Bandai Namco and ILCA have unveiled a first look at the gameplay of One Piece Odyssey.
Katsuaki Tsuzuki, producer of Bandai Namco, Ken Takano, editor-in-chief of Weekly Shonen Jump, and composer Motoi Sakuraba explain in a new developer diary dedicated to One Piece Odyssey how the Japanese studio ILCA is adapting Eiichiro Oda’s manga into a JRPG featuring him. revisiting the creation of the soundtrack.
Katsuaki Tsuzuki: “We designed this game with the concept of an epic adventure to discover the world of One Piece. To bring this to life, we focused on emotions, adventures and combat unique to One Piece. We have spent a lot of time making sure that the world of One Piece has unique and exciting elements. The subtitle of the first trailer “Journey into the Depths of Memories”has a special meaning to the One Piece Odyssey concept. While we can’t share the meaning of this subtitle at the moment, we still have a lot of interesting elements for you to discover. A post from Eiichiro Oda at the time of our first announcement mentions that we asked him to design the characters for the game three years ago. But the development of One Piece Odyssey actually started five years ago. When I promoted and produced Pirate Warriors 4, the development of this game was in the background. At the time, production was half-finished and the script had just been completed.
This game belongs to the JRPG genre, and we thought that the adventures that the players experience will be the main attraction of the game, so we have worked hard and spent a lot of time on this project and have started to implement the scenario at the moment. when the beginning and middle of Whole Cake Island Arc was released. After the overall structure of the scenario was decided, we contacted Oda-san about the character designs. Apart from Eiichiro Oda’s character design support, there are several aspects that make this game appealing. The development team created a way to experience the adventures of One Piece based on the unique background and illustrations of the license.
We are working with ILCA, an excellent partner, to create an engaging world from scratch and integrate it into JRPGs. As we said at the beginning, we have put a lot of effort into creating a world that is consistent with the spirit of One Piece. In Waford, where the main adventure takes place, we created the design and setting from various aspects of the One Piece universe. We paid close attention to every detail, down to the clouds in the sky. We reproduced the sky from the original image to enhance the immersion effect. In the same way, to build the world of One Piece in 3D, the buildings and props were independently designed and modeled in detail, as are the various characters that appear in One Piece Odyssey.
The outlines, body shapes, age, gender, and costumes were based on the original art and animation to ensure the characters accurately represent the world of One Piece. In order to add animation not only to Luffy, but also to Lima and Adio created by Eiichiro Oda, we took a very careful approach to the creation and creativity of the images. One Piece characters are known for their overly dramatic facial expressions. therefore, we have reworked them many times to correctly display their facial expressions on the 3D model. Given our goal of recreating the world of One Piece in 3D, I believe we have succeeded, and we hope you can’t wait to experience it for yourself. Oh, and besides, we wanted the original characters created for the game by Eiichiro Oda and Luffy to be able to move freely in a well-designed adventure setting, so we prepared an adventure and combat system full of twists,
One Piece Odyssey is a JRPG with areas to explore and various enemies roaming around while you are on the ground. As you switch between crew members to advance in your adventure, fights break out when they bump into traveling opponents. Of course, players can also avoid combat by avoiding contact with the enemy. Not only can the player switch between limbs, each of the Straw Hats has a unique ability commensurate with their strength. For example, Luffy can perform actions with his retractable arms, Zoro can jump over obstacles, and Chopper can use his diminutive body to squeeze through narrow passages. Making use of their unique characteristics during your adventure will be essential to traverse open areas,
In fact, Waford, the setting of this adventure, is littered with mysterious ruins and underground areas of significance and connection to the game’s story. We are preparing an experience in which the use of the unique characteristics of each crew member is essential to your adventure. Just like in the original world of One Piece, something extraordinary awaits you. Of course, players will be exploring more than just dungeons and ruins, but we don’t want to reveal too much just yet. During these adventures, battles may occur. In this game, the combat system is based on the classic turn-based battle. So far, most One Piece games have been action games, which is an immersive experience, but this game’s combat system is designed to give you the experience of adventuring with a team and defeating opponents,
In doing so, you will also discover the various stories of the One Piece world. We think it’s a very compatible combat system. In addition, the turn-based command system, combined with the various unique characteristics of each crew member, makes for a great gaming experience. It fits the genre well and delivers an experience that players won’t get tired of. For example, the battles are based on an item called Skirmish Zone Battles. In this system, battles are divided into several zones, and various combat-ready opponents and crew members will be randomly assigned to each of them. By optimizing the location on the battlefield and countering the forces and skills of the opponents, the player can always find a way to win by taking advantage of the special attributes and skills of the crew. The fight scenes also have a random element called “Drama Scene”.
This is a game system in which players are challenged to overcome an unforeseen situation that may occur by accident. For example, Sanji can’t attack because he is surrounded by women, or Usopp is surrounded by opponents. Various restrictions or events may occur, and the player can receive a large reward if the player manages to overcome them. This system is designed to be one of the most exciting aspects of the game. We have prepared an experience that players can enjoy like a real One Piece console game, even with the ability to use coordinated attacks when certain conditions are met. Although the game is quite user-friendly, it will also appeal to One Piece fans as well as those who love JRPGs and has a combat system that can only be experienced in this unique game.
Ken Takano: “Three or four years ago, when One Piece Odyssey was in the early stages of development, Bandai Namco contacted us to create a new One Piece game. After checking the setting and script, I realized that the work is very similar to One Piece and well done. Of course, Eiichiro Oda also had the opportunity to see the sets, script, and video footage of the game’s creation process. At the time, he showed great interest in the game, which led him to decide to create two original characters for it. Characters that appear are Adio and Lim. In addition to these characters, Oda-san has also designed new animals such as Leviathan and Dry Penguin.
Motoi Sakuraba: “Tsuzuki-san, who I’ve worked with in the past, told me there was a new JRPG and asked if I could compose music for it. I said, “Let’s go!”and I went to meet him. That’s when I found out that the new JRPG would be a One Piece game. I never dreamed of being part of such an important title, so I was very happy to be able to take part. The most difficult part, or rather the part that took a long time, was the main theme song. I spent a lot of time to create a simple and catchy melody. The most interesting thing about this title is that it made me feel like I was traveling to different places. So I was able to create quite a wide range of music in terms of genres such as ethnic style and orchestral style. And it was really fun and challenging for me.
This time we also recorded music with the band. The latter had even stronger feelings for One Piece and I remember them playing instruments with passion and having fun, which got me even more excited. I worked really hard on the music so that players can immerse themselves in the game, but I would appreciate it if you could take the time to listen to it. In addition, we used a lot of unprocessed and rare sounds, so I would appreciate it if you could play the game with a high-quality speaker if possible!” and I remember how enthusiastically they played the instruments and had fun, which made me even more excited.
I worked really hard on the music so that players can immerse themselves in the game, but I would appreciate it if you could take the time to listen to it. In addition, we used a lot of unprocessed and rare sounds, so I would appreciate it if you could play the game with a high-quality speaker if possible!” and I remember how enthusiastically they played the instruments and had fun, which made me even more excited. I worked really hard on the music so that players can immerse themselves in the game, but I would appreciate it if you could take the time to listen to it. In addition, we used a lot of unprocessed and rare sounds, so I would appreciate it if you could play the game with a high-quality speaker if possible!”
One Piece Odyssey Trailer at Summer Game Fest 2022
One Piece Odyssey is coming to PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and PC later this year.
