Granblue Fantasy: Relink Review – A Wondrous Skyfaring Adventure with Skybound Combat Greatness 

Since its first announcement about 7 years ago, Granblue Fantasy: Relink has been on the radar of many, and seeing its development throughout the years almost feels like watching a myth finally come to life.

The wait does not disappoint because the game managed to fulfill what it promised and deliver an experience unlike any other, plunging you into its world full of mystique and wonders with upbeat combat complementing it.

Relink presented itself more or less as an extended episode of Gran’s or Djeeta’s adventure with the Grandcypher crew, depending on your choice of gender of course – Gran’s the male protagonist, while Djeeta is the female.

A thing to note if you are new to the world of Granblue Fantasy is that the game wastes no time in setting up the many characters and you are thrown straight into the moment when the crew is already a family. In a way, it is understandable why Cygames would go with a skip as the original Granblue Fantasy was released a decade ago, with a continuous main story loaded with many added chapters and characters.

For fans of Granblue Fantasy, there would not be any issue diving into Relink. But for newcomers, thankfully, a gallery feature via Lyria’s Journal is accessible and provides a needed summary of the story so far, the background of each character, details of the monsters, and many more. There are even options to view 3D models and artwork of the characters and monsters.

It is a nice feature to have without needing long expositions to set up the adventure, but it can feel rather detached from the game if you are new and have no idea the gallery exists.

Towards Estalucia

Taking place in the highly fantastical world of Sky Realm, where islands float in a great blue expanse, the Grandcypher crew sails towards the fabled land of Estalucia, a mysterious dream island ruled by Astral.

Amid this grand adventure, the crew faced a raging rampage from the Primal Beast Bahamut and had to dock at the town of Folca, where a new original character named Rolan joined them. However, winds carry tales of the mysterious group called Church of Avia, a new antagonist group in town. Such is the premise of Granblue Fantasy: Relink’s story.

Overall, the main story is relatively short especially for a JRPG, with chapters split into fast-paced missions. In general, main story missions take you to special areas, that sometimes can have large zones and explore to engage with side activities. In these areas, you can hunt for Shrouded Treasure where you would have to complete platforming challenges to unlock. There is also Omen Stone, which upon interaction, will have you face hordes of strong enemies and bosses for plenty of rewards.

Although the main story missions are linear, it helps the game to deliver the best moments from beginning to end, removing tedious backtracking and troublesome tasks other RPGs are infamous for. Perhaps this is the reason why the story of Granblue Fantasy: Relink moves on quickly as there is no excessive padding and the game respects you as a player, allowing you to enjoy the most exciting parts without interruptions.

Fate Episodes

Aside from the main story, the game does offer plenty of post-game content to dive into, including Fate Episodes, where you can play through to learn more about each character. However, the Fate Episodes were presented in a manner composed of text and some voice acting, similar to visual novels, which differs greatly from how the main story is presented, leaving me feeling disappointed in the jarring difference of both story content.

Speaking of learning more about characters, some of them were unfortunately not relevant to the main story at all and are not even included in the main Grandcypher crew. They only show up as additional playable characters through unlock using special items, but will not appear in cutscenes like… at all. That said, their presence is more felt during gameplay, as they do engage with banters with one another in the middle of combat or make comments directly related to current situations.

Stories aside, Relink’s biggest strength is arguably the gameplay and presentation. Looking at the game now compared to its initial announcement, it certainly got an incredible graphical upgrade. The developers managed to realize Hideo Minaba’s distinctive signature artstyle in a 3D world, be it characters or the environment, especially when playing in Quality Mode with 4K resolution. The rich color depth certainly brings out the full extent of its graphical quality and showcases the unbound beauty of Granblue’s signature painting-like visuals.

Hub Areas

Granblue Fantasy: Relink does have a vastly different structure compared to similar action RPG titles, where instead of fully explorable environments, the game has a linear mission structure with its free exploration reserved to Hub areas such as the several cities like Folca and Seedhollow. There is a reason why many people have been comparing this game to the likes of the Monster Hunter series, and I do quite like this approach.

While in Hub, you will gain access to various facilities that will be important to your progression such as a blacksmith to strengthen your fantastical arsenal of weapons. There is also the Sierokarte’s Knickknack Shack, where you can visit to exchange various materials and initiate other services such as recruiting new members to your party with Crewmate Cards. 

The comparisons to Monster Hunter draw even closer as there is also the Quest Counter, where you can accept various missions focusing on fighting enemy hordes or giant bosses. These quests also have online multiplayer options for you to party up with other players.

You can also search for any hidden loot throughout the hub or accept side missions from NPCs, so there are plenty of activities in the Hub areas and they can feel rather rewarding. Oddly enough, the game does not have a mini-map, but it is something I get used to quickly. I rarely get lost thanks to the linear design of the Hub and levels, so the removal of the mini-map feels reasonable, especially seeing how busy the HUD is already in Relink.

Glorious Combat

The strongest aspect of Granblue Fantasy: Relink is without a doubt the combat, considering the involvement of PlatinumGames, the developers who specialize in some of the best action games such as the Bayonetta series, NieR: Automata, and Astral Chain. While PlatinumGames was no longer involved in the development of the game in 2019, their presence is felt throughout, with responsive controls and a flexible combo system.

