Jade Dynasty
- Area: North America,Global
- Official Site: Jade Dynasty
- Publisher: Perfect World Entertainment
- Developer: Perfect World Entertainment
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
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Overview
“Jade Dynasty” is a Chinese martial arts-themed MMORPG with five available factions, each with their own unique set of skills, equipment, clothing, and playstyle.
Features
- Individual playstyle for each class
- Five completely different classes
- Chinese Mythology
- Area: North America,Global
- Official Site: Jade Dynasty
- Publisher: Perfect World Entertainment
- Developer: Perfect World Entertainment
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
Review
Jade Dynasty: It's beautiful, but different.
By Ron Keith
Did you enjoy the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? How 'bout the House of Flying Daggers? That one was awesome, wasn't it? Maybe anime's more your thing. Don't you love the battle scenes in Dragonball Z?
Eastern culture and the martial arts have a huge fan base. Whether it's films, anime or manga, people can't get enough of it. Yet it remains relatively untapped by the MMO market. At least in the pay-to-play MMO market, anyway.
In the free-to-play (F2P) MMO market, there are several MMOs based in Eastern culture. This is probably because many F2P MMOs start their lives in Korea, China, or Japan, where they're going to develop MMOs based on what's popular in those cultures. Can you say Chow Yun Fat and Naruto for the win?
Jade Dynasty is a port of the Chinese MMO Zhu Xian. It is a martial arts games set in a Chinese fantasy world. If you're looking for some Crouching Tiger action, Jade Dynasty might be the game for you.
Character Creation
Jade Dynasty does not follow the typical MMO conventions. Be prepared for that, because right from the beginning, at the the character creation screen, this will become apparent.
Character creation is dirt simple. You choices are, shall we say, limited. Male, female. Seven face choices. Seven hair choices. That's it. That's it? Yep, that's it. No eyes. No nose. No height. Nada.
You don't even get to choose your class. That doesn't happen until level 15. At that time, you'll finally get your class quest, so don't worry. You'll recognize the classes when you eventually get to choose – there's a caster class, a tank, a healer – just be sure to read the description, because the class names – Vim, Lupin, and Skysong – won't do much to clue you in.
Given the limited character creation process you might expect a lot of people to look like you in Jade Dynasty. They don't. This is a little odd, too. As you progress and get new armor, your appearance changes. Your hairstyle and color will change. Jade Dynasty is... different. But it's kind of fun, too. You'll start buying or crafting different pieces of armor just to check out what sort of look they give you.
The Marketplace
You can also change your appearance by making purchases in the Jade Dynasty's marketplace. Basically, $10 will get you 1000 Zen. 1 Zen is one silver and 100 Zen is one gold.
Jade Dynasty is a F2P MMO, but they want to make a little money, of course. The good thing is it's pretty much up to you whether you want to spend money in their marketplace. Most of the items in the marketplace are vanity and convenience items – clothes, mounts, teleport scrolls and pets.
The one thing you might need to pony up some bucks for is a telepathy gem. The telepathy gem allows you to talk in region chat. A pack of 10 telepathy gems costs 1 gold or $1, but you'll have to spend at least $10 to get it, because you can only buy Zen in $10 increments.
Frankly, though, if you get into Jade Empire, you won't mind. This game has a strong emphasis on fashioning a unique character, one whose look, whose fashion stands out. At some point, you're going to want to sample some of the stuff in the Marketplace.
Beautiful graphics
Jade Dynasty's graphics are simply stunning. The Jade Dynasty world is awash in bright hues and colorful scenery. The Sun beams on the horizon. People are dressed in brilliant colors and ride gorgeous creatures, like blue dragons and golden koi (Yes, you can ride a giant, golden fish.). The entire realm is one of the most beautiful settings you're likely to see in an MMO.
These aren't the latest, greatest graphics, though. The texture mapping isn't masterfully rounded. There aren't subtle shadows on characters. There are no moving clouds in the skies, no smoke spiraling up from fires, nor reflections in the water. Your character doesn't even cast a shadow.
Jade Dynasty lacks the modern graphics we're starting to take for granted in our MMOs, but what it lacks in graphics power and subtlety it more than makes up for in colorful design and glowing brilliance.
Questing and Leveling
The level cap in Jade Dynasty is 150. Insane, huh?
