[SOGESNAKE]

So, I've finally gone and beaten the "Dream Story" for the game... unlocked all the characters, and tried them all out abit.... Sooooooooooooo....

Spoiler for Remainer of Story from where I left off (SPOILERS):

Luffy and Co. retreat back to Sabaody to recover from their loss at Marineford... where they run into CP9 who have been taken over by those Black Dials. As they fight them off and wonder how they knew they were there, Eneru shows up revealing that he's allied with Blackbeard/Moria and he's commanding CP9. He's wreaking havoc and everything... until he's suddenly hit by Whitebeard's presence (which he soon finds out is his Haki). While he's taken off guard by this, Luffy and the gang manage to fight him off till he retreats. After this, Jinbei recommends to Luffy and Whitebeard that the odds of them winning at their current numbers is pretty slim (seeing as alot of their allies were lost to Blackbeard at Marineford... ie Vista and Jozu)... and recommends they recruit some people before attempting to fight him. He starts by saying he could probably talk Arlong into joining them (which Nami is very hesitant about), but they find out that once they get there... not only does Arlong refuse to listen to a thing the "goverment dog" Jinbei has to say... but he refuses to team up with lower level humans. Crocodile attacks Arlong Park, which forces Luffy and Co. to not only fight off Arlong, but Crocodile too. Next few chapters are pretty much finding the Strawhats... such as Zoro who's found with Mihawk who is shocked to see him acting the way he is. Afew chapters later (with characters such as Perona, Mihawk, Vista, Jozu and Buggy joining), they run into Garp/Kizaru who's in the middle of fighting off afew Pacifista, an "evil" Sentomaru, and Eneru (who's reviving fallen Pacifistas when defeated). Borsalino figures he can deal with Sentomaru, but as he's warping over to his location, Eneru cuts him off mid-stream (which shocks Borsalino that someone was able to keep up with him), and they start fighting. Eventually they fight off Eneru, retrieve Sentomaru/Pacifistas, and Garp realizes the situation... and wonders if it might be best for the Marines to team up with Luffy and Co. for the time being. Garp ends up staying with Luffy and the gang while Kizaru/Ace head back to Marine HQ to talk Akainu into joining forces. Akainu, disgusted by the idea of them teaming up with pirates, attacks Ace... with Kizaru just kinda backing off... forcing Luffy/Whitebeard to rush to Marine HQ to rescue Ace. They fight their way in... and once again, Blackbeard shows up and starts wreaking havoc with the Black Dials. Luffy ends up rescuing Ace, while Whitebeard fights off an angred Akainu while they escape. As they fight, Whitebeard is eventually stabbed by some of his crew (taken over by the Black Dial), grazed by one of Sakazuki's Meigo attack, and Moria's Doppelman cuts in to use a Black Dial on a weakened Whitebeard. He's taken control of... and the game cuts into 2 seperate endings at this point depending on what Partner Episodes you've done next to the Main Story...

Spoiler for Normal Ending:

While Luffy's busy fighting off Moria (who eventually transforms into his Shadow's Asgard form), Whitebeard is eventually defeated by your allies. As he's starting to snap out of the Black Dial's effects, Moria impales him with about 6-7 Tsuno-Tokage... and Whitebeard eventually ends up dying standing up. Blackbeard see's his chance, seals himself into Moria's Black Box with Whitebeard, and takes his Gura Gura no Mi fruit. He starts destroying the place, which forces Luffy and the team to retreat. They later find out that Teach has sealed himself off at Punk Hazard (which due to the Black Dial's effects, has started growing purple crystals everywhere, and black liquid is spewing everywhere). They go arfter Teach, and eventually corner him off at Punk Hazard. He starts attacking the Strawhats with shockwaves, which Zoro takes the opportunity to catch him off guard and attack while Sanji rescues the women, and Franky blocks the shockwaves with Franky Shogun. While Zoro has Teach distracted, Sanji launches Luffy with Armée de L'Air Gomu Shoot, where Luffy then starts to ready his Red Hawk. Blackbeard realizes this, and aims his Kurouzu towards Luffy and intends to grab him. Luffy ducks his hand, and defeats Teach with Red Hawk (which looks VERY strangely simular to how Hody Jones was defeated). The game ends with the Strawhats leaving on the Sunny, they say goodbye to the Whitebeard Pirates (who are still mourning Whitebeard), and then the credits come up.

