Similar to its predecessor and sequel I will eventually finish, One Piece Pirate Warriors 2 has been in my backlog for a good amount of time. After my playthrough of Pirate Warriors 1, I wasn't looking forward to playing this one because of my urge to want to beat every character log. However, I figured if I'm gonna continue to clean out my backlog and also stick to my goal of reviewing every One Piece game on this website I figured why not? It isn't my favorite One Piece game, but it is an improvement over the original Pirate Warriors.
Unlike the first game, this game has a completely original story. Given that Fishman Island & Punk Hazard were the only new arcs in the anime & manga when this game came out, it was the correct choice to make. While I didn't pay too much attention to the story this time (I was more concerned with unlocking everything), it beats having to go through the same story bits for the 50th time. It's a shame Pirate Warriors 3 or/and 4 didn't take notes from this in that regard.
Platforming in this entry is completely gone and it plays just like your average Musou. Honestly, I'm happy they removed it because even though the platforming made Pirate Warriors a little more unique, its presence in the first Pirate Warriors was more of a nuisance rather than a pleasant addition. One Piece Pirate Warriors 2 does get a bit repetitive, but this is likely the case with every other Musou game. I did enjoy the game, but Musou might not be everyone's cup of tea and I suggest taking a break in between the main story and the other logs if you plan on unlocking everyone.
In terms of new content, it adds quite a bit. Punk Hazard is a new stage and Skypeia & Thriller Bark get stages this time after being absent in the original game. There are a bunch of new characters that honestly should have been added in the original game including Buggy, Mihawk, and the 3 admirals. The most noteworthy newcomer would be Trafalgar Law who has become increasingly more important to the story since the timeskip. The game even has both pre & post-time skip Straw Hats which is good fanservice and a nice way to pad out the roster.
One Piece Pirate Warriors 2 is an improvement on all fronts to the original Pirate Warriors. If you enjoy One Piece and Dynasty Warriors, you'll like this one.
Unlike the first game, this game has a completely original story. Given that Fishman Island & Punk Hazard were the only new arcs in the anime & manga when this game came out, it was the correct choice to make. While I didn't pay too much attention to the story this time (I was more concerned with unlocking everything), it beats having to go through the same story bits for the 50th time. It's a shame Pirate Warriors 3 or/and 4 didn't take notes from this in that regard.
Platforming in this entry is completely gone and it plays just like your average Musou. Honestly, I'm happy they removed it because even though the platforming made Pirate Warriors a little more unique, its presence in the first Pirate Warriors was more of a nuisance rather than a pleasant addition. One Piece Pirate Warriors 2 does get a bit repetitive, but this is likely the case with every other Musou game. I did enjoy the game, but Musou might not be everyone's cup of tea and I suggest taking a break in between the main story and the other logs if you plan on unlocking everyone.
In terms of new content, it adds quite a bit. Punk Hazard is a new stage and Skypeia & Thriller Bark get stages this time after being absent in the original game. There are a bunch of new characters that honestly should have been added in the original game including Buggy, Mihawk, and the 3 admirals. The most noteworthy newcomer would be Trafalgar Law who has become increasingly more important to the story since the timeskip. The game even has both pre & post-time skip Straw Hats which is good fanservice and a nice way to pad out the roster.
One Piece Pirate Warriors 2 is an improvement on all fronts to the original Pirate Warriors. If you enjoy One Piece and Dynasty Warriors, you'll like this one.
6 Comments
@Fisher From what I've seen of Pirate Warriors 4, I believe it. It isn't the first game that's skipped Skypiea though, Romance Dawn and the first Pirate Warriors game did which I find odd given they're supposed to cover the whole story. I do agree Skypiea is underappreciated, its hard to compete with a lot of the pre-timeskip arcs but I appreciate Skypiea's stronger sense of adventure and Eneru was a pretty cool villain.
@BrightGalaxy I'm not really sure why Skypeia is always lumped in as filler, and even if it was Luffy literally fights god which is based off of Eminem so even if it was filler it would be classified as good filler.
@Fisher If I had to guess its probably because its a bit different than the other arcs and not as action-packed. It's a weird idea to consider it filler because Skypiea is a pretty important arc and probably will become even more relevant in the future if Eneru comes back.
@BrightGalaxy I'm not sure Enel/Eneru will be coming back if I'm being honest, not only is his role in the story pretty much wrapped up there's just so many people playing a role in the final saga that adding Enel back in seems unnecessary
@Fisher I could see the area Eneru discovered on the moon having something to do with the Ancient Kingdom, but if we don't see him before the Straw Hats visit Laugh Tale then I think its safe to say he isn't coming back. Having him back isn't totally necessary but I'd like to see it happen.
Fisher
6 months ago