The One Piece RPG is here to break the curse that haunts the most successful manga of the moment. Analysis of One Piece Odyssey

One Piece, the magnificent manganime series created by Eiichiro Oda many years ago, can boast of many things, such as being one of the oldest that is still in force today, having an incredible legion of fans all over the world (including our territory) and for enjoying a sense of humor and tremendously iconic and recognizable. However, and unfortunately for all of us who enjoy the adventures of the Straw Hat Gang, the reality is that it is a saga that has not had much luck in relation to its link with video games.

And it is enough to take a look at Metacritic to realize the scores that the games destined for the world of consoles and PC have been obtaining. The titles held by the high scores They are one piece of GBA and several versions of the most recent One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 with a 76, but most of the games linked to Luffy and company (Grand Cruise, Unlimited Cruise SP, Romance Dawnetc.) have really low grades.

A trend that Bandai Namco and ILCA wanted to break with the arrival of the new One Piece Odyssey, a title that appears on all systems (except Switch) and which, according to the company itself, is the most ambitious production ever created for a title in this saga. And all to celebrate the One Piece 25th Anniversaryquite an event.

Adventures on a mysterious island

The first thing that needs to be made clear to One Piece fans is that Eiichiro Oda, its original creator, has been involved in the entire development process of this work. And that includes from his narrative, which he has devised specifically for this gameto the presence of new characters, which for obvious reasons I prefer not to reveal.

What I can comment on is its plot background, which takes us to a mysterious island called Waford where we are going to meet a multitude of characters as curious and unique as expected. In fact, and in my opinion, precisely the appearance of several unpublished characters is one of the most important hooks of all those that this production has.

And what are Luffy, Robin, Zoro and other pirates doing in such a location? How did they end up there? Well, by chance and as a result of an accident. And it is that his Sunny ship is destroyed on said remote island, which by the way is surrounded by various mysteries, such as the fact that, once there, no one can leave its territory. Added to this are other… “incidents”, such as the loss of powers of the entire Straw Hat Gang, abilities that they must recover at all costs and that have been locked up in a kind of small cubes.

As you can see and at least a priori, the story has some solid wickers and it looks quite interesting at first. And although it is not the most attractive that has ever been embodied in this great series, it seemed to me the suggestive enough enough to want to continue advancing to discover what happens with the cubes, with the new characters (and enemies), etc.

A One Piece JRPG, winning formula?

Once we are already at work, we find a JRPG of classic tint which follows the manual of the genre point by point… with all the good and bad that this brings with it and that I am going to explain to you right now.

The gameplay is based on the traditional elements within this type of title, battles being one of the most important. Some fights that take place in turns but they are not random, so we always see the rivals coming. And if we manage to get in contact with them from behind, we will get an advantage at the beginning of the fight, which is possible to continue at normal or accelerated speed (I recommend the latter).

The fights are massive, that is to say, that although during the exploration we only control one character, when it is the turn to fight, up to four members jump into the fray against a variable number of adversaries (which is usually relatively large). Some battles that allow us to carry out simple attacks, use objects or unleash the special abilities of each of the protagonists, very varied by the way and that we win as we progress.

As a differentiating element, the game brings into play a couple of aspects that must be taken into account. The first is the trio formed by the attributes Power, Speed ​​and Technique. Each main character and enemy has one of these factors and, based on this and following a pattern similar to that of the classic Rock, Paper, Scissors game in which Power beats Speed, Speed ​​to Technique and Technique to Power, the attacks are more or less effective.

To add even more grace to the matter, there is also the issue of basic elements and states such as freezing, electricity, sleep and others that affect some types of enemies more than others depending on their characteristics. For this reason, it is highly advisable to change our training on the fly and choose the right characters to try to adapt to each battle in the most effective way possible, especially when we have to give the final bosses what they deserve. Some combats that, as an additional detail, also propose certain secondary objectives that, if we fulfill them, we are rewarded with additional experience for the protagonists.

This experience that we are accumulating allows each character to evolve individually and improve your stats little by little, which and as expected, are exclusive. In addition, we can also obtain various accessories that can be equipped by all of them and that increase the value of specific aspects of their attributes, from their strength to resistance to attacks from opponents or their total health.

As we progress, we can access new scenarios, which are as varied as, in general, quite limited in size it means and even corridors in certain cases. Is the latter something necessarily negative? Well, that depends on each user. In my case, it does not detract from me, but it is true that those players who are looking for a world of colossal proportions that can be freely explored, may be disappointed by what this adventure offers.

When going through the scenarios, it is possible to choose which character we want to do it with, since only one is the one that is shown on the screen until we come into contact with the rival on duty and proceed to the corresponding fight, at which point This changes. And it is necessary to point out that each protagonist has some special action that allows you to access certain areas of the scenarios. Thus, Luffy can climb to certain points of the funds with his elastic rubber arms, Zoro is capable of leaving any metal fence in shreds or Chopper’s small size allows him to enter the smallest nooks and crannies. This aspect of the gameplay may be shoehorned in at certain points in the game, but despite this, this diversity is appreciated.

The story of One Piece Odyssey

Being a JRPG, the conversations and dialogues have a lot of weight, and more so with One Piece involved. Some conversations that I found quite good in general and that have been dubbed by the same original actors, a luxury, being able to follow these voices in Japanese without problems thanks to the translation of all texts into Spanish.

To all these elements that this adventure brings together, we must add some more, such as the possibility of entering dungeons, being able to collect different objects and ingredients that can be seen on the stages, the option of being able to fulfill secondary tasks and other ingredients linked to the JRPG. In fact, right here is the main problem that drags the title in my opinion and it is that it barely leaves the manual at any time. It is a classic role-playing game to the last consequences, something that in my case I like a lot but it may ended up being too predictable for some users.

Getting into graphics, we are before the most beautiful title of the saga without a doubt, especially with regard to the presence shown by the decorations, which in many cases enjoy great beauty. The island has been conceived with great taste and has numerous well-differentiated areas, from the coast to caves, forests or mountain areas. And what about the characters? Well, they enjoy some very remarkable animations, especially when they delight us with their exclusive attacks, and their modeling is quite detailed… and like dolls or action figures.

Once again, this particular aesthetic line that it strays a bit from the purely manganime style may not finish convincing some players. Personally I quite like it, but it’s a simple matter of taste. And on the other hand, and as happens in most cases, in the versions intended for the most advanced formats it is possible to choose between quality mode (4K resolution) or performance (60 fairly stable fps).

Where it is not possible to blame this production is in relation to its sound section, especially the one already mentioned. fabulous dubbing of all the voices of the protagonists, a delight. And the melodies that accompany the action are not bad either, highlighting those that can be heard during battles.