During combat, your characters are armed with a good amount of different actions, ranging from normal attacks to special attacks, and access to four freely adjusted skills. Offensive actions aside, there are also plenty of maneuver options for you to evade attacks and gain momentum to further optimize your combos.

Speaking of maneuver options, Relink also has PlatinumGames’ signature Perfect Dodge system implemented but also a Perfect Guard, giving players who can master tight timings a satisfying massive advantage. Both provide different effects, with Perfect Gaurd keeping your characters from receiving knockback from powerful attacks while increasing the enemy’s stun gauge. Meanwhile, Perfect Dodge gives your character momentary invulnerability to all forms of attacks for perfectly evading incoming attacks and grants a brief window to launch a counterattack.

What makes the combat truly special is that each character has a wildly different playstyle that plays into their traits. This is no simple weapon type or element difference because each character has truly unique combat techniques and gimmicks that you must learn to maximize their potential.

For example, Rosetta has a special fighting style that relies on flowers which she plants around the battlefield. The summoned flowers act like turrets as they strike nearby enemies while granting supportive effects to allies. But you can’t just plant and forget since enemies are always on the move. As such, you would need to find out the ideal position to optimize damage output.

Link, Link, Burst! 

Of course, the game does retain elemental systems and each character is associated with a different element, making optimal party compositions crucial for the best damage against certain monsters. Many gameplay features from Granblue Fantasy do make a comeback for Relink, reworked to fit into its action combat and placing a focus on synergy between allies.

An example is the Link Attack, a special attack to be executed when an enemy’s stun gauge is full. Meanwhile, Link Time slows down time to grant you an advantage of attacking enemies freely while utilizing various buff effects. There is also Link Level, which buffs all party members when they initiate Link Attack at 100%.

The synergy between each character becomes even more apparent when executing their Skybound Art ultimate moves in turn to trigger the Full Burst, a final ultimate attack that deals ridiculous destructive damage. There is certainly a lot to digest in Relink’s combat system, but it all comes down to the mastery of your favorite character and building synergy between teammates.

Cygames certainly created a wonderfully fun and satisfying combat system with depth for mastery. This is why, it is such as shame how one seemingly trivial flaw affected my enjoyment of this high-quality combat system and that is the lock-on system. It feels odd like it is fighting against my control and even if the lock-on is not used, characters would just move automatically toward the nearest enemies anyway, making action go out of control easily.

There is also a questionable decision to not allow characters to be switched in the middle of combat and mission, despite having a unique cast as well as synergy being a core focus in the game’s battles. Even though I tend to stick with one character, an option to switch to other party members would be a nice feature to have as it adds more combat options to elevate a terrific combat system higher.

Progression & Co-Op

With so many unique and fascinating playable characters available, be prepared to have a dilemma on who to prioritize. Like all RPGs, Granblue Fantasy: Relink is also full of stats to keep an eye on.

Take weapons for instance, they can be invested to grant more health, or can have slots equipped with Sigils for more stat boosts. Sigils are useful in general and you would have to use them as you obtain them.

Then, there is Masteries, which is a Skill Tree divided between Offense, Defense, and Collection for each character. Furthermore, each character also has perks to unlock and they can do so through the accumulation of MSP (Skill Points) earned through progressions. The MSP is shared across all characters and you would want to split it evenly.

Surprisingly, despite looking like a single-player RPG, Granblue Fantasy: Relink does have multiplayer features for players to engage in jolly cooperation. Gameplay-wise, there is no difference aside from having a real person behind your party members and they may scare you a little with sudden emotes and so on. There is a feature for multiplayer worth praising for and that is a restriction function to prevent other players from spoiling story content, which is wonderful for those who want to play through the story mode online.

It is worth noting that the game does not support crossplay functions between consoles and PCs, which is quite unfortunate.

Verdict 

From the first moment stepping foot into the Sky Realm, Granblue Fantasy: Relink never stops at seducing you in more with its gorgeous art, satisfying action combat, and a stellar cast of characters. The 7-year-long wait is definitely well worth it because Granblue Fantasy: Relink is not only a solid action RPG but one that stands on its own pedestal proudly.

Its strength lies in its wonderfully crafted combat system that brings out the anime fantasy in satisfying ways while providing wonderful depth for mastery. With a strong combat system also comes high replayability, especially with its hunting quests with multiplayer co-op support for friends to smack a monster around in style. Not to mention its huge roster of characters that are all unique in their own ways.

It is not without its flaws of course, as the game still has some gaps that affect even the best parts. Even with many beloved characters, many have no relevance to the story and only exist as playable options. The presentation of Fate Episodes also felt underwhelming, especially after completing the wonderfully animated main story playthrough. Meanwhile, the lock-on system feels like you are struggling against the controls rather than there to help you in combat.

Despite all this, there is a quality action RPG that stands on its own. With an instantly recognizable gorgeous artstyle and a fiery fun combat system, Granblue Fantasy: Relink is certainly a skyfaring adventure that is worth all its hype.

Granblue Fantasy: Relink was reviewed on PlayStation 5 and will be launching on February 1, 2024, for the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC via Steam.

Granblue Fantasy: Relink

Publisher: Cygames

Developer: Cygames

Release Date: 2024-02-01

Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Steam

A grand adventure in the skies awaits! Form a party of four from a diverse roster of skyfarers and slash—or shoot or hex—your way to victory against treacherous foes in this action RPG. Take on quests solo or with the help of others in up to 4-player co-op play!

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