This isn't gonna be a long review since there's not much to talk about, but I would like to share my thoughts on Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising.
Granblue Fantasy is a series I've been meaning to get into for awhile, as a lot of my friends play the original game and always recommend it to me. This was the perfect game to bridge the gap and introduce me to Granblue, and I gotta say, it's very fun. Great character designs, fun world, fantastic music, pretty much everything you need to make a great first impression. I was actually pulled in by this game particularly by my friend showing me Siegfried. I immensely enjoy his design and playstyle, so that alone sold me on this game.
Twenty-five hours later, I've got a pretty cemented outlook on the game now, so let's get into it. This is by far one of the best-looking fighting games I've seen in a very long time, definitely Arc Systems best looking game, very vibrant art style that's incredibly expressive, whimsical, and detailed. Character designs are downright amazing, really I didn't find any design to be too silly or ridiculous, it's all rather well-grounded that really lets you enjoy and connect with the characters, especially the ones you will play as. Fantastic size of a roster, great stages, tons of extra modes to break up the experience, a lot of things you can work to achieve as well besides ranked, which I really liked. Rollback is essential for fighting games, so seeing it here is good, day one crossplay is another plus since it allowed me to play with my PC friends which I'm very thankful for.
Now for the not so good parts about this game. One thing I want to immediately mention is the sheer simplicity of the game itself. Granblue as a fighting game is incredibly beginner friendly, which I appreciate, however I think this focus on simplicity hurts the game in the long run. For starters, everyone does a ton of damage in this game. Most rounds will go for maybe 40-50 seconds, which I actually like how fast-paced it is. What I don't like is the amount of mistakes you can make before losing. If you make two or three mistakes? You're most likely dead without even a shred of a chance at a comeback, snowballing in this game is unreal. Because of this, this game seems to greatly reward aggression more than defensive play, especially due to how many moves are plus on blocks. For those who don't know, being plus on block essentially means when you attack someone who is blocking, if it's plus you basically get to attack again without much fear of being punished for it. So many moves are plus or minus in this game, it's really in your best favor to play as aggressively as possible. This sort of leads to a lot of games just being who can press the button faster than the other, and depending on who wins, you're either stuck blocking for a good amount of time, or wailing on your opponent without really needing to think. A lot of fighting games boil down to this though, but I think the balance of offense and defense is off here. Let me say I'm not a pro player, nor am I the most experienced fighting game player, so I may be completely off the mark here, but this game felt like it rewards aggression way more than anything else and feels off-balance a bit.
As far as balancing goes, it's actually not too bad. A lot of people complain about specific characters, which is a given, but the game hasn't been out long enough I think yet for people to figure out certain match-ups. I personally do think some characters need to be tuned a bit, but otherwise every character feels viable and incredibly fun to play. They're also all very distinct from each other in personality and playstyle, though there's a lot of overlap in move sets which sorta waters them down a bit, but not bad enough where picking a new character feels unwarranted or boring.
Honestly? Not a bad fighting game by any means. I definitely prefer others to it, but this is just a solid game. I'm currently A rank in ranked mode, but I mostly just enjoy playing it with friends. Definitely not a game I'd grind or put a ton of time into, but it's definitely a fun choice if you're looking for something flashy. I play Siegfried, Charlotta, and Yuel for reference, all characters are incredibly good and very good at mashing buttons. I wanted to mention that in-case my outlook on the game is skewed due to my preference in character playstyles, so I invite any to give your opinion on this game, and if you agree or disagree with me or not. With that, thank you all for reading this review, I've been putting off God-Hand for about three weeks now, so I'm gonna get to it and finish that up, so please look forward to that. Until next time!
Granblue Fantasy is a series I've been meaning to get into for awhile, as a lot of my friends play the original game and always recommend it to me. This was the perfect game to bridge the gap and introduce me to Granblue, and I gotta say, it's very fun. Great character designs, fun world, fantastic music, pretty much everything you need to make a great first impression. I was actually pulled in by this game particularly by my friend showing me Siegfried. I immensely enjoy his design and playstyle, so that alone sold me on this game.
Twenty-five hours later, I've got a pretty cemented outlook on the game now, so let's get into it. This is by far one of the best-looking fighting games I've seen in a very long time, definitely Arc Systems best looking game, very vibrant art style that's incredibly expressive, whimsical, and detailed. Character designs are downright amazing, really I didn't find any design to be too silly or ridiculous, it's all rather well-grounded that really lets you enjoy and connect with the characters, especially the ones you will play as. Fantastic size of a roster, great stages, tons of extra modes to break up the experience, a lot of things you can work to achieve as well besides ranked, which I really liked. Rollback is essential for fighting games, so seeing it here is good, day one crossplay is another plus since it allowed me to play with my PC friends which I'm very thankful for.
Now for the not so good parts about this game. One thing I want to immediately mention is the sheer simplicity of the game itself. Granblue as a fighting game is incredibly beginner friendly, which I appreciate, however I think this focus on simplicity hurts the game in the long run. For starters, everyone does a ton of damage in this game. Most rounds will go for maybe 40-50 seconds, which I actually like how fast-paced it is. What I don't like is the amount of mistakes you can make before losing. If you make two or three mistakes? You're most likely dead without even a shred of a chance at a comeback, snowballing in this game is unreal. Because of this, this game seems to greatly reward aggression more than defensive play, especially due to how many moves are plus on blocks. For those who don't know, being plus on block essentially means when you attack someone who is blocking, if it's plus you basically get to attack again without much fear of being punished for it. So many moves are plus or minus in this game, it's really in your best favor to play as aggressively as possible. This sort of leads to a lot of games just being who can press the button faster than the other, and depending on who wins, you're either stuck blocking for a good amount of time, or wailing on your opponent without really needing to think. A lot of fighting games boil down to this though, but I think the balance of offense and defense is off here. Let me say I'm not a pro player, nor am I the most experienced fighting game player, so I may be completely off the mark here, but this game felt like it rewards aggression way more than anything else and feels off-balance a bit.
As far as balancing goes, it's actually not too bad. A lot of people complain about specific characters, which is a given, but the game hasn't been out long enough I think yet for people to figure out certain match-ups. I personally do think some characters need to be tuned a bit, but otherwise every character feels viable and incredibly fun to play. They're also all very distinct from each other in personality and playstyle, though there's a lot of overlap in move sets which sorta waters them down a bit, but not bad enough where picking a new character feels unwarranted or boring.
Honestly? Not a bad fighting game by any means. I definitely prefer others to it, but this is just a solid game. I'm currently A rank in ranked mode, but I mostly just enjoy playing it with friends. Definitely not a game I'd grind or put a ton of time into, but it's definitely a fun choice if you're looking for something flashy. I play Siegfried, Charlotta, and Yuel for reference, all characters are incredibly good and very good at mashing buttons. I wanted to mention that in-case my outlook on the game is skewed due to my preference in character playstyles, so I invite any to give your opinion on this game, and if you agree or disagree with me or not. With that, thank you all for reading this review, I've been putting off God-Hand for about three weeks now, so I'm gonna get to it and finish that up, so please look forward to that. Until next time!