In these The Last of Us days, there is a lot of discussion about how difficult it is to turn games into TV or film. Admittedly, going the other way has proven to be at least as difficult, and success stories are among the exceptions.
To say that I was skeptical about the recently launched One Piece Odyssey is therefore a huge understatement. The manga series from Eiichiro Oda has already been gamed a number of times, but I must honestly admit that this was my first encounter with Monkey D. Luffy and company in game form.
After the 35 hours it took me to get through the game, I’m glad I kept my expectations in check. The story is good, but frustrating design choices drag down the overall impression.
On new adventures
The gang is gathered. Admittedly, you can’t play as everyone all the time, but more will come along over time.
Andreas Klebo-Espe/Gamer.no
We meet Luffy, Zoro, Nami and all the others in the pirate gang Straw Hat Crew on new adventures. A chaos storm sends them crash landing on the island of Waford, where they end up losing all their powers.
Archetypal game formula, in other words. Players get a taste of how strong the characters really are, before they are abruptly sent back to the start and experience level one. It does work well with the story being told, and unlike many other similar experiences, I didn’t feel like the downgrade was just a cheap game trick.
The loss of the powers is linked to the mysterious figure Lim and her big brotherly figure Adio. The two are new characters created for the game, and with One Piece creator Oda as supervisor for the entire project, they fit very well into the universe.
Lim is a great addition to the One Piece universe.
Andreas Klebo-Espe/Gamer.no
Incidentally, you can say that about the game’s story as well, even if most of the experiences are actually taken straight from the original series.
On old adventures
In order to regain their lost powers, Luffy and company must go on a journey through their own memories. The journey goes to old funnels such as Alabasta, Water Seven and Dressrosa, where the team gets the chance to repeat the successes they have already achieved.
Here I should probably mention that One Piece Odyssey reveals a whole bunch of story elements from the series. If you would rather see these in their original form, you should at least watch finished season 17 before you start, or read up to and including volume 80 of the manga.
In Alabasta, the first place you visit, you have to fight the evil pirate Crocodile, for example. Admittedly, the gang’s memory has become slightly distorted over time, so it will be an approximate, but not direct reproduction of the actual events.
Many good memories.
Andreas Klebo-Espe/Gamer.no
I have seen a lot, but not the whole TV series and therefore got to participate in both known and unknown sequences. Story-wise, both were equally entertaining. The worlds are great to explore, with enough new things to grab onto that kept the suspense going even though I know what happens in the end.
For those stories I wasn’t familiar with, the game dishes up simple walkthroughs of what happened in the series. You can flip through these as you progress, so you’ll know what really happened and what’s new.
All, all, far too simple
Of course, it wouldn’t be One Piece without a fight, and in order to reach the objectives in each memory, you’ll first have to go through a bunch of enemies. Oda has also helped design many of the new monsters you encounter, and several of these are absolutely delightful.
The turn-based combat system works well in theory, but the game never quite manages to deliver really good matches.
The pink arrows on the left show that Zoro’s attacks are effective against this enemy.
Andreas Klebo-Espe/Gamer.no
Briefly explained, the bridal shower is based on the rock, scissors, paper concept. Figures have one of three specializations, with attacks that are effective against one type, bad against another, and only common against their own type. To maximize damage output, you must therefore constantly rotate the four figures that are active in each match. This gives you incentive to use all the figures, which I appreciate.
The biggest problem with One Piece Odyssey is that the battles are way too easy. With one exception – about halfway through the game – the enemies never pose a big enough threat to fight you. The few times opponents actually do some damage, it is so easy to manipulate who is attacked, that you are still not in danger.
What the enemies can put up with is a load of health points. Battles against even the simplest puzzle monsters therefore become tedious and annoying, and I often just sat counting down rounds until I could move on. A rewind button lets you speed up the matches a bit, but not nearly enough.
You start at the bottom, but become much stronger as time goes by.
Andreas Klebo-Espe/Gamer.no
The progression system is good, with opportunities to upgrade attacks and customize characters with a huge range of accessories. Towards the end, Luffy and the others finally start being able to beat people up with one or two punches. It’s fun to feel big and strong, but this only creates new problems. The game’s apparently toughest opposition is mowed down in the cabin and the weather and the challenge is no longer there.
One step forward and two steps back
Despite the weaknesses, developer ILCA seems to be very proud of its combat system. This results in having to go into battle absolutely all the time, and One Piece Odyssey loves to force you through the same battles a hundred times.
The road from place to place is full of unimaginably frustrating walks back and forth and back again. Alongside the battles, the developer will also showcase the voice acting, which in and of itself is terrific with the original Japanese actors.
Let’s stop and talk about it.
Andreas Klebo-Espe/Gamer.no
However, the solution the team has landed on is absolutely miserable, with endless cutscenes and dialogue sequences and wandering through places you’ve been before. You eventually unlock “fast travel”, the ability to move lightning fast from point to point on the map, but for one reason or another this function is most often unavailable.
The worst example was when I was going into some ruins to unlock memory number two. First I had to walk to the ruins, with three cutscenes in the roughly 150 meters I walked. Once there, I had to go back to where I started, to talk to Lim. Then I had to stop by the first memory to pick up a case, again with more cutscenes and battles. Then walk 150 meters back to the ruins, to unlock another cutscene.
Yes, we’ve been here before. Many times.
Andreas Klebo-Espe/Gamer.no
For me, it peaked when one of the characters said “How many times have we been through this cave?” after maybe the 15th time I was there. The developer clearly had enough self-awareness to know that there will be a lot of repetition, but not enough to remove it from the game.
The loading times on the PlayStation 5 are at least lightning fast. So that’s something.
Would have been much better as a movie
The more the gameplay ruined for the story, the more I became frustrated that One Piece Odyssey is a game. Where possible, I steered clear of game elements such as combat – optional combat can fortunately be avoided by running around the enemies placed in the world – and hunting for treasures and other secrets.
The pointless interludes – like when the gang agrees on where we’re going, and then I have to run 3 meters before we stop and repeat what we just talked about – are worse.
Instead of enjoying the good voice acting and the cool animations, I just got frustrated every time the screen went black. There is simply too much of a good thing, and after a while the magic is completely taken away.
Reuniting with some characters is more gratifying than others.
Andreas Klebo-Espe/Gamer.no
It’s a shame, because the story here is actually very entertaining, with several funny and touching moments. Therefore, it is not difficult for me to claim that One Piece Odyssey would have been much better as a movie.
Conclusion
The One Piece Odyssey story is a great addition to the critically acclaimed manga series from Eiichiro Oda. Everything from the new characters to the familiar One Piece humor fits in perfectly, and it’s fun to relive adventures from the TV series in new ways.
Fortunately, you can just run past all these enemies.
Andreas Klebo-Espe/Gamer.no
As a game, however, this is far from a success. The well-developed battle system is ruined by the fact that the battles take far too long to get through, while never being challenging.
Furthermore, there is far too much time-consuming, with countless cutscenes and unnecessary sections that force you to repeat areas, battles and dialogues you have been through before. After a while it just gets annoying and I skipped over as many optional gameplay elements as possible.
If you are an avid One Piece fan, I would still recommend that you give the game a chance, mostly because of the story. For everyone else, there are too many good options to waste their time on a gaming experience that becomes too boring in the long run.
One Piece Odyssey is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (tested), Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. The screenshots were taken in the game’s performance mode, which delivers 60 frames per second against somewhat reduced graphics quality on the PlayStation 5.
If you like turn-based battles, you should try Shin Megami Tensei V. Star Ocean: The Divine Force is also a very good option for those who like Japanese role-playing games.
