Granblue Fantasy: Relink (2024)

In case my comment from this morning didn't catch.

Interestingly, Nintendo privated their announcement trailer video that was posted in the morning, I wonder why. Anyway, I'm very excited about this. The base game was tons of fun with friends, and while this trailer didn't show it, it seems we'll be going up to Beezlebub which should be quite interesting. Really excited to see more of the mobile game's raids implemented into Relink. Mayhaps the Four Primarchs? Belial? Somehow even more Bahamut? Definitely more Bahamut. Also hoping for more character additions. (Cygames please add Mirin and my soul is yours).

And with that I am ready for the upcoming Lucilius raid. I still need to get at least one Supplementary V sigil but man curios kinda stink. Great game. Really scratches an itch to just mindlessly grind, though I'm not sure if I could or would want to max out another character, but we'll see what stuff they announce after the Lucilius raid. Really, really hoping for an expansion of some sort at one point.

I thought I hit a wall in the post game earlier today, and was getting close to deciding I wasn’t going to be able to push through and then I realized I hadn’t checked in with the blacksmith in a while and had enough mats for a few upgraded weapon tiers. It’s amazing what a few weapon upgrades will do in this game.

But I do think I will eventually hit a wall that will require that I either invest a lot of time in upgrading my roster of characters or jump into some co-op sessions to get past.

I genuinely quite like this game, but I do wonder how many people are going to feel the same. Structurally, it's an odd game. For one, unlockable characters don't seem to interact with the main story. Only the first six characters, including either Gran or Djeeta generally participate in story dialogue. So if one of your Granblue Fantasy favourites is not one of those six initial characters, they will have very little input other than an opening line in each new area and dialogue pertaining to things like discovering treasure. Effectively, they feel like they are there for the co-op and end game aspects that lean toward the multiplayer action aspects of the game.

Secondly, there is no overworld, per se. You have two main types of areas, towns and dungeons. Even repeatable quests have their own instances that are based on those dungeons. So you're never really travelling from town to town through vast wildernesses. You're flying the Grandcypher between locations on the map instead, and all action is isolated in numerous dungeon locations. It definitely creates the illusion of one giant world made up of floating islands, but traversal is generally only really necessary within dungeon and town locales.

Combat is a lot of fun, however, with a lot of depth thanks to the large roster of characters and abilities. I think there is basically something for everyone here. And boss fights will delight anyone who likes a bit of a dance. There hasn't been anything particularly difficult so far, but they do have satisfying mechanics to learn.

The game could use better outfits. Colour variations are fine, but I'd really like a bit more fashion instead of mere palette swaps. I also wish hair colour was independent from outfit colour when swapping palettes.

I've noticed that a few people have already rated the game, but I haven't seen any discussion of anyone's experiences so far. I'm wondering if anyone else is having a good time with this.

For those interested in this but who haven’t decided to buy the game, do yourself a favour and play the demo. It’s a great slice of the game that provides lots of insight into combat. It also earns you some minor bonuses for the main game if you do eventually purchase it.

A hot tip, while you are locked to the main protagonist in the demo story mode, you aren’t in quest mode. Do yourself a favour and select different party members to try all of their combat styles out. While I like the protagonist’s style, and enjoy the game, my enjoyment skyrocketed when playing with other characters as the party lead. It helps that I already like some of them from the other Granblue Fantasy games, but the different skills will interest different players.

It’s not immediately clear you can swap party leader in the demo, so once in quest mode just delve into the settings menu and navigate to “Party” and swap characters. And you’re not limited to the four party members that are available in quest mode, you have ten separate mainline characters form the series, all with different weapons, skills and magic styles.