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Gaming
A super JRPG casual’s review of One Piece Odyssey
Vast world, a great cast, and insanely easy to follow combat
When I got to try this game out in the Thailand Game Show last October, I had high hopes for it. Even though it’s under a genre I’m fully accustomed with, One Piece Odyssey was a promising JRPG to play for hours on end. From the gameplay to some glimpses of the storyline, all was well with another One Piece title in the pipeline.
Fortunately, I got a copy of the full game to dive deeper into what it has to offer beyond a 15-minute introductory playthrough. With greater worlds to explore and combat to test out, let’s see if this game still holds up to its promising start a few months back.
Guidance through the island of Waford
Our story begins with the Straw Hat Pirates finding themselves stranded somewhere in the middle of the ocean. The opening cutscene also gives you a glimpse as to how they ended up there, so I honestly found it helpful. Eventually, you assemble the crew and come face to face with some interesting habitants, Adio and Lim.
Upon encountering Lim, she literally takes all your powers and you will need to scour the entirety of Waford and all neighboring islands/areas. It’s not that much of a daunting task, especially for a crew as great as the Straw Hat Pirates. Along the way, however, you encounter a slew of entities and factions that hope to seize your power.
Personally, the story was straightforward enough to follow along. There weren’t any twists and turns that would throw me off, and the characters themselves were dynamic in every way. Also, it didn’t get in the way of enjoying the game’s mechanics, which is already a plus in my book.
Simple and well-integrated mechanics to master
One Piece Odyssey’s core mechanics are easy to grasp and master, especially given the amount of opportunities to do that in the beginning. As this is an open-world game, movement within the areas is quite loose except for the instances of not being able to swim in deep waters. Also, you’re in a team-based structure with multiple characters to utilize when traversing through the land.
This, in my opinion, made the gameplay experience so much better than when I first tried the game. The fact that you can easily swap between characters to move through certain areas for more items made completing stages easier. Also, this bodes well with the amount of exploration you’ll be doing within the overworlds.
Turn-based and active combat
As I discovered, like every other JRPG out there, One Piece Odyssey also incorporates a turn-based style combat mechanic. With a party of six members per battle, everyone gets a turn to attack either a single enemy or a horde of them depending on the characters themselves. Also, each character comes with Technical Points which allow you to use those abilities you’re trying to recover everywhere.
Honestly, this is pretty standard stuff and easy to follow along once you know how each character’s abilities work. Also, there’s this mechanic that works like a strength and weakness indicator, providing greater opportunities to set up specific characters against certain enemies. It feels well done and comprehensible enough for all players.
Enemy encounters are also voluntary and skippable if you’re rushing through stages. Although, I warn you not to skip too many enemies because every battle gives you XP that helps level up your team. As you progress through more treacherous worlds, the difficulty curve ith enemy encounters scales up slowly but surely. So, best to just take them all out every chance you get!
Teeming with life and backdrops to awe
As an open-world enthusiast, I can definitely say that One Piece Odyssey offered an expansive experience of Waford and its surrounding areas. Every nook and cranny within each overworld required your attention and exploration itch to come alive with all the items youll obtain. Plus, thesre are even specific points in the map that integrate character dialogue, which is a bonus for me.
What I also love about the game and its environment is how well-integrated the characters are through their innate abilities and characteristics. It was a blast using Luffy to get to more elevated platforms, or with Chopper’s miniature size exploring tiny entrance ways to unexplored territory.
This is the type of balance you like to see in most open-world games, so I’m glad One Piece Odyssey handled this aspect well. Everything feels interesting to explore, especially if youre trying to get back all your lost abilities too.
Where this game misses
Admittedly, I didn’t find that many things that went wrong with this game every time I got to play it. At this point, these will be some pain points that I feel most people will also experience when they play this game for the first time. First off is actually coming from the overall design of the levels in this game, especially the ones in caves or tombs. One of the initial worlds in this game takes you to a rather dark cave with minimal lighting inside as you go around.
From my end, I really couldn’t see much in the overworld as I was going around it, and turning up the brightness on my PC didn’t help. Either this was completely intended for you to rely on character outlines, or it’s a bit too dark and just needs a bit more lighting in there.
Secondly, I felt that this game had little save points, and the ones that are available require so much backtracking through stages. Honestly, this is more for the later stages and they’re quite useful since you can restore your team’s health with each encounter of one. Also, based from my playthrough, enemies don’t reset so there’s honestly no point in it being a hassle to come back to.
One Piece remastered
Overall, One Piece Odyssey came out as a great JRPG, all things considered. For the majority of my playthrough, there was something new to discover and new challenges to overcome while setting foot on new levels. Of course, with a deep cast of characters to work with, combat felt so fun to commence.
This game felt a blast to play through for a considerable amount of main story progression. Also, the turn-based yet dynamic combat system was easy to master and adapt to every set of enemies you encounter along the way.With open worlds to explore, you’ll be spending hours on this game and not get bored of it.
It’s a treat to both new and casual JRPG players, and to One Piece fans out there who were asking for a new game all this time. This is definitely a title worth considering for your leisure, with a bit of challenging elements here and there. However, it’s a challenge that anyone can easily get over.
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![Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections](https://149367133.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/naruto-x-boruto-ultimate-ninja-storm-collections-thumbnail-gadgetmatch-20230822.jpg)
It doesn’t get any more ‘ultimate’ than this. The grand Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections game is officially coming out on November 16 and pre-orders are now available.
Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections retells the entire story of the classic Ani-Manga franchise. It’ll tackle everything from Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, and Boruto. A special story focused on Boruto has been created specifically for the game.
