Where’s My Sequel? Jade Empire

<p>A deep narrative&comma; extensive character backstories and addictive gameplay&period; In the last few years&comma; any RPG with those qualities gets a sequel greenlit almost as soon as the original is released&period; However&comma; one of the very few quality RPGs that fell through the cracks was <em>Jade Empire<&sol;em>&comma; released in 2005 and developed by BioWare&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Following up on the successful <em>Star Wars&colon; Knights of the Old Republic<&sol;em>&comma; BioWare took their experience and applied it to an original IP&period; Drawing inspiration from Chinese mythology and culture&comma; and taking an unorthodox Far Eastern setting&comma; BioWare created a world that feels alive and pulsates with activity&comma; from enemies and NPCs alike&period; While the world is considerably smaller than many that the developers have worked on &&num;8211&semi; such as in <em>Dragon Age<&sol;em> &&num;8211&semi; the wealth of character and NPC backstories and side-quests nullified this concern&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;136921" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-136921" style&equals;"width&colon; 1024px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-136921" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;03&sol;23065237&sol;Jade-Empire-Screenshot-BioWare&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Jade Empire Screenshot - BioWare" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"640" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-136921" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Jade Empire Screenshot &&num;8211&semi; BioWare<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Speaking of <em>Star Wars&colon; Knights of the Old Republic<&sol;em>&semi; many players will find a familiarity with <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;&quest;s&equals;jade&plus;empire"><em>Jade Empire<&sol;em><&sol;a>&semi; the developers brought over an improved version of <em>KOTOR<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s combat system&comma; while also re-jigging the Light Side&sol;Dark Side morality system in order to fit into a fantastical Far East setting&period; While <em>KOTOR<&sol;em> might have had some issues upon its initial release&comma; this improves them with  a smoother combat system&comma; refined core mechanics and a deeper narrative&comma; even if the world is smaller than <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;&quest;s&equals;star&plus;wars&percnt;3A&plus;knights&plus;of&plus;the&plus;old&plus;republic"><em>Star Wars&colon; Knights of the Old Republic<&sol;em><&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The character designs for NPCs breathe a freshness into the world&comma; with no two NPCs looking too similar&comma; and the vast majority having individual stories that creates a sense of grandeur in the world&semi; players are given a sense that there&&num;8217&semi;s much more to the world than they&&num;8217&semi;ll ever see&period; With so much only hinted at&comma; players feel a desire for exploration&comma; trying to unlock hidden secrets that must be buried just beneath the surface of the world&period; But alas&comma; some things are better left for a future installment&comma; which is what many players expected would happen&period; Many believed that with an IP as unique and as well developed as <em>Jade Empire<&sol;em>&comma; there must be a sequel&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;136922" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-136922" style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-136922" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;03&sol;23065337&sol;Jade-Empire-Screenshot&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Jade Empire Screenshot" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-136922" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Jade Empire Screenshot<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Unfortunately&comma; for the last decade&comma; BioWare has been preoccupied with the <em>Dragon Age<&sol;em> series&comma; pushing <em>Jade Empire<&sol;em> onto the back-burner&period; However&comma; since its release&comma; there have been sporadic reports of the developers being passionate about the series&semi; even back in 2016&comma; a mobile port of the game was released to a huge audience&comma; showing that there&&num;8217&semi;s still a strong desire for the series to be expanded&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;