

That lets players focus their attention on the colorful world of One Piece, from its over-the-top characters to its creative monster designs. It’s committed to reducing as much friction as possible for players, turning a genre that can often be overburdened with systems into something far more approachable. It’s an incredibly simple feature, but one that highlights what makes One Piece Odyssey so pleasant to play compared to some of its more ambitious peers. I simply point the direction I want them to move in with the right stick rather than holding down the right trigger to spring and controlling them with two sticks. When traversing the world between levels, I can click on the left stick to make my party leader automatically run. My favorite touch, though, is a small one. There’s no punishment for not being able to read a random number generator’s mind, which can be an annoyance in traditional RPGs. Anytime I walk into an encounter and find I have a party with the wrong attack type equipped, I can simply switch to someone else and still attack on that turn. For instance, players can swap characters with another party member as a free action.

The visual information is all crystal clear, taking out any guesswork.Ĭombat itself is just as player-friendly, taking great care to remove a lot of frustration from battle. When I choose a move and hover over an enemy, I also get arrows telling me if the attack will be effective or not. The chart of strengths and weaknesses is always displayed in the bottom left corner of the screen during battles, so I’m never left trying to recall what Power moves are weak against. Combat, for instance, uses a “rock paper scissors” system akin to Fire Emblem. Little touches like that are present throughout the game, making it easy to put down for a long period of time and return to. I can press a button to close the menu, but I can pop it back out at any time. I first got that sense when exploring in the third person, as a sidebar on the right side of the screen clearly lays out what every single button does. In fact, it goes out of its way to make sure players never feel lost. It’s a relatively straightforward turn-based RPG that isn’t bogged down by dozens of complicated systems. If you’re not a fan of the source material, One Piece Odyssey is defined by its quality of life decisions.
