One Piece Odyssey review by jeuxvideo.com
After One Piece: Pirate Warriors and One Piece: World Seeker, Bandai Namco is trying to adapt Eiichiro Oda’s famous manga with One Piece Odyssey. This time, ILCA took the lead. The Japanese studio is specifically working on the Pokémon Sparkling Diamond and Sparkling Pearl and Dragon Quest XI remakes. And it’s this last weapon feat that interests us today, because the Odyssey game is on the latter path: a JRPG with a tactical aspect. Add to that an original story overseen by Eiichiro Oda himself, as well as an experience that seems more complete than before, and you get a game that presents itself as the most successful adaptation yet. But is this really the case?
Everything takes place after the very significant Marine Ford arc, after the time lag and even after that in Dressrosa, but before Jinbei’s arrival as a crew. Aboard the Thousand Sunny, the Straw Hat Pirates were sailing on the waves when they started seeing a beam of light coming directly from the mysterious island. Intrigued, they didn’t have time to change direction when caught in a strange storm. The Thousand Sunny is stranded on the island, completely broken. Left with no choice, you have to explore the island in search of materials to repair it. But the latter is inhabited by a certain Lim who will usurp their precious power. To restore it, going back in time is necessary. An opportunity for One Piece Odyssey to offer us a rewrite of four important manga arcs, while adding some interesting mysteries about Waford Island, Lim, and another new character, Adio.
Buy One Piece Odyssey at E.Leclerc
The Amazing World of One Piece
The big positive point of the new game is undeniably the universe in which it immerses us. One Piece Odyssey does fan service, and that’s not a bad thing. We discover Sanji’s charming side, the latter’s altercation with Zoro, Luffy’s childish side… From the cutscenes to the dialogues, this game exudes a certain love for the universe envisioned by Eiichiro Oda. And unlike One Piece: World Seeker, it wasn’t just Luffy who was honored. It is indeed possible to involve all crew members, even recommended as they all have the necessary capacities to advance. And for anime fans, just know that you’ll be able to find familiar themes and, of course, official Japanese voice actors. For immersion, it plays a big role. Surrounded by this group of beautiful happy people, we sometimes have the impression of being real members of the Straw Hat crew, and it’s a lot of fun.
Moreover, One Piece Odyssey is a beautiful and fun game. Granted, you have to love Eiichiro Oda’s style (discriminated by some) and cel-shading, but if this is your case, you may be tempted. The battle animations are a treat and the environments have a certain charm to them. Moreover, cities like Alubarna, for example, are a bit of a feast for the eyes. Other than that, the game survives for the most part technically. Smooth rendering overall and minimal loading times on next-gen consoles. However, there are some framerate drops and a bit of clipping issue on PS4.
The only downside to this gorgeous image: the empty environmental aspects. In the city, everything is beautiful but lacking in life: there is no activity on the streets, the faces that are passed by are always the same… And as for the places in the heart of nature, they are simply empty. This is customary in the JRPG genre, but we wanted to walk in more lively areas. One Piece Odyssey’s long corridors quickly grow gloomy, despite the beauty of the surroundings.
Yes, because One Piece Odyssey is a lane game. Admittedly, some areas are quite open and exploration encouraged. But most of the game consists of traversing a maze of corridors to a new destination. Plus, if you thought you could pull off some rambling during the missions, you’re in for a disappointment. As soon as you follow a goal, the game holds your hand and doesn’t mean to let you go. Understand that points of interest and other indications are everywhere on the screen, but above all they will prevent you from freely exploring certain areas. Very quickly, we therefore understood that the gameplay is primarily combat-centric and we therefore recommend that you devote our next section to it.
Bubble gum fight
As we said, One Piece Odyssey is a JRPG. This naturally involves team-based turn-based combat. Each crew member has their own skill set (speed, strength, technique). The system is simple: each specialization is strong against one of the other two and weak against the remaining ones. Therefore it is necessary to organize his team according to the enemy in front. Zones are also important. Usopp and Chopper, for example, are characters placed in the second line (range attack and support role), while Zoro and Luffy rush into the pile (powerful short range attack). To these specializations and zones, you can add special orbs that allow to play with stats and elemental attacks to weaken your enemies over time. Cherry on the cake: skillfully animated skills featuring the most iconic attacks from Eiichiro Oda’s work.
