One Piece Odyssey Review

I was stunned by the stunning virtual environment in front of me as I started my voyage with the Straw Hat Pirate crew in One Piece Odyssey. I had the impression that I had been transported inside the pages of the manga that I love so much, replete with crazy creature designs, amazing choreography, and a tonne of humour and drama among the characters. By the time the journey was through, I was happy to see that One Piece now had a JRPG that could compete with Dragon Quest.

A brand-new Japanese role-playing game called One Piece Odyssey is a spinoff of the highly successful manga and anime series. One Piece Odyssey, despite its rocky beginning, is a full-fledged JRPG that aims to elevate One Piece to new gaming heights with its exceptional style, plot, characters, and twists.

One Piece Odyssey has a strong JRPG story

The Straw Hat Pirates, a diverse band of outcasts searching for the illusive “One Piece” treasure, are the main characters of One Piece Odyssey. The squad is attacked by a violent storm and audible lightning before landing on the mysterious island of Waford.

When the crew encounters a massive fire guardian and discovers that their skills are dispersed around Waford in the form of memory cubes, they rapidly realise that this island is more complicated than it first appears. In order to regain their vigour, the group goes on a trip around Waford and via those jumbled memories, which detail incidents from the One Piece manga and anime. The Four Elders, the unscrupulous leaders of the One Piece world, have dispatched an agent to the island to stop the Straw Hats.

Due to the strong character, plot, and world-building, the novel is really interesting. As a One Piece fan, this game allowed me to explore some of the franchise’s most beloved stories in a fresh new way. Fans of the series will really like all the small nuggets of lore. To see what fresh information I could gain, I would interact with everything that was interactive on the screen. Nevertheless, this tale includes a lot of flashbacks that inform brand-new players about personalities and storylines that are crucial to this trip down memory lane.

Overall, One Piece Odyssey strikes a good balance between fresh and established ground, making its plot accessible to anyone. Thankfully, the story is brought together by its turns, subtle hints, wonderful characters that are likeable, and several spectacular moments. It’s a fantastic story for a JRPG.

If it’s not broken, don’t fix it but please add more to it

If I had to choose one JRPG series to contrast One Piece Odyssey with, it would be Dragon Quest. This is because of the game’s overall design as well as its peculiar and delightfully original monsters. Role-playing game One Piece Odyssey is incredibly simple to play. You advance the plot along while engaging in some exploration as you travel from place to place while taking the typical detours you anticipate from genre classics like Dragon Quest. This isn’t awful at all, even if it may sound simpler than games like Tales of Arise, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and Scarlet Nexus.

One Piece Odyssey benefits from the fact that sometimes less is more, as was demonstrated in Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age. After a long day of work, you’ll want to start up a game like this one so you can unwind and spend some time in the One Piece universe.

To move between locations and get over obstacles, you can switch between the Straw Hats and make use of their unique powers. Captain Luffy can use his rubber abilities to defeat simple platforming challenges by, for instance, transforming his arm into a makeshift hook shot. Chopper, a shape-changing reindeer, is small enough to fit through narrow openings and access hidden places. Nico Robin, a stunning archaeologist, is also capable of removing roadblocks. The frequent back-and-forth conversation among the group brings these exciting moments of adventure to life even more. The straightforward and unique exploring idea is applied to fighting as well.

In One Piece Odyssey, battles are divided into many Attack Areas, and you are free to move your party members between them as you like. This might often give the impression that you are engaged in several battles at once. During a combat, these locations might also frequently shift as a result of an adversary or your activities. Luffy, for instance, can use his Gum Gum Bazooka attack to knock enemies into the territories of other party members, and frequently the party member in that Attack Area will respond to it in a hilarious way.

One more fantastic feature of One Piece Odyssey is that grinding is not a problem. There are several options for swiftly levelling up, so you have plenty of options. You have two options: create a party (in traditional Straw Hat manner) and look for specific foes that grant experience benefits in the subsequent battles. Additionally, you have access to a large number of buff and debuff items that you can use to defeat powerful opponents and advance in levels. One Piece Odyssey is being held back from becoming the magnificent treasure it could be despite having many positive elements that are propelling it forward.

This ship has a few holes in it

The first chapter of the game was enjoyable, but after that, the early sections of the game made me unhappy. One Piece Odyssey starts off quite slow, talkative, and hand-holdy and gives the sense that the game will be far too simple. Naturally, as the Straw Hats arrive on the island at full strength, they will one-shot every foe they encounter. As a result, when the main plot beats started in Chapter 2, I idly mash attacked through battles in the hopes of finally hitting that difficulty curve.

Unfortunately, the game never settles on the proper level of challenge after that, with encounters becoming erratically harder in a way that doesn’t neatly scale. The fact that fights start to feel rather monotonous after a while doesn’t help. Pacing is a significant problem for One Piece Odyssey overall. There are numerous instances where you can see the developers are wasting time by giving you worthless filler missions that take you back to earlier locations. These sections merely serve to suggest that a break might be in order without adding anything to the story or gameplay. The padding is immediately apparent when any pointless NPC character dialogue is added.

One Piece Odyssey is a great adventure that plays to its strengths even though it isn’t the most ideal one. It aims to be a voyage that everybody can enjoy, and it succeeds by embracing tried-and-true tropes while incorporating its own flavour. This is a great addition to the JRPG genre and one that I think you should check out whether you’re a huge One Piece fan or just a fan of JRPGs, despite a few bad gusts pushing the ship away from the harbour of being a perfect experience.

What we like about One Piece Odyssey

• Fun traditional JRPG battles
• Good language, characters, and a good story
• Fantastic investigation
• Wonderful graphics

What we don’t like about One Piece Odyssey

• Unusual difficulty scale
• Poor pacing

One Piece Odyssey is available right now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows PC.

