One Piece Odyssey Assessment (PS5)

Should you ignore the One Piece: Pirate Warriors sub-series for a second, the final title followers of Luffy and his eccentric crew needed to look ahead to was One Piece: World Seeker. A catastrophe of an open world sport, it felt unfinished with horrible gameplay and visuals — sufficient to make any fanatic sceptical of future initiatives. Nonetheless, practically 4 years later, with a brand new style and developer backing it, the One Piece franchise makes its debut on PS5 with one thing to be pleased with. One Piece Odyssey is incredible.

Fairly than have the Straw Hat Pirates discover one other open world, studio ILCA (finest identified for its Pokémon Good Diamond and Shining Pearl remakes) has taken a way more centered method within the type of a JRPG ala Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age. Flip-based battles are aplenty, hub-based areas solely enable for a lot exploration, and the story naturally guides you from level to level, introducing set items and plot factors alongside the best way. It is not fully linear — you are free to battle and full aspect quests as you please — however the sport feels much more purposefully crafted with real intrigue and a right away goal to progress.

You see, whereas the gang hasn’t been hit with amnesia, they’ve misplaced most of their powers. After the Thousand Sunny ship crash lands on a mysterious island, its inhabitants agree to assist the crew regain their talents. To do that, they have to enter different dimensions often known as Memoria which re-enact occasions from the historical past of One Piece. What follows is a reasonably cheerful 30-hour marketing campaign that visits basic moments and areas from the franchise’s previous; whereas some suspense is launched because the story develops, One Piece Odyssey stays a breezy and feel-good expertise.

The island does not truly play as massive an element within the sport as you may assume, although, with the hubs of locations previous being the place you spend most of your time. You will go to loads of completely different cities and cities, all of which have an issue you want to remedy as a way to take again your abilities. Alongside the best way, you may conform to non-compulsory targets, mingle with the townsfolk, or settle for bounties. The JRPG follows a comparatively easy construction exterior of fight, however exploration is heightened by little interactions you may have with the surroundings.

You are capable of swap between each member of the Straw Hat Pirates at any time from a menu, and each can do one thing completely different. Luffy can use his ludicrously lengthy arms to succeed in excessive locations, whereas Chopper takes benefit of his quick stature to run by holes. Zoro slices by steel gates, Usopp shoots down objects, and Robin can sense historic data. They’re all fairly fundamental actions — they solely require a single button press — however they assist make the locations you are exploring really feel a tad extra alive. With conversations to have and a good quantity of non-compulsory content material to finish, you can simply prolong your playtime by one other 10 hours when you dedicated to ending every part the title has to supply.

A lot of that point may even be spent in fight, which is the place One Piece Odyssey invitations most of its Dragon Quest XI comparisons. The JRPG retains its battle system conventional, with a single assault choice and an inventory of talents to select from. You may then make use of things, particular strikes known as Bond Arts, and freely swap occasion members out and in. It is easy in the identical means Dragon Quest is: simple to select up with a lot enjoyment to match.

Alongside a extremely fashionable person interface and a few very humorous talents for each combatant, you may doubtless actively hunt down the enemies that roam the battlefield as a substitute of avoiding them. It has that addictive high quality the place as quickly as you’ve got earned any XP from a earlier bout, you instantly wish to do it another time for the sheer enjoyment of conquering the beasts of every world.

Fight makes use of a system in the identical fashion as rock-paper-scissors. Dubbed Energy, Velocity, and Approach, the three type a triangle the place one is at all times weak to a different, however is then sturdy towards the one left over. For instance, occasion members specialising in Energy are sturdy towards Velocity enemies, however are weak to Approach foes. Approach customers are then highly effective towards Energy members and take further harm from Velocity wielders.

Due to this, you may be always switching out and in occasion members in accordance with the kind of enemies you are dealing with. The mechanic provides a very good diploma of technique to fights, making you query who ought to be a part of the beginning line-up whereas the others wait in reserve. It elevates the fight system above the normal setup by providing the cosy choices you are conversant in after which supplying you with one thing else to consider with out changing into overwhelming. A sensible method that basically pays off as your occasion ranges up and beneficial properties entry to new tools.

One other neat twist is how each your occasion members and combatants may be positioned; known as Areas, you are capable of assault inside and throughout completely different zones relying on which transfer you choose. This locations much more emphasis on getting the proper occasion arrange in the beginning of a bout as a result of when you pair an ally up with an enemy sort they’re weak to, the encounter will rapidly turn into quite a bit more durable to win. Introducing even additional depth to fight, One Piece Odyssey neatly builds upon the normal fight system of previous with its personal concepts, all of which repay.

Maybe the one actual slight towards the title’s gameplay could be that some targets can really feel like padding. Notably within the first Memoria, the story goes on a bit too lengthy, to the purpose the place the worlds afterwards really feel quite a bit shorter compared. With menial duties like rescuing somebody’s pockets, sure targets can turn into a little bit of a drag. It was one of many few occasions the place we skipped fight fully so we might simply get the chore over and executed with.

Be certain to not lose your focus throughout these moments, although, as a result of there is no English dub. All dialogue is in Japanese with English subtitles, which is okay. Nonetheless, some small translation points seem in tutorial pop-ups that would power you to learn a couple of sentences over once more to make sense of them. Though, we did not choose up on any associated to the character dialogue, so it isn’t a difficulty you may be encountering with a lot regularity.

You possibly can say the identical about any frame-rate points, which in precise reality are nearly non-existent. The sport means that you can select between two choices: Efficiency Mode and Graphics Mode. The previous runs at an extremely clean 60 frames-per-second whereas the latter halves your body fee, however each seem just about locked to their goal. We did not encounter a single noticeable body fee drop all through our time with the title, and the playthrough was fully devoid of bugs and glitches too. Load occasions then go by so rapidly it may be troublesome to learn the tooltip on-screen in time.

Pitched alongside the collection’ twenty fifth anniversary, One Piece Odyssey may be very a lot a sport for the followers, but it surely additionally represents an opportunity for newcomers to come back aboard the Thousand Sunny ship. Form of. The story of the island is totally new to the collection and so too are the characters that dwell there. What new followers will wrestle with are the pre-established faces — the sport does not exit of its strategy to clarify why Luffy’s arms are so lengthy, for instance, or how the Straw Hat Pirates have been shaped. A whole lot of information is assumed, so most references will doubtless go straight over your head and any callbacks made to previous occasions not within the sport will show complicated.

Nonetheless, the title additionally represents a terrific JRPG that followers of the style should not miss out on just because they don’t seem to be conversant in One Piece. Due to a beautiful battle system, which makes an effort to introduce some new concepts, the sport may be loved by all. And when you simply so occur to take to the attraction of Luffy and his gang of pirates, there are just one,000+ manga chapters so that you can make amends for.

Conclusion

Irrespective of whether or not you are a hardcore One Piece fan or an entire newcomer, One Piece Odyssey is an utter pleasure of a JRPG. Its fight system stays extremely pleasurable all through, and new mechanics present depth and technique in droves. Most definitely the spotlight of the expertise, however with enjoyable exploration in addition, you are at all times assured of a very good time. One Piece Odyssey performs quite a bit like Dragon Quest XI, and it isn’t that far off being simply pretty much as good because it.