Jade Empire FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions about Jade Empire. More information can be found in the Game Info section.

Please select a question:

1.01: What is the story and objective behind "Jade Empire?" (Back to Top)

In an ancient, mysterious world based on mythical China, you train under your master's watchful eye and learn powerful martial arts and magic. From the confines of your monastery, your travels take you from the harsh mountains of the Land of Howling Spirits to the lush gardens of the Imperial Palace. In your adventures you face powerful human and supernatural foes, learn exotic and magical martial arts, and discover the darkest secrets of the Jade Empire. Only by mastering the greatest fighting styles and defeating the most powerful enemies will you earn your place as a master of martial arts in the world of the Jade Empire.

At the beginning of the game, you are a young martial artist just beginning to explore the world. From the outset it is clear that something is wrong: spirits and ghosts are sighted more and more frequently, and are even attacking people in outlying villages. You must investigate this threat, and eventually uncover the truth behind this mystery. This tiny thread is just the start of an epic story in the grand BioWare RPG tradition of games like Baldur’s Gate I and II, Neverwinter Nights, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

1.02: What are the key features of "Jade Empire?" (Back to Top)

Award-Winning Action-RPG. The original release of Jade Empire for Xbox received numerous industry awards and ~90% Metacritic and Gamerankings review scores for its excellence in story-telling, graphics, role-playing, and action. The PC version includes the entire original game with additional content in the form of new monsters, combat styles and combat re-balancing for extra challenge, and new items.

Rich and engaging storyline. An incredible, engaging story that puts you in the role of a noble hero...or a treacherous villain! Journey across the beautiful and mysterious lands of the Jade Empire to interact with a wealth of fascinating characters, as you learn to master the way of the Open Palm or the Closed Fist. Forge a legendary tale, filled with danger and deception.

Enhanced for the PC! The mysterious world of Jade Empire comes to life with beautiful high-resolution graphics and new visual effects and details. Take command of your journey with intuitive controls optimized for the PC platform - support for both game pads and keyboard-mouse layouts is included. Also included in the PC version are new monsters to battle, new items to find and new combat-styles to learn, as well as more challenging encounters and better enemy AI. The power of today's PC-gaming systems is fully utilized by Jade Empire to bring gamers very short load-times, smooth frame-rates, and ultra-crisp visuals.

1.03: What is new for the PC version of Jade Empire? (Back to Top)

There are several exciting new features for Jade Empire on the PC, including:

• Customizable, intuitive controls optimized for PC gaming, including support for game-pads and keyboard/mouse.
• Increased graphics resolutions and new visual effects.
• New monsters and enemies.
• New fighting styles.
• Improved combat AI and difficulty levels.
• New world map interface.

1.04: How many fighting styles does "Jade Empire" feature? (Back to Top)

You begin the game with a single fighting style, but over the course of the game you can learn many other fighting styles. These include hand-to-hand styles (Leaping Tiger, Thousand Cuts), magic styles (Paralyzing Palm, Dire Flame), and weapon styles (Twin Axes, Long Sword, and improvised weapons like Twin Hams). Each fighting style is a package of several moves, each with their own speed, power, and form that ranges from punches and kicks to weapon strikes, mystical powers, and even transformations into supernatural monsters.

For more information, view the Fighting Styles page.

1.05: What kinds of levels or environments does "Jade Empire" feature? (Back to Top)

The Jade Empire is based on the myths and legends of ancient China; a version of China that might have been, if all the stories were true. The game world is huge and varied, and you can explore many different game areas, from the imposing Imperial Palace to the lonely trails of the Land of Howling Spirits.

1.06: How many different characters does "Jade Empire" feature? (Back to Top)

Jump into the story right away with a pregenerated martial artist, or create a custom character tailored to your specific play preferences. Each character has a unique appearance, custom voice set, and a powerful combination of fighting styles and ability scores.

For more information, view the Characters page.

1.07: How can I enter to win the sweet Alienware system? (Back to Top)

Entering for the giveaway is simple via the contest page. Entry is free, and winners will be contacted in August, 2006.

1.08: Is Jade Empire replayable? (Back to Top)

Thanks to the endless combinations of mastering different fighting styles, choosing from multiple pre-generated characters each of which have different strengths and weaknesses, customizable character creation, and choosing either the philosophy of the Open Palm or Closed Fist, you can enjoy playing the game several times!