The game features over 130 characters — the most in an Ultimate Ninja Storm game. Announced alongside the release date are three new playable characters: Boro, Delta and Koji Kashin from the Kara Organisation.
Pre-order details
The game is now available for pre-order on PlayStation and Xbox digitally, and on all platforms physically except PC. Players will be able to choose different editions. Pre-order now on Bandai Namco Entertainment Asia’s e-store or visit any participating retailers in your country.
Package Early Purchase Bonus & Digital Pre-Order Bonus
All pre-orders of Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections will give players access to the following bonus content:
Three (3) Costumes
- Naruto Uzumaki (The Final Battle)
- Naruto Uzumaki (TV Anime 20th Anniversary Costume)
- Sasuke Uchiha (TV Anime 20th Anniversary Costume)
Receive an extra pre-order bonus item set which you can use in NARUTO TO BORUTO: SHINOBI STRIKER if you own this full game on top of Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections.
- Nanashi T-shirt
- Merz Costume — Costume: Merz Style and Hair: Merz
These bonuses will be available in NARUTO TO BORUTO: SHINOBI STRIKER after 16 November 2023.
Standard, Deluxe & Sound Ultimate Edition
The contents for the Standard, Deluxe and Sound Ultimate Edition of the game are as follows:
Standard Edition
The main game, NARUTO X BORUTO Ultimate Ninja STORM CONNECTIONS
Deluxe Edition
- The main game
- Season Pass containing 5 playable characters that will be announced at a later date
- Season Pass Bonus — 1 costume
- Deluxe Bonus — 1 costume
Sound Ultimate Edition
- Contains the same content as the Deluxe Edition
- Ultimate Bonus — 5 costumes and 2 accessories
- Nostalgic Anime Song & Item Pack — 5 anime songs and 3 in-game items
Premium Collector’s Edition
- The main game
- Two (2) Figurines
- A Steelbook
- Special Reversible Inlay
- (Six) 6 Collectible Cards
- (One) 1 Official Scroll
- Season Pass containing 5 playable characters that will be announced at a later date
- Season Pass Bonus — 1 costume
- Deluxe Bonus — 1 costume
- Ultimate Bonus — 5 costumes and 2 accessories
Additional DLC
Nostalgic Anime Song & Item Pack (available from launch)
With this pack, you’ll be able to change the in-game music during matches and enjoy the battle by listening to nostalgic Naruto songs. This pack comes with 5 iconic songs from the NARUTO anime and 3 in-game items.
NARUTO anime songs:
- Haruka Kanata / ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION
- GO!!! / FLOW
- Blue Bird / Ikimonogakari
- Silhouette / KANA-BOON
- Kaze / Yamazaru
In-game items:
- Substitution Item: Microphone
- Substitution Item: Orange Headphones
- Ninja Info Card Skin: Nostalgic Anime Song Skin
![](https://149367133.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Nintendo-Mario-Brawl.jpg)
No other video game character has a more iconic voice than Mario. For decades, the red-and-blue plumber has graced gamers with many an “It’s-a me, Mario” and a “Mamma mia.” However, as any fan of old cartoon characters can attest to, even iconic voices don’t last forever. Longtime voice actor Charles Martinet is officially retiring from his role as the Italian plumber.
Today, Nintendo, through a post on X, confirmed that Martinet is stepping back from all recording roles at the company. The voice actor had voiced the character since Super Mario 64, the character’s debut in 3D. He has since provided voice work in all games where Mario has a voice. He also voiced Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi. Outside of Nintendo, players might recognize him as the voice of Paarthunax, the dragon in Skyrim.
We have a message for fans of the Mushroom Kingdom. Please take a look. pic.twitter.com/U1ASicOuTO
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) August 21, 2023
After the announcement, Martinet’s last foray as the plumber in a video game might be in the upcoming title, Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Nintendo recently announced the new 2D platformer coming in November.
Martinet is not leaving the company entirely. He is now Nintendo’s official Mario Ambassador. As the voice actor already does now, he will likely pop up for Nintendo during themed events.
Nintendo has not announced who will replace Martinet as the voice of Mario going forward. However, the announcement does say that a video message from both Shigeru Miyamoto and Charles Martinet is coming at a later date. Presumably, the video will address the character’s voiced future.
SEE ALSO: Nintendo Direct June 2023: All the trailers you missed
Gaming
Lenovo’s Legion Go can come bundled with AR glasses, leak says
Might be revealed during IFA 2023
![](https://149367133.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Legion-Go-Closeup-Controller-Windows-Report-Leak.jpg)
Is the Legion Go even real? The more we find out about the upcoming console, the more unbelievable it looks. Only a few days ago, a leak revealed that the device will have removable controllers like the Nintendo Switch — a feat yet to be accomplished by contemporary handheld consoles. Now, another leaks reveals something even more extraordinary: bundled AR glasses.
Again coming from Windows Report, the Legion Go can reportedly come bundled with a pair of AR glasses to go along with gaming sessions. Players can wear the glasses for their display and control the action with the main console. The report, however, does not reveal what specs the glasses will have. If anything, it’s expected to have a high refresh rate to accommodate gaming.
After news of a bundled pair of AR glasses, there isn’t much more to reveal from the report. Given previous rumors, the device might come with AMD Phoenix chipsets under the hood, along with other goodies.
Additionally, it might not take long before an official reveal. The report states that Lenovo might debut the new console during IFA 2023, which will happen in a few weeks. During the event, the brand might also reveal how the bundled glasses will work.
Given how the market doesn’t have removable controllers or a bundled pair of glasses, it will be interesting to see how the Legion Go will pair up against the more notable consoles already out in the segment.
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