On March 28, a One Piece News: News COO Online stream appeared to clue fans in on the immediate future of One Piece. While the anime is on hiatus right now due to a cyber-attack on Toei Animation, there are still plenty of goings-on in the franchise. The Wano arc has reached what may be its ultimate climax in the manga, with plenty of reveals rushing to meet eager readers. A new movie called One Piece Film: Red is in development, with a slow drip of designs and details coming out. The Netflix live-action One Piece series has begun filming, and appears to be adapting the very beginning of the series with Shanks.
There were a couple other products featured during the stream. One was the One Piece Card Game, with five decks revealed alongside a few individual cards. Of much greater interest to the gaming crowd, however, was One Piece Odyssey. This is the next One Piece title coming to consoles and PC, and it is taking One Piece games in a brand-new direction. While there will still be exploration due to the Straw Hat Pirates being stranded on a new island, the gameplay will be that of a traditional JRPG. The information released so far implies that this will be a turn-based One Piece game, which is a massive departure for not only the sea-faring franchise, but licensed Shonen Jump games as a whole.
Why Becoming a JRPG is a Big Deal for One Piece
When one thinks of a licensed anime game, certain genres come to mind. Historically, games created from Shonen Jump or comparable shonen franchises have tended to be action games or fighting games. There is a fair amount of variety in these, but they tend to be budget titles. Flashy visuals and faithful recreations are prioritized over deep and satisfying gameplay, with only a few like Dragon Ball FighterZ managing to buck the trend.
Arena fighters have become particularly prevalent due to lacking the design, and thus budget, expectations of a traditional fighter. There are definitely gems in this rough, including the last few Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm installments and Dragon Ball Xenoverse titles, but that doesn't matter much when fans are tired of seeing them.
Traditional RPGs are not unheard of, but they are very rare. Most shonen RPGs are made for handhelds, and in more recent years they are few and far between. One Piece and Dragon Ball were two of the earlier Shonen Jump franchises to adopt RPG gameplay, though not to great success. Dragon Ball Z Side Story: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans and several of the From TV Animation — One Piece games incorporated RPG mechanics, but were forgettable compared to major JRPGs like Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy. Successful JRPG adaptations are rare, though Bleach: The 3rd Phantom is a noteworthy example on the DS. One Piece Odyssey is of a rare breed, though not an unwelcome one.
How The JRPG Pivot Could Work for One Piece Odyssey
Details are scarce at the moment, but it seems like One Piece Odyssey is distinct from other turn-based anime games primarily due to its scope. Players will be able to control most of the known Straw Hats in and out of battle, and can explore the new corner of One Piece’s world they find themselves in. Unlike the recent Fairy Tail JRPG by Atelier studio Gust, Odyssey has no need to adapt any events from its home series, and may have a bigger budget to boot. It could end up feeling similar to Dragon Quest 11, being a standard but solid JRPG. In a sea of mediocre One Piece games, with no FighterZ equivalent in sight, fans can celebrate that.
This wraps back around to the game’s scope, which may be larger than that of the standard licensed JRPG. If One Piece is treated to a AAA budget and made comparable to a Dragon Quest, then its genre shift may do it even more good than a decent combat system. One Piece and RPGs share many traits, such as large worlds, relatively large casts, and plentiful treasure and danger around every turn.
While the kinetic action One Piece is known for may be tucked away into certain cutscenes and battle animations, the characters and setting will both have room to breathe. The chance to thoroughly explore One Piece Odyssey’s island and its inhabitants could leave a much-longer lasting impression on fans than another arena fighter.
One Piece Odyssey Should Be Just The Beginning
The success of One Piece Odyssey wouldn’t just benefit One Piece fans. While a lot of the licensed Shonen Jump games released over the years are rough, there’s still some value in their uniqueness. In a modern era full of arena fighters and other action games, there should be at least some additional variety in the space. It feels like Bandai Namco is starting to realize this, greenlighting non-standard games like Dragon Ball: The Breakers and One Piece Odyssey in place of the standard fighting games. Odyssey’s success as a AAA JRPG would send a strong message to Bandai and other companies that such games are still capable of turning a profit.
While it’s unrealistic to expect a Shonen Jump game output with diverse experiences similar to Naruto: Rise of a Ninja, more RPGs will mix things up and appeal to a different cross-section of audiences. There is plenty of space in the market right now for more big-name JRPGs, especially turn-based ones. While traditional fans might be hesitant, they could find an attachment to licenses used in quality JRPGs like some fighting game fans did with Dragon Ball FighterZ. All-in-all, it’s refreshing to see a major One Piece title take a crack at the RPG genre, and getting more anime licenses to hop on-board the genre would be the ideal outcome.
One Piece Odyssey will be released in 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.