It’s no surprise that One Piece is one of the most popular Anime to date. One Piece Odyssey is a brand-new RPG that features a new character and monster designed by its original creator, Eiichiro Oda. I was able to get some hands-on time with the demo at the Bandai Namco booth here at Anime Expo. 

The demo started off with Luffy and his crew on an Island where Nami is being held captive by a giant gorilla. Luffy had his signature Gum-Gum Rocket that you could use to zip to certain parts of the area. Visually, the world of One Piece Odyssey comes to life with vibrant worlds and detailed characters. I liked how expressive the characters were in cutscenes and battle. 

Combat is similar to most turn-based RPGs, so if you have played games like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, you should feel right at home. Each character had a specific attack type of power, speed, or technique that would be more or less effective depending on the situation. TP was obtained after landing an attack for use with each character's multiple special abilities. 

Rounding out the end of the demo, was a short but sweet boss battle with a giant gorilla-type enemy. Its strong area attacks would damage multiple party members and I had to think strategically about what characters should be the ones to throw out attacks and which should stay back and heal. Luckily my whole party was stalked with various healing items and abilities so one character never felt weak over the other.

Overall One Piece Odyssey is shaping up to be a very intriguing game. The world is detailed and vibrant, and the characters are well-animated. The character damage types and battlefield movement add a nice layer of depth to the combat; combined with exhilarating turned-based combat, making One Piece Odyssey the most exciting game in the series yet, and I am excited to see more.