- Granblue Fantasy: Relink – PC Review - February 16, 2024
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Genre: Action JRPG
Developer: Cygames, Inc.
Publisher: Cygames, Inc.
Release Date: January 31st, 2024
Edited by AlexKnight2005
Granblue Fantasy has been around since 2014. It is Cygame’s brainchild, and it has grown a large following since the original mobile game. Since then we have had two fighting games with amazing stories, and now we have the action RPG Granblue Fantasy: Relink. Granblue Fantasy Project was announced back in 2016 and was said to be a collaboration between PlatinumGames and Cygames. Platinum is well known for creating amazing combat in their action games. I immediately took to the reveal and fell in love well instantly with the game’s art style. Fast forward to 2024. We just got the release and, boy, was I ready to jump in!
While there are a lot of anime tropes used throughout the story Granblue Fantasy: Relink, it doesn’t really diminish the story in any way. It has its ups and downs, but it never overstays its welcome. The story is wonderfully paced and sets up what will eventually be Granblue Fantasy: Relink’s endgame. While I know Vyrn is kind of important to the series, I feel like if you removed Vyrn from the universe, it would instantly make everything better. That said, I found the story to be entertaining, and it was refreshing to not have a 60+ hour campaign. On top of all that, they have FATE quests for each playable character that fill in a lot of past, present, and future stories for each character. Most of those are panel scenes with text on a static image, but they are voiced. Each character will have 2 FATE quests where they will play short levels.
The art style of Granblue Fantasy: Relink is breathtaking. An incredible job was done making the world and characters feel vibrant, but with a lot of pastels as well. The anime 3D art is some of the best I have seen to date, and because it is stylized very well, it isn’t an incredibly demanding game either. It is a style that I believe will stand the test of time. One of the things that stood out to me the most about the art style was the weather and how it affected the characters and the environments. Especially when you are in the windy areas. The characters’ hair blows wonderfully in the wind with the wind direction, as do the grass and trees.
The voice acting, for the most part, is pretty amazing. It really varies for the character, but the game is nearly FULLY voice-acted and with a great cast. The only one I really can’t stand is Vyrn. I just imagine someone pinching their nose, reading voice lines. As for ambiance and music. It is all done very well. Especially with the weather.
Now the part that stands out the most in this game is the gameplay. The combat. The controls. It moves so fluid and it just feels good to play. The camera, while exploring or sometimes fighting, can be a little wonky by forcing you to target someone you aren’t trying to fight. How many games let you start a combo, dodge mid-attack, and then continue attacking? Very few. This game does that and does it perfectly. Then, on top of that, you have various combos and special abilities. Every character plays differently, and each character can have multiple play styles. Add in that there are a large amount of characters to choose from. I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Granblue Fantasy: Relink has some of the best action combat I have ever experienced in my entire time playing video games. Truly unrivaled.
As for the various content. There is story mode which is a nice single-player action RPG experience. It helps you get items to unlock characters. Lets you level up your characters and earn resources for crafting, look sigils, and earn mastery points.
All of this adds to your character builds and character progression. Then you have the aforementioned FATE quests. Finally, you have the Quest missions which can be done in 4 player coop. Once you have completed the campaign, you unlock more missions and also unlock chapter 0 (the epilogue), which is Granblue Fantasy: Relink’s endgame. The epilogue content reminds me very much of games where one might “Hunt Monsters. You get a skyfarer rank, and as you finish all the missions in the rank you unlock the next difficulty and difficulty rank. This will unlock new recipes for the blacksmith. The ultimate goal is to min/max your characters by earning the gear you want, the sigils you want, leveling them up, and maxing out your characters’ masteries. For those truly die-hard and love grinding will aim to do this for every character, and that means an insane amount of playtime.
While the story will offer very little replayability, you can replay the missions to find all your collectibles. The core content of the game seems to be the epilogue content. I do wish the campaign had been co-op as well. In all Granblue Fantasy: Relink was extremely well-made and just downright enjoyable to play.
Pros:
- Beautiful Art style
- Good Voice Acting
- The best action combat, possibly ever
- Character Variety
- Good character progression
- Fun engaging Boss fights
Cons:
- Vyrn
- Story not being co-op
- The camera can be annoying at times
Draul gives Granblue Fantasy: Relink a Drastik Measure 9.3 out of 10.0 (93)
I do wish the game had been more of a looter. Where you loot weapons and armor, but I get why they went more for the material grind and gear upgrade systems and it worked for the game. I hope they add more content post-launch and keep players coming back.
