not a bad game by any means but after playing KOTOR I expected a lot more.
User Rating: 7.5 | Jade Empire: Hisui no Teikoku XBOX
Jade empire does a lot of things well. First off the graphics and sound are excellent. This game also gives you a tremendous amount of freedom, plenty of side missions, and the ability to choose from two different paths. The way of the opened palm (good) and the way of the closed fist (bad). This reminded me totally of KOTOR except not with the light and dark side. Also for an RPG the combat is quite entertaining despite some flaws. But for a few reasons I just never really was sucked in by Jade Empire. So in my opinion this game is just not epic enough to be considered a classic RPG or even a very good one. The story is OK and does get better as time goes on, well until you get to the end. When I finished this game I definitely did not have a good sense of accomplishment. For one the game is not very long for this type of game. It will take 20+ hours to complete but have of that is listening to long winded conversations. For some reason this bothered me a lot more than it did in KOTOR. I guess because that game is set in the Star Wars universe and this setting just kind of bored me. The story starts off as you being a trainee of martial arts under Master Li. He disappears and you set out on your quest after him. You do get to choose you own character from a few presets. You also choose from what type of martial artist you wish to become. Like I said the story isn't bad but to me it just got boring. As you level up you are able to improve stats that boost your health, chi, and focus. You also allocate points toward different martial arts styles. Leveling up your character is pretty fun for an RPG.
Overall if you are not expecting a game up to the caliber that Bio Ware has produced in the past then you can perhaps have a pretty good time with this game. But you better have a lot of patience because people never seem to shut up. I found myself just hitting the button and not really listening to what they had to say. So unfortunate for me I was expecting a classic and walked away fairly disappointed. 
