To the Skies!

Having just finished my review of Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, it’s rare to go straight into another review based on a game of the same IP. As such, this is quite the coming out party for Granblue, especially in the west where the franchise doesn’t quite have the same notoriety as it does in Japan. As noted in my Rising review, while I am somewhat familiar with the mobile game that it’s based on, it’s one that I never played and as such, I don’t have any real connection with the world and its characters.

While Rising had a single player campaign with a good amount of dialogue that helped me better understand its world to some degree, it never gave me the desire to fully delve into that story mode as I found the awkward gameplay of trying to fit a system created for a fighting game into a 2D side scroller to be cumbersome and not very fun.

As a game that has been in development for almost a decade, I did not expect too much when trying out the demo for Relink but found myself pleasantly surprised all across the board with its fast paced combat, variety of characters and animation/visuals. However, it remained to be seen if it had the legs to stand on for a lengthy story campaign. After putting over 50 hours into the title, I’m happy to report that it most certainly does and more.

Boy meets girl.

MSRP: $59.99 (Demo Available)
Platforms: PC, PS4/5
VO Selection: ENG/JPN
Length: 25~ hours but post game content can last you 50+ hours

Taking place during one of their many journeys across the skies, the Captain and his/her crew of the Grandcypher are trying to find their way to the mythical land of Estalucia. Tragedy strikes when Lyria loses control over the powerful Bahamut and the airship crashes on an unfamiliar skydom, the Captain and the crew must band together to face a new threat that kidnaps Lyria to use her for their own nefarious plans.

The plot that unravels in Relink is decidedly cheesy and has that Saturday morning cartoon vibes which I don’t mind and while it certainly won’t win any awards in storytelling, I was interested to know how things would play out all the way to the end which is good enough for a game where the main focus is more on the gameplay than it is about the story.

This was helped along thanks to the “Fate Episodes” available to each character which not only told their back story to catch those up on the events so far but also shared some insight that delved into the motivations of the Captain and the crew. They were bite sized stories that also gave permanent buffs to the party member so I was always incentivized to check them out as they unlocked throughout the course of the game and it went a long way to making me like the characters and get invested in the fantastical world it was presenting.

Gotta take the time to enjoy the view now and then.

In terms of visuals, I believe that the character models looked slightly better in Rising but they also look great here as well, with special mention to the various cutscenes and set piece moments that impressed from the beginning till the credits rolled.

From a nail biting escape from an erupting volcano to dynamic battles against colossal foes which shifted the very terrain I was standing on, I found myself constantly surprised not only by the presentation but the execution of the fights themselves which felt thrilling to overcome.

I wonder if the Captain offers hazard pay?

In terms of the combat, it’s very reminiscent of Falcom’s Ys series. Each character has their own unique trait, four skill slots which can be customized with each move having a cooldown. There are guard/dodge which can be timed perfectly for additional benefits and as almost all the moves can be canceled into a dodge, I was allowed to play very aggressively, only dodging at the last moments to avoid incoming attacks.

In terms of unique traits, the Captain’s light attacks into heavy sequences would increase the “Art Level” and at each increased level, the various arts would become more powerful. My favorite of the bunch and the one I spent the most playing as was Zeta, the fearless spear wielder that would end many of her attacks in a backflip where she had the option to dive back into the enemy and with a well timed attack, could bounce right back into the air to continue the onslaught. After landing such an attack three times in a row, I could slam down on my foe dealing immense damage.

Even though there are only a handful of characters to choose from at the start, I continued to unlock more crew members as I progressed the game and completed additional side stories until my roster was able to unlock all that were available except for one, which I’m waiting to do when I can start getting some games online.

Building up a stun meter on an enemy allowed me to trigger a “Link attack” which briefly staggered them and when I was able to build that link meter to 100%, I could initiate a slow mo state where I could unleash a tremendous amount of pain in a short few seconds and in the same regard, there was a SSBA gauge when full could be activated and when used in sequence, would trigger a powerful Full Burst which could deal millions of damage in late game content.

One of the main draws of Relink is how unique each character feels with their own trait and learning about them through the Fate episodes.

There was also an extensive skill tree where I was able to spend the mastery points I was constantly earning to unlock new skills and improve the stats of my characters but as the mastery points were shared for the whole party, I had to pick my favorites and spent most of the time using the same 4-5 crew members which is a bit of a shame but at least the new crew members I was unlocking came with a lot of skills unlocked already when I recruited them in the latter parts of the story.

Upgrading and forging weapons was another way to increase the power of the crew and as it took specific resources and parts from certain enemies, I was encouraged to replay missions to farm materials. In a genius move, they also allowed me to simply opt to repeat a mission in the menu after completing it which saved a lot of loading time and made me wish that this was an option in games like Monster Hunter (MH Wilds, I’m looking at you!).

This was my main crew for most of the game and they worked very well together.

As my performance was graded and there were side objectives to complete during each mission for additional awards, it behooved me to play well to make the most of my time which got my gears turning as I worked to optimize each run to complete it as fast as I could while meeting all the side objectives.

Lastly and perhaps most important were “Sigils” which could be equipped for varying effects as simple as increasing attack or health to character specific sigils that increased the power of their unique traits. Unlocking additional sigil slots was a huge increase in power and represented a way to customize each character to fit my playstyle. To cater to those who enjoy testing out builds, there was a training mode that I could access easily to see the effects of the different sigils/weapons/skills until I was satisfied.

However, as much as I enjoyed the combat and all the customization, I truly wish that I was able to switch between the party members on the fly like I could in Ys as that would’ve added so much variety and strategy to the moment to moment gameplay. I hope they will consider it for a sequel if it comes to pass as I feel they have something special here.

In terms of the PC port, it felt barebones without any FSR/DLSS/Ultrawide support and being locked at 120 FPS max made for an experience that could’ve been greatly improved on PC with a few adjustments here and there. I also ran into many crashes, especially when starting the game and one very unfortunate one in the latter chapters after a lengthy battle which forced me to do the encounter again. Outside of that, the crashes at the start didn’t affect my experience too negatively since I would just relaunch the game and it would work. Frame Rates also held steady on my modest 3080 rig and I didn’t notice any major visual glitches overall but hopefully the crashes will be patched out as the game launches in the near future.

Also, I was unable to fully test the online multiplayer of the game during the review period but as I tested it in the beta and it worked without issue there, I doubt anything has changed.

Really wish more devs would spend more of an effort at making the PC ports the best they can be.

Despite its tumultuous development cycle, Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a grand achievement that impressed from beginning to end with its fantastic presentation and thrilling set pieces- brought together as a total package with a cast of unique playable characters and satisfying combat that I can see myself continue to “Zeta Dive” back into for many more hours to come.

Fun Tidbit: I would like to salute and give thanks to the many whales of the Granblue Fantasy mobile game that made the funding of this game possible. o7

Review copy of game provided by publisher.