13 replies to this topic

[SupidSeep]

(... now I'm short of KOTOR ... nah, forget it)

I picked up JE a week ago and played it heavily (put aside ME2 & DA:O) since.
As a guy, I picked Scholar Lim as my char.  Yeah, she reveals quite a lot of cleavage , but that aside, I actually like her blue dress with the long sleeves plus ribbons (however impractical) and dragon embroidied pants.  And another reason I picked her is because I really like her pose for the loading screen - while the other girls (and the guys) either brandish weapons or strike combat poses, Ling's pose is more akin to a dancer than a fighter with her arm ribbons swirling in mid-air (though one can say many fighting arts resemble some form of intricate dance).

I seriously dislike Wu's dress (no, I don't care for her belly) and I would have liked Jen Zi except for the lack of arm/leg protection and  her hemline is too high ...  weird taste, right?

After the first playthrough using Leaping Tiger - Stone Immortal - Spirit Thief - Crimson Tears - Jade Golem.  I start an new game and used a savegame editor to try out Viper (I'm too soft to even consider playing evil / renegade / closed fist so I would never get it from playthrough) as well as some of the other martial stances.  I find that I'm really spoilt on fast styles than can be spammed and couldn't get used to the slower Legendary Strikes, White Demon and Iron Palm.

Somehow when I have a bit of speed upgrades , I can keep spamming Leaping Tiger over and over onto most humanoid opponents who would generally  recoil from getting hit and effectively putting them into some sort of hit-lock ... didn't work well on the tougher demons.  This hit-lock doesn't seem possible with the other stances, and I sorely miss it when using Viper

Speaking of Viper, I'm not sure but is the JE engine detecting only ONE status effective on targets?  I.e. you can be Poisoned / Paralysed / Immolated / Frozen / Dieased etc. but not more than one and if you had a effect on and got hit with a new one, the old effect would be lost?

It was quite a surprise and disappointment to see that cos I was beginning to explore Paralysing Palm, which would have turned the Ravager into a sitting target but Viper's Poison would free him again - that meant I had to work for my Ravager victory and it really went down to the line - I beat him with all chi and focus drained and health less than 50% max.  If I had used any of the other styles, I could simply mix it with Paralysing Palm and grind him into submission easily.  Using Chi strike is not truly viable due to the Ravager's immunity to Spirit Thief's Drain - against Sun Hai, Sun Li, Sun Kun I could activate Chi strike then alternate Iron Palm with Spirit Thief to slowly grind them down safe while recovering Chi.

Another thing I noticed when using savegame editor to switch stance in the early game is that Thousand Cuts actually seem quite strong for total damage - individual hits are weak but TC seems to unleash multiple such hits for the basic quick attack combo (compared to the 3-hit combo for the other styles).  TC's power attack is SLOW though.

And speaking of power attacks, Viper's isn't damaging but FAST.  Against some slower opponents, with the right spacing I can actually spam Viper's power attack onto some critters to kill them easily (and they can't block) - especially with the Lost Spirits.  Only the faster enemies can hope to prempt Viper's power attack.

I'm thinking of another playthrough ...

[caradoc2000]

SupidSeep wrote...

I'm too soft to even consider playing evil / renegade / closed fist so I would never get it from playthrough

You'll miss a terrific storyline.

[zx2781]

Wu is hot with her purple outfit and flat belly. I play either her or Tiger Shen.

[Fizzeler]

caradoc2000 wrote...

SupidSeep wrote...

I'm too soft to even consider playing evil / renegade / closed fist so I would never get it from playthrough

You'll miss a terrific storyline.

this some CE actions are way to awesome (same for Renegade in ME2), the school one in the Imperial City is a fun CE adventure

[SupidSeep]

I know being bad can be fun in a twisted , but the most I can live with in JE is make nasty remarks. In ME2, my chars are all paragon, but there are renegade interrupts I can live with (headbutting Uvenk, shooting the Eclipse asari). JE doesn't have something 'grey' enough for me to accept.

On the other hand, the reason I don't do most nasty things in the games is because they're not the way I want to do it; either you are beneath me or you crossed the line and if you can tell you would watch out.

For instance, in ME I never care for punching Al-jilani (too crude IMO), but seriously, if I want to get back at her, I rather engineer a more final retribution (e.g. a crippling / fatal blow to her career) and, if convenient, be there to look her in the eye when the death knell strikes, without smug expression or mocking speech.

[james1976]

My first time through I used Furious Ming as a Closed Fist character. My second character is Lu The Prodigy as an Open Palm path.



I like to play both male and female characters with any RPG to fully get the whole of the game. It is the same reason I both good and evil roles and sometimes have a character that walks down the middle and may not be totally one or the other. It is one of the things that draws me to Bioware games....the moral choices.



Therefore eventually I will have 2 female characters traveling each of the paths as well.

[Tooneyman]

My first character was Lu the Prodigy and I though it was really fun. The was good of course, but what I found funny was my friend told me on his first play through that there was no love interests. Well with out even knowing it I got mr. Lu some dawn star. hehe.

[james1976]

I was going for Silk Fox the first time through but messed it up somewhere. I'm guessing I didn't talk to her enough during certain chapters. LOL I ended up having to kill most of the party at the end for my choices.

[nikki191]

jade empire did the "evil" philosophy very well.. it wasnt evil as such it was through temporary hardship you made the people stronger in the long term.. interesting twist

[LTD]

I played through the 1st chapter before getting at least temporarily defeated by terrible T-shaped pipe zones, lack of proper inventory and most embarrassing mini game in history of mankind. I fully realize the  plot hasn't really even began yet. Does JE gain significant amounts of depth and impression of freedom later on?

I do want to like this game. The combat system is excellent and world as a whole looks refreshing after gazillion medieval surroundings of typical western MMOs. But the zones. Ghgghhh. I really hate a self proclaimed RPG where sense of adventure consists of picking wether it is the left or right portion of T-shaped swamp pipe that you should visit first. How inaccurate are my negative first impressions? How narrow will the pipes remain? Do I at least get to pick which ones I visit?

Edited by LTD, 03 October 2010 - 04:42 AM.

[Bratinov]

Playing evil can be lots of fun if you're in the right mindset for it. I find it hard to stop caring but once i do its fun to do the opposite of what is expected of you/ stop doing everyone's bidding.

An easy way to do CF is picking the opposite gender, but thats no fun.



The only game I'm yet to do the "evil" way is kotor for some reason, maybe its nostalgia...

[Tooneyman]

Nyoka wrote...

LTD,
I'm guessing the pipe zones you're referring to are just the swamp and it was pretty claustrophobic if I remember well. You'll find freer environments soon, open areas where you can just come and go everywhere you want. I think the game keeps getting better with each chapter.

You can also skip the minigames if you want so no worries!

Yes I agree. The more you play the game the more you want to play it. The story is what really keeps you going. The combat is fun if you learn how to mix it up between support styles and fighting.

[LTD]

Much appreciated folks! More or less what I hoped to hear too:) I'll be sure to give it a spin once horrors of RL allow.