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I've talked more than a little about Planescape: Torment and how I think it's the best old-school BioWare-style game that wasn't actually made by BioWare (and better than the ones that were made by BioWare)... well, now I'm going to mention what I think is the best old-school BioWare-style game that actually was made by BioWare: Jade Empire.
Okay, so Jade Empire isn't as "old-school" as Planescape: Torment is, given that the combat is more an action-oriented beat-'em-up style instead of the pseudo-real-time turn-based combat of their previous games, and the graphics are 3D models rather than sprites, but that didn't bother me at all. The thing I like most about it, though, is that the story is just as good as, perhaps even better than, their previous games such as Baldur's Gate and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (the latter of which was my previous "favorite BioWare-style game that was made by BioWare," until Jade Empire came along and bumped it off), and the fact that it was near to the last game of theirs to use the old-school dialog trees (the actual last being Dragon Age: Origins), as opposed to the dumbed down dialog wheel that was introduced in the Mass Effect series and carried over into Dragon Age II. Anyway, overall, it's a BioWare game set in a mythical country inspired by ancient Imperial China, and it was made back when BioWare games were still amazing and weren't the EA-tainted shit they are today. If that sounds even a little bit good to you, I'd highly recommend checking it out.
And it's currently on sale on GOG.com, along with a bunch of other EA games. (The fact that I have to refer to Jade Empire as "an EA game" now makes my gorge rise a little, but whatever. Rest assured, though, that Jade Empire doesn't have the EA-taint, since it was released well before BioWare became an undead husk back in 2007.)
Okay, so Jade Empire isn't as "old-school" as Planescape: Torment is, given that the combat is more an action-oriented beat-'em-up style instead of the pseudo-real-time turn-based combat of their previous games, and the graphics are 3D models rather than sprites, but that didn't bother me at all. The thing I like most about it, though, is that the story is just as good as, perhaps even better than, their previous games such as Baldur's Gate and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (the latter of which was my previous "favorite BioWare-style game that was made by BioWare," until Jade Empire came along and bumped it off), and the fact that it was near to the last game of theirs to use the old-school dialog trees (the actual last being Dragon Age: Origins), as opposed to the dumbed down dialog wheel that was introduced in the Mass Effect series and carried over into Dragon Age II. Anyway, overall, it's a BioWare game set in a mythical country inspired by ancient Imperial China, and it was made back when BioWare games were still amazing and weren't the EA-tainted shit they are today. If that sounds even a little bit good to you, I'd highly recommend checking it out.
And it's currently on sale on GOG.com, along with a bunch of other EA games. (The fact that I have to refer to Jade Empire as "an EA game" now makes my gorge rise a little, but whatever. Rest assured, though, that Jade Empire doesn't have the EA-taint, since it was released well before BioWare became an undead husk back in 2007.)