Now, you're probably thinking it's going to take you about, oh, twelve years to max out. Nyah. Jade Dynasty gives you lots of ways to level. The variety of ways you can get experience is one of the nice features of the game. Some of them are a little... different.
In the beginning, the Jade Dynasty will load you up with a few quests that are best resolved by going to Jade Dynasty's cash shop, the marketplace. You don't need to do these right away; the game will give you plenty of quests to do.
Quests in Jade Dynasty are organized in your log in convenient way. They're organized into categories, such as career quests, voyage quests, treasure quests, and mandatory quests. There are also tabs to see available quests – quests not in your log – and event quests. This is a very nice system. Knowing which quests are mandatory, for instance, allows you to easily focus on the quests you need for advancement.
There are also romance quests. Seriously. You have to party with a member of the opposite sex (In the game, you dope.), and go see the Eldest Matchmaker. He'll give you a series of quest for you and your partner. The ultimate goal is to achieve marriage, of course. You were warned: This game is a little different.
There's a recruit-a-friend system, called Induction, which gives you and your friend bonus experience when playing together, and there's also an apprentice system where a higher level player can help level up lower level players.
Except for the romance quests, it's not too different from what other games offer to help players level. But wait. Jade Dynasty has provided two other means of leveling that are... different.
First, you can meditate for experience. You can sit around in a safe zone, a city for instance, and just meditate. There's a game ability, an apropos icon of a little guy in the lotus position, that puts your character into a meditative state and you just sit there gathering wool and XP.
It's an appealing option, but most gamers are probably going to feel a bit like they're cheating.
Oh, and speaking of cheating...
You can bot. Really. You can bot. It's okay in Jade Dynasty. There's a system to set your character on autopilot and it will go off and auto-kill mobs. This is a feature built into the game!
Most MMO gamers call this cheating. Botting usually will get you banned in pretty much all other MMOs. But Jade Dynasty allows it. Very odd. That 150 level cap suddenly isn't so daunting when you can go have dinner and watch a movie, while your character levels on autopilot. Perhaps they should have just lowered the level cap?
Quests can sometimes be a little different, too, because the game doesn't use waypoints on the map. The game uses an auto-routing system instead – click on the quest's objective and it auto-routes you to that place. This is nice, but sometimes leads to those inevitable moments when you try to run through a brick wall.
Jade Dynasty's questing has some interesting and fun features, like the romance quests. The quests can sometimes be a little grindy, but there's enough variety to keep the game entertaining.
Skills and Kung Fu Magic
Jade Dynasty has a tree-based skill system. You gain skill points as you level and you can put these into your different paths to get different skills. If you've played an MMO before, you know your way around.
In addition to normal combat skills, you also get “esper” skills. Esper skills are like kung fu magic. Think Dragonball Z meets Kung Fu Hustle. Your character goes through various hand motions, you conjure up a ball of energy, then let it blast. The esper skills available vary with your class.
Combat is a lot of fun. Combat is where you get your Crouching-Tiger thrill and is one of the most appealing aspects of the game. The animations are absolute eye-candy. It's worth leveling a character in Jade Dynasty just to watch the combat moves.
Where's the help?
Jade Dynasty isn't the most complicated MMO in the world, but it's different. There are enough things in the game that separate it from your typical MMO, that sometimes it is a little confusing. Every now and then, you're going to need some help. It's not there.
Yes, there's some in-game help, but it's nominal – more like helpful-hints than a help manual – and as you advance in the game you'll probably get more than a little confused about some things. For instance, there are tome skills, in addition to combat skills, but there's almost no in-game guidance on what to do with these skills.
There's a wiki for the game you can find on the Jade Dynasty website. Read it. You'll need it.
Conclusion
Cons: Very limited character creation. Can't select your class until level 15. Very high level cap – 150. Game allows botting. Help system needs help.
Pros: Beautiful, colorful world. Lots of different in-game character customization. Many types of pets and mounts. Varied and well-organized quests. Kick-butt combat animations.
Verdict
Jade Dynasty is a beautiful and different game. The eye-candy of the game – the colorful scenery; the various mounts and pets; the awesome combat animations – is probably Jade Dynasty's major selling point. In spite of it's quirks and negatives, it's well worth checking out if you're looking for a Crouching-Tiger inspired MMO.
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