Forgettable Odyssey
Greatest-selling manga One Piece isn’t wanting recreation diversifications. Along with crusing the Grand Line, the Straw Hat Pirates have navigated by means of a number of video games starting from combating to journey. Now it has anchored in a full-fledged role-playing recreation with One Piece Odyssey. The sport spares no effort in attempting to draw previous and new followers alike, promising a brand new story written by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece’s legendary creator. Nonetheless, One Piece Odyssey finally ends up taking part in it too protected. The entire thing could be very predictable and uninspiring. Fight ages shortly, and exploration tires of itself, buying and selling freedom for linearity proper off the bat. It’s an expertise that can probably solely fulfill the most important followers of the manga.
The sport begins with a neat cutscene that includes the crew of the Straw Hat’s trademark skills. Every member flashes their expertise towards sharp, flying icicles, however quickly are shipwrecked on an uncharted island. It’s as much as the crew to unravel its thriller, repair their ship, and discover Captain Luffy’s much-loved straw hat. In between, the colourful personalities of the characters are showcased as they discover the area. One Piece Odyssey makes no effort at correctly introducing every pirate; followers of the collection want no introduction. For these unfamiliar with the Straw Hats, solely indifference is in retailer for them.
Many of the recreation’s eventualities are a sight for sore eyes.
Right away, One Piece Odyssey introduces the participant to the sport’s distinctive characters, Lim and Adio. Each immediately partake within the narrative, serving as key characters in its unfolding. Lim additionally acts as a conduit for non-fan gamers. After a fundamental tutorial and overview of Waford Island, One Piece Odyssey introduces the Memoria mechanic, which has the Straw Hats tackling earlier arcs of the manga. That is the place confusion will set in for newcomers, felling caught taking part in a direct sequel with out having skilled its predecessor. The narrative information is Lim, whose job is to flood the crew with questions concerning the corresponding Memoria whereas additionally giving context to these unaware of those occasions. Nonetheless, it feels rushed and cropped, as if the sport already anticipated gamers to be acquainted with it.
Within the first Memoria, the sport introduces a function referred to as Logs. They current a stunningly inventive retrospective of the arc. Like Lim, Logs assist contextualize these new to One Piece. Nonetheless, since this function is optionally available, Logs could be simply missed, including to the mess. Outdated followers would possibly admire the flashback, because it acts as an interactive retrospective. These summaries grow to be tedious to observe with the frequency they arrive up.
Between the Logs and visits to Memoria, the sport is fueled by its turn-based battle system. One Piece Odyssey brings a number of twists to the traditional tackle turn-based battles, permitting an additional dose of technique with its rock-paper-scissors construction and zone-based battlefield dubbed the Scramble Battle Space system. Upon getting into a combat, there’s the likelihood that the 4 celebration members will probably be separated into zones, no matter whether or not an enemy is current in it or not. Fundamental assaults and close-range talents are reserved for enemies in the identical zone, whereas long-range talents can hit any opponent.
Events heal the crew and supply buffs for subsequent battles.
Every unit in fight is one in every of three sorts: Energy, Method, or Velocity. Energy is robust towards Velocity; Velocity beats Method; Method overpowers Energy. If an ally is caught with an enemy whose assault kind is robust towards their very own, the scenario thickens —or no less than it ought to. Get together members could be switched on the fly, both with the reserves or these at the moment in battle. Subsequently, disadvantageous conditions can simply be rectified, which undermines the technique of the battle system. The participant solely must alternate the Straw Hat on the weak level with one other one with an edge towards the enemies in that zone, and that’s it; disadvantageous scenario erased. Moreover, battles are extraordinarily straightforward to start out with and there’s no solution to enhance problem. A number of expertise that strike the enemy’s weak level give a one-hit KO, discrediting any tactic.
