One Piece Odyssey – Review
Our Score: 9/10
A massive storm at sea swallows the Straw Hats, headed by Monkey D. Luffy, in One Piece Odyssey. The storm separates them and they find themselves on an exotic island teeming with wildlife. The gang embarks on a new exciting voyage, full of the marvels of a raging nature, formidable foes, and odd contacts with island natives. Do your part to help Luffy and the gang go back on the high seas!
Luffy’s Odyssey
The plot of One Piece Odyssey is a combination of new material and reimaginings of established plotlines from the anime and manga. After their ship crashes on an unknown island and many crew members go missing (including Luffy’s cap!), the player takes control of the surviving members of the crew as they search the island for their missing companions.
When the party is back together, they won’t be spending much time on Waford Island. Players will have plenty of opportunities to go about the tropical paradise and embark on a variety of side missions, but the vast majority of their time in ONE PIECE ODYSSEY will be spent in Memoria, other realities where the crew may relive their former exploits. The Straw Hats plan to travel to places they’ve been before and reenact the events that gave them their abilities in an attempt to reclaim them. The inclusion of storylines from previous installments, such as Alabasta and Water Seven, makes this an enjoyable journey down memory lane for longtime viewers.
Any fans of Japanese role-playing games who have yet to dive into the long-running series need not worry, as One Piece Odyssey is quite accessible to those coming from outside the genre. While familiarity with the characters (why Zoro has three swords, how Luffy is like Stretch Armstrong) may enhance your enjoyment of this humorous novel, you don’t need to be a fan to follow along; the plot is straightforward enough.
Swords Dance
The fighting in One Piece Odyssey is turn-based. There’s also a Rock-Paper-Scissors-style vulnerability mechanism in play. Characters may fall into one of three categories based on their power level: Power, Technique, or Speed. As a rule, Power trumps Speed, Speed trumps Technique, and Technique trumps Power. In battle, you may choose from a number of different environments. In a given region, a character might encounter foes either nearby or all by themselves. If there are no foes in the immediate region, a character is free to go anywhere they choose.
To advance to a new sector of the battlefield, you must first eliminate all foes in your current location. You have a variety of close combat, long range, recovery, and buff abilities at your disposal. The only foes a close combat skill may influence are those in close proximity. Combat at a distance may be used to strike any location, even the one you’re at right now. Both healing and buffing abilities may be used on a single target or on the whole party. Only a small handful of abilities have global effects, and most of them don’t become available until far into the second part of the game.
3D Devil Fruit
In One Piece Odyssey, the 3D models are a nice addition to Oda’s ideas for the characters. In addition, I love the fight animations they utilise. Their power and influence are quite evident. The setting of this game and its visual depiction clearly received a lot of attention in order to get as near to Oda’s goals as feasible. The island, the creatures you face, and the new people you meet all have solid design. At times, the models’ emotions are just as impressive as the rest of their outfits. And Nami, all throughout the game, makes beautiful expressions of rage.
The music and sound design are very enjoyable, with upbeat, buoyant tunes that regular viewers will recognise. The original voice actors have returned to give their talents, thus the quality of the voice acting is exactly as high as it was in the anime. Unfortunately, there is no English dub available, so unless you know Japanese, you’ll have to do a lot of reading.
Final Verdict
If you’re a fan of One Piece, then One Piece Odyssey is a no-brainer. It’s perfect if you love these characters and the world. And since it’s turn-based combat, it’s easily playable by everyone. With an original story for players to enjoy, this is an awesome adventure.
