When you play an anime video game, you expect that it will have some tie-in to the series. Typically, most anime video games will either be a recap of a previous season or have the player create a character to experience the events. Occasionally, they will be fighters that place anime characters against one another. Rarely do we see an anime game introduce its own unique stand-alone story. One Piece Odyssey is an example of a game that was created using the characters from One Piece but does not fit directly into the grand story. How is One Piece Odyssey? Let’s dive into our review.
One Piece Odyssey Story
One Piece Odyssey is a spin-off tale about a time when the Straw Hat Pirates get stuck on a mysterious island. After fighting a fire guardian statue, the crew encounters a mysterious girl. This mysterious girl tags each of the Straw Hat pirates causing cubes to fly out of their chests. Little do Luffy and the gang know that these cubes contained the crew’s experiences from traveling on The Grand Line. When the crew reencounters this guardian spirit, they are easily defeated and are forced to retreat.
Once they are able to get to a safe location, they realize that they do not remember how to use certain abilities. Lim, the mysterious girl, explains that when she touched them, their experiences were taken away; those cubs that they saw fly off were their memories and in order to regain their powers, they will need to collect those cubes. The crew can also regain their abilities by reliving past battles and experiences. Lim takes the crew to past memories but tells the Straw Hat Pirates that their experience will not be the same; additionally, enemies will be stronger than they remember.
This sends the Straw Hat Pirates on a trip down memory lane where things will not always go as they expect. Additionally, there is a more menacing overtone hidden behind quick cutscenes involving Adio Suerte, Nico Robin, and a few other characters.
Gameplay
Exploration
Upon arriving at the mysterious fallen sky island, Waford, the crew is level 40. After their encounter with Lim, they are reset to level 1. On one hand, this reset can be rather frustrating. Yes, it is to help drive the plot, but in a way, it feels like they could have done without it. Many One Piece fans would have been happy with a direct story retelling in order to relive the experience; additionally, the concept behind regathering all the memory cubes feels more like a fetch quest rather than a way to build up the characters.
One Piece Odyssey’s gameplay is broken up into two categories, exploration and battles. While the player explores, they are able to talk to NPCs, find items, craft items, and talk to merchants. During exploration, players must switch between the different Straw Hat Crew members to access different areas, find items, or open crates. As the game progresses, each character will unlock a special ability to use in free roam and an ability to use while having a party. Players can throw “Parties” with the crew in order to craft certain items and gain a boost to damage and experience earned in battles.
Negative Exploration
One Piece Odyssey‘s biggest issue is without a doubt the doubling back aspect. On numerous occasions, you are required to run to point A, then to Point B, then back to Point A, then to Point C, then back to A, then back to B. This is an ongoing aspect of the game that makes it a lot longer than it needs to be. A game that takes 30 to 55 hours to complete, could easily be done in 15 to 30 hours. Additionally, the game will block off areas it does not want you to go with invisible walls or forced redirection.
Combat
During combat, the player can rotate between the different Straw Hat Pirates during combat; only four characters can be used at any given time in combat. In combat, the character’s typing dictates how much damage will be dealt to the enemy. The game uses a rock-paper-scissors fight mechanic. Sword beats fighting, fighting beats ranged, and ranged beats swords. Rotating between allies can make the battle a lot easier.
Players who do not feel like controlling the battle can choose auto-battle to have the computer fight each battle for them. Now, the computer isn’t perfect and will typically only use the crew that is out, so you will need to adjust the party accordingly. Players can speed up combat as well saving time. The biggest issue with this is you will need to monitor each character’s health and ability power; otherwise, the player will be reset to their last save. This can be extremely frustrating especially if you forget to save.
Graphics
One Piece Odyssey‘s graphics are definitely a strong point. In the game, each visual effect is recognizable and objects on the ground or on buildings can be easily discerned. The game does feature a variety of visual modifiers to help those with vision impairments. The characters and the levels are well-designed graphically; the only negative about the levels is, some areas are way too big and it is easy to get lost. The game feels like it has brought the characters to live in a different way than the anime could. The visual effects mixed with character and level design can bring a tear to your eye.
The only graphical issue that made us angry was the invisible walls the game threw in to block the path. You can see an object and it will be just out of reach, taunting you.
Controls
At first, One Piece Odyssey‘s controls can be rather annoying at first. Eventually, you will get used to them but they are unlike most popular games. Holding R2 is used to run but the game also features an auto-run option by pressing the left stick in (L3). L2 is used to look around and aim freely. Finally, the O button is used to interact with objects. The game primarily uses five buttons, but these five buttons feel off the way they are laid out. You will ultimately get used to them, but it will take time. The limited button requirements do make the game more accessible to those with impairments.
Audio/SFX
One Piece Odyssey continues to do what other Japanese games do and it continues to be frustrating. The game lacks any localization dubbing forcing players to read subtitles. For those who are fine with the Japanese voice acting it is fine, but for those who don’t the voices can be high-pitched. The second issue is that special effects can be rather loud. Finally, the game’s atmospheric music is rather calm or relaxed. While playing through One Piece Odyssey, I felt like I was having the energy drained out of my body and would feel like I needed to sleep. Even in battle, the battle music was too relaxed as if in a dream.
Replay Value
When looking back at One Piece Odyssey, we can clearly state that we would not replay this game; it’s not a horrible game, but multiple gameplay elements make it a time consumer rather than a fun adventure. Yes, you could play the game using an altered version of the party. Yes, you can equip different artifacts to enhance each character. Sadly, at the end of the day, the story remains the same. Players can go back and complete side quests without even having to restart the game, making it pointless to restart.
Verdict
Fans who love One Piece will enjoy this game. Anime fans who enjoy One Piece but aren’t die-hard fans will find this to be a chore rather than an experience. The core gameplay is rather solid and easy enough to understand; sadly, the game is over-inflated by forced back-and-forth questing and invisible walls. Additionally, the game’s puzzles are fairly simple. Lack of localization dubbing also inhibits those who prefer listening rather than reading. The characters and levels are beautifully designed and the controls are easy to use even if unusually awkward.
The story’s premise is fine, but the focus on level decrease felt like a miss-step. The developers very easily could have just not shared a level with the player for the first area and then just had them be level 1 after Lim’s ability. If you are on the fence about this game, it is better to skip it, watch the gameplay of it, or wait until it goes on sale to pick it up. Overall, it is a rather solid game that is hurt by Bandai Namco’s refusal to dub and over-inflated fetch quests.
A PlayStation 5 code of One Piece Odyssey was provided by Bandai Namco for review purposes.
