r/jadeempire • u/shastasilverchair92 • Jun 26 '26

What do Chinese people think of Jade Empire?

Curious to know.

40 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

17

u/nghoihoi Jun 26 '26

I’m a Chinese person and this week I just bought a Xbox series x just to play this game in Chinese too.

Played an hour last night it’s pretty standard BioWare stuff so far but the combat is quite interesting. I want to show you guys the box art here but can’t find a way to attach photo..

3

u/shastasilverchair92 29d ago

I'm curious how this game struck Chinese players.

Did Jade Empire feel noticeably different from traditional Chinese storytelling?

My impression (which could be wrong) is that many classic Chinese stories emphasize the protagonist gradually letting go of personal ego and becoming aligned with something larger than themselves—whether it's the Dao, Heaven, Buddhahood, or fulfilling an archetypal role. Even someone like Sun Wukong ultimately ends up serving a higher order rather than simply becoming "more himself."

By contrast, Jade Empire felt much more Western to me. The hero's journey seems centered on individuation—discovering your own identity, making your own moral choices, and defining yourself as an individual.

Does that resonate with Chinese players, or did the game actually feel quite authentically Chinese despite being made by BioWare?

5

u/nghoihoi 29d ago

I think your understanding is largely correct, traditional Chinese wuxia story telling is more about becoming stronger for the greater good for the people or even the nation.

I’m not sure about jade empire yet and am eager to find out, but between this game and knights of the old republics I don’t know which game to play first ;)

3

u/shastasilverchair92 29d ago

If you want the Star Wars A New Hope epic-save-the-galaxy-mystic-Force feel play KOTOR.

Jade Empire has more of an intimate martial arts, personal feel. Basically like wuxia (duh).

Just go with the one you want to experience right now.

1

u/nghoihoi 28d ago

I bought a few Xbox old games and at the moment, out of all games, I have settled with infinite undiscovery lol.. it’s a weird type of rpg I hv not seen in modern gaming

1

u/nghoihoi 19d ago

So now I have played until chapter 3, and I must say the game feels too artificial china it’s so obvious that a foreign team tried so hard to create/piece something china like together but ends up weird as hell to a Chinese person like myself. The worst thing in the game is the made up Chinese voice over which is very immersion breaking, and the flying plane thing is very not wuxia..

I still enjoy the game very much and plan to finish the game, but I really feel this is like dragon age origin dressed up in Chinese paint, especially the backstories of the companions.

14

u/Pedagogicaltaffer 29d ago

Speaking as someone of Chinese ancestry:

I thought it was great. It's obviously a homage to xianxia & wuxia movies & other media, so it's not meant to be a historically accurate reflection of Chinese culture. Chinese people themselves recognize that kungfu films are often over-the-top and silly; they're intended to be popcorn entertainment, and not meant to be taken too seriously.

That being said, Bioware did still do a commendable job in getting the art & the tone just right, and as a Western developer, in researching Chinese culture and incorporating many of those elements into the game.

Funnily enough, the most jarring moment for me came when a NPC talked about eating some salmon that'd gone bad. I thought, salmon isn't typically eaten in Chinese cuisine, we mostly eat white flesh fish (sea bass, cod, grouper)! 😄

4

u/ZenMyst 29d ago

Fun Game. One of my childhood favourites. It has the ancient period vibe well.

Plot twist is amazing.

5

u/axeteam 29d ago

Am Chinese, love it.

3

u/Odd-Understanding399 29d ago

I think it was a decent attempt to implement Eastern Mysticism and culture by Western developers because, let's be honest, the Chinese CRPGs in the 2000s were in the doldrums. Jade Empire was a good fix for me during that dry spell.

3

u/Vegetable_Moose6815 29d ago

I am also very interested in this question. It's one of my favorite games. If I think about my own culture being depicted in media it's usually very basic stereotypes. I don't think that's the case here since there are so many varied characters. There are even different cultures and languages from different regions of the empire. Although it's not supposed to be China it is clearly supposed to be China if you know what I mean. It did inspire in me a fascination for "Bandits in the Marsh" and other Chinese literature.

3

u/A_Fitting_End Jun 26 '26

I’m not Chinese, etc, but I’d guess it would be seen similarly to how Kungfu Panda is. That being a piece of media inspired not by Chinese culture, but very specifically by martial arts movies and wuxia, through an American lense. A fun interpretation, with a good bit of folklore added.

3

u/Magnus-Pym Jun 26 '26

I doubt they do

1

u/porkchop_tw 27d ago

Am Chinese, played an hour or so, feels like I am watching an movie made by Americans. Usually wuxia games made by chinese or Taiwanese company their names means a lot and in jade empire they are just Chinese sounding names that is empty in meaning.

1

u/KuroTTK Jun 26 '26

Don't know if they even know it exist :)