REVIEW: One Piece Odyssey is weak but still interesting

one piece is one of the most popular works of Japanese origin today, and like any manga and anime, it generates several adaptations for different media – with video games being one of the most common and expected. In this context, One Piece Odyssey is the latest title to bring the adventures of Luffy and the Straw Hat Gang, in an aesthetically pleasing turn-based RPG, but that's not much more.

Check out the review of the showmetech de One Piece Odyssey:

somewhat boring narrative

One Piece Odyssey has as its main premise an adventure of the Straw Hat Gang on a mysterious island, where Luffy and co. find Lim, a young woman who can seal people's skills into cubes - causing the pirates to explore the island and a plan called "Conference proceedings” to regain his powers.

This whole premise would never work in an anime episode, since it is obviously a narrative created to have a greater connection between the progression of the game and its unfolding – in addition to also explaining how Luffy, the protagonist and one of the strongest characters in the universe of one piece, may be losing to creatures like bears or simple marine soldiers at the beginning of the title.

This is a common problem in RPG's based on franchises that are already consolidated and that do not use the narrative of the series as their guiding thread – since when we are starting from volume 1 of the manga, the characters are weaker and the progression is clear as the story progresses. In One Piece Odyssey, however, the situation is that the Straw Hat Gang it is already at a time when their skills are very advanced, making it too complicated to leave them without any kind of balance without the plot not putting the power scale of the anime universe in complete imbalance.

But that makes things somewhat dull. As a fan of the manga, everything from the beginning of the plot of Odyssey bothered me intensely, since I can't think that Luffy or any of their companions would find themselves in a situation just as vulnerable as the one they find themselves in at the beginning of the adventure. 

The world Conference proceedings It was also something that bothered me. Basically, this “parallel dimension” is the excuse that the game has found for us to be able to revisit with the current versions of the characters some of the most consecrated arcs of one piece — Alabasta, Water 7, Ennies Lobby, Marineford and Dressrosa – but everything ends up being executed in a somewhat disappointing way, since instead of being able to face the mobster Crocodile with a Luffy with access to Gear 4, the skills of Straw hat are sealed and the fight ends up taking place practically the same way as in the manga, even if the protagonist is two years older than when he actually faced the villain back there.

There are slight flirtations with alterations in the stories, putting partnerships that did not exist at the time or even characters that should be dead in moments well after their deaths to participate in important conflicts, reminding me a lot of what is done in games Xenoverse de Dragon Ball – but the difference is that Xenoverse has the courage to really modify some things in his narrative, while Odyssey seems to only use these moments as a fan service quick to soon put everything back on track for canonicity again. 

Having said all that, I summarize my problem with the narrative of One Piece Odyssey as a matter of lack of courage in going crazy with the manga's narrative. I didn't expect something that would change the world of the series, even knowing that this is impossible given the weekly publication of chapters on Shonen Jump, but at least something that would allow a greater play with the universe of pirates. 

Fun battle in One Piece Odyssey

Although I rather disliked the story decisions in One Piece Odyssey, I can't say the same about its battle system. Taking the best features of RPG's as Dragon Quest e Human, the experience is fun and even functional to bring the intense clashes of the manga to video games – although with some limitations that made me wonder if the choice for this genre might not be the best for the universe of pirates.

Basically, you control Luffy and the Straw Hats, with up to three of them active at the same time and can be switched between other crew members at any time during battles. From that, we follow the pattern of games of RPG: The player can attack, use special techniques (equivalent to spells of a final Fantasy, for example), using items or, if the battle is not relevant to the story, running away from the fight. 

In battles relevant to the story, the game sets a series of rules that must be obeyed to succeed in battles, and that was what bothered me the most in those moments. It doesn't make sense to me that I have to defeat Rob lucci in a specific number of turns or losing the battle – is trying to convey a sense of urgency that, although it matches the moment of the narrative, does not seem to me to match the turn-based battle system, in which actions are limited by opportunities and the like .

This is even more glaring due to the fact that the title is extremely easy, making it practically unnecessary to stand still and level up the characters – with that, the rules, which seem to serve to try to add an extra layer of tension to the fights, become extremely irrelevant for the simple fact that it is not difficult to obey them. 

Finally, I must highlight the Crew Arts: system in which members of the Straw Hat Pirates team up to deliver joint blows. The animations are fun and beautiful, but like almost everything in the game, they get boring quickly – making me always skip them and just see the effect in numbers on the screen to get an idea of ​​how much I hurt the enemy.

Conclusion

I hate ending reviews with buzzwords, but I don't think I can get away from it in One Piece Odyssey: the game will only please very purple fans of the franchise, being an RPG easily ignored by the majority of the gamer public, in general. 

Visually, the title is beautiful and the dubbing with the original voices of the characters in Japan is excellent – ​​but that doesn't make the bulk of the game, that is, its gameplay and narrative, better. 

Anyway, I think the title has enough content to please fans of one piece, so at least for them maybe it's a good experience. 

One Piece Odyssey is available for PS5, PS4, PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X.

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