One Piece Odyssey FAQ

What Is One Piece Odyssey?

One Piece Odyssey is the newest One Piece game from Bandai Namco. This game is a JRPG and has turn-based combat that is similar to the Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy series in style.

When does One Piece Odyssey take place?

Of course, One Piece Odyssey is based on the popular manga as well as the One Piece Anime from Eiichiro Oda and celebrated its 25th anniversary not so long ago. However, One Piece Odyssey isn’t based on any anime arc; rather, it takes place within its own unique tale.

As the Straw Hat Luffy and the crew of famed pirates are stranded on the tropical island of Waford, the game introduces new characters and a fresh storyline. On the game’s official website, Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc. describes the team’s journey as “the crew embarks on a fresh, dangerous adventure filled with marvels of nature, fierce foes, and unusual interactions with island natives.”

Who developed One Piece Odyssey?

One Piece Odyssey was developed by ILCA. Japanese studio ILCA, Inc. has its main office in Tokyo and additional offices in Shinjuku, Nagoya, and Kyoto. It was founded on October 1st, 2010, as a CG-based video production firm with an emphasis on animation, motion pictures, and television.

Later, it included video game development. On December 1st, 2020, it will have 288 workers. They previously developed the Pokémon Shining Pearl and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond remakes for Nintendo that released on the Nintendo Switch in 2021.

Who is One Piece Odyssey composer?

One Piece Odyssey has an audio score composed by Motoi Sakuraba, who is best known from the Dark Souls, Tales of, and Star Ocean series. It’s not quite as good as Eternal Sonata, but it still sounds great. One Piece Odyssey offers beautiful music that goes along well with the adventurous journey. 

Do you need to watch the anime or read the manga before playing One Piece Odyssey?

Although it’s not required to read the manga or watch the 700+ episodes of the One Piece anime in order to understand the JRPG self-contained, original story, doing so will give you a better understanding of the characters, the powerful enemies they face as well as the other terrifying forces they will encounter. 

So even if a complete newcomer to the One Piece universe will still have fun playing One Piece Odyssey, they will miss out on the jokes, classic staples of the series and might grasp the depth of the cast of characters and guest characters as well.

Is Monkey D. Luffy the only playable character in One Piece Odyssey?

Even though Luffy is fantastic, it’s cool that this open-world RPG allows you to play as a variety of other characters. You can tour the island as Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky, or Brook, according to Bandai Namco.

In One Piece Odyssey, each of them possesses unique special traversal skills. For instance, Zoro can remove obstructions in the team’s path while Luffy can navigate across cliff cliffs and other surfaces using his dependable Gum Gum Slingshot.

Can I play One Piece Odyssey with friends?

The answer is regrettably no. There are no co-op or online multiplayer options in One Piece Odyssey. It definitely shouldn’t come as much of a surprise because it’s a typical RPG. After all, it’s primarily concerned with presenting a tale, and since its battles are turn-based, there isn’t much room for frantic cooperative action.

Can I play One Piece Odyssey on Steam Deck?

Although One Piece Odyssey is not marked as verified or even playable on Steam, players are enjoying on Steam Deck with no problems so far.

Are there different versions of One Piece Odyssey available?

One Piece Odyssey Standard Edition

The One Piece Odyssey standard edition comes with the base game. There are no additions or available DLCs on offer for those who purchase either the physical or digital standard edition of the game. It does offer the full experience without anything being stripped.

• Available Physical and Digital
• Costs $59.99 USD

One Piece Odyssey Deluxe Edition

The One Piece Odyssey Deluxe Edition comes with everything the standard edition offers and then some. This edition comes with the Adventure Expansion Pack along with 100,000 Berries. You’ll also be entitled to the Sniper King Outfit set and Travelling Outfit set.

• Available Physical and Digital
• Costs $84.99 USD

One Piece Odyssey Collector’s Edition

The One Piece Collector’s Edition are for those who are hardcore fans of the show. This limited edition bundle is only available physically and comes with everything the deluxe edition offers and more. This comes with a Collector’s Box containing a Luffy and Lim figurine, a steel case, and One Piece postcards.

• Only Physical copies are available
• Costs $129.99 USD

One Piece Odyssey Pre-Order Bonuses

You’ll get a variety of goodies including a cosmetic outfit set by pre-ordering any game edition of One Piece Odyssey. Here’s everything you can get by pre-ordering this game:

• x3 Golden Jelly
• x10 Excite Apple
• x10 Energy Apple
• x100,000 Berries
• Travelling Outfit set for Luffy, Nami, Usopp, Zoro, Sanji, Robin, and Chopper

One Piece Odyssey DLC

There are One Piece Odyssey DLCs that you can get that depend on which game edition you purchased. Here are all the One Piece Odyssey DLC available:

Pre-Order DLC:

How to Get: Pre-purchase One Piece Odyssey before January 12, 2023.

Contents:

• x3 Golden Jelly
• x10 Excite Apple
• x10 Energy Apple
• x100,000 Berries
• Travelling Outfit set for Luffy, Nami, Usopp, Zoro, Sanji, Robin, and Chopper

Deluxe Edition DLC:

How to Get: Purchase the One Piece Odyssey Deluxe Edition.

Contents:

• Sniper King outfit set
• x2 rare in-game accessories

Adventure Expansion DLC

How to Get: Purchase the One Piece Odyssey Deluxe Edition.

Contents:

• Bonus story content
• x100,000 Berries

Are there other One Piece video games?

Of course! The Straw Hat Pirates previously appeared in a lot of video games although they were mainly fighting games such as One Piece Grand Battle and action games such as One Piece Pirate Warriors.