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The greatest ONE PIECE game so far! | ONE PIECE ODYSSEY - Review

17K View2023-01-13

ONE PIECE ODYSSEY is something special. A rare occurrence; there’s finally a good Anime game that isn’t a hack and slash or a fighting game, as it instead features a fresh JRPG turn-based combat system. A nice change of pace and a solid design decision worthy of our attention.

The plot of ONE PIECE ODYSSEY inserts us into one of the many adventures of Luffy and his Straw Hat Crew, caught in a storm and shipwrecked on a tropical island. Becoming separated, Luffy must reunite with his crewmates and escape the Island.

It's kind of amazing how the Developers can just skip the introduction of the characters and the world of ONE PIECE, and just go straight right to the story and gameplay. Tells you how much ONE PIECE has become such an icon to many as one of the best anime / manga series out there.

ONE PIECE ODYSSEY borrows the proven and tested classic Final Fantasy formula, the depth, the mechanics, and open world exploration combined with turn-based combat and it works so well in this regard.

It might alienate fans used to real-time explosive kinetic combat systems, but I guarantee it's just as action-packed and amazing. I'd still recommend giving it a try for a change and maybe you’ll eventually acquire the taste for it, especially if you’re a ONE PIECE fan anyway.

Compared to the usual turn-based combat, ONE PIECE ODYSSEY features a highly positional combat system that updates and changes the characters’ positions as they fight on the battlefield. Kind of similar to the recent game Marvel’s Midnight Suns. Positioning is important and can change how fights are played out.

The combat is rather simplistic in nature, you have three attack types in a sort of a rock-paper-scissors situation in which you have to mix up your battle crew (with reservers on the side) against different types of enemies in order to be more effective.

There’s also an Auto-battle and Speed Up system wherein you can automatically decide the outcome of battles, or at least speed up the animations, if things get too repetitive and boring. A nice accessibility move from the developers, especially helpful for those who doesn’t like the combat and just want to focus on the ONE PIECE narrative.

The open-world aspect isn’t the greatest. The traversal can be clunky, slow, and features a lot of back and forth-ing. When it works though, it features a nice gameplay variety with the light puzzle platforming and exploration aspects; certain sections will require certain character’s abilities or characteristics, and you can switch to different characters at any time to utilize them.

Contrary to the cel-shaded anime art-style, which has been mostly retained and faithfully remade and mixed with 3D graphics, ONE PIECE ODYSSEY is remarkably HD with crisp looking visuals and realistic good-looking environments. It’s in the same boat as the modern Dragonball and Naruto games, as well as the recent Jumpforce, but even way better I would say.

Unfortunately for international English-speaking fans, the game currently does not have an English dub, and thus will be forced to play reading the English subtitles alongside the Japanese audio. For anime purists though, they will have no problem especially as ONE PIECE ODYSSEY features the original Japanese voice actors from the Anime.

Anime video game adaptations don't always end up being good, some are just made to be cash cows milking the name of the franchise, sometimes they tend to end up playing it safe by becoming your typical fighting or hack and slash game. ONE PIECE ODYSSEY is different. It's a great anime video game, perhaps the best ONE PIECE video game so far, and something that should be experienced by all ONE PIECE fans and even new initiates alike.

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