One Piece Odyssey

There is an audience for One Piece Odyssey. Sometimes, in the middle of an exciting battle or while revisiting some of my favorite locations from the original series, I think I could be part of that audience. I’ve been a fan of the property for over 20 years and still read the manga every week. I’m not the world’s biggest One Piece fan, but I’m certainly an enduring one. But the repetition made the game a struggle to complete. As amazing as the game feels to start, it trudges across the finish line. A more patient player, or one whose love for One Piece is far more enthusiastic than mine, might be able to see past the repetition for the loving nostalgia underneath. For non-fans, or those of us looking for something meatier, One Piece Odyssey is more filler than killer.

One Piece Odyssey scores with a lot of wit and heart, but is sometimes as tough as rubber.

A tale built on revisiting past adventures in media res, One Piece Odyssey relies so much on retelling great stories that came before it that the adventure in Waford alongside Lim and Adio feels like an afterthought.

One Piece Odyssey is a great JRPG that offers a new adventure for the straw hat crew that is clearly addressed to fans of the series.

One piece Odyssey celebrates 25 years of the anime by providing a game with gameplay that is at times just as old. The turnbased fights have some interesting new elements, but outside the fights a lot feels oldfashioned. Quests lack a sense of progress, no fast travel during quests and the use of savepoints make this game feel like it hasn't progressed beyond a few decades ago. Fortunately, the anime itself is brilliant and makes you eager to go watch it right after you close the game.

Odd but alluring in the same way as its source material, Odyssey puts its best foot forward then stumbles. A fun, if slow, RPG take on the anime. [Issue#24, p.78]

A stunning One Piece game great for fans and JRPG newbies, but one that won't satisfy hardened min-maxers.

One Piece Odyssey is a rousing adventure thanks to its engaging combat, liberating character customization, and beautiful environments. Sometimes, design choices limit player agency, but the effect rarely lasts long. The end result is a mostly satisfying JRPG that should keep fans hooked, provided they make it through the forgettable first few hours and take advantage of the various systems. After a few initial rough patches, the game lives up to most of its potential and is easy to recommend as both a One Piece experience and a JRPG.

A celebration of the franchise, One Piece Odyssey is a well-made JRPG with an interesting cast and pretty and colorful worlds, ripe for cozy exploration.

One Piece Odyssey delivers a great One Piece adventure, but without regard to the source material, is simply a good but unremarkable RPG. Hardcore One Piece fans will eat this up like a smorgasbord of Sanji’s cooking, but even with the Memoria sections, it’s a lot for newcomers to take in. The overly-simplistic gameplay and excessive handholding would likely be off putting for RPG fans who are in search of a good game but don’t care about the source material. Those who are not already familiar with the exploits of the Straw Hat Pirates are probably better off sailing past Waford, but this is the ideal game for established One Piece fans.

While One Piece Odyssey is an entirely original story that retreads some not-so-original grounds, the sum of its parts equals up to a good game and a great time all around. Does it do enough to carve out a spot in the hearts of JRPG lovers around the world? Not entirely, but those that love One Piece will find a competent and beautiful RPG that is crafted with care.

One Piece Odyssey’s attention to detail and respect for its source material informs an original story that is, at times, obfuscated by drab side content, and an innovative combat system that, sadly, rarely gets pushed to its limits.

Solid Japanese role-playing game with decent technology, a good combat system but weaknesses in terms of demand, tension and storytelling.

One Piece Odyssey proves that a classic turn-based RPG is a good genre fit for the world and characters of One Piece, and that makes it rewarding despite a lack of tension in its all-too-easy fights and some frustrating quest design that pads out its length.

One Piece Odyssey has some pacing issues, and doesn't do anything tremendously innovative in the JRPG genre, but it will be indispensable for any fan of One Piece and gaming in general. It allows players to visit four previous arcs of the anime, relive iconic battles, and even reunite with some long-lost characters, all while keeping each character's personality traits very much alive. There are several hours of exploration and nostalgia waiting for Luffy and company.

