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1 Granblue Fantasy Relink is an Action RPG, developed by Cygames. The series has been around since 2014 as a turn-based RPG mobile app. Sadly this mobile game is only available in Japan and still running the last 10 years with new campaigns. They even have crossover characters from Anime and Manga that were popular at those times. Though you can also watch the Granblue Fantasy anime to catch up on the story before going through Relink.
Granblue Fantasy takes the luxury of both flying and cruising into one beautiful package. Well, until the sky pirates appear and they shoot anchors at you.
Not enough Granblue Fantasy? Well, there is a fighting game that has some very unique mechanics that has you planning out your matches. Now onto the review of the game before I give away too much!
Gameplay
Granblue Fantasy Relink is a story driven game that like other RPGs has side quests you can do to help you level up or gather resources. It kind of reminded me a bit of Monster Hunter with how you start any kind of side quest. There’s a guild girl behind the table who gives you side quests to do for materials and money.
Though it does have the capability to do online matchmaking to do these side quests with others using any character you have unlocked. There’s even a trader who appears everywhere and has a ridiculous exchange rate to buy a single item.
There’s even a blacksmith that you can visit either in town or in the field to either upgrade a weapon or make a new one. They brought over the same mechanic from their mobile app version where you can level up the weapon along with your character.
You don’t have to worry about your character’s level needing to be high to level up your weapons. Because you can have a level 40 character, but a level 100 sword like it was nothing. But that’s not the only thing for you to focus on when it comes to leveling, because there’s masteries.
Masteries are skill trees that every character has and collecting the currency will be as easy as breathing. The only thing that won’t be easy is how you’ll divide your points among the characters you have and will use throughout your playthrough. You’ll also have the honor of getting to divide those points on not only their offensive tree, but also their defensive.
There’s even a weapons skill tree to help you unlock the weapons’ full potential. So, just don’t mind what you’re doing and you’ll get a lot of points.
Graphics & Audio
I enjoyed the looks and feels when I’m either button mashing or performing combos during fights. Though, to my surprise I figured out late in my playthrough that I was playing at 30 fps and I could have had it set to 120 fps. The cut-scenes are all in-game and you can feel the love placed behind not only the movement of the characters but their portraits as well.
If you’re really focused on a fight or just listening to the great voice cast, you’ll miss how even their portraits match the emotions expressed at that time. The music itself had me immersed in every tear jerking moment, every boss fight and even the panic-inducing objectives in two chapters of the game.
There is a bug that I was affected by at least four times. It involves the end of Chapter 8. When I defeated the boss of chapter 8, my game froze and crashed as the cut scene started. I attempted a few things and had to beat the boss three more times to hope I got the problem. But, the answer to solve it was to have my game in Full Screen mode and not Borderless mode. I wish I was joking.
Longevity
I started playing Granblue Fantasy Relink and beat the story for it on the same day in one sitting. Spending about a good 17 hours, I completed the story mode and a few side quests NPCs asked of me. I mentioned earlier about a guild girl who has missions you can select to do either with your own party or with people online. Though I couldn’t test the online portion since I’m playing prior to release.
Otherwise, I believe you can spend a good 25-30 hours to complete all the missions and achieve an S++ rank. But, for completionists, I believe it’ll take around 40 to 60 hours. I do enjoy looking for the teeny pincers when revisiting the story chapters to get even more powerful from collecting them. They’re too adorable to abandon in these trying times.
Final Thoughts
I had a blast with my journey in Granblue Fantasy Relink. When it comes to a great RPG, I will be engrossed and invested into their story to the point that I lose track of time. Having a bit of history with the franchise, I ate this story and its many flavors of mechanics as if it’s a meal made by Gordon Ramsey. I wanted and hoped for the story to keep going, but a part of me knew the end was coming sooner rather than later. Wishing for more of the story, Here’s to more for this series.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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