One Piece: Grand Adventure -- Red-Leg Zeff

So okay, I've decided that I'm sick and tired of being a lazy excuse for an uploader after a couple of weeks of being sick and tired and just plain tired from a lot of stuff going on since I came back.

In overcompensation, I seemed to have drowned out my stress and desire for escape with one of the worst things possible for an addictive and compulsive personality like mine...customizable RPGs! Constant gain and reallocation of stat points, equipment, skill sets, experience gains, weapons, and questing until the end of time...not...very conducive to actually getting things done. Plus I managed to get myself stuck in multiple sinkholes at the same time, so it's a definite recipe for disaster if left unchecked. Consider it checked...for now. (Give me the strength!)

So, I figure that I should get back into fighting games anyway, what with Marvel vs. Capcom 3 on the way, and while I myself don't own a console on which to play it, it's always nice to have friends who will front the cost and be dying to bring in more and more people to play with them.

One Piece: Grand Adventure, however...is not quite what some people might be looking for when it comes to scratching that itch, but rest assured that it's got more than enough to keep me engaged and really get the blood pumping. And, well...if you're not a One Piece fan, I'm sorry for you, but it really *is* a qualified and reasonably complex experience...provided you don't mind a little random chance and some gimmicky, but simple-to-understand attack patterns.

---

"Red-Leg" Zeff with Patty vs.
Portgaz D. Trace [Portgas D. Ace] with Lassoo
Skypiea "Survival"

Well, now this...is...highly random. I warned you that not every matchup would make complete sense, and this one's the biggest offender of them all, if I had to wager. So let's come up with a cover story to excuse the insanity that's now unfolding...

I suppose Ace must have stopped by the Baratie and for whatever reason had to fight his way past all the cooks when he was unable to pay and unwilling to wash dishes. Or perhaps he fell asleep and woke up in a daze, so he started a ruckus when he noticed all the chefs wielding sharpened implements who had just wandered out of the kitchen to witness the spectacle, so he made a scene before departing on his fire-powered boat.

Anyway, whatever the cause, Zeff and Patty clearly followed him all the way to the Knock Up Stream whereupon they happened to find themselves in a strange land under assault by its vengeful self-declared god. ...no? Well, that's my best shot and it's all the excuse you'll get from me. I have no idea why Lassoo the gun-dog got roped into all this, though.

Skypiea "Survival" is one of the more devastatingly chaotic stages in the game, complete with a giant bolt of judgment coming down to create a gaping pit in the center of the screen to items regularly being struck by lightning. Oh, and a bunch of onlookers from both sides of the conflict just kinda sit around and watch you, although some of them will have some pretty complex idle animations.

AI players have a really hard time addressing the giant pit in the center of the stage...so if you care to try out some less-than-admirable "fighting" tactics, you can just keep it between you and the enemy until they wipe themselves out more than nine times in ten.

Anyway, Zeff is one of two very obvious "clone" characters in this game, and you'll see a very striking similarity to Sanji's moves...which would only make sense, as one would assume from the man who taught Sanji how to fight with his feet like he does when we meet him. The other "clone" is Kuina, who fights with a wooden sword and what's basically an immature version of Tashigi's fighting style.

Anyway, Ace is a pretty tough opponent, although for gameplay purposes, obviously Logia-type Devil Fruit powers won't impart near-invulnerability upon their users...in general those with complete command over an element will have a bit less conventional attack vectors, not limited by mere swinging of fists, feet, or weapons. We'll see more of "Trace" later, though.

Patty is one of only two healing type support characters. Basically he flips meat off his pan at the person who summoned him until his meter empties out.

Lassoo...is...not a fun support to have to deal with, since he fires a volley of explosive baseballs, and like being struck with Mr. 4's bat, you'll fly uncontrollably into the air and only regain free movement once you land and get up...by which time, Lassoo will have fired up another batch of baseball-bombs. The best I can come up with is to simply remove the gun from the field by attacking him before he can attack for the first time, since all support characters have a definite warm-up phase they must first wait before taking any actions. Failing that, stay out of his range so as not to invite explosive immobility upon yourself, and eventually he'll disappear when his meter runs down.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• One
• Piece
• Grand
• Adventure
• Ganbarion
• Namco
• Bandai
• 4Kids
• GameCube
• Red-Leg
• Zeff
• Portgaz
• D.
• Trace
• Portgas
• Ace
• Skypiea
• Survival

[Ppnjelly]

how many times did Ace fall in that black hole?

you would think he would learn after the first two falls not the just run into it -_-

[YuuGiJoou]

@Ppnjelly Yeah, really. But then again, it's kinda weird that I had to actually move to try to get him to stop doing that repeatedly...

Of course, the pathfinding programmed into the game doesn't actually seem to make this kind of intelligence necessary, so it's easy to see that they just added a new alteration to the stage that the AI wasn't able to figure out.

[strategist9]

Ah, Zeff and his funny hat. Poor Norla in the background. Must be after Eneru (or Enel) zapped her.

Strange that Zeff would bust up his own restaurant to win...but he'll probably just make Ace pay for it.

[YuuGiJoou]

I'm surprised his hat can support the weight of items he picks up and that he can seamlessly transition from the ground to his head and back down to swinging range faster than one could even possibly drop said hat.

"You PUNK!"

"Fix up this deck you made me break, then get back to paying off the rest of your debt."

"You can't quit!"

Well, at least the old man gets his entertainment from the whole ordeal...that's what's really important...apparently.

[tiesHatake]

How ironic;

Zeff: "You dare attack my restaurant!"

'Trace' (Ace): "Sorry"

[YuuGiJoou]

@Ppnjelly Well, that would be technically true in-universe, but Sanji is the established character in this fighting game series. Zeff was added in later and his moves were modeled after the existing work done by the designers and programmers on Sanji.

That said, Zeff is pretty distinct in enough ways from Sanji that he's a welcome addition to the roster of characters, so he's more accurately a "partial-clone" in the same vein as we have in the latest Super Smash Bros. game.

[Ppnjelly]

@PikachuDude101 well Zeff created that fighting style, so Sanji is the clone

[PikachuDude101]

zeff is a clone of sanji in this game

[Overhazard]

Eww, Ace popped Zeff's corns.

Ace seems pretty cheap. He's got projectile attacks that stay on the field for some time without needing to use any of his super meter. It doesn't even seem that hard to aim.

I also like how the Shandian warriors (minus Wyper) are standing off to the side. I can actually recognize these guys. But where's Braham?