Granblue Fantasy: Relink

[briareos_kerensky]

The 60 bucks pricetag on Steam made me hesitate a bit before buying it, but in the end I caved in and got it anyway.
Technically, first impressions aren't good: the game starts in a 1920x1080 window, and upon switching to 3840x2160, the game is still windowed, not even borderless. But then again the game runs beautifully at max detail on a 3080ti, and thanks to an SSD loading times are fast, which is a very welcome feature as the game prefers to load smallish chunks: some cutscenes have loading between cuts and even Lyra's diary is behind a load/unload cycle.

On the good side, the game accepts the Switch pad without any extra driver, and buttons are correctly linked to the actions...but there's a catch: button icons are from a X Box pad, and actions follow buttons. For example attack is X, and because X Box pads have letters in the wrong order, the attack action follows the button position on the Switch's pad. It's nothing big, and surely a remapping of controls will solve it...only that the remap control menu only works for keyboard and mouse. Maybe it'll work with an X Box controller, but a quick search shows that the game only shows/officially supports X Box pads, even if the game is on Sony consoles. This is a typical problem with (too) many games, and it's time developers get this right. I mean, Ender Lilies did that years ago even for Switch controllers, I guess Cygames can spare a couple of hours to implement proper controller support.

There's are also some strange choices, like the pause menu which changes based on what's going on. I just defeated the first introductory boss, and the game places you on the road to the first town; I wanted to change the binding to the first special attack, I hit the pause button and a menu with continue/skip/options comes up. I had to wait to get to the town to get the "proper" pause menu where I could change bindings, check the inventory, and access game options. It's a minor nuissance, but it's a rather weird one.
And I guess now not even professional translators know the difference between it's and its...always terrible to see this kind of error in what is ostensibly a first-class product.

Anyway...the game starts with some heavily scripted sequences that it doesn't progress when you push the required button, and the first hour or so it's very slow-paced and introduces the characters for those not knowing them. I know something about Granblue and found this beginning kinda boring, probably fans will be even more bored.
Mechanics like skills and special attacks are introduced progressively, and overall the combat system feels good but nothing special right now. There are elemental weaknesses to follow the mobile original's system, as well as the usual equipment, items, sidequests, and merchants needed for this kind of game.
Controls work well, evey action is responsive but attacks feel flimsy and without much weight to them: if you've played any of the recent Ys games, the feeling is a bit like those, though Relink has an heavy attack in addition to standard and special. Since Platinum was involved at one point I was expecting a bit more, and having recently replayed Nier Automata, I can say that game's combat feel better.

The game looks beautiful, with textures trying to replicate the original art. Characters are full of details, animations look entirely mocapped, and lipsyinching is great. And there are good hair physics! Oh so many Japanese ignore this big detail, and gives animations a quality boost. So far all dialogues have been voiced, and it's always a pleasure to hear some Japanese VAs and their performances. Just like in the mobile game you can freely change between a male and a female main characters.
Environments are lush and full of detail; the first town has been quite a surprise thanks to its abundance of locations and NPCs going around doing their stuff and offering plenty of flavour text and background voices.

Will play more in the coming days.

[briareos_kerensky]

I meant to update the thread sooner, but here I go.

The game opens up when you get the chance of swapping your playable character, and that makes you appreciate the combat system more. Rather soon you get the chance of recruiting an extra character of your choice, and this again gives the combat system a boost.

I would say the best thing about the combat system is the variety of characters and mechanics associated to them. Gran/Djeeta is your basic sword character with normal and heavy attack and no particular outstanding qualities. Katarina still follows this template but she's much faster and builds up an exclusive meter for her own summon. For the first extra character I went with Narmaya, who forgoes the heavy attack for a stance swap; her attacks also deal more damage based on the number of butterflies she gathers, and those are gathered by fighting without getting hit and through a special move.

And because I'm at chapter 7, I was able to get two more characters, Charlotta and Zeta. The former is another sword user, her most powerful attack builds up power the longer she slashes but to do so she has to stand still; she can also distribute her special meter to other characters. Zeta is a lance user, with a lot of verticality and a parry; haven't used her much because every time you get a new character you need to get them up to speed, spending mastery point for their skills (a shared resource among all characters you have) and spending resources to improve their weapons.


