Granblue Fantasy: Relink is, effectively, a dream game that I’ve never had, but am so in love with its setting a standard for more games like this one. It does so much right, and it revels in what it is, with the added bonus of the gameplay being addictive, responsive, and a fleshed out endgame in which all of the systems fire on all cylinders.
Granblue is a series I know next to nothing other than a post saying how someone keeps mistaking Siegfried for a beautiful butch lesbian (which is true, Siegfried is a beautiful butch lesbian) and the fact the main character is named Gran.
So, John Granblue Fantasy.
Finishing Relink’s short campaign, I understand why people like this world. The crew of the Grandcypher are characters you probably have seen before, but I am such a sucker for a family on a ship sailing for adventure… despite me not having read much of One Piece.
It is unfortunate that the game really doesn’t try to invest newcomers into easing into the crew or starting in the infancy of this journey. The Granblues are pretty well established and there isn’t much of an actual beginning, more like this story taking place a few arcs into a longer running series. The game tries to compensate for this with a Codex and the unfortunately egregious Fate Episodes, but the story manages to stay pretty straight-forward and I never once felt lost.
For how short this campaign is, clocking in at about ten to twelve hours, the beginning act can feel astronomically slow. It really isn’t until your first Primal battle that you get a good sense of, well everything, but when this game gets going, my god does it hit the ground running at mach 10.
Sprinkled throughout, are some of the best spectacles for a game of this type and all are varied in these incredible set piece moments that never overstayed their welcome.
Chapter 5 was an absolute standout to me. The fight against the Primal Beast, Managarmr, has become one of my favorite boss battles in ages. It’s not even the biggest spectacle that this game has to offer, but the music, combined with the excellent mechanics, was such a treat I wasn’t expecting.
And in all honesty, this is what I had in my head when I envisioned Fenrir from XIV: ARR Post-MSQ.
And speaking of Final Fantasy… this game is XVI done correctly.
I think back to that interview with Naoki Yoshida a lot in which he treats JRPGs almost like a slur with insane disgust and the reason why XVI is the way it is.
Granblue is the very antithesis against his statements. Not only is it an actually good action game, it still has roots in what is. It’s so unapologetically a JRPG in narrative that I couldn’t help but be won over. It’s so straightforward and combined with the pacing, its campaign alone is worth the entry point.
But, what I wasn’t expecting was to get sucked into the post-game.
From what I’ve heard, Relink is almost one to one identical in structure of how the mobile game plays out in terms of progression, minus the gacha elements, which it kinda still has but that comes more as a way to continue progressing your character well beyond what they are needed to complete, I’d say, 90% of the game.
The post-game structure is beating higher and higher level missions to collect materials needed to build your character. It is such a simple endgame, but with how fun it is to play Relink, as well as how generous the materials needed to progress can get at times, it is incredibly addictive.
I love when systems all feed into each other, and it gives me a warm, bubbly feeling in my heart as I yearn for the halcyon days of Destiny 2: Forsaken’s systems all feeding into each other as you were always progressing. And that’s the best kind of endgame, where progression is happening and isn’t a brick wall every couple of hours.
It’s hard for me to really talk about how much this game means to me as its positives are sewn into not its sleeve, but its skin. What minor gripes I have with the Fate Episodes and the matchmaking can get kinda borked sometimes, doesn’t matter. It’s all trivial in the grand picture of how tightly made this game is.
I love this game to death. It is the most pure of heart fun I’ve had with a title in such a long time.
Granblue is a series I know next to nothing other than a post saying how someone keeps mistaking Siegfried for a beautiful butch lesbian (which is true, Siegfried is a beautiful butch lesbian) and the fact the main character is named Gran.
So, John Granblue Fantasy.
Finishing Relink’s short campaign, I understand why people like this world. The crew of the Grandcypher are characters you probably have seen before, but I am such a sucker for a family on a ship sailing for adventure… despite me not having read much of One Piece.
It is unfortunate that the game really doesn’t try to invest newcomers into easing into the crew or starting in the infancy of this journey. The Granblues are pretty well established and there isn’t much of an actual beginning, more like this story taking place a few arcs into a longer running series. The game tries to compensate for this with a Codex and the unfortunately egregious Fate Episodes, but the story manages to stay pretty straight-forward and I never once felt lost.
For how short this campaign is, clocking in at about ten to twelve hours, the beginning act can feel astronomically slow. It really isn’t until your first Primal battle that you get a good sense of, well everything, but when this game gets going, my god does it hit the ground running at mach 10.
Sprinkled throughout, are some of the best spectacles for a game of this type and all are varied in these incredible set piece moments that never overstayed their welcome.
Chapter 5 was an absolute standout to me. The fight against the Primal Beast, Managarmr, has become one of my favorite boss battles in ages. It’s not even the biggest spectacle that this game has to offer, but the music, combined with the excellent mechanics, was such a treat I wasn’t expecting.
And in all honesty, this is what I had in my head when I envisioned Fenrir from XIV: ARR Post-MSQ.
And speaking of Final Fantasy… this game is XVI done correctly.
I think back to that interview with Naoki Yoshida a lot in which he treats JRPGs almost like a slur with insane disgust and the reason why XVI is the way it is.
Granblue is the very antithesis against his statements. Not only is it an actually good action game, it still has roots in what is. It’s so unapologetically a JRPG in narrative that I couldn’t help but be won over. It’s so straightforward and combined with the pacing, its campaign alone is worth the entry point.
But, what I wasn’t expecting was to get sucked into the post-game.
From what I’ve heard, Relink is almost one to one identical in structure of how the mobile game plays out in terms of progression, minus the gacha elements, which it kinda still has but that comes more as a way to continue progressing your character well beyond what they are needed to complete, I’d say, 90% of the game.
The post-game structure is beating higher and higher level missions to collect materials needed to build your character. It is such a simple endgame, but with how fun it is to play Relink, as well as how generous the materials needed to progress can get at times, it is incredibly addictive.
I love when systems all feed into each other, and it gives me a warm, bubbly feeling in my heart as I yearn for the halcyon days of Destiny 2: Forsaken’s systems all feeding into each other as you were always progressing. And that’s the best kind of endgame, where progression is happening and isn’t a brick wall every couple of hours.
It’s hard for me to really talk about how much this game means to me as its positives are sewn into not its sleeve, but its skin. What minor gripes I have with the Fate Episodes and the matchmaking can get kinda borked sometimes, doesn’t matter. It’s all trivial in the grand picture of how tightly made this game is.
I love this game to death. It is the most pure of heart fun I’ve had with a title in such a long time.