East Meets Quest
Electronic Gaming Monthly, April, 2005 by Jennifer Tsao
Continued from page 1.
Where the game doesn’t echo KOTOR is in your character’s appearance throughout the adventure. Just as a villain in a martial arts movie doesn’t actually grow horns or break out in massive acne when he turns evil, your character’s moral tendencies won’t be manifested in his or her physical appearance. If you let your character stand still for a bit, his shadow may grow tendrils—a gorgeous, subtle effect—or she may do a little flourish, absorbing harmonious energy from the surrounding environs, but that’s about as far as it goes. “Because we’re trying to do something more realistic with the choices you’re given in the game,” Martens says, “we keep the character’s appearance more realistic as well.”
Messing with success
Past BioWare games appeal to gamers with a lot of patience, gamers who enjoy a good story, gamers who like highly tactical, potentially slow-paced combat. But with Jade Empire, the developers sound dangerously like they are trying to do the impossible: please all the people, all the time. “We are trying to...make a game that appeals really broadly,” says Zeschuk. “On the one hand, it’ll appeal to RPG fans, people who like stories with character development. But we also want to appeal to the action fan, and someone in the middle, an action-RPG fan....”
That approach has even had an impact on one of the hallmarks of BioWare’s games—their length. Sure, if you do every optional quest and really explore all your dialogue options, Jade Empire could easily devour over 40 hours of your life. But, “Believe it or not, Jade is actually conscientiously shorter,” says Muzyka, noting that the critical path through the main story can probably be completed in under 20 hours. “It’s one of the shortest RPGs BioWare’s ever made,” he says. It could be sacrilege, folly, a fool’s errand. Or perhaps it’s a bit of genius, especially when you’re talking about BioWare—a company with an impeccable record of producing award-winning games. “We’re really trying to get the quality bar to a really high standard and keep it up there,” says Muzyka, “so you have 20 to 30 hours of...the best possible game we can make.”
Spend any time with the people at BioWare, though, and you become familiar with one of their company’s core values: humility—most optimistic statements are quickly subdued by disclaimers. “[Jade Empire] could really expand our audience,” says Muzyka. “That’s our hope. We don’t really count on anything, though. You’re only as good as your next game.” Still, they admit they’re extremely proud of what they’ve created. “I think it’s in a pretty sweet spot,” says Zeschuk. “People here in some ways think it’s our game that almost has the most potential to help break the company even bigger, and show what we can do. Is it going to work? I think our gut tells us it will.”
Copyright © 2005 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Electronic Gaming Monthly.
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