The opening hours of One Piece Odyssey were extremely promising. The opening chapter quickly introduced new mechanics and quickly got players to the first major boss fight while still giving the core turn-based combat time to shine. Unfortunately, the game then vastly slows down and the cracks begin to show, which significantly diminishes a potentially great experience into a slog.
Many of Odyssey‘s most glaring issues are how it clings to the role-playing game genre’s past mechanics without modernizing them. While not an exceptionally difficult RPG, its use of save points and lack of automatic checkpoints means players are punished for trying to push forward without grinding at every opportunity. You’ll never know when a story fight might require certain characters, so a sudden difficulty spike can happen at any moment if an under-leveled character is pulled in by his lonesome. Spread-out save points and trial-and-error gameplay can annoyingly make players lose progress and are dated remnants of the genre’s past. It even goes against the developer’s philosophy of using turn-based gameplay to make it the most accessible One Piece game yet.
The snappy pace of the initial chapter also slows far down as the trip to Alabasta is filled with stop-gaps and several fetch quests that make players backtrack. Things get a bit better once the fast travel system is unlocked, although given the need to constantly gain experience, it often makes more sense to walk everywhere and battle monsters during the trip. It all results in an experience that loses its sense of purpose, and by the time you’re ready to go through the next in-game dungeon, Odyssey has already gotten stale and largely lost its appeal.
The story also fails to captivate. While it is intriguing to go through these One Piece story beats in an alternate world, the characters have their memories and already mostly know what will happen. Even though it subverts some expectations, it never develops into an interesting story on its own, instead tying itself to nostalgia as a crutch. It wants players to care because of past stories, not due to what Odyssey actually has to say, which is a cheap storytelling shortcut.
While there are a lot of irritating elements that could’ve been avoided, there are still many positives to take out of Odyssey. The game makes a great first impression because the battle system is engaging and unlocking additional skills and abilities is an intriguing loop. This is a sturdy base to build off of and future One Piece RPGs should use this as a template. However, it needs to tell a worthwhile original story, even if it’s on a much smaller scope, like One Piece Film: Red did.
The game also does a good job of using its full cast of characters during exploration as their own unique skills come in handy in a number of different ways. Luffy’s stretchy arms are obviously great for traversal, but Zoro being able to destroy metal with his swords and Chopper fitting into small places also means players get to control the whole cast. That’s the right attitude a One Piece game should have since it is the group dynamic that makes the show special. A future title can hopefully lean further in that direction and push the franchise forward.
One Piece Odyssey doesn’t quite achieve its goal of being the most wide-reaching and enjoyable game in the series because of bloat and some archaic systems. It gets in its own way and becomes a test of patience rather than a thoroughly enjoyable licensed RPG. Hardcore fans will still find plenty of elements to like, but the overly familiar story beats won’t give them too much reason to see it through to the end.
Disclosure: The publisher provided a PS5 code for our One Piece Odyssey feature. Played on version 1.000.002.
