One Piece Odyssey

One Piece Odyssey is based on One Piece, an extremely long and popular anime and manga series with millions of fans. This game transforms the pirate-themed antics into an open world experience, which is something fans have been really looking forward to for a long time. Playing as Luffy and his beloved team of pirates, you must explore a mysterious new island and recover your memories after they are scattered around the land. Toting both a new story and lots of callbacks to the anime, this is a JRPG that any fan of One Piece will want to play!

Main Game Features

• Based on the popular manga and anime
• Fight through memorable story arcs
• Exciting turn-based battles

Story

Just like in the manga and other games like One Piece Pirate Warriors 4, One Piece Odyssey is all about the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his gang of Straw Hat Pirates. Together, this group of pirates looks to conquer the seas, defeating anyone who dares to stand in their way. In this game, Luffy and his crew run into a storm and are washed ashore on a mysterious island. However, an evil sorceress steals the Straw Hat Pirate's powers and puts them into a cube, shattering it and spreading the power across the island. Left weak and unable to travel home with their battered ship, the team must recover their abilities if they ever want to leave the island.

In order to regain their powers, the Straw Hat Pirates must explore the island and a startling new world called Memoria. Memoria is completely made out of the memories of the Straw Hat Pirates, from their childhoods to their previous adventure. Because of this, Luffy and his friends will have to relive major events of the past, taking them through the Arabasta Kingdom, Marineford, and more. In a smart way, One Piece Odyssey offers a tale that is both new and old, hitting key moments from the manga while still telling a new story.

Gameplay

The island is tropical and full of interesting things to do, making it an ideal place for an open-world adventure. While exploring, you'll find dungeons, other characters, and plenty of enemies to fight. You start by playing as Luffy, but you can switch between your party members at any time, letting you control your favorite One Piece character. Some characters have special skills as well, which must be used to solve puzzles and overcome other obstacles.

Fighting enemies is similar to other iconic JRPGs like Dragon Quest XI and Persona 5, but with a few cool tricks to make it different. When you find an enemy in the overworld, you'll switch into combat mode, where you can select different attacks or moves for your party members to execute. In One Piece Odyssey, the spacing of your characters makes a big difference, as battles play out in multiple areas. “Dramatic Scene” variations can also throw a wrench into things, changing up the battle with extra objectives that need to be completed. Using the experience you gain in battles, you can level up your team, becoming the ultimate pirate warriors!

Conclusion

One Piece Odyssey takes some chances with its changes to the JRPG formula, but it's better because of it. The turn-based combat is interesting and fast, with cool twists to keep players on their toes.

Pros

• Pleasant graphics
• Interesting battle mechanics
• Story that mixes old and new events

Cons

• Dialogue is a messy
• Can be confusing if you've never seen One Piece
• Puzzles are pretty easy

As we steadily approach the long-awaited conclusion to Eiichiro Oda’s epic pirate saga, fans of the revolutionary anime series can now join Luffy and his ragtag band on one legendary quest in One Piece Odyssey. See the Straw Hat Pirates like never before in this JRPG adventure that promises, among other things, to perfectly capture the spirit of Oda’s whimsical series.

We’ve seen our fair share of One Piece games over the years, with some of them being among the best anime video game adaptations on the market. Knowing this, how well does One Piece Odyssey compare with the series’ long history of video games? Let’s find out!

Sailing the Seas of JRPGs

One interesting thing to note about One Piece as a video game franchise is that most games in the series have revolved around combat in some way or another. Even the titles that were supposed to be focused on exploring and discovery, like One Piece: Unlimited World Red, eventually devolved into a button-mashing fighting affair.

One Piece Odyssey aims to remedy this situation by introducing the first exploration-focused adventure in the series so far. Sure, there will still be lots of fighting to be had, but since this is more of a classic JRPG, these random encounters serve just as a distraction to the exploration.

In other words, the core gameplay of One Piece Odyssey is what a One Piece game should have been like from the very beginning. Players will be able to control different members of the Straw Hat Pirates crew – each with a special set of abilities that make them more suitable for different terrains. For example, Chopper's height allows him to explore small spaces and caves, while Luffy’s elastic powers can help you get out of some tricky areas.

Presentation Is Key

The game goes for a visual style that’s very reminiscent of Dragon Quest XI. Instead of being a purely cel-shaded anime game, like the ones in the Naruto Ultimate Ninja series, One Piece Odyssey feels more like a proper AAA JRPG with anime characters as protagonists.

For those worried about the quality of the plot – fear not. Both the story and the new characters therein introduced were created by Eiichiro Oda himself. This makes the game feel just like another episode in the series – or in this case, a very long movie with tons of lovable characters and epic action sequences.

This is exactly what every One Piece game should have been about. It’s a grand adventure filled with charming characters and interesting settings that will please both fans of the franchise and JRPG fans in general.

The game also does a great job of being a self-contained narrative, so it’s easy to recommend One Piece Odyssey to any player, even if they have never watched a single episode of the series. All in all, this is an epic pirate adventure that hits all the right notes and does it with all the comedy and dramatic impact that only One Piece knows how to mix.

Pros

• Excellent visuals help you get immersed in the game’s enticing setting
• Intriguing plot that will keep players hooked from beginning to end
• Tons of locations to explore and characters to meet

Cons

• The combat mechanics can get a tad repetitive