Jonric: How would you summarize the RPG system in Jade Empire? How does it differ from those BioWare has used in the past?

Lead Technical Designer Georg Zoeller: The idea behind the rules system in Jade Empire was to create a system that provides the depth in character advancement and integration into the story people have come to expect from a BioWare RPG while supporting the faster pace of the new real-time combat engine. Since Jade Empire is BioWare's own IP, we had, for the first time, the freedom to create a rules system tailored to the type of gameplay we wanted instead of trying to make the gameplay fit an existing rules system.

The rules system in Jade Empire is designed to keep control over the combat experience with the player at the controller. Questions like "Did the enemy hit me / did I hit the enemy" are determined by the player's actions rather than by a die roll behind the scenes, while questions like "How much damage can I take / How much damage did I dish out" are dependent on your character's attributes and styles. I think as a result, the game manages to keep the pace and "in the action" feel of combat without sacrificing the RPG elements like character development and customization.