One Piece Odyssey evaluate: A enjoyable JRPG for followers and newcomers
“One Piece Odyssey is an anime spinoff JRPG that’s a cut above the rest.”
Pros
Fun fight
Well-written plot, characters, and dialogue
Awesome exploration
Beautiful visuals
Cons
Odd problem curve
Bad pacing
When I started my journey with the Straw Hat Pirate crew in One Piece Odyssey, I used to be shocked by the attractive digital world in entrance of me. I felt like I used to be sucked into the pages of the manga I’m such an enormous fan of, full with wacky creature designs, superior choreography, and tons of character humor and drama. By the top of the journey, I used to be excited that One Piece lastly had a JRPG on par with Dragon Quest.
One Piece Odyssey is a brand new Japanese role-playing sport spinoff of the vastly in style manga and anime collection. While it has a tough begin, One Piece Odyssey isn’t a fast money seize primarily based on IP energy — it’s a full-fledged JRPG that appears to push One Piece to new gaming heights with its excellent fashion, storytelling, characters, and twists.
A very good JRPG plot
One Piece Odyssey‘s main characters are the Straw Hat Pirates, a motley crew of oddballs chasing their desires with the purpose of discovering the treasure referred to as “One Piece.” The crew crash-lands on the mysterious island of Waford after being bombarded by a wild storm and tangible lightning. The crew rapidly learns that this island is greater than meets the attention once they are available in contact with an enormous hearth guardian, and their skills are scattered round Waford within the type of reminiscence cubes. The crew adventures round Waford and thru these scattered recollections, which recount moments from the One Piece manga and anime, to get again to full power. Meanwhile, the corrupt authorities leaders of the One Piece world, the Four Elders, have despatched an operative to the island to intercept the Straw Hats.
The story is a somewhat entertaining one due to the stable character, plot, and world-building. As a One Piece fan, this sport felt like an extension of a few of my favourite tales from the franchise, because it let me discover them in a brand new manner. There are tons of little lore bits that followers of the collection will drastically take pleasure in. I’d have interaction with each interactable factor on the display simply to see what new data I may be taught. Still, this plot options many flashbacks that give new gamers the main points of characters and arcs which are necessary to this highway down reminiscence lane.
Overall, One Piece Odyssey hits a wholesome medium of latest and previous territory, permitting anybody to leap in and revel in it by way of its plot. And fortunately, its twists, small nods, wonderful characters which are simple to grasp, and several other epic moments assist convey the narrative collectively. It’s an excellent plot for a JRPG.
If it ain’t broke, add to it
If there’s one JRPG collection I may examine One Piece Odyssey to, it’s Dragon Quest. This isn’t simply as a result of its aesthetics and the bizarre and hilariously distinctive monsters, however the complete construction of the sport. One Piece Odyssey is a really simple role-playing sport. You go from level to level whereas taking the standard detours you anticipate from style mainstays like Dragon Quest and transfer the plot alongside whereas partaking in a little bit of exploring. While this will likely sound extra primary than titles like Tales of Arise, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and Scarlet Nexus, it isn’t unhealthy in any respect.
As seen in Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, generally much less is extra, and that works in One Piece Odyssey’s favor. This is the kind of sport you’ll wish to boot up after a day of laborious work, because it’ll allow you to calm down and revel in just a few hours in One Piece’s world.
You can swap between the Straw Hats and use their totally different skills to journey between areas and bypass roadblocks. Captain Luffy can use his rubber powers to beat gentle platforming components by making his arm right into a makeshift hook shot, for instance. The shapeshifting reindeer, Chopper, is sufficiently small to stroll in tight crevices and attain secret areas. And the attractive archaeologist, Nico Robin, can destroy obstacles in the way in which. These moments of journey are made much more alive with the celebration continually chatting backwards and forwards. The easy and distinctive philosophy of exploration is carried into fight as nicely.
Fights in One Piece Odyssey are damaged up into a number of Attack Areas, and also you’re allowed to swap celebration members out and in of them at will. This generally makes it as if you happen to’re combating a number of battles without delay. These areas may continually change throughout a battle, whether or not it’s as a result of an enemy or your actions. For instance, Luffy can use his Gum Gum Bazooka assault to knock opponents to different celebration member areas, and plenty of occasions the celebration member in that Attack Area could have a hilarious response to it.
Another beauty of One Piece Odyssey is that grinding is a no-issue. While the selection is there, there are tons of the way to stage up rapidly. You can have a celebratory celebration (in typical Straw Hat trend) and get bonus expertise within the following battles, or you’ll be able to search out particular enemies that give expertise bonuses. You even have entry to tons of buff and debuff objects that you may make the most of to beat robust enemies to gaint extra ranges. While there’s plenty of good elements pushing One Piece Odyssey to nice heights, it’s held again by some flawed activates the way in which to the grand treasure it might be.
There are just a few holes on this ship
While I preferred the sport’s first chapter, after that, the early elements of the sport soured my expertise. Not solely is One Piece Odyssey very gradual, chatty, and hand-holdy earlier on, but it surely leaves the impression that the sport goes to be manner too simple. As the Straw Hats land on the island at full energy, it’s pure that they’ll one-shot each enemy they arrive in touch with. So initially, I mindlessly mash attacked by battles, hoping I used to be lastly going to hit that problem curve thawould lastly seem in Chapter 2 when the principle plot beats start.
Unfortunately, the sport by no means finds the fitting problem pacing after that, with battles randomly being tougher in a manner that doesn’t scale easily. It doesn’t assist that fights turn out to be considerably repetitive when you’ve achieved plenty of them. In basic, pacing is an enormous challenge for One Piece Odyssey. There are tons of moments the place you’ll be able to inform that the devs are biding time with pointless filler missions that ship you again to earlier areas. These moments don’t add something to the plot or gameplay and simply find yourself signaling that it could be time to take a break. Throw in some pointless dialogue moments from NPC characters, and the padding is felt from a mile away.
One Piece Odyssey isn’t probably the most good journey, however it’s a grand one which performs to its strengths. It units out to be a journey that anybody can take pleasure in, and achieves it by embracing well-established formulation whereas including its personal taste into the combo. While there are just a few unhealthy winds pushing the ship away from the harbor of being an ideal expertise, this is a superb addition to the JRPG style and one which I feel it’s best to check out whether or not you’re an enormous One Piece fan or simply an appreciator of JRPGs.
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