I'm looking to pick a new RPG (or at least new to me) from Steam and I have my choices down to either Draknsang or Jade Empire: Special Edition. I'm leaning towards JE: SE on price alone ($14.99), but Drakensang looks extremely interesting and the $29.99 price tag isn't that bad. Anyone have any opinions on either game that might help me decide?
BTW - Please don't turn this thread into another debate over the evils of Steam. Whether you like it or not, I do choose to use it and all I care about in this topic are opinions on these games in particular, not the method of distribution.

I haven't played Drakensang, but it looks cool to me. I think I may pick it up tomorrow, as my local game shop has a copy in stock. My vote would be for that one, I think. Not that there's anything wrong with JE:SE. I love BioWare's games.

Jade Empire is probably the worst PC game Bioware has ever made, but it's still a good game for the most part. I don't like the combat much and the general feel of the world is not my style, but I finished the game and enjoyed it. It's much more Mass Effect than it is Baldur's Gate though, so plan accordingly.
All I have played of Drakensang is the demo, which I enjoyed. I am waiting for more free time before I purchase the game myself. I would suggest you try the demo... it is more of a classic RPG, with all the highs and lows associated with that.

I've played both. Drakensang for it's old-schoolness, I say!

I really enjoyed Jade Empire. But it did have a some issues on the PC, particularly with Vista. You have to run it with elevation or else it won't actually save your games, even though it says it's saved just fine. I did a ton of fiddling to try and make this work without elevation, but nothing stuck.
Great story though, and I did enjoy the ass kicking portion :)
I can't speak for Drakensang, as I haven't played it.

If you're looking for a real RPG choose Drakensang, is depth, engaging and old-school. If you are looking for some more action you may prefer Jade Empire.

Drakensang. Please don't support mediocre BioWare products...

I should probably mention that I have played and enjoyed previous BioWare RPGs, specifically NWN and KotOR, which is why Jade Empire seemed interesting to me. How would you say either game compares to those?

I've never played the PC version of JE but the xbox version was bloody great, interesting world, good combat, great characters, excellent music and a damned enjoyable experience all round.

The combat and even point of view feel exactly alike in Drakensang and KOTOR. The only difference is the ruleset (The Dark Eye ruleset to be specific) and the classes in Drakensang.

Well JE & KOTOR share a similar small unit size and combat perspective. The combat in JE is far more action & fast paced, the turns are about half the length of KOTOR ones and its a bit more like a fighting game than an RPG in some ways, you still have to think about your attacks and make sure you use the right tool for the right job though, like a thinking man's beat em up

By the way, $30 for Drakensang? It's 50 fucking euros in europe!! C'mon Steam!!!

If you want more RPG elements go and buy Drakensang, but Jade Empire's story and musics are brilliant.

That's odd, it's only 30€ on GamersGate.