Jade Empire Preview

The guys at 1Up have put together a preview of Jade Empire, BioWare’s upcoming Xbox RPG, based upon what they saw at this year’s Tokyo Game Show. Check it out:

The early version BioWare had up and running at TGS (really not much more than a couple of environments to walk around in) would not be entirely unfamiliar to anyone who’s played more than a couple hours’ worth of KOTOR. The graphics have gotten several shades prettier there’s a completely new visual engine tucked inside here and the visual style is much more colorful than anything seen in their last Xbox game. Even so, however, the basics are essentially the same: your guy (or gal) runs around a set environment, talks to people, and occasionally gets in fights. The conversation system is completely unchanged from KOTOR’s (even the font is the same), but your hero now has voiced dialogue… occasionally. Oh my.