One Piece Odyssey it is perhaps the answer to a profound need, that of seeing the videogame adaptations of manga and anime no longer relegated to specific genres. In the last twenty years we have seen various works brought into the videogame medium, almost always in the form of a fighting game or musou, a very expensive choice to achieve good success with minimal effort (so to speak). Yet often the Japanese comic, even if linked to the canons of the battle shonen, has its imaginary and characters that lend themselves easily to other experiences. One Piece Odyssey in this sense is an illumination, whose origins are unknown to us, by THE CA and of Bandai Namco Entertainment.
A turn-based Japanese RPG, which chooses to bring the quirky universe of Eichiiro Oda towards new shores. Announced as part of the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of One Piece, Odyssey represents a unicum in the panorama of manga video game adaptations. The points of contact with the Dragon Quest series are crystal clear, but the last time I was able to try it I was pleasantly surprised. Both for the approach to the combat system, classic but peculiar, and for the team’s willingness not to give in to the typical repetitions of the genre.
The Japanese RPG has often lent itself to reinterpretations, but its skeleton has always remained attached to very specific structures and ideas. The world in which the journey progresses, or the need to make grinding an essential element of the experience. One Piece Odyssey would like to have its say in the genre, without however being tedious and rigid like the more classic and rigid JRPGs of the genre.
An interesting approach, which had already struck me in the preview phase. Here the producer explained the importance for the team of lightening downtime, and of give the player the necessary tools so that it is not necessary to resort to any type of grinding. No up and down the maps to gain experience and level up, just the joy of the combat system and the world of One Piece to drive the game.
Gomu Gomu not in turns
Following this philosophy, I approached One Piece Odyssey as the worst JRPG gamer, avoiding fights with enemies (visible in the maps) where possible, and taking advantage of the mechanics inserted by the team to earn substantial experience bonuses. The work doesn’t take long to give you the tools you need to enjoy what it has to offer, and with an effective tutorial it takes even less time to strip Luffy’s crew of all his power.
It would be dishonest to let you use the crew with the post time jump power, and with a narrative ploy a device is created to make Luffy and the company of the pirates slightly less formidable. From here begins the ascent and exploration of Waford Island, which is the backdrop to an original story written for the occasion by Eichiiro Oda.
One Piece Odyssey is not very different from any turn-based JRPG, by philosophy. More or less linear environments are crossed, interspersed with clashes with enemies positioned in the maps. Whoever attacks first wins? No, but the usual rule applies that doing so is a good practice to start the fight in the best possible way. It is actually precisely in the combat system that ILCA’s adventure has something to say, distancing itself from the close resemblance to Dragon Quest. While taking advantage of the turn-based system with a party of 4, One Piece Odyssey has a much more pronounced dynamism.
Every fight will see our party and the enemies positioned on different areas, and the movement between them responds to a simple rule. As long as there is an enemy in his area, one of our characters cannot be moved to another. Should the need arise to help a party member in difficulty, perhaps surrounded by multiple enemies, we would necessarily have to make a clean sweep of our area, or take advantage of special abilities. These are basically special moves, with unique areas of effect that will allow us to attack an enemy in another area, or multiple areas at the same time.
This system is quite successful, because each fight creates a certain dynamism, both in the situations and in the approaches that the player will be able to use. During a boss fight, for example, it could be useful to leave only one member of the party in his area, and take advantage of the other free ones to carry out attacks from a distance, without suffering huge collective damage. A possible idea, which I implemented during my game, and which didn’t turn out to be entirely effective.
In general though, One Piece Odyssey manages to be fun and fresh while relying on a system that in fact has nothing new. The weakness reports are always based on a rock, paper, scissors system, in this case Technique, Power and Speed, together with the typical elemental statuses of the genre. Here too, however, despite its simplicity, a nice dynamism is created thanks to the possibility of changing team members during the clashes.
A familiar JRPG certainly, but at the same time original and well conceived. Going back to before and having approached it with philosophy “less grinding, more adventure”, you may have wondered if he succeeded in the enterprise. Indeed, the gaming systems designed by ILCA to stem this element have worked, allowing me to make significant progress in a short timeand to overcome the most challenging enemies with a bit of sound strategy, without necessarily relying on mindless grinding.
For example, throwing a party in a camp will grant you an experience bonus for the next 10 fights; or, fulfill the victory conditions of “dramatic scenes”, from which to collect the best experience. The latter are sudden variations of the clashes, which will offer the player an experience reward upon completing a particular condition. One of these could see Luffy surrounded by powerful enemies, requiring you to eliminate them without him being knocked out. Another might ask you to take out a boss with Sanji, and so on.
These elements, well balanced over the many hours of gameplay, allow you to enjoy the role-playing experience of One Piece Odyssey without the pacing problems typical of the genre. A convincing and well thought out feature, even if not without problems, with some peaks of difficulty a little too sudden in some points of the adventure. Managing the team is still fun, even if not so deep, with a management of statistics entrusted to levels and the equipment of amulets.
These can also be merged in the more advanced stages, and are entrusted to limited slots in which they must be placed. It’s a bit like managing your own space in Unpacking or, to be more pop, in a modern Resident Evil. Nothing transcendental, but which together with a timid crafting manages to give One Piece Odyssey that minimum depth that one would expect from the genre. However, it remains a light role-playing experience, which should not scare the less accustomed.
Don’t let nostalgia fool you
The problem of One Piece Odyssey, however, is precisely in its translation of the universe of Eichiiro Oda from paper to screen. The latter has crafted an original story, which fits very naturally into the vast canon of the work. Yet, in doing so it is once again linked to a previous experience, with a retelling of some of the most iconic sagas of the crew’s journey. The exploration of the island of Waford will introduce us to Lim and Adio, two new faces closely linked to the mysterious nature of the island.
The shipwreck will start a chain of events, which will lead the crew to relive the most significant memories of their journey. So here is that One Piece Odyssey returns to tell Alabasta, Marineford and other sagas of the manga, playing the card of “not everything is as we remember it”. This gives birth to some what if interesting, and a lot of fanservice, but it’s a big wasted opportunity.
This was the right opportunity to totally rely on something new, which did not serve as a mere pretext to return to explore One Piece with the usual interpretations that belong to it. In terms of rhythm, the “Memory” sections suffer particularly, and this is exacerbated by a narrative structure that is not always convincing. Exploration is often linear, even in solving environmental puzzles or whatever, also limiting the various skills that can be used by the party outside the clashes.
The sensation is indeed of experiencing a journey with Luffy, Nami, Robin, Chopper and the others, with all the splendid dynamics (and the Japanese dubbing) that characterizes them, but also of experiencing one who does not know exactly what he wants to tell, or what he chooses to do so in short segments and only in the sections set on Waford. A wasted opportunity, at least in part, to experience One Piece from a different point of view, not just of gameplay. You will still have it for dozens of hours, if it manages to conquer you, also given the amount of secondary content that can be tackled during the main quest.
A halfway point, also given the great pleasure of the technical sector, which manages to give life to those pages with a good wealth of colors and details (at least for the main characters). The stiff animations and the resolution (it doesn’t reach 4K on PS5, not even in graphics mode) betray a limited cross-generational project, but the cartoon impact and the artistic direction give life to absolutely pleasant settings and scenarios.