As a result, the combat is quite enjoyable, with prominent tactical aspects and good grip. That said, JRPG players may find it a bit easier in the long run. Mainly because experience increases quickly in this game and it is also possible to make crew members stronger thanks to different equipment. The upside is that there’s no need to chain classic fights to level up before taking on a slightly too tough boss. But the downside is that the tactical aspect fades away little by little to be replaced by tedious repetition.
A few bonus challenges pop in from time to time to spice things up, but not enough to drastically change the gameplay experience. Not to help, bestiaries are quite rare and because of that we found ourselves regularly facing the same opponents. Once the first tactic is implemented, most of the gameplay consists of repeating the same action over and over again until the enemy is on the ground. And sometimes, it can be overwhelming, especially when faced with (too) many HP bags in the game. As such, the combat system is certainly interesting, but becomes repetitive and tiring for hours on end. And frankly, it’s a obligatory observation that we make on some aspects of the game.
It’s hard being a pirate
If the lifespan (about thirty hours to finish the main story) seems right, we actually prefer it to be shorter. The game does bubble up with an incessant back and forth that sadly weighs down on the gaming experience. And that’s a shame because there are so many different and interesting things to do in One Piece Odyssey. Side quests, quizzes, bonuses to restore, objectives to complete… Big enough to get rid of excessive round trips (and throwaway puzzles too) while maintaining a good lifespan.
In general, the ILCA title gives us a somewhat confusing rhythm. A fairly standard mission can quickly drag on for several hours. The advantages of new consequences are sometimes very broad. And the supposedly emotional epic moments were quickly followed by goals of low stakes and significance in comparison. Even Chopper was ironic about the length or the FEDEX aspect of certain missions with such small replicas “We are not actually couriers” Where “took longer than expected”. With all of this, we don’t always understand where One Piece Odyssey wants to take us and this weighs not only on the playing experience but also the story.
We won’t go into details so as not to spoil you, but please note that the storyline of One Piece Odyssey can be divided into two parts: on the one hand the mysterious intrigue surrounding Waford and on the other the rewriting of the events of the past arc thanks to the world of Memoria. The idea is to offer us a new story while letting players relive cult moments from the anime. A risky bet, you will agree. Except here, the game definitely has its butt between the chairs and it shows. Waford’s machinations (albeit overseen by Eiichiro Oda) struggle to achieve the arc fans know. Filled with inconsistencies that are swept away with a simple wave of the hand, it too struggles to take us all the way. The two newcomers, Adio and Lim, lack depth compared to other characters in the world of One Piece. At this level, the title can’t match the quality of the manga’s writing, and for the story to not be published is a shame.
Buy One Piece Odyssey at E.Leclerc
Conclusion
Strong point
- A beautiful immersion in the One Piece universe
- Interesting tactical aspect
- battle animation
- Sound environment (music, voiceover, etc.)
- Frustration free xp system
Weak point
- Too many HP bags
- Dispensable puzzle
- Constant back and forth
- Not the best Eiichiro Oda story
- Redundant and tiring in the long run
As you must have understood, One Piece Odyssey is not without flaws. Overdone and not very rhythmic, risks leaving some players (especially those who are not familiar with JRPGs) behind. But still, thanks to its interesting universe and clever combat system, the game holds up well. Bandai Namco have found their way with this title, which is to date the most complete and daring adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s work. The room for improvement is good but the formula is quite convincing. All that’s left is to stick around to produce the best One Piece experience for us for years to come. Meanwhile, One Piece fans have something to start the year off in style and have fun in Odyssey.
Readers opinion (3)
Read reader reviewsGive your opinion about the game!
Buy One Piece Odyssey at E.Leclerc
This page contains affiliate links to some of the products JV has selected for you. Any purchase you make by clicking on one of these links will not be charged more, but the e-merchant will give us a commission. Prices listed in the article are the prices offered by the merchant site at the time of publication of the article and these prices are likely to vary at the sole discretion of the merchant site without the JV being notified.
Study again.
