---It's Christmas 2020 and long-running, best selling fictional work One Piece will be having it's 1000th chapter very soon! It's cause for celebration amongst fans! For me, I wanted to play through what is probably my favorite One Piece themed game out there: One Piece Unlimited Adventure. This Wii game is a bit obscure compared to most; it wasn't very popular here in the west. In fact, we were denied the release of it's sequels: the Unlimited Cruise games. Furthermore, it's not one of the most critically acclaimed games out there. I found things to dislike myself on this most recent playthrough. Still though I would say that Unlimited Adventure here captures the spirit of One Piece more than any other game centered around the property.
---Most One Piece games focus on the fights and combative techniques amongst it's most iconic characters. While Adventure does have that, the actual focus of the software is focused on it's namesake. In Adventure, you play as the Strawhat crew circa the end of the Enies Lobby arc as they explore a mysterious island. An island which contains multiple seasons and climates in each of it's sections, a gem which conjures memories of the past, and a very protective guardian animal. As the game goes on, the crew must find their ship, solve the mystery of the island's existence, and craft resources using the environment around them.
---That last point is where the real meat of the game comes in. There's lots of plant life, bugs, and weird items you'll come across as you comb through the game's world. You can get materials from breaking rocks, using butterfly nets, and even fishing. Plus each member of the crew has their own combative moveset they can use. These movesets contain moves with their own vertical progression ala Final Fantasy 2 where each time you land a move on an opponent, that move gains experience. The movesets expand as certain moves reach certain level thresholds. This progression makes for a really engaging growth system that encourages players to try out everything the developers put into each character. In turn, this moveset progress mixed with material acquisition creates a real sense of every action you take having a meaning to it. Every time you make an input in Adventure is like bringing yourself closer to some goal. It's genuinely mind grabbing and fun. Every time I turned on the game, I couldn't wait to go out into the world and see what kind of grocery list item I could try and check off next.
---That being said, One Piece Unlimited Adventure does deserve some legitimate criticism here and there. For one, this isn't the most stable game out there. Framerate drops can happen if too many enemies are on screen, or effects, or even if you cast your fishing line too far. There's definitely optimizations that need to be made. I also dislike how stamina and dashing are implemented here. In Adventure, you walk around a lot. You can dash to get around quicker, but it's done by double pressing a single button. Said button is also binded to the crew's special moves. Meanwhile dash attacks also exist, and both these and special moves use stamina. As you can imagine, there were several instances where I would accidently use special moves rather than dash attacks. I think the larger issue here is there just isn't a lot of stamina you can use for each character, even when you expand it and health with Sanji's cooking. The dashing itself is kind of pathetic. The platforming segments also don't help the game's case. When the characters in Adventure jump, they have a real weight to them. Nothing too distracting, until you have to jump over a small gap. That's when they game gets touchy, and slightly frustrating.
---While I'm at it, I also wasn't a huge fan of fighting the regular enemies you come across in Adventure's world. The later game sees some real heavy hitters show up, and they can juggle you badly. Their attacks disrupt your combos very easily, and the camera is too close to your crew member for these segments to feel fluid. I would say my biggest criticism for Adventure though is the game's overall flow. It's a bit stiff, and unclear, and repetitive. Adventure works like this: you start in a new environment, and must find your way to the next boss marker. Once you find this marker, it requires gem energy and certain materials to unlock the boss fight ahead. Getting gem energy is really grindy and boring, while finding materials can be like searching for a needle in a non-communicative haystack. Unlimited Adventure is a game where I would say it requires a guide to find certain items, which is a mark against it in my book. That's a shame, because despite the criticisms I have for it, I still love this game a lot. It's adventuring is encapsulating, and it's One Piece spirit is more on point than any other related entertainment software out there. If you love One Piece, give this a try. It's a real hidden gem full of great memories. - [07/10]
---Most One Piece games focus on the fights and combative techniques amongst it's most iconic characters. While Adventure does have that, the actual focus of the software is focused on it's namesake. In Adventure, you play as the Strawhat crew circa the end of the Enies Lobby arc as they explore a mysterious island. An island which contains multiple seasons and climates in each of it's sections, a gem which conjures memories of the past, and a very protective guardian animal. As the game goes on, the crew must find their ship, solve the mystery of the island's existence, and craft resources using the environment around them.
---That last point is where the real meat of the game comes in. There's lots of plant life, bugs, and weird items you'll come across as you comb through the game's world. You can get materials from breaking rocks, using butterfly nets, and even fishing. Plus each member of the crew has their own combative moveset they can use. These movesets contain moves with their own vertical progression ala Final Fantasy 2 where each time you land a move on an opponent, that move gains experience. The movesets expand as certain moves reach certain level thresholds. This progression makes for a really engaging growth system that encourages players to try out everything the developers put into each character. In turn, this moveset progress mixed with material acquisition creates a real sense of every action you take having a meaning to it. Every time you make an input in Adventure is like bringing yourself closer to some goal. It's genuinely mind grabbing and fun. Every time I turned on the game, I couldn't wait to go out into the world and see what kind of grocery list item I could try and check off next.
---That being said, One Piece Unlimited Adventure does deserve some legitimate criticism here and there. For one, this isn't the most stable game out there. Framerate drops can happen if too many enemies are on screen, or effects, or even if you cast your fishing line too far. There's definitely optimizations that need to be made. I also dislike how stamina and dashing are implemented here. In Adventure, you walk around a lot. You can dash to get around quicker, but it's done by double pressing a single button. Said button is also binded to the crew's special moves. Meanwhile dash attacks also exist, and both these and special moves use stamina. As you can imagine, there were several instances where I would accidently use special moves rather than dash attacks. I think the larger issue here is there just isn't a lot of stamina you can use for each character, even when you expand it and health with Sanji's cooking. The dashing itself is kind of pathetic. The platforming segments also don't help the game's case. When the characters in Adventure jump, they have a real weight to them. Nothing too distracting, until you have to jump over a small gap. That's when they game gets touchy, and slightly frustrating.
---While I'm at it, I also wasn't a huge fan of fighting the regular enemies you come across in Adventure's world. The later game sees some real heavy hitters show up, and they can juggle you badly. Their attacks disrupt your combos very easily, and the camera is too close to your crew member for these segments to feel fluid. I would say my biggest criticism for Adventure though is the game's overall flow. It's a bit stiff, and unclear, and repetitive. Adventure works like this: you start in a new environment, and must find your way to the next boss marker. Once you find this marker, it requires gem energy and certain materials to unlock the boss fight ahead. Getting gem energy is really grindy and boring, while finding materials can be like searching for a needle in a non-communicative haystack. Unlimited Adventure is a game where I would say it requires a guide to find certain items, which is a mark against it in my book. That's a shame, because despite the criticisms I have for it, I still love this game a lot. It's adventuring is encapsulating, and it's One Piece spirit is more on point than any other related entertainment software out there. If you love One Piece, give this a try. It's a real hidden gem full of great memories. - [07/10]