1.09: Will the Xbox version of "Jade Empire" have Xbox Live capability? (Back to Top)

BioWare is concentrating resources on delivering the best single-player game experience possible, and as a result Jade Empire will not be Live-enabled.

1.10: Does "Jade Empire" run on the "KotOR" engine? (Back to Top)

Jade Empire uses an entirely new graphics engine and a new sound engine. The graphics engine has more than twice the number of render paths as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and the player character models have three times more polys than those in KotOR. Other enhancements include physics-based cloth, rim lighting, and an entirely new skeleton built to accommodate motion captured animation. The sound engine is designed to produce the most cinematic experience possible, and puts incredible control in the hands of our audio engineers.

1.11: What is your target release date for the PC version? (Back to Top)

The target release date for Jade Empire for PC is to be announced.

1.12: How much will "Jade Empire" for PC cost? (Back to Top)

The price is to be announced.

1.13: What character ability scores will be at a player's disposal? (Back to Top)

Jade Empire has six ability scores: three primary and three secondary. Primary abilities set the starting value for secondary abilities, but the two aren't identical, and you can raise either as you progress through the game.

The primary abilities are drawn straight from Chinese tradition: Body, Mind, and Spirit. Each of these ability scores is tied to specific conversation skills, so a character with a high Body is able to intimidate people, while a character with a high Mind is able to persuade them.

These primary abilities also affect the three secondary abilities of Health, Focus, and Chi. Health is a measure of your character's ability to take physical punishment--your hit points. Focus is rooted in the character's Mind and reflects your ability to enter "Focus mode", which slows opponents down during combat, and lets you race around the environment while exploring. Finally, Chi is the total of the character's magic energy and powers certain styles, heals wounds, and dishes out special attacks called Chi strikes.

For more information, visit the abilities page.

1.14: What about the game's sound effects and score? (Back to Top)

We did all the sound effects in-house, and besides trying to figure out what noise a 10-foot tall demon makes when you kick him off a bridge, audio was smooth sailing. The critically acclaimed Jade Empire soundtrack is composed and produced by A-List composer Jack Wall. Featuring a unique blend of strings, woodwinds, deep percussion, and traditional Chinese instruments, the CD reverberates with over an hour of lilting, rousing, and highly dramatic music.

1.15: What are transformation styles? (Back to Top)

Transformation styles are cool. Some monsters have a small chance of dropping a bit of their essence when you defeat them. If you collect this small drop of the creature's essence, you gain the ability to transform into that creature in combat.

You collect these spirits in a special inventory and can access them from the main style-switching interface. When you trigger a transformation style, you literally become the monster. You gain the monster's special attacks and turn into their model, and you can rampage around causing horrible devastation until your Chi runs out. The Chi cost for these styles is directly related to the damage they dish out, so fighting as a rat demon doesn't cost much, but fighting as a giant iron golem is very expensive.

1.16: Why did you introduce fully motion captured animation technology with Jade Empire? (Back to Top)

At BioWare, we always try to push something new with each of our games. When we decided to do Jade Empire, we put animation at the top of that list and jumped right in. We wanted to work with real martial artists to make the in-game moves look as realistic as possible. We started with basically no experience in motion capture and took our first baby steps on location at a local rehabilitation hospital that has a motion capture setup for diagnosing hip and knee disorders.

Once we had a pipeline in place for adding mocap data to a brand-new animation skeleton, we worked with Giant Studios, the same company who did the motion capture for the Lord of the Rings movies. They hooked us up with some amazing martial arts performers, all of them national champions in at least one martial art, and we worked closely with the performers to get moves that are both accurate and look great. There were some technical stumbles early on, but it's been surprisingly painless to build motion capture into our animation pipeline.

Read our Developer Diary: Game of "Firsts" - Jade Empire, the MoCap Sessions for more details.

1.17: What is a "dragon amulet"? What are some examples of the gems that can be placed into it? (Back to Top)

Every character has a personal dragon amulet; this is their birthright, and one of the keys to their power. Amulet gems include the Eye of the Demon, which gives a bonus to all primary abilities but can only be used by an evil character; the August Peridot, which grants a bonus on all weapon styles; and the Gilded Tongue, which adds a bonus to all conversation skills. These are just a sampling though as we have dozens in the game.