Spoiler for True Ending:

Luffy defeats Moria, and returns to see everyone fighting off Whitebeard. Whitebeard see's his chance, and strikes at Luffy with his bisento. Ace seeing what's happening, shields Luffy from the attack, as Whitebeard stops his attack before it hits. Furious that he almost attacked one of his own sons, he breaks out of the Black Dial's control... which shocks Teach. Moria/Eneru are quickly defeated afterwards, and Blackbeard starts firing off the Black Dial again. Some pirates under the Black Dial's control start to attack Blackbeard (who has no idea what's going on now), and he starts absorbing everyone around him with his Black Hole, and whatever's controlling the pirates around him starts reacting to his Yami Yami no Mi powers. Teach dissapears into the darkness, along with Moria and Eneru's bodies, and the battle is won. Law eventually shows up and operates on Whitebeard to heal his injuries. Law inquires about where the dials came from, and ultimately decides it's best to return to Skypeia and find out just what they are. Garp and Kizaru join up with them, as Akainu returns to Punk Hazard to find out what he can on the Black Dials. When they arrive at Skypeia however, they find Eneru (under the control of the Black Dials) destroying everything. Kizaru gets seperated from the group, and is also taken over by the dials. So Law ends up fighting and defeating Kizaru, and Luffy once again defeats Eneru. Eneru (furious that he was betrayed in the end) joins the group to take down Blackbeard. They find out Blackbeard has sealed himself off at Punk Hazard, and everyone has lost connection with Akainu. Luffy, Whitebeard, Kuzan, and Kizaru each start taking over the island, until they find where Blackbeard has sealed himself off. As they get closer, Moria and Akainu (both controlled by the dial) start attacking. It turns the evil energy coming from where Blackbeard sealed himself off is too much for most of the pirates, and they start retreating. Whitebeard tries to surpress their haki with his own, which Luffy, Kuzan, Kizaru join in (along with Eneru and his Mantra), and they eventually surpress the presence. They defeat Moria/Akainu, and eventually find Teach (who's currently under the control of the dial). He catches Luffy off guard by hurling debris from his hand through Liberation, but Law quickly displaces them with his Room/Takt ability. Smoker catches Teach off guard and pins him down with his jitte as Luffy recovers. Teach eventually breaks Smoker's jitte, and knocks him away. He's about to smash Smoker with his Gura Gura no Mi abilities, when he realises Luffy is flying at him. Teach aims his Kurouzu at Luffy, intending to grab him, and smash him with his Gura Gura no Mi powers. Luffy attacks with Elephant Gatling, pounding through Blackbeard's Kurouzu, and smashing him into the ground. He then finishes the attack off with Grizzly Magnum, and Teach is defeated. Same ending, only Whitebeard himself says goodbye to Luffy, and Akainu wakes up to see the pirates leaving (which he orders the Marines to chase after).

Sooo... all in all, an alright story. Something I'd expect from a "Dream Story" no doubt. Guess they somewhat made up for the lack of Fishman Island/Punk Hazard by having the finishers from each put into the endings. All in all... if you didn't like the first game or it didn't impress you... I really don't think this game will change your opinion. However, if you DID like the first game... then I'd definately recommend this game, as they've fixed ALOT of the gameplay problems from the first.

I had said before that from the characters I'd played, Smoker was my favourite of the new ones.... having played them all now... my current favourite is probably now between Blackbeard (with both fruits) and Garp. Blackbeard cause... well, it's Blackbeard with both powers... as for Garp, I expceted him to be a powerhouse like Whitebeard, but god... I didn't expect his moveset to be so.... THAT powerful.

Enemies that sometimes take 4-5 hits to kill with characters like Akainu or Ace, Garp just decimates in 1-2 hits with either one of his wrestling moves, or just his normal punches. On another note... characters I figure that are gonna take awhile to get used to their styles are Eneru and Marco. Eneru mostly cause he has a Voltage Meter that builds with certain attacks, and is used to power up some of his moves... like his 30,000,000 Volt Hino will turn to 40,000,000 Volt Kiten, or at max will turn to 60,000,000 Volt Julungul. Marco on the other hand.... his moveset is kinda... everywhere. What I mean is, you push triangle once, and he's already flying forwards doing zig zags and flips. He's fantastic for attacking groups of enemies... unfortunately, since he's all over the place most of the time... it's hard to hit a single boss most of the time. On the other side, both his specials regenerate his health, so I guess it's VERY hard to die using Marco~