One day I need to have a talk with my brother about his penchant for impulse buys.
Like, I’m not about to tell him how to spend his money, but him grabbing One Piece: World Seeker -- and preordering it months in advance, at that -- has to qualify as a potential red flag. Did he know that the game would be good? No. Did he have room in his schedule for it, given that its release date was sandwiched between Devil May Cry V and Sekiro? No. Is he even a fan of One Piece? At best, he tangentially orbits it; he’s seen a whopping four episodes, played snippets of one game, and likes the “manimals” of the Enies Lobby Arc.
Oh, and he’s a fan of Tony Tony Chopper…even though he got the name confused and called him Tony Chopper Chopper.
I don’t know what possessed him to get the game, and I never will. But what’s truly bizarre is that, in a way, I’m actually glad he did. One Piece: World Seeker is easily the weirdest game I’ve played in a while. So let’s talk about it.
Because it gives me an excuse to embed One Piece theme songs.
Side note: I know it’s a stylistic choice used to accent his character, but…damn, son. Luffy’s got some chompers.
The story follows the Straw Hat Pirates on the hunt for some fresh new treasure -- a quest that has them infiltrating a prison in the sky. Things go belly-up pretty quickly, though; Luffy faces off with a deadly new foe, the gang gets separated, and our rubber rogue plummets to the sea (and islands, thankfully) below -- where, as always, trouble’s brewing and somebody has to sort it out with a liberal application of fists to face.
I took shots at my brother for not knowing the lore, but in all honesty I’m not that much better. I only know the bare-bones basics of various arcs (most of them pre-timeskip), and whatever knowledge I have comes from osmosis via random dives/incidental internet antics. So obviously, I don’t know where in the timeline this game takes place -- though I guess the presence of Gear Fourth is a big hint. More importantly, I don’t know how well World Seeker stacks up in terms of its story and writing quality. I assume that One Piece is one of the better-written entries in the Jump catalogue, though it’s possible that the bar to clear is one an ant could limbo under.
(I mean, you could do a lot worse than Naruto, but damned if it's not the easiest to use a punching bag.)
I had to go into that interlude to provide context -- so that you can understand that, against all odds, I’m actually intrigued by the story. It’s about Luffy finding his friends and sticking it to the marines, the prison system, and whoever qualifies as THE MAN. On the flip-side, it’s also a story featuring political intrigue, societal divisions, loyalty, rebellion, and more. If this is just filler fluff, then the setup (at the very least) sure doesn’t feel like it.
The determining factor is probably going to be the pacing. True to (part of) its title, this is an open-world game that has you playing as Luffy and exploring a decently-sized island with varied locales, elevations, and terrain. Even in my short time with the game, I can see the makings of an AWOL misadventure. Is World Seeker a vehicle for exploring the nuances of the canon’s world, consequences of its widespread-yet-tyrannical forces, and meditations on the perils of resistance? Or is it just going to piss away 20 hours by asking players to scrounge for items? Probably the latter.
Against all odds, World Seeker is eerily close to a Ubisoft game. Specifically, one of the Far Cry games.
As easy and as expected as it would have been to push another arena fighter -- shout outs to Jump Force -- World Seeker is decidedly not that. I mean, it kind of is, in the sense that Luffy has a handful of melee attacks for enemy/elite encounters. He even has a style-switching mechanic with his two iterations of Haki…although as far as I can tell, there’s no real-time style switching a la DMC. I guess it doesn’t really matter, though, because this game is also a third-person shooter. I…think?
It’s not uncommon for you to run into enemy outposts/strongholds packed with marines or pirates. But instead of blowing through hundreds of foes at once with flashy combos -- like a Warriors game, which both One Piece and I have dabbled in -- you’re strongly encouraged to use stealth, and dispatch foes methodically on your way to your objective (like freeing Chopper, for example). You can hang from ledges and sneak around in barrels; more importantly, you can mark distant enemies just like you could in Far Cry 3. And as always, you’ve got access to silent takedowns for that instant-kill action.
Also, Luffy has a gun. By which I mean his rubber powers make him a gun. But it’s funnier to picture him with the power of GUN.