GFR takes a very Monster Hunter-like approach to weapon upgrade, and you need to grind materials to get new weapons, upgrade what you have, and even break their upgrade cap. It's not as grindy as MH, but you will have to repeat a few boss battles if you really want to bring everyone up to speed. Luckily all party members get experience from battles even if they are not actually fighting, which at least makes swapping active members a bit less painful. I would still say you need to focus on four characters, though you might need to invest something into everyone as all characters have a bunch of sidequests where they are forced on you. Gran/Djeeta is forced to come along as active member during story missions, which is something I don't quite understand: it's the only party member forced on you for story purposes, everyone else from the starting cast simply appears/disappears if a cutscene is playing, and more often than not you see them more than Gran/Djeeta, who is usually the focus only when making dialogue decisions.

Well, decisions, the story is linear and you just change a couple of lines.


Stages get larger and more complex, and every location has its own special gimmick, which often plays a part in boss battles. For example on the icy island you can destroy ice pillars to stun enemies and bosses, and the desert has "boost pads" to let you explore the area quicker but also solve a couple of time trials.

Standard enemies are meh, you will breeze through them no matter their elemental resistance (at least in normal mode), while mid- and final bosses are much more involved and are one of the game's higlights. The first bosses you face are rather straightforward battles, all of them with multiple phases and attacks that tie into their base element, location, and design. Then everything gets amped up to 11, and Cygames filled GFR with setpieces all across the board, including turret sequences and Shadow Of The Colossus-like fights.

The game progresses smoothly and there's hardly a dull moment, though certain city segments drag a bit compared to the rest, and the game holds your hand all the times clearly indicating where your destination is. Stages tend to be linear but exploration is rewarded with items, money, and optional battles against stronger monsters.

There are sidequests given by the NPCs and also Monster Hunter-like quests to grind for experience, money, and items you can face with CPU allies or go online with other players. Haven't touched the online part yet.


GFR looks good. Very good. Really good. It's a beautiful game to look at, every nook and cranny is full of detail and even typically boring locations like deserts have been given quite the attention. Cities are the best: the second city is full of NPCs, market stalls, and sublocations, and the game runs quite well; I don't think I've never seen it going below 60fps (I'm capping framerate to 60) though other PC players are lamenting about cutscenes running worse than the rest. This is quite interesting as cutscenes don't seem to have more effects than the standard game, but GFR's PC port doesn't have a particularly exemplary technical side, all considered (still cannot remap pad controls).

[briareos_kerensky]

And with slightly less than 15 hours on the clock, the main story draws to a close, with all available Skyfarer quests done, and no grinding at all. If you stick to just four characters you end the 10 story chapters around level 55, and every single fight is a breeze to go through. Of all the extra characters, you end up unlocking half of them. Extra weapons, extra NPC quests, extra Skyfarer quests, and the ability to replay any chapter are added in the endgame, and it seems there's plenty of content, though I think the story will be very thin.
I would have preferred to have some of this content in the main story, and the main story to be longer. Stages are linear and the game handholds you throughout them, and I think a structure more akin to Xenoblade Chronicles, would have been better suited for this game...it feels Granblue Fantasy Relink is a series of standard enemies groups leading to a boss fight, then the story progresses, and you repeat the cycle. Which, if I recall correctly, is pretty similar to how the mobile game plays, but this is a console/PC release and you can do more with how the game flows.
Considering the game is about a world with skyships and mystery, I expected a lot more exploration.
Granblue Fantasy is not above reusing bosses, not only you fight them again in Skyfarer quests, but also nearing the end of the story, with no changes in patterns or attacks, just a change in their elemental property.

I think the game doesn't overstay its welcome, in fact quite the contrary, as the story parts feels a bit hollow in terms of actual game content. The setpieces are fine, but what's in the second part of the game is slightly less impressive than what's in the first, despite a couple of nice events. It doesn't help the story is veeeery classic and without any kind of twist.

Overall, I think GFR is OK, but what's available here makes me wonder how many times the development was scrapped, as it doesn't feel that it would have require 8 years.
As a side note, whatever Platinum did is no longer here, as they aren't in the credits at all.

[briareos_kerensky]

Time for an update.

I persevered thorugh around 10 hours of random quests, fighting the same enemies or their elemental variation on the same terrain, at times getting what I needed to get to the last story bit...which was a bit meh, honestly: all problems solved, everyone's happy, on to the next batch of quests that so far have rehashed monsters and bosses seen before.

I'm playing through those with no particular interest, though I'm told there are a few never-seen-before bosses in the very last quest rankings.

But getting there is proving to be boring, and the various chinks in the game's mechanics and structure become ever more apparent.