If you always wanted to join the Straw Hat Pirates, then One Piece Odyssey is the adventure for you regardless of your proficiency with video games. However, it wouldn’t necessarily be the best game for everyone else. Those who love Tales titles or are experienced with turn-based RPGs would do better with a different, more challenging title that doesn’t expect you to be familiar with the source material. It is a very easy adventure that expects a certain degree of knowledge about One Piece, even with Lim using the memory cubes to offer brief asides during chapters. But if you are a fan and are up for an effortless, nostalgic, and pretty stroll, this will leave you satisfied.

Redundant and not very rhythmic, it risks leaving some players on the floor. But still, thanks to its engaging universe and its ingenious combat system, the game holds up well.

Despite these pitfalls, One Piece Odyssey is a success in storytelling, animation, and combat style. With a satisfying conclusion, One Piece Odyssey opens up a new world of potential storytelling in the One Piece universe. It's also proof that, if done correctly, games adapting iconic or expansive manga can be strong - if not groundbreaking - entries in the JRPG genre.

The main thing is, One Piece Odyssey has made me want to watch the anime. Yes, I’m aware it’s over 1000-episodes-long and is only just getting to its final arc now, but the world of Eiichiro Oda’s franchise seems more inviting now than ever, and that’s all down to what this game has shown me.

One Piece Odyssey might appeal to long time fans of Luffy and co, but the glacial pace really drags it down.

This game will surely delight One Piece fans, with a remarkable story, a great presentation and a fantastic soundtrack matched with the voices of the original actors from the series. However, the characters’ journey through this new release of the saga is slow, boring at times and lacks originality.

One Piece Odyssey is a blatantly predictable and run-of-the-mill experience. While it may seem obvious that an anime game is targeted to an audience familiar with it, one may wonder why to waste an opportunity to make it more democratic and attract new fans. The tweaks to the classic turn-based battle structure are welcome but fall short due to the game’s unchallenging difficulty and easy-to-break equipment system. Die-hard One Piece fans will be able to appreciate the game as an interactive reminiscence of its arcs with minor redesigns. Yet, those looking for a bold and unique game may need to look elsewhere.

If the trailers successfully convinced you that One Piece Odyssey is of a scale of something like Dragon Quest, then you've been fooled. What we have here is just another mid-budget title that is aimed at the fans of the original One Piece manga and anime. This time with a jRPG coat of paint.

Through the animations alone I can see there was a lot of care put into creating this game, with some serious attention to detail (even down to Sanji refusing to damage the sole female enemy in the game). But there are some very basic design decisions, especially regarding game progression that hamper the experience greatly. The backtracking continues throughout even all the way to the very end, to the point that I really wondered what the extra padding was for. I’m not even interested in the post-game quest of fighting tougher opponents since all the boss fights prior were so basic. The great cast just isn’t enough to not make certain parts of the game feel like a chore. For the One Piece fan who can handle a bit of tedium and lackluster bosses, I can recommend it, for anyone else I wouldn’t suggest it.

One Piece Odyssey takes the Straw Hat Crew on a fun journey, revisiting stories fans would already know from the TV show and also getting to know some brand new and exciting characters and worlds. However, the game is let down by its far too easy combat and some frustrating design choices, making the overall experience a bland one.

The new big One Piece adventure, while charming in parts, is unfortunately stuck too deep in a hole of backtracking, unpolished ideas, and frustration to provide any joy outside its large fan base.

After a very nice first chapter, One Piece Odyssey gets bogged down in a tiring structure that multiplies the back and forth to excess, with numerous narrative cuts that chop up the rhythm of the adventure. The completely out-of-touch combat balancing finished convincing us that Bandai Namco's JRPG didn't have much interesting to offer, except for a few convincingly staged cutscenes. Nevertheless, it is a game that is just neat and addictive enough for hardcore fans of the cult manga to enjoy.

This is a very simple, very lineal JRPG with an interesting combat system that doesn’t really shine. Enjoyable, but not enough to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the franchise.