To diversify, some battles function dramatic scenes. These scenes grant bonuses to enemies, reminiscent of a brief assault enhance or the warning that they may unleash a strong capability the following flip. The sport then presents a requirement to resolve these dramatic scenes, reminiscent of killing the enemy with a selected character. If the participant succeeds, they acquire an especially beneficiant post-battle expertise bonus. Dramatic scenes can contain utilizing somebody whose weak point is the enemy’s kind, making a risk-and-reward situation. To counteract these conditions, One Piece Odyssey has an gear system referred to as badges. Every character has a board, and every badge has a form, like a Tetris piece. It’s as much as the participant to suit these badges, which offer bonuses in attributes or resistances. An easy crafting system creates buffing meals for the celebration, debuffing objects for the enemies, and improves the badges. Nonetheless, seasoned RPG gamers will shortly acknowledge the perfect construct and break the sport early on.
Fulfilling dramatic scenes is essential to shortly degree up characters.
On the inventive entrance, One Piece Odyssey leaves nothing to be desired. The graphics are vibrant, refined, and downright beautiful. The particular results of every talent in battle are a deal with. Whereas the participant can pace up the fight, they may no less than watch every new set of expertise acquired on the finish of each chapter to understand their results. The surroundings can be lush, wealthy intimately and intricacy. Maps function parts so far as the attention can see at a constant and excessive framerate. The artwork route, coupled with the soundtrack, makes One Piece Odyssey a delightfully visible feast. Every space, whether or not within the Memoria arcs or on Waford Island, contains a stellar, joyful, and adventurous soundtrack. Even with fixed interjections at any time when a personality makes use of their tasteless discipline talent, immersion is inevitable.
Relating to exploration, the sport stumbles. Straw Hats are essentially the most landlubbin’ pirates ever, and gamers shouldn’t anticipate a ship voyage. Within the first chapters, the sport misleads, giving the impression that its areas are huge and rewardingly explorable. Nonetheless, One Piece Odyssey quickly turns into a primarily linear expertise. The sport options quite a few optionally available content material, reminiscent of bounty hunts; sidequests; Reminiscence Hyperlinks, which train celebration members expertise activated as pairs or trios; and treasure hunts. Sidequests are easy, generally humorous, however solely participating for these conversant in the solid. Additionally they lack diligence and have a obtrusive drawback of inconsistency. Lim watches the Straw Hats’ progress carefully, commenting on how unusual and alien their actions are in comparison with the pirate stereotype. Ultimately, she types an opinion about them all through the primary story. Nonetheless, if gamers return to finish sidequests from earlier chapters, Lim’s conduct will pertain to that chapter, ignoring all her character improvement. This creates a distracting inconsistency within the woman’s conduct.
The characters have totally different discipline expertise. Zoro can slice down iron doorways, and Chopper matches in small gaps.
Between the primary story, touring to previous arcs, and finishing optionally available content material, One Piece Odyssey’s pacing is in all places. The primary half of the chapter checklist appears to make up 80% of the sport, between meaningless back-and-forth fetching quests and filler cutscenes, whereas the opposite half runs over occasions and unravels mysteries in a single sitting. Probably the most awe-looking and thrilling Memoria chapter concludes roughly thirty minutes in, losing its great potential, whereas an earlier chapter took its candy time letting the participant wander by means of a flat desert chasing after their stolen pockets or meals. Odyssey is uninspiring; gamers know precisely what to anticipate at every chapter’s finish, what technique to make use of in each battle, and even the narrative end result.
One Piece Odyssey is a blatantly predictable and run-of-the-mill expertise. Whereas it could appear apparent that an anime recreation is focused to an viewers conversant in it, one might surprise why to waste a possibility to make it extra democratic and entice new followers. The tweaks to the traditional turn-based battle construction are welcome however fall quick as a result of recreation’s unchallenging problem and easy-to-break gear system. Die-hard One Piece followers will have the ability to admire the sport as an interactive memory of its arcs with minor redesigns. But, these on the lookout for a daring and distinctive recreation might must look elsewhere.
Disclosure: This assessment relies on a free copy of the sport offered by the writer.
BATTLE SYSTEM
INTERACTION
ORIGINALITY
STORY
MUSIC & SOUND
VISUALS
Stunning and fascinating world
Battle animations are beautiful
Dramatic scenes are ingenious
An uninspiring and predictable narrative
Boring exploration and aspect content material
Fight is unchallenging and repetitious
Unwelcoming to gamers unfamiliar with One Piece