One Piece

More like "be a backup wizard" but yes.

Although Nami isn't a backup as much as the wizard pretty much.

Really D&D doesn't fit at all

edited 24th Nov '15 12:42:25 AM by Adannor

Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy classes fit better. I've always toyed with the idea of making One Piece into an FE style SRPG.

Well... it can be a sort of D&D where some characters have 30+ Strength, Dexterity and/or Constitution and others... don't. :P

And Wizards would still be better

You could say that there are no Wizards, Clerics and prepared casters in general, while having a Devil Fruit can make you some sort of Sorcerer. So basically Whitebeard is a max level Fighter and a max-level Sorcerer and has superhuman stats.

General One Piece question: Do you guys think that One Piece is an atypical shonen manga in its character design? (1) Most of the marines are more masculine than the usual manga villains. For instance, Akainu, Aokiji and Kizaru look really manly. Compared to Sasuke or Pain?

Gestalts are OP.

@beatem: Oda has a distinctive style, but I think his character design is just a bit more old-fashioned than the typical shonen, probably because OP actually started way before most current shonens. :P

No where did I say that I expected Nami to suddenly become some physical fighter, especially spontaneously in the New World. What I suggested was that Nami have her own combat skills kept relevant and strong from the beginning of her character arc, and not given a weird working party toy-turned-weapon. It seems like Oda wasn't sure what to do to keep her relevant in action scenes, and threw together a weapon for her to be based around.

Not to say I don't like the Clima Tact, but it overshadows other parts of her abilities that would have been more interesting to highlight. It basically says "the woman can't be strong unless she's got some crazy lightning weapon to use." Robin fits in a similar boat, since she's shown to have no combat abilities outside of using a pretty high-tier Devil Fruit. But we've had similar discussions like this too often in the past.

End of the day, Clima Tact is cool, but it's wonky, even by One Piece standards, and makes you wonder why the hell Ussop isn't making more god-like weapons.

I've posted my D&D-class thoughts before, but to summarize:

• Luffy: Barbarian. He's headstrong, never seems to die through both willpower and natural defenses, key abilities based around supercharging himself and dealing with the exhaustion later.
• Zoro: Fighter. Adept at weapons, strength focused, DPS heavy, all those katanas give him good Crit chances.
• Nami: Rogue. Thief, skill-based utility, support oriented. "Magical" weapon gives her other options.
• Ussop: Ranger. Survivalist, ranged-weapon focused, trapper, good at bluffing and reading enemies, also support oriented.

Sanji: Monk. A bit of weird one, but Sanji seems to get a lot of his strength from strong morals and beliefs, like not hitting women, not using his hands, don't mess with the cooking, etc. Unarmed, finesse combatant. Once he leveled up, got an elemental attack. Chopper: Cleric, or maybe Alchemist. Cleric would make sense as a healer, but since he lacks magical healing, Chopper would probably focus on medicine-based healing. Alchemist also makes sense because he uses his concoctions to transform himself and become stronger temporarily. Robin: Wizard. Crowd control, supernatural utility, very intelligent with a goal based around finding ancient texts. Franky: I can't think of any regular class for Franky to be honest, but we can stretch out to other sources. Probably an Artificer, or some other mechanic role. Brook: Bard. Rapier-user, knows a ton about stories, rumors, and legends, talented at a variety of arts, has music-based powers, can channel other supernatural abilities for other utility.

That's the gist of it. Some work better than others, obviously, and D&D isn't the perfect system for One Piece, but as a little for-fun concept, it's interesting to think about.

I'm pretty sure the concept of Law having limits was a translation error. -Wanderlustwarrior

Eh, the reason Nami got the Clima-Tact tho was because she felt she couldn't keep up...which is technically true because aside from being somewhat proficient with a bo-staff, she wasn't exactly much of a fighter. She would basically try to avoid fights as much as possible and just leave it to the actual fighters like Luffy or Zoro.

I'd say its less sexism (tho given recent events, I'm inclined to disagree with that...) and more "I am not stupidly strong like those two idiots so I am going to leave the heavy hitting to them". I do agree I wish more focus went on her thieving skills, but that was sort of phased out after the whole Arlong business and I guess Oda didn't want one of the main characters to be an amoral thief so her focus when "stealing" to "weather".

A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.

She still steals stuff sometimes though.

Cynicism really colors interpretations.

Like many people, I love to give the anime shit for its haphazard quality, but they recently adapted Tactics No. 5. I have to admit that it was fun to watch.

"When I was alive, I was a tender soul. Now, I am tenderloin." -Nanako (Senryuu Shoujo)

The sequence from the killer bowling throw to Zoro cutting the statue in half was very nicely done, and the finisher against human Pica was well animated too, but holy crap that episode had so much padding. It took an event that couldn't have taken more than a few seconds in real time and stretched it out over roughly 20 minutes of screen time. That has to be some sort of record.

It's moments like these that make me reeeeeeally want a One Piece Kai. It doesn't even need to start from the beginning - just on the archipelago, or maybe even Amazon Lily or Impel Down.

edited 25th Nov '15 9:53:49 AM by MileRun

Yeah, they're really struggling. They've needed a gaiden arc for a while now. Maybe they could flesh out the "Sunny Side" adventure into, say, three months' worth of material to give the anime some breathing room. 12 episodes wouldn't be hard.

Whoever thinks Naruto still needs filler a year after the manga ended should come work with Toei. The One Piece anime has never had that much filler because it doesn't like to interrupt arcs. At most, it's a few filler eps during the transition between arcs. That's why it's relying so heavily on padding now.

edited 25th Nov '15 4:30:12 PM by KOman

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But that's the problem, especially now with Oda's doctor-mandated once a month break. They would need 3 months of filler a year just to stay level with the manga, if they wanted a 1:1 episode/chapter match.

That's become doctor's orders now? Wow.

Maybe he needs more than just a month long break.

I mean, it'd suck, but it's the only way to give him time to rest.

This wouldn't be a problem if Anime's were allowed to take longer hiatus', instead of having to keep going or lose their time slot.

One Strip! One Strip!

Or do reruns which they apparently don't given that there's an episode every week

Yeah that too.

One Strip! One Strip!

We're talking about friccken' One Piece here. They can take as much time off as they need and still get their timeslot back.

Yeah, I was thinking he could just do what the guy who created Hunter X Hunter does. I mean, apparently he negotiated a really loose contract at the very beginning, but considering it's One Piece Oda could probably do something like that.

It's not like it's popularity is going to suddenly plummet if he takes some time off.

edited 25th Nov '15 8:17:46 PM by LSBK

Exactly.

That's why they should fucking do it. Give Oda some good time to rest, and let the manga get ahead.

He clearly needs it.

One Strip! One Strip!

Of course, Oda is a workaholic right, so that factors into things.

It's not about the manga, it's about the anime. Reruns are more or less unheard of, apparently, at least running in the timeslot that the premier normally goes in. They just put another show in the slot instead.