One Piece Odyssey Deluxe Edition review on Switch — Any port in a storm

One Piece is something I’ve always wanted to read/watch, but its sheer volume intimidates me. The manga is currently over 1100 chapters, and while a single chapter would only take an average of 8 minutes to read, that’s still a whole lot of manga. Still, I really loved the recent Netflix live action adaptation, so when I saw the switch port of One Piece Odyssey was available to review, I figured this is as good a place as any to pick up where that left off. I love turn-based RPGs and from what I had seen of the game it seemed to revisit previous points in the story with the current crew. While I was very wrong about this being a good entry point, I can tell this game is pure fanservice for anyone up to date on One Piece.

For a more thorough rundown on the game itself, as we’ll mostly be focusing on the port quality, check out Editor Noah Rigsby’s review from last year, but here are the basics: Luffy and friends, on their journey to find the One Piece, are marooned on a mysterious island. After a series of events, their abilities are stolen and placed into magical cubes. While smaller cubes can be reabsorbed no problem, the larger ones require the Straw Hat Pirates to venture into the world of memory, Memoria, and relive past adventures to recover their strength. However, these memories might not go exactly as they remember…

Starting up Odyssey on Switch, the first thing I was struck by was how good the game still looks even on Nintendo’s now very outdated tablet. The cell-shaded visuals certainly help, but it still appears decently crisp in both docked and portable modes. You’ll see jagged edges and aliasing almost constantly, but if that’s the price to pay for portability I’d say its a fair trade.

The frame rate is where things start to look a bit choppy. The game targets 30 fps on Switch, and it does mostly hit that target. Exploring the island can have some dips or odd frame pacing, but once you get into a cave or a Memoria that essentially disappears. Battles are also locked to 30 as far as I can tell. However, while I believe the numbers, something about the game just makes me feel nauseous while playing in portable. It could just be me, but those smaller issues in docked mode feel a tad more exaggerated in portable mode. Still, it’s not a deal breaker in the slightest.

Loading times are relatively short, but are the port’s biggest flaw. Area transitions and the initial load are pretty fast, but it takes a noticeable amount of time to load into every single battle. This really adds up over the length of an RPG, so prepare to be patient if you choose to play this version.

As the new title implies, One Piece Odyssey Deluxe Edition includes the post-game DLC scenario called Reunion of Memories as well as three costume sets for all the pirates. As someone who’s only seen the Netflix series and early bits of the anime, I chose to put the characters in their Traveling Outfits for my playthrough. These outfits only appear in battle and on the field however, and will revert to their post-timeskip looks in all cutscenes. Still, having a variety of outfits is nice even if previewing them all involves lengthy load times. I’m not the biggest fan of the series’ female character designs, so going back to Nami’s classic look is great.

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