Soar the skies of a dangerous world in Granblue Fantasy: Relink.
What once seemed an improbability finally came to be. Originally announced in 2016 for the PlayStation 4, Granblue Fantasy: Relink has been released to fans’ relief, and it is what they would expect and more. Throughout the development process and brief snippets of gameplay in its eight years of production, it seemed like the action RPG truly was the stuff of dreams, incorporating the artistic foundation of its original mobile debut, Granblue Fantasy, its subsequent animation, and the fighting game Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising.
Developed and published by Cygames, Granblue Fantasy: Relink is set in a fully realized universe composed of several sky archipelagos dubbed Skydoms, where floating islands in the sky paved the way for entire civilizations of different species converging on a daily basis. Known as Skydwellers, the four groups have distinct physical characteristics that benefit one another due to their magic abilities, corpulent bodies, and bartering skills.
The beginning cutscenes of Granblue Fantasy: Relink take no time, dropping you straight into the action. After choosing your character’s gender and name without any other option to change your appearance, you take control of them as they step out of a turbulent trip through dark clouds and into a world in the skies, flying with your skyship. You are the captain of it, with an eclectic group of Skyfarers that work in tandem to find their ultimate goal, to reach a mystical land called Estalucia.
Before long, with the aid of your companion, Lyria, you summon what is known as a Primal Beast to destroy the myriad of monsters complicating your journey. She loses control of her power, and the beast starts attacking you instead. Your main character and Lydia eventually fall off the ship and find their way across the wilderness to a lush, homely town that serves as your base of operations while teaching you about the game mechanics in the process.
Each hub town in Granblue Fantasy: Relink is littered with things to do. There are side quests on just about every corner of the cities, and while they are straightforward “kill these goblins” or fetch quests that you go from a Quest Counter and embark from there, these serve as excellent opportunities to hone your skills, level up, and obtain items required to craft more powerful weapons and armor.
The semi-open world feels just about right in size. It is not big enough to be overwhelmed by the lengths you have to run through, and it is dense with worthwhile loot that makes you want to explore every inch of it. The map layout of the main story is designed to reward your curiosity and encourage you to explore off the beaten path.
Carefully hidden side roads with bushes can be traversed to find wooden chests with useful items. Special “shrouded” treasures require you to recover so-called mirage stones to earn their reward. In the process, you can walk around and see more of the sights with a more focused look once you have cleared the area of danger.
The combat of Granblue Fantasy: Relink is agile, strategic, and flashy. Even though you start with just your normal attack, a second heavier attack for combos, and the usual blocking and dodging, this eventually snowballs into a full-on complex with various skills, link attacks with your companions, and careful use of your healing items.
All party formations in Granblue Fantasy: Relink have strengths and weaknesses. You can only dodge three times before having to recover, leaving you open to enemy damage and unable to abuse this ability. And your healing items refilled automatically at checkpoints are limited.
Proficient combat capabilities are rewarded with a higher link percentage with your party, letting you perform more powerful attacks, and risky moves such as stepping away from an enemy attack just at the right second give you a perfect dodge, rendering you invulnerable for a few moments.
The more attacks your character gets in, the higher the Arts level is, improving the power of your skills and leaving you to weigh if you should try to get in a few more hits before using such abilities or deem the risk not worth it.
A series of combat elements are in place to keep the encounters fresh and tactical, even in an action-heavy RPG such as Granblue Fantasy: Relink. Enemies have a blue stun gauge that, when filled, opens the opportunity to make a powerful link attack. Once certain criteria are met, you enter “link time”, which increases your attack power and slows down the time for enemies. Finally, a unique Chain Burst attack triggered by all party members will do massive damage to your enemies.
Monster variety is what you’d expect from a fantasy game: wyverns, goblins, and wild beasts of every kind. But the highlight of these battles is certainly the boss fights. Boss battles are in abundance and a thrill. Intense Area of Effect powers, hasty movements, and stylish attacks await at each fight. Correct use of the combat systems is required to triumph in these formidable challenges.
Playing online is a pillar of Granblue Fantasy: Relink. As cooperation is fundamental to an online mode, it is rather simple to do in this game. There is a “communication wheel” of emojis and messages for quick access with the holding of a button, and a heap of other options to connect with your party, such as emotes prewritten messages for the chat, stickers, and even a keyboard option for a more personalized expression.
Once in the lobby with your party, you can partake in the plenty of quests available and earn experience points that you can then take back to your save file, making the grind to higher levels and gathering materials.
Experiencing the post-endgame content of Granblue Fantasy: Relink is much more enjoyable. For the most hardcore gamers, there is the Maniac difficulty that once you reach the level cap of 100, literally the sky’s the limit due to its offering of ferocious boss fights.
The art direction of Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a standout. Led by Hideo Minaba of Final Fantasy fame, its lush graphics, watercolor-inspired skies, and endlessly entertaining flashy combat are all a joy to watch on screen.
Scripted sequences of the main story quests are incredibly cinematic and exciting to experience. All fully voiced, it does give the impression at times that you are watching an anime adaptation, but it is just the game’s stunning look as is.
Also of note in Granblue Fantasy: Relink is the gentle but profound soundtrack. Made by legendary composer Nobuo Ouematsu, joined by composer Tsutomu Narita, these melodramatic chords feel right at home and transport you to its unique universe set in the skies. As the adventure goes on, it does feel like there is care put into every chord of this journey.
One of the many benefits of developing a game in an extensively established world is that there is no shortage of characters to interact with and play with. More than 12 characters, including fan-favorite Narmaya, whom you can invite to your party with an object called the Crewmate Card, are available; every one of them has a particular move set, giving you dozens of hours of content alone just investing in their build with leveling, understanding and mastering each character.
It is not as flexible in regards to the accessibility options available in-game, such as not being able to turn off the HUD, which is something they should consider in an update in a game as beautiful as Granblue Fantasy: Relink. More importantly, there are a few accessibility features, such as an Assist mode.
This mode allows certain actions to be triggered automatically so players can focus more on the moment-to-moment action and not fret about dashing, and even a Full Assist, where all battle and action is handled for you. These sorts of options should be celebrated so that more people can experience a game, be it for its story, combat, or a mixture of both.
Although the runtime of the main narrative is relatively short, clocking in at about 20 hours or so, the replayability value of Granblue Fantasy: Relink is off the charts. Taking into account the more than 100 quests on offer, the Fate Episodes to learn more information about every character, and the online mode to set out on adventures with up to three friends is virtually an endless trove of entertainment for those looking for an Action RPG with substance.
