At first glance, Granblue Fantasy: Relink, Cygames’ original 2014 action RPG, has all the key elements that would be easily overlooked, including all the typical genre stereotypes, such as an unrealistic fashion sense and annoying sound. But what follows is well worth your time. It’s a profound story about parental abuse, and a child’s struggle to emerge from their parent’s shadow and rebuild their own lives – and, of course, it has a fantastic combat system.
The story is truly the driving force of Granblue Fantasy: Relink, especially towards the end of the game. Lilith, the greatest adversary, is trying to bring about the end of the world, manipulating her adopted son Eddard into suppressing anyone who stands in her way. Id’s efforts to break free often take precedence over the main plot of saving the world, which isn’t a bad thing – the storyline of trying to help Id is very compelling.
Also lurking beneath the surface of Granblue Fantasy: Relink is the fact that it’s quietly a sequel to the 2014 RPG from veteran Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu and artist Hideo Minaba, which was later released by Adapted from a 2017 anime and a 2020 fighting game, some might consider this game to be a bit knowing. This time, all the original heroes are back, including the protagonist Captain, the wisecracking Rackam, the stoic Katarina and the gruff Eugen, who make up the Skywalkers who sail among the clouds in a huge airship.
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That said, Relink is also cleverly independent in nature from the original game. Each character has “Fate” episodes, which are presented as tiny text adventures at specific points in Relink, giving a deeper look into their personalities. Each hero’s first few destinies serve as reflections on their story so far, and just when they threaten to get a little too far behind, Destiny cleverly turns around to give everyone some ongoing side stories.
For example, Rackham is forced to save someone’s boat, the source of their lifelong hopes and dreams, while Eugene helps a stranger deal with their grief and depression over their late spouse. Destinies are unlocked at specific moments during the 20-plus hours of gameplay, so you’ll regularly be trying out these often touching side stories that give you some downtime to take a break from repeatedly beating up monsters.
Still, real-time combat is the highlight of Granblue Fantasy: Relink. It’s fast-paced in nature, relying on last-minute dodges and parries against formidable foes to confer brief windows of invincibility that allow you to hit home with the press of a button. Relink’s combat does get bogged down in that button-mashing mood at times, especially against tougher enemies, but it’s never more than a few seconds before you’re forced to dodge outstretched weapons and limbs.
Each protagonist offers a different way to play – Rosetta can summon thorns from the ground to attack opponents within a certain distance, while Sniper Eugen lets you manually target the beast’s weak spots through a first-person scope. Katarina and Io are my personal favorite pair – the former can summon a giant ghostly ally to the battlefield, while the latter can scorch and attack enemies with area-of-effect fire and lightning abilities.
The whole thing is really satisfying, even after spending dozens of hours in Relink. Continuously dealing damage to enemies will build up a stun meter, allowing you to team up to launch large “combo attacks” and join forces with your allies to deliver a gorgeous decisive blow. Shifting your focus from the meter to your attacks and abilities to enemy attacks is a great way to keep you on your toes, and Relink’s hordes of different enemies like goblins and Wyverns, meaning you’ll never get tired of fighting the same predictable enemies. again.
Also contributing to the variety is the fact that Granblue Fantasy: Relink offers nearly two dozen characters for you to unlock and play as, in addition to the main cast. In a way, it’s a bit like a character collector like Genshin Impact: You’ll periodically unlock mission coupons to perform particularly punishing side missions, which can be exchanged for a character of your choice. Aside from someone’s elemental type abilities, it’s purely a vibe-based decision of who you choose, please note – no one character is “better” than another, they just differ in playstyle, whether it’s fast The attack is still a violent dash with a huge weapon.
Granblue Fantasy: Relink’s elemental system isn’t overbearing, it’s just there when you want to take advantage of it. It’s just common sense that water-type heroes can work wonders against fiery foes, but relinking doesn’t actually punish you for fighting fire with fire – if you pay attention to the elemental system. Fortunately, it’s not overbearing at all, but serves as an added layer if, for example, you want to spend as little time as possible on a hunt.
You can completely replace the main Skyfarers with a team of heroes unlocked through a ticket system that have no regard for Granblue Fantasy: Relink’s overarching story. It sounds crazy, and in a way it is, but it’s so weird that the whole thing blows your mind because you have a bunch of different heroes with upgradeable abilities and skills, Can be customized and played with. The main drawback, however, is that newcomers won’t be able to reach the level of your most played heroes. You can easily have a level 30 hero join your roster of level 50+ heroes, which puts you in a slightly difficult position: repeatedly completing optional side quests to level them up, or leaving them in the dust .
This is particularly unfortunate – it means some of Granblue Fantasy: Relink’s most experimental and hilarious characters may be ditched out of hand – but if you’re in the mood, you can easily spend dozens of hours putting together your heroes Join different teams and upgrade them for hunter-style hunts with optional monsters. This is how the Granblue Fantasy: Relink spin-off will be presented exclusively: through a downtown counter. You embark on a mission of your choice, which could be taking down a daunting boss or killing enemies within a time limit, all with the team of your choice.
This is also where the ending of Granblue Fantasy: Relink fails slightly. In the Monster Hunter games, you grind enemies and perform similar tasks to craft parts, which you can then use to craft element-based gear suitable for killing other monsters. In Relink, it’s just a case of making money and crafting materials to upgrade your heroes and make them stronger. The driving force is to simply upgrade a hero’s attack and health attributes to gain a better overall “strength” score to take on tougher missions. Coupled with the real lack of character customization here, Granblue Fantasy: Relink’s ending feels somewhat lacking in purpose once you’ve completed the main story. If you’re not grinding side quests to make the main quest easier, there’s not much point in grinding at all.
The only other goal besides pure strength grinding is to recover someone’s journal entry at the end of the game. To say who outright would spoil the story, but suffice to say it’s not a sufficient motivation to complete the same hunt-style missions over and over again for dozens of hours. Plus, the endgame hunt takes place in a smaller portion of the map you’ve played before in the story, and there’s simply not much incentive to keep fighting after the credits roll.
Unfortunately, Relink’s other side activities have been relegated to the realm of fetch quests. That’s essentially all side quests: someone will ask you to get a certain amount of items, and you’ll say yes. It’s a frustrating missed opportunity to expand on the people living on a giant island in a sea of clouds, so they’re basically just left as a faceless horde that we save from destruction in the main plot, because We are not good people because they are actually worth saving.
All in all, somewhat ironically, this means that Granblue Fantasy: Relink is actually an excellent real-time action RPG at first glance, but once you look closer, you’ll find its charm. Playing as some of the characters is some of the best, purest unfiltered fun I’ve experienced in an action game in years, and the Destiny episodes have greatly supplemented and expanded the cast of characters, some of whom it’s a shame to A disproportionate cast of characters and left in the dust. Leveling system. Sadly, the plethora of fetch-quest side activities and somewhat redundant optional missions, especially in the final game, can’t match the height of its gorgeously frantic combat.
XSeed Games provided a copy of Granblue Fantasy: Relink for review.
