Jade Empire PC Interview (con't)

FiringSquad: What other new content is being added to the PC port of the game?

Diarmid Clarke: One of the first things you’ll notice is the high resolution graphics and the stunning new visual effects that simply weren’t possible before. One of our biggest development goals was to produce a great keyboard and mouse control system, and we’ve been fine-tuning that since a very early development stage. We also allow the players to re-define the controls to suit their own preferences.

Extra content has been added, including two new combat styles: Viper and Iron Palm. Iron Palm delivers slow but devastating damage, while Viper attacks with lethal poison that slowly kills your enemies over time. There will be new monsters and big demons to fight, as well as new weapon upgrades and a new playable character. We’re also introducing a new difficulty level which is super hard and offers quite a challenge even to experienced players.

Gameplay has been enhanced to include better AI, meaning the fights will be a lot more dynamic. Enemies evade, block and fight smarter so you’ll really have to use tactics and a combination of your fighting styles a lot more in the PC version.

FiringSquad: What can you tell us about the graphical upgrades that are being made for the PC version?

Diarmid Clarke: We’ve upgraded a lot of the textures and effects, so you’re getting ultra-crisp visuals, smooth frame rates and it all loads very quickly. It looks absolutely fantastic on a high resolution, widescreen monitor, but it’s completely scalable so it will also run smoothly and look great on lower end machines as well.

FiringSquad: Will there be a demo of the PC version released?

Diarmid Clarke:

Diarmid Clarke: We haven’t made any decisions about that just yet.

FiringSquad: What is the current status of the game's progress and when will it be released?

Diarmid Clarke: So far it’s looking absolutely terrific. We’re well into the final stages of development so it’s mostly just polishing at this point. We’re hoping to have it out around January of 2007.

FiringSquad: Are there any plans for a Jade Empire 2 to be released at some point?

Diarmid Clarke: We’d certainly love to continue working on the Jade franchise, so you never know…!

FiringSquad: Finally is there anything else you wish to say about Jade Empire for the PC?

Diarmid Clarke: We’ve really tried to design this new version of Jade Empire to be an amazing experience for our PC fans, but we think our original Xbox fans who have already played it will really enjoy the changes we’ve made to the game. We’re looking forward to seeing it on PC, and our publisher, 2K Games, has been wonderful to work with.