Thanks to an invitation from bandai namcolast week we traveled to the city of San Diego, California, to literally embark on the new adventure of One Piece Odysseya JRPG that will arrive on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X / S and PC on January 13, 2023.
In the midst of colleagues from other media, influencers and even cosplayers like Elizabeth Ragewhich was characterized as Nico Robinas well as Leon Chiro what was he doing Sanji Vinsmokewe got on the ship that serves as a maritime museum, the Star of Indiato be able to play the new title for a couple of hours.
For those who don’t know the series one piecethis is an anime produced by Toei Animationwhich has been created by Eiichiro Oda. This series that made its appearance on television in 1999 tells the story of luffy, a boy whose body turns into “rubber” after eating the Goma-Goma fruit; He dreams of being the king of the pirates by going to sea in search of the treasure left by the previous king of the pirates. This young man in company Straw Hat Pirates (named after the hat he wears), embarks on an epic adventure that has spanned more than 25 years.
The franchise has had endless seasons and 15 movies, the most recent being One Piece Film RedHowever, it has also had several video games, toys, adaptations, merchandising and more.
New history
The interesting thing about One Piece Odyssey is that it is a new plot, based on the original lore and under Oda’s supervision, care has been taken to preserve the charm, humor and chemistry of the anime. In addition to the art, adapted to three-dimensional graphics, they respect the essence of the anime at all times, without neglecting the original dubbing of the Japanese actors, in short, it is the best way to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the franchise.
First impressions
The part that we had to play takes place in the first hours of the game, where Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates arrive on the island of Waford, here they meet lime Y bye, two original characters created for this digital adventure by Eiichiro Oda himself. After a series of events, the pirates lose all their powers and that is where the adventure begins to try to discover the mysteries of the island.
Classic JRPG battles
One Piece Odyssey is made up of turn-based fights with three central elements that make up the essence of it:
- Strength
- Speed
- and technique
These components, as in most games of the genre, are also affected by elementals such as fire, ice, paralysis, etc.
Normal attacks give you “tension points” which are used to execute special movements. The latter have different ways, since some are used to attack a single character or several. In the same way, these movements, which by the way are incredibly animated, are also sub-classified into short attacks or from a distance, depending on the character we are using.
The items, as in most RPGS, serve you either to heal yourself, gain tension points or simply eliminate a state that is affecting us.
Another interesting addition is that it has a system where you can redefine the attack area at any time during the battle with the push of a button.
Special moments
Something we found during our session is that there are certain battles that may contain elements that work for or against us, such as an enemy arriving and completely paralyzing one of our teammates. If we manage to overcome these battles successfully, we will obtain more experience points.
Limited exploration?
During this preview, we noticed that the game is a bit “on rails”, as we try to explore some areas, but you are pushed to follow a certain path. When asked about this to Rei Hirata, producer of the title, he did not comment that at least in some parts of the game it will be like this because they want you to focus on the story to better involve yourself, since later you can return to explore these areas with other characters. Pointing out about this, it is important to underline that some characters have special movements, for example Luffy, extends his arms to swing and explore other places, Sanji can find secret ingredients to cook, Chopper on the other hand takes advantage of his small size to enter through small holes , Zoro can destroy walls or obstacles, Nami can detect money hidden in the ground, among others.
traditional weapon system
As in other JRPGS we will have a menu where we can customize the equipment of each of the members. In this we can also verify the statistics, health, tension points, regular attacks, abilities and others.
Evolution of skills
Each character will be able to evolve their abilities through cube fragments, with this we will be able to adjust specific attacks to balance our entire team. These cubes can be found by exploring or winning certain battles.
And as expected in this type of game, there will also be camps to rest and recover our HP or increase our experience, as well as a very complex system for creating items, which you can also find in taverns.
Undoubtedly, the two hours we had to play it didn’t allow us to explore more as we wanted, but undoubtedly One Piece Odyssey is emerging as one of the most complete JRPGS of 2023 for everything it offers, but above all for the story that is carried out. wonderfully through its characters and that it will definitely be able to reach both fans of the series and new players, now we just have to wait until January to be able to embark on this new adventure.