Bandai Namco releases System Trailer for One Piece Odyssey; demo coming in January

by Adam Vitale on 24 December, 2022

Bandai Namco has released a lengthy System Trailer for One Piece Odyssey, showcasing the battle system, field exploration, dungeons, and more.

Additionally, Bandai Namco has announced that a demo for One Piece Odyssey will launch on January 10 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Xbox Series X|S. Progress made in the demo will carry over to the full game.

The new trailer and details can be found below, via Bandai Namco. One Piece Odyssey is set to release on January 13, 2023, for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (Steam).

For more information on One Piece Odyssey, you can check out:

Game Overview
The game is made up of three main components: Dramatic Story, Adventure, and Battle. This trailer will focus on the Adventure and Battle components, and will introduce you to their systems and how they work.
The RPG genre is easy for anyone to pick up and play. Many people are familiar with its common features.
However, in some cases, simple and repetitive tasks, such as going back and forth along the same path--or simplistic combat can lead to a bland RPG experience.
By confronting some of the problems that the RPG genre faces, and incorporating innovations that take advantage of the unique characteristics of the "One Piece " world, we have created a gaming experience that keeps players engaged with unique and smart mechanics while maintaining the immersive feel of an RPG story.
Benefits and Beauty of One Piece Odyssey
High Quality Graphics that embrace the freedom of RPGs
Before introducing the Adventure and Battle systems, let's take a look at the gorgeous graphics that capture the essence of the iconic characters and locations, which are important in realizing the concept of an RPG that allow players to touch the world of One Piece.
One Piece Odyssey builds from vast amount of One Piece locations that have been explored over the past 25 years, and the game's world has been carefully crafted with a focus on variety.
One Piece Odyssey also features powerful battles that feel straight out of the One Piece anime, with the kind of careful attention to character expression and camera work that is possible only in the RPG genre, where there are few constraints on expression.
Unique features that challenge RPG convention
1. Unconventional, highly strategic combat system
One of the major features of One Piece Odyssey is the Battle System. We've chosen a turn-based command battle system for this game, which allows each Straw Hat Crew member to play an active role in every battle.
Although a classic RPG command battle system makes the rules much easier to understand, it can also become monotonous in some cases, as players only need to casually press the attack button until all enemy characters are defeated.
Therefore, One Piece Odyssey features a more nuanced combat system in which basic tactics are built on the rock-paper-scissors method, and incorporates a randomized positioning element with multiple areas, to create the "Scramble Area Battle" system.
The Scramble Area Battle System allows the player to approach combat with many available options, in which players will be able to swap characters and use unique abilities to make the best tactical choice according to various changing situations, such as the number of enemies and their positions.
Dramatic Scenes
"Dramatic Scenes" featuring events unique to One Piece world will occur at random to create unexpected combat situations that eliminate the tedium of command battles.
These "dramatic scenes" are mini-missions during the battle, such as using a specific character to defeat a powered-up enemy in a certain number of turns.
By completing these randomly occuring challenges, the player can gain a large boost to experience and rewards. This system of constantly switching active party members to react to changes on the battlefield, while allowing players to use their own ingenuity to overcome unexpected situations, provides a deeper battle experience than conventional command battles could offer.
2. Adventures that deliver excitement with a wide variety of movement
Field Action
We would like to also highlight the player movement system. While movement in RPGs usually offers the pleasure of walking through exotic locations and immersing oneself in the world, it also has the tendency to grow stale due to limited options.
To resolve this issue, players can switch freely between different Straw Hat Crew members while exploring, adding the fun of discovery and variety to the movement system. However, this change goes beyond cosmetic differences, as each character also has their own unique field actions, which can be used to advance the storyline.
In addition, players can collect various items while exploring, and the items may differ depending on the character you're controlling.
For example, Luffy can use his Gum-Gum powers to obtain items from afar, while Zoro can cut through iron treasure chests to collect the items inside.
Also, Sanji can find rare ingredients for cooking hidden in the terrain, while Nami can find dropped money.
These examples are one of the reasons why we encourage players to thoroughly explore the locations they're heading into.
Field Talk
In addition to switching between characters, One Piece Odyssey also allows players to enjoy various conversations between characters. Whenever the player moves to a new location, the crew members in the party will engage in various conversations with each other.
These casual converstations between the Straw Hat Crew during their adventure will offer not only players who love "One Piece", but also those newcomers to the One Piece series, an opportunity to experience and enjoy the characters' personalities.
Dungeons
The game also offers multiple dungeons with various puzzles to solve. Through a combination of the varied combat and movement systems, dungeon exploration avoids the usual random battles until you reach boss pitfall, providing a variety of activities to hold your attention.
In addition, characters will need to use their unique field actions to solve mysteries, allowing the players to enjoy adventures and explorations where there is always something to discover."
Generating New Items from Collected Resources
Some of the resources obtained while exploring with various characters, can be used to created useful new items. For example, Sanji can use the resources as ingredients to create delicious dishes, which provide powerful combat benefits compared to regular items.
Also, Usopp can create Trick Balls that can provide a variety of buffing/debuffing effects during battle.
3. Leveling Up Characters
Next, we would like to introduce the leveling system. Compared to battle or movement elements, making leveling up enjoyable is one of the hardest parts of making an RPG.
Of course, there are those who find it appealing to grind to level up their characters, but when combined with monotonous turn-based battles, it could easily cause players to burn out while grinding.
On top of the deep combat experience that is different from conventional RPGs, we also take into account the mechanism of leveling up. As an example, during your adventure, you'll find places where you can camp and have a "Party". By having a "Party", you will receive an EXP bonus for a certain amount of your upcoming battles.
In addition, one of Luffy's field action abilities, "Observation Haki", can be used to identify rare enemies that possesses bonus EXP.
Therefore, by finding and defeating rare enemies, and after using the "Party" feature, players will have the opportunity to level up efficiently, without grinding.
Furthermore, if a "Dramatic Scene" occurs, then you'll have the chance to gain an even larger EXP boost. Through these systems, while incorporating the core One Piece style, we provide a modern RPG leveling experience that is easy to grow through player ingenuity.
4. Enhancement through Customization
On top of empowering skills through collectible cubes fragments, while leveling up characters throughout the course of the story, One Piece Odyssey also uses a slightly different approach than traditional RPGs with a customization system that allows any item to be equipped on any character, as long as there is space for it.
Each character has their own grid set up on the customization screen. By acquiring equipment with various abilities and stats--which players can find across the game's stages. Players can freely utilize the space of each grid, to strengthen their favorite characters. This system can also be combined with Robin's "Mystery Craft" ability.
Each character's grid will expand as the story progresses. Players can combine and change equipment to build each character how they want, and will have the freedom to build their preferred style of play.
The customization feature breaks away from the normal routine of simple purchase-to-equip, that is typical of traditional RPGs, to provide more in-depth and satisfying payouts.
Conclusion
By taking advantage of all that can be gained from both the battle and adventure experiences, Players can overcome even the most difficult challenges, such as battles with powerful enemies.
In this way, by making the most of the unique world of "One Piecce", and by several distinctive systems that enhance the immersive experience of the game, this game realizes the concept an experience that touches the world of One Piece.