One Piece Odyssey could be the very best One Piece recreation of all time, however it didn’t cease me from wishing its story was saved for an anime as an alternative. The RPG neatly incorporates current One Piece lore and builds its characters properly sufficient to enchantment to each followers and newcomers alike. However, some meaningless online game fluff makes it tough to get absolutely hooked up to its world and characters, particularly in its sluggish starting.
I don’t assume that I’d really feel that means, although, if it didn’t embrace such a powerful, thematically sound ending. One Piece Odyssey‘s nice story stands in distinction to a few of its extra tedious online game parts, making me want I might have seen it play out as an anime arc.
This piece comprises spoilers for One Piece Odyssey.
Setting sail isn’t really easy
One Piece Odyssey strands the collection’ Straw Hats gang on the island of Waford. Before the crew can restore its destroyed pirate ship, a mysterious woman named Lim steals their powers and disperses them all through the island and the land of Memoria as dice fragments. The solely option to accumulate all of the dice fragments is to search out them scattered all through the completely different settings, defeat the island guardians, and enterprise into Memoria utilizing Lim’s powers.
Memoria, a land constructed from recollections, reunites the Straw Hats with outdated foes and buddies in a number of the most emotional arcs in One Piece historical past. That’s truly the supply of one in every of One Piece Odyssey‘s principal points: a collection of half-baked translations of preexisting tales into partaking gameplay.
In our four-star overview, we be aware that the sport suffers from a sluggish begin however picks up the tempo after its prolonged Alabasta chapter. One Piece Odyssey didn’t enchantment to me as a lot because it did to our reviewer, however we agreed that the sport was an “entertaining one thanks to the solid characters, plot, and world-building.” The backtracking downside turns into a obvious concern in Alabasta and continues so far as Water Seven. At that time, gamers might simply tire of operating all through your entire city and into the sewers to progress what would’ve taken half as a lot time to observe.
After all, anime would focus solely on story. You wouldn’t have to run backwards and forwards for a pair of keys or pester NPCs for clues.
A fantastic anime filler arc
Even with its pacing points, One Piece Odyssey respectfully handles its supply materials. It references different characters, entities, and tales that time to the present One Piece canon. It additionally builds the plot round two authentic characters, Lim and Adio, which separates the story from the primary plot of the manga and anime. You’d assume this may detract from its enchantment as an anime arc, however that simply implies that Odyssey‘s story doesn’t battle with the extensive plot of the franchise.
Even higher, Lim and Adio visibly develop as characters over the course of the sport. Lim will get many of the consideration as a result of she accompanies the Straw Hats all through their most pivotal moments in Memoria, and in the end learns the worth of friendship (extra particularly, “nakama” or buddies so shut they may as properly be household) consequently.
Meanwhile, Adio doesn’t journey with Luffy’s crew as a lot however continues to be believably built-in into the One Piece world. He has connections with One Piece villain Smoker and a transparent understanding of the World Government that affected lots of the Straw Hats’ adventures within the anime and manga. One Piece Odyssey‘s story also takes care to weave Waford’s lore into the Straw Hats’ recollections, like tucking a guide about Waford into an unsuspecting Water Seven library. It additionally performs into the characters’ strengths, like handing resident archaeologist Nico Robin the reigns for unraveling the thriller behind Waford’s connection to the sky folks and Weatheria.
One Piece Odyssey in the end wraps up free ends at its conclusion earlier than the Straw Hats go away Waford, answering questions like the place Lim got here from, Adio’s true intentions, and what the Straw Hats’ function was within the general journey. It ends with Lim and Adio adopting new views, even when the latter finally ends up leaving the island earlier than the epilogue as a result of he can’t hand over his dream of avenging his folks.
True friendship by no means ends
The ending itself is what notably resonates for me. In case it wasn’t apparent from his Yu-Gi-Oh! villain look, Adio is the antagonist of One Piece Odyssey. He manipulated Lim into stealing the Straw Hats’ powers and main them into defeating the island’s guardians. This turns into more and more apparent towards the later half of the sport as he takes steps to awaken Waford’s god-like sentient weapon, the Divine Breath.
Adio seeks to destroy the world and recreate it with the weapon’s weather-manipulating skills, a purpose he feels strongly sufficient about that he’s keen to sacrifice his bond with Lim for it. He may’ve succeeded, if it weren’t for the true Lim.
That’s proper: The Lim Luffy and the gang knew wasn’t truly the true Lim. She was a duplicate created by the Priestess of Waford, who seems to be precisely like her however with purple eyes as an alternative of blue.
Adio shoots Lim to stop her from stealing his powers. However, maybe due to her adventuring alongside Luffy by way of Memoria, she nonetheless cares about Adio regardless of his betrayal. She makes use of her final phrases to ask Luffy to carry Adio again to his senses earlier than turning right into a dice (as a result of she’s not truly an actual particular person). Then begins the arc the place the Straw Hats must defeat Adio and reign within the Divine Breath.
After Luffy defeats Adio, he admits that the bond he mocked was in truth stronger than his personal convictions of vengeance. Priestess Lim speaks to him on her different’s behalf, declaring that he might’ve simply killed her however didn’t shoot, in an important level. Luffy says one thing related, suggesting that Adio couldn’t win in opposition to them due to his bond with Lim — that he couldn’t truly pull the set off on them in the long run.
One Piece Odyssey leaves that as much as the participant’s interpretation, however we’re led to imagine that is most likely the case primarily based on framing. Adio has a flashback with Lim in his remaining conflict with Luffy. Like the Priestess identified, he has the ability to kill her when he shoots Lim, but he doesn’t. He feebly remarks, “Sometimes, I miss,” and hobbles off with the beat-up Divine Breath earlier than Luffy and the gang revive Lim. By the time the Straw Hats go away Waford, the Priestess and Lim resolve to rebuild Waford and hope for Adio’s return as a result of he’s their “nakama.”
ONE PIECE ODYSSEY | Full Memory Trailer
One Piece Odyssey isn’t canon. Producer Katsuaki Tsuzuki confirmed as a lot in an interview with Ungeek earlier than the sport’s launch. It didn’t straight progress something associated to the primary One Piece plot or the primary forged as folks, even when they affected Lim and Adio. However, it ends on an emotionally satisfying be aware that does the characters justice. Heck, even the action-packed cutscenes appear like one thing straight out of the anime.
I’m happy with the story, however with a sense that I might have gotten extra out of One Piece Odyssey had I watched it reasonably than trudged by way of its RPG components. It would’ve saved hours of my time to expertise a heartwarming and canon-worthy story with out the grind. Bandai Namco crafted a reasonably sturdy RPG that freshens many mechanics which have since grown stale within the turn-based style, however typically you simply need to know what occurs with out backtracking by way of the desert to get there.
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