One Piece Grand Battle

[Grave]

Firefox crashed and I really don't want to rewrite this, but I'm going to anyway. If you're not a One Piece fan, you can probably ignore this thread, because there's really no reason for you to play this game when Power Stone exists and is much better.

I got the PS2 One Piece Grand Battle demo with the new Shonen Jump today, and I have good news: it's not as bad as I was expecting. For a licensed anime game, that is the best endorsement I could probably give.

The game plays kind of like a cross between Treasure Battle and the earlier Grand Battle games, though I haven't played the third. Anyway, it plays a lot more smoothly than the PS Grand Battle games (though it'd be really hard not to) and you can move around the entire backgrounds, not just in one plane. Remember the phrase "Power Stone gone retarded" from the Urban Reign thread? Yeah, that fits here too.

The dubbing hurts my head. It's really, really bad. I haven't seen the 4Kids version of the show, so I can't say whether or not they got the same voice "talent" but as bad as it is, it gets the job done. It's nowhere near as annoying as, say, the first new TMNT game was with the incessant "SLICE AND DICE!" so there's something to be happy about. If you were going to buy this game anyway, it's not exactly a dealbreaker.

The graphics are fine, everything is well rendered, but my complaint lies more in the visual style than the actual graphics. The characters have this squished-down, childlike look to them. Some characters look okay in it, but there was really no reason for it. The Treasure Battle models were very faithful to the show and the manga and they were perfect. These... are kinda creepy at times. Look at some screenshots of Nico Robin, for instance. Terrifying.

Having suffered through unlocking most of the cast of Treasure Battle, I will probably pick this up when it's out, because it's an OP game I haven't been trudging through for years. If you're a fan you'll probably dig it, unless you're really uptight about the voices.

[George]

I've been looking forward to this for about a month now, actually. I'd seen Treasure Battle in action at a con before and thought it looked fun, so I took a look at some vids for Grand Battle. Luffy fighting Crocodile in this sand temple was sick to behold.

The dubbed voices suck to be sure, but hopefully nothing of real content was changed. I was planning on getting the GC version in hopes that the game was 4-player (which would fucking rock) but it isn't. I guess I should get the GC one anyway.

[Grave]

I've been looking forward to this for about a month now, actually. I'd seen Treasure Battle in action at a con before and thought it looked fun, so I took a look at some vids for Grand Battle. Luffy fighting Crocodile in this sand temple was sick to behold.

Treasure Battle IS fun, in small doses... and if you really, really like OP. When my friend and I bought the game at... er, our first Otakon 3 years ago, I think, we didn't know who half the characters were, and as we watched the show and learned more and more about them, we grew to appreciate how faithful it was to the anime. It's a really cool game if you have at least one other friend who's an OP fan, but I've also thrown a lot of time into the single player, and it can be infuriating. The unlocking of characters has to do with earning combinations of trading cards, and the cards you get is up to dumb luck and a stupid slot machine. That said, I will probably never, ever get to see Shanks and Mihawk since they don't appear in the story mode. I've been meaning to finally install a region switch in my GC so I can read the damn text, the Japanese font won't load for some reason so all text that isn't images loads as gibberish. Once I've earned everything I'd like to write a proper FAQ/guide to the game, since the one on GameFAQs is pretty awful, and for OP fans there's a lot to like there.

The dubbed voices suck to be sure, but hopefully nothing of real content was changed. I was planning on getting the GC version in hopes that the game was 4-player (which would fucking rock) but it isn't. I guess I should get the GC one anyway.

I heard the Loguetown episodes were dropped from the US version, which makes absolutely no sense at all, but "Rogue Town" is here as a background, which leads me to believe these eps will air on Cartoon Network sometime, or anything that's still in the manga flies. Sanji's not available in the demo, so I can't say whether or not he's still smoking or anything like that. Which leads me to wonder how they're handling Smoker in the 4Kids edit... maybe it's okay if he smokes, since he's a "bad" guy?

[George]

I heard the Loguetown episodes were dropped from the US version, which makes absolutely no sense at all, but "Rogue Town" is here as a background, which leads me to believe these eps will air on Cartoon Network sometime, or anything that's still in the manga flies. Sanji's not available in the demo, so I can't say whether or not he's still smoking or anything like that. Which leads me to wonder how they're handling Smoker in the 4Kids edit... maybe it's okay if he smokes, since he's a "bad" guy?

Nope, Loguetown is in it, but they did cut out the Apis and Little Garden arcs (30 episodes total) Also, the way they did Smoker was ridiculous. They take away his smoking cigars and his "cigar belt" yet he STILL has smoke around him as if he were. Durr.

[Grave]

Nope, Loguetown is in it, but they did cut out the Apis and Little Garden arcs (30 episodes total)

Good. Little Garden was alright, but the Apis episodes... I didn't think they were as horrible as Kaizoku made them out to be, but sometimes they were pretty annoying. Not as bad as each of those filler eps after Arabasta, though, I'm still in the middle of that shit because I got so fed up. I have a lot of OP to get caught up on, maybe I'll start on that tonight.

Also, the way they did Smoker was ridiculous. They take away his smoking cigars and his "cigar belt" yet he STILL has smoke around him as if he were. Durr.

Hah, and his name is still Smoker? At least they didn't give him the ability to... uh, control clouds or something, I don't know. I've read that the CN version is less censored, but this shit still happens in it? Irritating. I was really pulling for Funimation to get it before it got picked up by 4Kids. If they handled OP like they handled Yu Yu Hakusho, I would have been thrilled.

[George]

Hah, and his name is still Smoker? At least they didn't give him the ability to... uh, control clouds or something, I don't know. I've read that the CN version is less censored, but this shit still happens in it? Irritating. I was really pulling for Funimation to get it before it got picked up by 4Kids. If they handled OP like they handled Yu Yu Hakusho, I would have been thrilled.

You can thank the ADR director Justin Cook for his handling of Yu Yu. He's also the voice of Yusuke. He's a huge Yu Yu fan and I'm sure he wanted to see it localized well.

And yeah, the Apis episodes are not really that great. I've been watching ahead to the Water 7 arc, just recently saw when Usopp leaves the crew and duels Luffy for the Going Merry. It's some sick shitski.

But yeah, the game. Pictures:

[Grave]

I've been watching ahead to the Water 7 arc, just recently saw when Usopp leaves the crew and duels Luffy for the Going Merry. It's some sick shitski.

Wait, what? Whoa. I can't tell if you're making this up or not, but either way, I am going to start getting caught up on the show. That sounds crazy.

Also, I feel like every DS thread ever when I say: this game looks a lot better in motion.

[George]

Also, I feel like every DS thread ever when I say: this game looks a lot better in motion.

I tried looking for the better looking ones, IGN's pics are all bloated and pixellated.

[FuryFox]

The source material is so ugly anyways, I'm not sure improving the game's likeness to it is really helping anything.

[George]

The source material is so ugly anyways, I'm not sure improving the game's likeness to it is really helping anything.

I don't find anything wrong with the artistic style of the show, it's at least a deviation from derivative and generic character design #735734523233566, now with more belts and spikier hair!