Since its official announcement, One Piece: World Seeker it had attracted everyone's attention and, if we think about it, it couldn't be otherwise. We are talking about the best-selling manga in history, then transformed into a very famous anime and a blockbuster franchise like very few others.
By force of circumstances, everything related to the work of Eichiro Oda is destined to end up in the spotlight. Adding to the hype level even more was the fact that World Seeker was the first installment in the series to benefit from open world game mechanics.
It is understandable, therefore, that this was the most concrete attempt by Bandai Namco, to make the franchise take that decisive step forward that the various Pirate Warriors could not guarantee, as they are too oriented to the oriental market.
It is useless to hide that the writer was not a little intrigued by the idea of being able (finally) to play an adventure, in the true sense of the term, of Luffy and his companions. However, something went wrong and, despite the big assumptions, World Seeker didn't quite hit the mark.
One Piece: World Seeker, a new step for the franchise
The short introductory video shows us the post-time skip Straw Hat crew intent on escaping from a prison facility, located on the islands of the sky. In particular, Monkey D. Luffy, the iconic captain of the crew, after a brief confrontation with Isaac, the head of the structure, will find himself, after a flight that would have killed anyone, on a New World island called Jail Island.
Luffy is rescued by a mysterious girl named Jeanne who later turns out to be one of the leaders of the Anti-Navy faction. The island in question is in fact under the complete control of the armed wing of the World Government, and its entire economy revolves around the prison structures present on it.
Something strange is happening on Jail Island. Continuous clashes with the Marines, a mysterious arms trade, a mysterious figure who operates in the shadows and weaves his web: Luffy and his companions will be called, once again, to accomplish a real business, helping the weakest and walking undeterred their way to One Piece.
Lots of new game mechanics ...
The game, right from the start, immediately makes us understand that we are not facing yet another “musou japan oriented“. One Piece: World Seeker is a full-fledged action adventure, which gives us the opportunity, for the first time, to have a vast and (almost) fully explorable game world at our disposal.
If at the beginning of our adventure we will not be able to reach every corner of the map, as we become familiar with the commands (a bit woody to be honest), we will be able to extricate ourselves in every place of Jail Island, especially after having acquired the right skills.
Another novelty of World Seeker consists precisely in the branched skill tree which is made available to players. As we solve the various missions, we will get skill points to spend in the way we deem appropriate, enhancing Luffy's health, his stamina, or unlocking some of his most famous techniques, such as theElephant gun and Gomu Gomu no Jet Gatling.
There will be secondary missions, which will be appropriately highlighted on the game map and which, let's face it, will never commit us beyond a certain limit, asking us, in most cases, to collect this or that material.
… But half developed
Despite the excellent conditions, One Piece: World Seeker fails to pierce the screen, and the reasons we say this are varied. Let's start with the most important one: the plot. If Eichiro Oda's work has always stood out for having a very structured narrative, this videogame stands as a spin off, immediately following the narrative arc of Punk Hazard and, as happened, with Pirate Warriors 2, it fails to shine of its own light.
The already mentioned secondary missions they do not add or take away from the final product, ending up being perceived only as a filler between one main quest and another.
However, the side on which World Seeker shows its flank the most is the meccaniche action. If in the various musou the adrenaline component was enhanced (and it could not be otherwise), in the last effort of Bandai Namco we are unable to find all this, encountering easily accessible fights (at least at standard difficulty), a little too linear and above all, in which it is enough to press a single button to obtain the final victory.
The development team has also included, for those who prefer a similar approach, also some phase stealth which, however, will not go far beyond surprising the enemy from behind, killing him in a way that is anything but silent (unless you have acquired skills in this sense). As any fan of the series may have understood, all this little fits with the essence of One Piece.
A pleasant but improvable graphic design
If there is one aspect to commend this One Piece: World Seeker, this consists precisely in who is the enemy of One Piece: World Seeker created by Ganbarion. Despite the graphic design is not exactly at the top, we cannot hide that having a fully explorable city is definitely much better than a simple arena full of enemies to defeat.
Furthermore, by purchasing the right skills, we will be able to use the Luffy's "extendable" arms a bit like the cobwebs of Spider-Man, so that we can move freely, using all the protrusions as real springboards and throwing ourselves at great speed towards the target to be reached.
Even in this context, however, the defects are not lacking. It is not possible, for example, to enter any house, limiting ourselves to looking at the interiors from the open doors; the NPC with which we will be able to interact, beyond the guards, are very few and almost all derived from the same models, which we could forgive in the Pirate Warriors, but which is a little out of place in such a wide-ranging project.
Final judgement
Let's face it right away: One Piece: World Seeker left us a bit of a bitter taste. Not so much for the quality of the final product, but for the high expectations that had arisen. Being able to bring the greatness of the manga par excellence in its entirety to the console is not an easy task, and the work of Bandai Namco is only the tip of an immense iceberg that has yet to be explored.
World Seeker is to be considered a good start to try to push the franchise beyond the narrow boundaries imposed by the many musou and fighting games made so far. Our hope is that Bandai Namco will take the good things from this game and improve it, making it the game all One Piece fans want: the ultimate adventure.
