When it comes to translating One Piece into a video game, developers have typically taken the action route, leaning on flashy battles and wild Devil Fruit powers as pirates sail the high seas. That makes One Piece: Grand Gourmet\u2019s Sanji-centric restaurant builder with the full roster of characters from across the series is an inspired choice. But while I adore the premise and appreciate revisiting the major locations and feeding nearly every character, working to win over residents of the Grand Line often feels as shallow as the lovestruck chef it’s based around.<\/p>\n
After a storm separates them from the rest of the crew, Sanji and Luffy find a restaurant ship being terrorized by a group of fake Straw Hat pirates who are posing as (and giving a bad name to) the restaurant of Sanji\u2019s mentor, the Baratie. The duo sets sail to beat the fakers in culinary battles and clear the Baratie’s name throughout the Grand Line and beyond. Taking a chronological path from the early Romance Dawn days in the East Blue all the way to a taste of the latest arc in the manga and anime, Grand Gourmet is packed with fan service in lieu of a meaningful original story. While I wish there was more meat on the bone, I enjoy Grand Gourmet embracing Sanji\u2019s ethos that everyone who needs food will be fed, and it turns out, everyone the Straw Hats ever met is hungry.<\/p>\n
Your floating restaurant starts small and empty, with only a kitchen, a table, and Sanji\u2019s chef skills to cook for hungry customers. Feeding people brings in valuable cash you can use to build out the restaurant with more tables, attractions, and decorations to improve the space’s comfort. The more comfortable the accommodations, the happier the customers, and the more they will spend on food. Ironically, comfort is an unfortunate word for this metric. The crimes I must have committed to the concept of interior design have to be the most stressful and sloppy places to attempt to enjoy a meal. I love the idea of building a restaurant that pulls elements from various islands and lets you run wild with the decor, with Sanji cooking delicacies from across the globe, but that tantalizing proposition falls flat in execution. <\/p>\n
Each new region brings a set of restaurant fixtures themed to the current story arc you\u2019re sailing through, be that new flooring, lamps, benches, or landscaping. For example, the Thriller Bark set features horror-themed decor, plus a spot to plant the stray zombie friends who accompany the living visitors on the ship. Instead of rewarding you for making an aesthetically pleasing, well-organized dining room, Grand Gourmet doesn\u2019t care about actual comfort. Instead, it incentivizes you to cram every square inch with lamps, benches, and shrubbery to boost stats. Neither Crocodile nor Eustice Kidd ultimately cares what their assigned seat looks like. And because of the limited space and clunky reorganization tools, these areas remained cluttered catastrophes that still somehow made a boatload of money. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\nOne Piece: Grand Gourmet Screenshots<\/h3>\n