In one key moment in One Piece Unlimited World Red, Straw hat pirate Monkey D. Luffy was on the verge of being killed by admiral Akainu. But just when Akainu was about to deliver the final blow, Ace suddenly came out of nowhere and proceed to fight with him, replacing Luffy who defeated him in an earlier chapter. The outcome of this Ace vs Akainu encounter was so excellent.
Had I watched the anime or read the manga, I would have known this damn fight are both climactic and supposed to give me the FEELS, because the outcome in the manga was different.
Early Plot
One Piece Unlimited World Red follows the Straw Hat Pirates as they land on a new island where they met Red, a devil fruit user who longs to become immortal and get back his youth. He was very strong in the past. Well, he is stronger still, but old age was taking its toll and he wanted to have the youth he once had. The game was divided into episodes or chapters. In each episode, we are greeted with a familiar villain from the One Piece universe. Red fashioned each villain from a leaf. Yes a leaf. They retain the memories of their real selves and even their powers.
The Playable Characters
Ace is only playable at that specific scenario, unless you unlocked him in the post game. The only playable characters on the main game are the straw hat pirates from Luffy down to Robin. Each has his or her own abilities which can be used to (duh) defeat enemies. If you have been playing previous One Piece games or watching the anime, you probably know that the pirates’ skilll set can actually complement each other. Luffy and Sanji have short ranged attacks while Robin can attack from a distance. It is always better to have at least one long-ranged pirate in your team before you venture out in each world.
The Battle System
As mentioned, the battle system involved you picking out three characters that you will tackle the specific episode. Yes, you may choose NOT to choose Luffy. The cutscenes have predetermined characters involved, so even if you did not bring them in the episode, they will appear in the cutscene. The levels, however, have specific places that can only be access by a certain character. For example, there were times that you will need Zoro’s Cut Technique to cut down a fence.
Most of the battles, actually, are a hack and slash affair. You make your way in each episode battling all sort of enemies. Since there are three characters in your party, you can switch between them ala Samurai Warriors style. Of course there are items that can help me recover health or gain momentary attack boost. My most liked technique is that if one of the characters is low on HP, I just have to switch.
The Boss Battles
Now the Boss Battles. This is the tricky part in One Piece Unlimited World Red. You will never be prepared for Boss Battles. This is the part where you have to strategize to defeat them. This is where you need to run, then hit, then dodge, then hit, then press a combo for a special attack (There are character special attacks, and a combo attack where all three characters will attack simultaneously). I hate the first battle with a dragon. But of course, as the game progresses, I kind of figured out that each boss has specific patterns of attacking. I just have to be prepared for it so that I can dodge or do whatever it is needed to evade incoming powerful attacks.
Which brings us back to Akainu, a major villain in the story (The main villain was Red, or Patrick Redfield). Akainu was supposedly a powerful villain. During the Luffy vs Akainu battle, Ace saved Luffy and now I have to control Ace for the duration of the fight. Each attack from Luffy’s older brother is much more powerful and deal more damage than any of the individual characters I have controlled so far. The only catch is I won’t be able to use any form of items to heal or improved Ace’s abilities. I am my own man. Just as he can deal more damage, each attack from Akainu is also very powerful I really need to plan my attacks and dodges carefully. It is not the hardest boss battle in the game, but it is certainly the one where I need to be careful because there is no way I can regain health.
Other Stuff to Do.
Your Home and Side Games
Just like in Monster Hunter and Ocarina of Time, One Piece Unlimited World Red has a “homebase” where you will always start. There are sidequests which encouraged you to build various facilities in the village to “improve” it. To gain access to relatively unique items, you need to gather ingredients, which you can get in each of the episodes. Often times you just need to pick up the ingredients. Sometimes you have to do Fishing or Bug Catching. Both of these require a fishing rod, and a net respectively, which levels up if you continue refining it with the right items. Refining the rod or the net can increase its level, allowing you to capture fish and bugs you otherwise cannot catch with a weaker net.
And oh, you just cannot just catch it by pressing the A button. It is a side game where you need to tab the right buttons in order to capture the bug or the fish. I think I spent some time catching bugs and fish in this game.
The Quests
Alongside the main story, you can accept and complete side quests, which enables you to get more items (and can even level up your character) to be used in crafting medicines, weapons, etc. After you finish the main story, you can restart the story and defeat stronger enemies. The sidequests will just continue. Also at this point you will be able to unlock more characters, like Ace so that they can join in completing the main story in your second run.
What I Feel About the Game
It’s actually a really a great game with a lot of depth. So what if it doesn’t have 3D? I haven’t played a game with 3D on for so long and I felt I haven’t miss anything. There’s some Monster Hunter-esque stuff going on in here, like the presence of a home base and the side quests and the map and so on. It was like Bandai Namco created their own version of Monster Hunter with One Piece as a foundation. In Japan, both franchises have mass appeal and I know there is really an audience for these types of games there.
The game is also very accessible, though I feel it did not make any effort to introduce the characters and their backstory and who the hell is Akainu and why his battle with Ace is such a big deal to my girlfriend who have seen the anime. The game is probably meant for One Piece fans. But I will disagree, because I have enjoyed it even though I know very little about One Piece. It provides enough hack and slash content plus strategizing during boss battles. The fishing is repetitive but fun. The characters – it seems that they really are very close to each other. And Luffy doesn’t remember a lot of people.
If You Like This Story, Let Your Friends Know!
Like this:
Like Loading...
http://sunrisingblog.wordpress.com/2014/12/01/one-piece-unlimited-world-red-3ds-review/
