The opening hours of One Piece Odyssey were extremely promising. The opening chapter shortly launched new mechanics and shortly obtained gamers to the primary main boss combat whereas nonetheless giving the core turn-based fight time to shine. Sadly, the sport then vastly slows down and the cracks start to point out, which considerably diminishes a doubtlessly nice expertise right into a slog.
Lots of Odyssey‘s most glaring issues are how it clings to the role-playing game genre’s previous mechanics with out modernizing them. Whereas not an exceptionally troublesome RPG, its use of save factors and lack of automated checkpoints means gamers are punished for attempting to push ahead with out grinding at each alternative. You’ll by no means know when a narrative combat would possibly require sure characters, so a sudden problem spike can occur at any second if an under-leveled character is pulled in by his lonesome. Unfold-out save factors and trial-and-error gameplay can annoyingly make gamers lose progress and are dated remnants of the style’s previous. It even goes towards the developer’s philosophy of utilizing turn-based gameplay to make it essentially the most accessible One Piece recreation but.
The snappy tempo of the preliminary chapter additionally slows far down because the journey to Alabasta is crammed with stop-gaps and several other fetch quests that make gamers backtrack. Issues get a bit higher as soon as the quick journey system is unlocked, though given the necessity to always acquire expertise, it typically makes extra sense to stroll all over the place and battle monsters throughout the journey. All of it leads to an expertise that loses its sense of function, and by the point you’re able to undergo the following in-game dungeon, Odyssey has already gotten stale and largely misplaced its enchantment.
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The story additionally fails to captivate. Whereas it’s intriguing to undergo these One Piece story beats in an alternate world, the characters have their recollections and already largely know what’s going to occur. Despite the fact that it subverts some expectations, it by no means develops into an fascinating story by itself, as an alternative tying itself to nostalgia as a crutch. It desires gamers to care due to previous tales, not resulting from what Odyssey really has to say, which is an inexpensive storytelling shortcut.
Whereas there are a variety of irritating components that might’ve been averted, there are nonetheless many positives to take out of Odyssey. The sport makes a terrific first impression as a result of the battle system is partaking and unlocking extra abilities and skills is an intriguing loop. This can be a sturdy base to construct off of and future One Piece RPGs ought to use this as a template. Nevertheless, it wants to inform a worthwhile authentic story, even when it’s on a a lot smaller scope, like One Piece Movie: Purple did.
The sport additionally does a great job of utilizing its full forged of characters throughout exploration as their very own distinctive abilities come in useful in a variety of other ways. Luffy’s stretchy arms are clearly nice for traversal, however Zoro having the ability to destroy steel along with his swords and Chopper becoming into small locations additionally means gamers get to manage the entire forged. That’s the fitting angle a One Piece recreation ought to have since it’s the group dynamic that makes the present particular. A future title can hopefully lean additional in that course and push the franchise ahead.
One Piece Odyssey doesn’t fairly obtain its objective of being essentially the most wide-reaching and pleasant recreation within the collection due to bloat and a few archaic programs. It will get in its personal means and turns into a take a look at of endurance somewhat than a completely pleasant licensed RPG. Hardcore followers will nonetheless discover loads of components to love, however the overly acquainted story beats gained’t give them an excessive amount of cause to see it via to the tip.
Disclosure: The writer offered a PS5 code for our One Piece Odyssey function. Performed on model 1.000.002.
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