One Piece Odyssey Review for Nintendo Switch

One Piece Odyssey is an RPG (role play gaming) that was developed by ILCA, Inc. and published by Bandai Namco. Entertainment. One Piece, an ongoing anime and manga, has shown promise in the video game franchise due to its popularity, and world setting. Moreover, one of the main key aspects in One Piece is the action and exploration as the main cast of characters are pirates exploring the world for the titular One Piece. As for how it was translated into a video game was through turn-based combat, and linear game design that allows players to explore the world and utilize the crew’s specialties. This is then followed up by the story and at this point the developers wanted to focus on the 4 most prominent narrative arcs that left an impact on the fan base.

Gameplay wise the game is an RPG, with turn-based combat, in a linear level design borrowing some open world elements. The game is turn based and in regards to the context of the source material would make the most sense as certain moves can be easily show cased such as Luffy’s Gum Gum Gatling, or Zoro’s Oni Giri. By utilizing this combat method allows for these special attacks to be highlighted on screen and offers a better visualization depicted in some of the manga panels in One Piece.

Aside from some spectacular visuals in game, one of the gameplay mechanics relies on the player regularly attacking the enemy with basic attacks to charge TP something akin to mana, focus points, etc. in other games. This added mechanic to basic attacks makes the game feel like a refreshing experience by having to no longer grind to get consumable items that increase TP in combat. While this might make the game feel a little bit easy due to it, however in terms of fighting enemies it does not break the combat loop and constant action the game provides. As to the reason as to why they made that decision can be rationalized in how the manga presents its fights being well-paced to ensure that the reader stays hooked. This thought process can be interpreted in how the developers want to keep the player enthralled in the action and combat. While the combat has been properly thought out the other portion of the game the exploration is quite fun and provides pretty nice balance to the experience. In regards to, the exploration portion of the game, it is done quite well in a manner similar to some of the more linear based maps found in traditional RPG’s (role playing games) with a focus on recreating scenes and environments that were found in the manga. These recreated environments provide an open world feeling through the details presented in said environments.

The level of detail present in these environments stay true to the source material and will allow One Piece fans to truly be happy to see the world they have read and watched be interactable to a certain extent. Furthermore, this allows fans to interact with the story and relive them.

Story the game goes over 4 prominent arcs while having an underlying story that ties them all together in the opening. Without going into too much detail in order to avoid spoilers for those who have not read or watched One Piece, they cover, Alabasta, Water Seven, Marineford, and Dressrosa. As for why these arcs were chosen can be due to the fanbases reaction to them being very reactive in a positive way due to the strength of the narrative at the time. Another reason why is due to the importance these arcs have made on the narrative in the long run and how it affected character growth as a whole.

As for a piece of One Piece media the game fits right on in as an exceptional piece allowing fans to engage in the story a little bit more then just reading and the anime. Moreover, the fact that it goes over 4 prominent story arcs in the narrative showcases to the fans that they know how to captivate them.

One Piece Odyssey is a fun game overall and offers players the chance to play as Monkey D Luffy, Zoro, Chopper, and the rest of the crew in battle as they take on the island Waford and uncover the secrets on it as well as confront their past. The gameplay ties in a good mix of combat and exploration depending on how the player wants to tackle obstacles. Moreover, this would not be possible if the source material did not have a great narrative, arcs, and characters that all have shown to be well loved by the community. As for the game itself it is a solid 8/10 with only some minor issues being held possibly in the Nintendo Switch Version were some times the game crashes.

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