Luffy and the Straw Hats must uncover one final hidden mystery in the upcoming DLC, Reunion of Memories. After their adventure on Waford, Luffy and the Straw Hats decide to enjoy a banquet where they are suddenly approached by a girl, clothed in black, bearing a striking resemblance to Lim. She then uses the power of a mysterious black cube to send the Straw Hats into an altered World of memories, where things are not as they remember them. Not only will Reunion of Memories take you on a new adventure, but it will also introduce two new systems that will change the One Piece Odyssey experience.
Let’s now look at how these new systems change the experience.
Limited Order Battles
In the DLC, a new battle system is implemented to supplement the combat experience.
Limited Order battles are specific encounters that you’ll experience in Reunion of Memories and are tuned for higher level play to allow for deeper strategic gameplay. These battles have exceptional enemies with strong abilities that will need to be planned around for best results. For an example of what Limited order battles are, let’s breakdown the battle with the Rear Admiral Barricade below.
In this battle, the Straw Hats must defeat Rear Admiral Barricade to succeed. The accompanying sailors do not need to be defeated to win. In fact, any defeated sailors will result in Rear Admiral Barricade receiving a boost to his power. If all sailors are defeated, the admiral will boost to an astronomical level of power and can make quick work of the Straw Hats.
So how do we get past this? The straightforward solution is to focus solely on taking down the admiral. However, the admiral is tough and the sailors will overwhelm the Straw Hats if left alone. Fortunately, the Straw Hats are well equipped for this issue as Brook, Nami, and more can incapacitate the sailors with abilities that can stun or confuse them. But the obstacles don’t end there. As one more fun mechanic to the battle, the Straw Hats will be joined by an NPC ally that will not hesitate to defeat the sailors and boost the power of the admiral. This “ally” can cause some chaos in any plan, making the battle more exciting.
This new system brings a refreshing change to the combat of Odyssey as the strategic decisions made in battle allow for a much bigger impact in the outcome of the fight.
Let’s now look at the narrative of Reunion of Memories and how the next system changes that experience.
Captain’s Selection
Reunion of Memories also adds a branching storyline system to improve the narrative experience.
Over the course of the story, there will be several points where the system will prompt you to make a story choice between two options. Your choice may be able to steer the Straw Hats away from danger or straight into it for the bold and the daring.
In this situation here, the Straw Hats are looking to save the mayor of Water Seven and they can go about it in two ways: Save the workers and ask for their help or take the back streets to the mayor’s house. In this case, both choices will lead to a battle but the foes that you will face will be different.
The Captain’s Selection system strengthens the narrative of Reunion of Memories by empowering the player to interact with the story for a deeper level of immersion.
Reunion of Memories comes out May 25 on PS5 and PS4. Come join the Straw Hats for a new and different way to experience One Piece Odyssey.