Take the lock-on: it's one of those lock-ons that doesn't target something that's right in front of you are are activelly attacking, it locks onto something behind you or on the other side of the level. GFR is at its best against single enemies, but there are quests with large numbers of enemies, and the lock-on exacerbates already chaotic fights where effects might cover enemies and their attacks. You can go without lock-on, but good luck aiming stingers or ranged attacks.


I only need to unlock one more playable character to complete the roster, and the redemption ticket is hidden behind golden Dahlia badges.

What are golden Dahlia badges? They are tokens given upon successfully completing quick quests.

Quick quests are randomly selected thorugh the first four difficulty levels and you can tackle them offline and online. Online is your best bet to get badges because you can spend golden tickets to improve your chances of getting golden Dahlia badges. Yes, those badges are given at complete random, no matter how good you clear the quest. I've gotten a badge with C grade and many S++ quests have gone unawarded.


And the grind doesn't stop there: items to level up weapons, items to uncap weapon levels, items to upgrade sigils, items to clear NPC quests, items for random draws (the only way you can get other rare items), items to unlock character masteries, items to unlock weapon masteries...I get GFR takes from a mobile game, and I would take it if the game had more to offer. There are four elemental dragons and four elemental lesser dragons, and the biggest difference between them is what kidn of elemental status they inflict. Dragons do have their own tantrum attack but they don't have their own peculiar way of attacking.

Large enemies have destructible parts like in Monster Hunter, but unlike MH destroying parts doesn't change any of their patterns, and it's not like there are variations or different locations where you fight those, it's always the same thing.


Granblue Fantasy Relink starts off strong but loses steam rather fast due to repetition. At first that is staved off by the story's brisk pace and new characters, with drops and progression allowing some experimentation. But during the last story moments and after the game sits on what has built and doesn't offer much variety. The combat system is fun, but there isn't enough to really get it going for a long time.

[briareos_kerensky]

I think this will be the last update.
I reache "proud"-level quests, which is the last. And for that, I had to go online, because good luck clearing the first quest of this difficulty levl with AI partners. Not because they're bad, in fact they're a decent surrogate for other players, but because the quest assumes there's a party of four level 100 characters with top-of-the-line sigils, fully upgraded and maybe ascended weapons, and all masteries. Reaching that point with one character is perfectly doable, but with four, not so much.

Online is OK, connection is stable and lag-free, but matchmaking takes quite some time and during the week it's pretty hard to find partners for the quests you need to clear. Weekends are better, but proud-level quests don't have many players available.
Character-wise it's full of Narmayas, who I use too, and surprisingly Rackam, who is apparently the strongest endgame character. Never met anyone using heavy hitters or mages, which makes sense as the combat system is more geared towards fast dodges and responses, and from what I've played, it's better to have faster characters to get multiple hits in rather than a single power blow.

Proud level quests are probably Granblue Fantasy Relink at its worst. After the game simply rehashed single bosses with a higher level for the past quests levels, proud-level quests put two or three of those bosses together, with little to no variation to their attack patterns. Those patterns have been designed for 4-on-1 battles, and so are camera and combat system, so those quests are a mess where you fight camera and lock-on more than the enemies themselves.


GFR has the absolutely irritating tendency to force the camera towards "important" events, whether that is the next waypoint in a story mission, or a character attacking a boss with a special attack. No camera option seems to correct this. Bosses are also large, and often the camera gets inside them, completely masking your status, the status of the boss blocking the view, and of course whatever your character has in front of them.
The lock-on continues to be mesmerisingly bad in locking on on what you want: you want to target the boss right next to you, with less than 1% of health remaining, so you can focus on the next one? Nah, the lock-on goes onto the boss on the other side of the arena, and against dragons it invariably goes to their head, unreachable without jumping, which also messes up some attacks.

To complete these quests I'm always trying online because human players will stick to one target, rather than constantly switching targets like AI party members do. After the first proud-level quest, their difficulty scales down considerably and you can attempt the rest with AI companions, but it will require a lot of grinding for materials.
I've come to appreciate the item wishlist and that you can tackle quests based on the item you need, but some of the items required are completely random drops, and the lack of boss and enemy variety is felt heavily in the endgame.
Cutting quests in number, and adding new attack patterns to bosses (or even a couple of brand-new bosses at every difficulty level) would have done wonders in making the constant grinding less aggravating.

I would say Granblue Fantasy Relink is overall OK, but be prepared for a lot of grinding.