Welcome to One Piece Odyssey! The opening cinematics begin things in appropriately-bombastic fashion, and by the time you take control of the Straw Hat Pirates several of them will be missing. (As well as Luffy's hat, the greatest tragedy of all.) You'll take control of Luffy, and you'll have to track everyone down.
There are a few things to note about general navigation before you start exploring:
- Though this is a turn-based RPG, you can both run and jump as Luffy. Go nuts.
- There's an auto-run function that will allow you to send your character zipping around without needing to hold forward on the control stick. (Though this can get you in trouble.)
- There's also a Dash feature that will allow you to move at greater speeds. If you go into the Settings you can active Auto-Dash, which allows you to sprint around without having to hold down a button.
- Each area has its own map. The starting area is pretty straightforward, but you should still use the map if you get lost.
- Luffy can use Observation Haki to sniff out hidden items and points of interest. You'll find this quite valuable in the future.
- In the future you'll be able to aim at things and launch Luffy's fists at them. This will come up later.
There are many little points of interest spread throughout this area, though none of them offer much concrete information. Luffy is hungry, and that's about it. Speak to Franky by the shoreline and Usopp a little further north of where you started to recruit them into your party. Later in the game you'll be able to swap out Luffy as your field character and let someone else run around, but for now they're just plain 'ol party members.
Head east along the beach to find and recruit Sanji, then a bit further east to snag Robin and Chopper. Chopper will sniff out Nami, one of your missing buddies, in a nearby cave.
King Kong Garden - Save Nami from the Beast
First up inside this cave is a save point. Save points will record your progress, and when used fully restore everyone's health. Losing a fight will give you a Game Over and send you back to the last save point, so it's wise to make use of every save point you find, especially when you're entering unfamiliar territory.
Beyond the cave you'll find King Kong Garden, the first combat area of One Piece Odyssey, and the crew will spot Nami being menaced by a giant ape. How appropriate. You're forced to take the long route to the beast, and you'll need to use Luffy's Gum-Gum Rocket move to get over some pitfalls. The buttons for doing this vary from system to system, though in general you just need to aim at them from first-person mode and pull the trigger. Simple enough.
Proceed far enough down the trail and you'll start running into little gleaming objects in the grass, as well as objects - pots, jars, barrels, etc. - that Luffy can destroy. All of these are items, and what you'll receive each time is randomized. At this point in the game you can expect some fairly minor items.
Run up a wall beyond the destructable items and you'll get into your first fight. Ooo!
Combat
Combat in One Piece Odyssey is turn-based, and over the course of several consecutive battles against monsters you'll learn the basics of the system. Defeat your enemies before they defeat you. Simple enough. Your attack options consist of Attack, Skill, Items, and Tactics, and we'll explore each below as they come up.
Skills
Each of your characters has a series of Skills specific to their role in the crew. Luffy largely has offensive commands, for example, while Chopper is more of a blend of healing and offense. Learning the capabilities of your party members will help you plough through fights in the future.
Skills use up TP. TP is built up when your characters use normal attacks against enemies, and will carry over between battles. Try not to use up all your TP in a fight or you'll be at a disadvantage when the next battle comes along.
Dramatic Scenes
Every now and then (more often than you might think) you'll enter Dramatic Scenes. These are specific battle scenarios that give you objectives to complete in order to win the fight. In the example scenario you need to save Usopp, who gets paralyzed, before he's knocked out by the enemies surrounding him.
Dramatic Scenes consist of areas of enemies.
Dramatic Scenes consist of areas of enemies.
In order to move your active characters into another area - in the example case, to save Usopp - you need to defeat all of the enemies in your current area, then target an enemy in the area where you want to travel. There are also some Skills, such as Chopper's Heal (1 Area), that will target an entire area of either enemies or allies. Note that your characters will not always start off in the same areas as one another.
Usopp will be attacked by three Dry Penguins. Fight your way into their area, healing Usopp with Chopper as necessary, and save his butt. The Dry Penguins can do a surprising amount of damage for a tutorial battle, so make sure you use strong Skills to take them out in a hurry. (Anyone who gets knocked out will be revived once the battle is over, though they'll only have 1 HP left, so you may want to heal them.)
Dramatic Scenes sound like a bit of a pain in the butt - and they can be - but if you complete one successfully you'll gain a significant experience boost when the battle is over. Early in the game this can be enough to give your team several levels, which will come in handy.
Type Effectiveness
Get close to the ape and you'll wind up in a pincer attack where you'll learn about Type Effectiveness. All normal attacks carried out by your crew are assigned a type, depending on your character's weapon. Each is more or less effective against enemies of a different type. You want to attack enemies using attacks that are more effective against their type:
- Power attacks (Luffy, Sanji, Chopper) are good against Speed targets
- Speed attacks (Usopp, Franky) are good against Technique targets
- Technique attacks (Robin) are good against Power targets
This won't always be feasible with your current party. To ensure that your current character is effective against their target you can use the Tactics command to swap in a replacement character who is better suited to the task.
Not sure which kind of attack to use? Choose Attack, then look at the enemies. On the right side of their health gauge you'll see the attack type associated with the enemy. If there are arrows floating up behind the icon, your attack will be more effective. If there are arrows floating down behind the icon your attack will be less effective. No arrows at all indicates a neutral attack.
Items and Turn Order
Once your party reaches the Del Kong you'll learn about Items and Turn Order. Both are pretty simple:
- Items will restore your party's health and status when things go wrong. You'll need to use a Potent Energy Apple in this fight by way of example.
- Turn Order allows you to choose which party member will go when your turn comes up. Think of turns as belonging to the entire crew rather than a single character.
The battle against the Del Kong is pretty straightforward, and puts everything you've learned to use. Heal Nami with a Potent Energy Apple to start, then switch to her and use her to knock out the nearby Hieisa. Swap out Sanji or Luffy for Zoro, another new party member, and have him take on the nearest Eisa and the Del Kong. Usopp or Franky will help you take out the last of the mooks so you can concentrate on the Del Kong.
None of these enemies (boss included) will do enough damage to really threaten your party, and you'll win the battle sooner or later. This will reunite the remainder of the crew, though one of the members is... disembodied for the moment. Ah well. More pressing is the fact that Luffy's hat is still missing...
You'll wind up back on the beach. Head north to trigger a scene where Zoro will slice a path into the forest beyond the beach. You'll enter an area called South Forest, and you'll twice have to battle an enemy known as the Fire Colossus. The first battle will be easy, while the second... well, you'll lose the second, as the entire crew's levels will be drastically reduced, and all of their Skills will be forgotten. Whoops!
The team will be saved by a man named Adio, and he'll lead you back to his hut. Here you'll meet Lim, the girl responsible for the team's predicament, and everyone will sit down for a meal. Or, uh, Luffy will, anyway. Next step: Getting everyone back up to speed.