SDCC 2015: ‘One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3’ Doesn’t Care About Continuity, And Its Better Off For It!

As you could probably tell from our E3 preview of One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3, if you’re a fan of the long running manga and anime series, and ESPECIALLY if you’re a Dynasty Warriors player, you can’t go wrong with the upcoming Musou game. Featuring over 35 characters spanning the hundreds of chapters from the series, there’s going to be plenty to dive into while setting sail for the Grand Line!

Following the story from the very beginning, players who missed part of the One Piece lore and dedicated fans who want to relive the series’ greatest moments will have something to look forward to from its massive campaign. But what if you don’t want to wait for hours to be able to wipe out armies as Ace, Shanks or any of the Straw Hat Pirates post time skip? Luckily for us, that won’t be a problem.

During our playthough of the Comic-Con build, we were able to play as the above characters and more during Luffy’s first fight against the Navy. When asked, we were informed that regardless of where you are in the story, you or your partner can choose anyone who’s unlocked at that point. Much like Hyrule Warriors before it, the game aims to give players the freedom to use who they want regardless of whether or not silly things like a sense of time, or the CPU already using that character gets in the way. Whether or not you’ll need to complete the stage at least once before being given free reign was unclear, but one way or another, we’ll have our chance to screw with the One Piece timeline.

What say you, One Piece fans? Let us know in the comments, and tell us whether or not you’re going to be chasing down the ultimate treasure when One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 launches for the PS3 and PS4 on August 25th.