One Piece Odyssey Review – Fuzzy Memories

“You’re aware of how fuzzy your memories can be.” The new character Lim delivers this handy, hand-wavy message to warn the Straw Hat Pirates that they are about to embark on some of One Piece’s most famous story arcs. One Piece Odyssey is also a blurry experience. You will find it both exciting and frustrating. The promise of discovering “what if…?” Although it may seem appealing to long-time readers, the idea of discovering “what if…?” is not always fulfilled. One Piece Odyssey fails to be a good introduction point for fans new and old. Most of the background information and characters from the story flashbacks in One Piece Odyssey are removed. My experience with One Piece Odyssey was not pleasant. However, I can attest to its RPG quality that I enjoyed the entire adventure, even though there were some obvious holes.

One Piece Odyssey’s unique and original content builds intrigue each time I visit the island of Waford. This is where Monkey D. Luffy, an elastic outlaw and his notorious team find themselves. They are quickly caught by trouble when Lim, a strong-willed girl from Taiwan uses her power to seperate Luffy and his buddies and store them in magical cubes spread around the island. Lim, along with Adio, her caretaker and an explorer, helps to restore power to the Straw Hats. They must go into a realm of memories in order to retrieve what they lost. 

The early hours are not just about turn-based combat but also include exploration. While traversing the planet, most Straw Hat crew members are able to be switched amongst themselves. Each has unique and valuable skills which fit in with their characters. Luffy is a rubber man and can reach areas not possible for other characters. He also has the ability to grab trinkets from the distance. Chopper is also small, which allows him to fit into narrow spaces. The craft systems that allow characters to expand their ship roles, like Robin forging tools with Robin and making healing products with Sanji, add a delightful touch to the game. One Piece Odyssey’s authentic dialogue with crew members makes it easy to see who the characters really are.

Eiichiro Oda, One Piece’s creator, uses a mixture of realistic and sketched textures to create a world and character models. Alabasta and Water Seven, as well as the characters and creatures that live there are very realistic. Chopper and Zoro are renowned for their signature moves, such as Zoro’s sword skills or Chopper’s transformative Devil Fruit powers. Odyssey is a new chapter within the anime thanks to the Japanese voice actors. Although English voiceover or music for the theme and score would be appreciated, the content is fine.

Odyssey’s battles based on turn-based tactics, like Luffy’s, are a perfect example of Odyssey’s attention to detail. Perhaps too much. It feels great to be in combat, with the crew divided into several micro-battles. They usually have to fight their foes before they can help others, unless AOE or ranged abilities are available. It is rewarding to pick off your enemies, then condense the entire force and eliminate the remaining foes. Bonus objectives can also be completed that will reward you with additional experience. The ability to swap characters’ positions at will, with no penalties and provided that they have not attacked any other character makes fighting a lot easier. Swapping the place of Brook and Nami who were supposed to be in different areas feels like cheating. Although the battle system holds a lot potential, it is not well-restrained enough to truly make it special. 

Although the first Memoria adventures were slow-paced, the second part picks up as action in Memoria increases and Waford becomes more intense. A lot of Odyssey’s content is uninteresting and lacks context, except for a few lore dumps found in the game menus. The final hours were filled with moments of wonder, thanks to the fun scenarios that featured characters not in the story. To make the most of One Piece Odyssey’s wonderful characters and settings, I would love to see more of these moments.

I have reservations about the experience as a whole – however, I can’t help but smile thinking about this adventure with the Straw Hats. This adventure captures the core cast, is fun to explore the Memoria, and provides a satisfying ending with the discoveries about Adio, Lim, Waford and Lim. While I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone new to One Piece (or even seasoned pirates), this adventure is worth the effort.