It’s at least consistent with the canon, given that one of Luffy’s very first revealed techniques was the Gum-Gum Pistol. Here, you’ll be able to “shoot” at foes with a stretchy punch, assuming you have enough (slowly recharging) meter for it. Again, it’s such a bizarre implementation; not only are you shooting with your bare hands, but you can actually score headshots. In and out of shooting mode, it seems.
But just because something is weird or unexpected doesn’t automatically make it good. So while the novelty is appreciable, I’m not entirely sold on the quality of the game. The enemies have massive sight lines and cones, so unless you’re well behind them, there’s a good chance they’ll spot you well before you have your positioning or a plan. You’d think that that would trigger a shootout, but the problem is that -- prior to any extensive upgrading -- Luffy’s shots don’t have the range needed for most enemy encounters. They can shoot you, but you can’t shoot back. Kind of defeats the purpose, huh?
Actually, scratch that; what really defeats the purpose is that -- in my limited experience -- rushing foes and pummeling them is a much faster, much more viable option. Most peons will go down in a combo, or maybe a combo and a half, with instant kills galore if you go for a Gum-Gum Bazooka. I got the Gatling upgrade, but enemies die so quickly I don’t even get enough time to activate it.
Combat is pretty trivial right now, which you’d expect…well, tolerate from a game’s opening hours. But my biggest gripe is that, even if there are plenty of unlockable skills and boosts, they have such high price tags that they’re more repelling than enticing. You only get one or two points of EXP for beating bad guys, and some of the cheapest upgrades cost 100 points. The next tier up? 200. 300. And so on. It’s a safe bet that story missions and sidequests will help, but A) giving even less of an incentive to waste time with enemies is a problem, and B) I want more moves now. I’d like a sense of progression without getting bogged down by busywork wearing competent gameplay like a mask.
You’ll need upgrades in order to expand your traversal options. Luffy comes pre-equipped with the ability to Hookshot his way to ledges, trees, and the like (as long as a reticule appears), but it’s not enough to navigate this open world quickly. You can net a couple of horizontal/aerial movement abilities early, and finding a certain type of sign or trigger (once you clear a quick side mission in the city) lets you swing like Spider-Man. Which would be cool if Marvel’s Spider-Man hadn’t come out a half-year ago and preemptively blown this game out of the water with its speed, fluidity, practicality, and ease of use.
This game is so weird, which in some cases is a polite way of saying it’s kind of janky. Not so much that you can say conclusively that “the game is unfinished”, though there was one jittery instance I had with a guy I knocked down some stairs. But it seems like it’s content with trying to crib off of western games (and MGSV, given that you can hide in a barrel) without making any strides toward anything above par. Also? They’re pursuing this western avenue with the top anime in Japan.
And speaking of which? Like I said, I don’t know every detail and plot point in One Piece. That said, I can’t shake the feeling that Luffy is the LAST person to opt for stealth. Long-range attacks, sure. But this is the guy who broke into one of the world’s most infamous prisons for a rescue operation -- and now you’re telling me, game, that I have to sneak across a bridge by walking around in a barrel? With this character? A guy with dozens of different ways to blast past it with or without a fight?
*sigh*
I think the weirdest thing is that, well, I don’t really hate the game.
I’m not in any rush to play it again, but there is some level of intrigue. Much like a certain son of Sparda, I need more power, and thus want to see what’s waiting in the wings of that upgrade chart. Combat’s incredibly basic, but still oddly satisfying (for now). It does seem like there’s a story worth following. Or, failing that, it’s heavily suggested that there’s some form of a Social Link system in place. I’m not opposed to ranking up with Franky. Or Robin. But mostly Franky.
Maybe my interest in the game is just a testament to One Piece’s staying power. There are a lot of insults you can throw at the shonen/Jump umbrella, but there’s a reason why this thing has gone on for, like, twenty years. It’s jam-packed with charm, charisma, energy, and that good old, rebellious spirit of adventure. What’s not to love?
So yeah. Good jorb, game. Well, good enough. You kind of coasted your way to inoffensive mediocrity, but for a licensed anime game? I’ll take it for now.
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