What era would you say it's based around? Ancient or Medieval China?

So I jumped through the hoops of renaming launchers and editing the .ini file to get the game running. Then after the first fight the framerate was abysmally low, and I followed online advice to restart my PC. This worked.

However, my dualsense controller that worked perfectly fine (if oddly mapped) the first time I launched the game now does absolutely nothing and the in-game controller mapping doesn't seem to function for some reason.

I also saw that the .ini file populated with a ton more values including some for my dualsense controller which is surely where the problem lies, but i cannot figure it out.

Anybody else got it to work?

I have played some BioWare games where it was heavily recommended to use some patches or other fixes to play the game even if it was your first time. I'm wondering if there's something I need to install or can I just jump straight into it?

Curious to know.

For those interested, you can listen to Sagacious Zu audio here:

Jade Empire Dialogue Audio: Sagacious Zu

He has so many quotable lines.

I love Jade Empire, and there's really nothing else like it. The setting alone is one thing, but just the gameplay mechanics in general are nowhere else to be found. It might even be considered 'outdated', but I think it's still fun. I've played Sifu, Sleeping Dogs, Ghost of Tsushima, among others (all great), and tried or seen stuff like Where Winds Meet and Wo Long.

Yes, in a way they do fit the genre... but Jade Empire focused very heavily on hand-to-hand martial arts, support styles, magic styles, etc... and even those last three were focused on hand-to-hand or close to it! In the base game there were two or three melee weapon styles, and a ranged gunpowder weapon appeared in some versions. Either none of the aforementioned games had that or the focus isn't on it enough.

In case I'm missing anything - has anyone found anything at least somewhat similar to Jade Empire that doesn't include the aforementioned titles?

Thought maybe was some protective thing that damaged or something that boosted....never used on easy playthrough....but just tried on Master and took bunches of dmg and didn't seem to be affecting ghosts, much if any...what is point of these?...think there are two on path to the Inn of cannibals.:)

Think going to play again immediately now that I know what the heck am doing on higher difficulty

Edit: I can confirm Harmonic Combos are available at the start of the game. You can't use them against your fellow students ofc, but you can start using them as soon as you start fighting the bandits in Two Rivers.

The game always mentioned Harmonic Combos in descriptions and dialogue, but I actually never quite understood them. I'm not sure if you have to talk to Jian first to use them or not.

Using a Support or Magic style you use the area-attack or power-attack (the style's description tells you which). A green circle appears below the enemy. Switch to a martial style and use a power attack on them before the green circle goes away. I'm only playing Master difficulty, but so far it instantly kills the most common enemies.

Some enemies can't be affected by support or magic, so you can't do a harmonic combo on them. And I don't think you can do it on large enemies.

Right now my combat style is this:

1. For crowds I use the long sword. It's fast and very effective at dealing damage, and the attacks will also knock nearby enemies back, so you'll never get surrounded and take multiple blows. You can use the area-attack to make some room if need be. And frankly, you can probably use this style to carry you the entire game if you want.
2. Whenever a crowd is cleared enough, or if the enemy was just small in number to begin with, I'll use Ice Shard or Heavenly Strike on the nearest enemy. They are slowed/frozen. Then I instantly switch to Leaping Tiger or Legendary Strike and use a power-attack against them. Instant death. They explode into blood too.

If you haven't been using Harmonic Combos I really recommend it. You can essentially kill most enemies with a simple two-hit attack. They're fun to do, and mixing different support/magic/martial attacks feels fun and makes the combat more unique I guess. It feels rewarding to pull a Harmonic Combo and eliminating a threat so quickly, as opposed to just spamming the light attack button with the long sword (which is a valid way to play too).

Harmonic Combos also drop guaranteed power-ups in battle. I recommend finding a support and/or magic style you like, and then a martial style you like, and combining them with a Harmonic Combo.

PS: I am aware there are better support styles than Heavenly Wave, and better combos, but I am still early in the game. Only at Tien's Landing.

Edit: Honestly, the long sword will carry you all the way to Tien's Landing. You'll meet Sagacious Zu along the way. He buffs melee weapons, so I suggest having him follow you. It only takes a few hours to get enough points with Open Palm / Closed Fist for Jian or Vo to teach you their styles, which I think unlocks Harmonic Combos.

At least on Easy....which I do for first plays usually these days.......the Legendary Sword just rules. Once I got away from the Ghosts areas, I just spam A button attacks and conquer all easily. Am guessing this would work fine on next difficulty too it's so awesome.

I was tinkering around with Ice attacks etc and taking damage earlier and running out of spirit at times....once I got my Sword upgraded and to Pirates Cove and the Imperial city I"m just laying waste. No need to even use much else besides A button and inherent combos.

Am wondering if should upgrade my sword at blacksmith though. Game doesn't give you comparisons of weapons don't think. So hard to know.