It's another case of me falling head over heels for a franchise I have no knowledge of, only in this case, we have a very different entry from the franchise I knew. Granblue Fantasy is an oldie, having been released back in 2014 as a 2D turn-based RPG that was a hit on mobile devices at the time.
The game was played for a long time, but the franchise remained at a standstill for many years with this single game, developed by Cygames. Until in 2020, in partnership with Arc System Works (the studio that developed Dragon Ball FighterZ, BlazBlue and Guilty Gear), a new fighting game spin-off of the franchise was released, with that cool look that only Arc System can do.
To be honest, I always imagined that this franchise was a fighting game, after all, Granblue Fantasy Versus and Versus: Rising were what I had as a reference. Until now, when I discovered that this game, Granblue Fantasy: Relink, is basically the second main chapter in the franchise. That's right, ten years on, ring a bell? (Cygames announced Project Awakening back in 2018)
After this brief introduction, let's get down to what really matters, which is the review of this new game in the franchise, but first, I'd like to thank Nuuvem, who supported us and sent us this code for review, thank you! I'm even more grateful for the fact that the experience of playing this game was excellent, but let's go in parts.
No winding down
Granblue Fantasy: Relink was announced back in 2016 and released this year, and you might be thinking, it must be a huge game, right? And the answer is no, this game isn't huge and for me, that's one of its biggest plus points. This is because in this game we don't see one of the biggest problems I see in the oriental RPGs available on the market: winding up.
Final Fantasy XVI is one of the best games I've ever played in my life, my favorite game of last year, which could have been an impeccable game if it weren't for the moments when the game took a breather between its many epic moments. Don't get me wrong, I studied cinema, and one of the things I learned is that, between moments of impact, you need a breather, so that the next scene has even more impact.
Many films fall short in this regard, and this results in some scenes that could be very good being hidden due to the lack of a pause for breath. One of my favorite franchises, Transformers, has excellent action scenes, but they lose weight because of the sequence of scenes without a pause.
I know that as much as we have things in common, a movie is a movie and a game is a game, but rhythm is something that can fit into both entertainment materials. As I mentioned, Final Fantasy XVI, despite being excellent, has this problem, and it's more common in good games than you might think. One of the best games I've played this year, Like a Dragon 8, suffers from this problem, as do many other oriental games.
If it's not a quality game like this, the game ends up feeling over-inflated. Having said all that, it's possible to finish Granblue Fantasy: Relink in around 15 hours, which might be considered short for an action RPG, but you have no idea how happy I was to hear that.
Example of accessibility
The game lasts this long because it follows the story without any ado, every moment of the game is incredible, and it's understandable why it took so long to produce. As I said, there needs to be a breather between impactful scenes, but this moment doesn't have to be monotonous, and in Granblue, these moments occur and pass quickly, giving total focus to the main story.
But if you're one of those who likes to do side quests, explore the maps etc., you can rest assured that we have that here. But if you're like me, who prefers to focus on the main story, you can rest assured that it's entirely possible. And that's not the only good thing about it.
Some of the games in this genre (almost all of them) force you to earn a lot of XP in order to progress in the game. Some of them allow you to select difficulty levels for those who don't like this moment so much in games and which can make you feel a bit stuck at times. Well, this is one of the games that lets you select the difficulty level, but it goes further.
One thing that has become increasingly common, especially in fighting games, which is one of the exponents of this franchise, are "summarized" controls. What does that mean? In fighting games, you can perform combos, from the simplest to the most complex. But if you're not the type to be able to record all your combos, some games allow you to perform complex combos with the press of a few or just one button.
Satisfactory combat
The same happens here with one of the available assists. Once we get into combat, we can use the square to deliver the standard blow and the triangle to deliver stronger blows. Using a button combo, you can select up to four active skills. In addition to these blows, you can also defend against attacks, dodge and jump.
Speaking of skills, there's no shortage of variety in this game. To begin with, you have six characters, four of whom are in your group, or party for those with a greater affinity with the genre. In addition to these four, you can unlock dozens of other characters, each very unique.
Each of them has a huge number of active and passive skills, a huge number in fact. Not only do they have an absurd amount of new skills and attributes, they also have two skill trees, one focused on attack and the other on defense, as well as a third focused on weapons (which can be created and upgraded throughout the game).
Summary of the opera: having said all that, the first assist mode allows us to sum up all these blows, both weak and strong, as well as the skills, by simply pressing the square. Not only that, but the game also allows you not to press any buttons. The second assistance mode allows you to guide the characters and everything works out automatically.
But it's important to make it clear that these assistance modes are only available on the easy level, but this won't put you at any disadvantage and the level can be changed at any time during the course of the game.
A literally brilliant fight
Another factor of the combat that impressed me, and which can be said of the whole game itself, was its visuals. Last year, FFXVI's combat was a lot of fun and visually incredible. Granblue Fantasy: Relink gives me that same feeling, with more stylized graphics, but still impressive.
When I said above that every moment of the game sessions was very well done, that also includes the combat, as well as the scenery. Every time you're in combat, there's an explosion of lights and particles everywhere, both in normal and special moves, everything is beautiful, literally beautiful.
In combat, there is a very interesting synergy between the characters. In addition to the special moves mentioned above, we also have a special "super" move, activated by using L3+R3, which deals a great deal of damage. And each of the characters in the group has this type of attack, and when activated in sequence, they cause a final super attack characterized by the union of all the attacks.
These attacks can be very useful, especially in fights against bosses, of which there are quite a few. I say there are a lot of them, but that's a good thing, because each of the fights is sensational and has clearly been made with a lot of care. The settings have been designed according to the fight, and this makes everything run very smoothly.
The bosses have incredible attacks, capable of taking up the entire screen, they evolve during the course of the fight and at no time do they break the rhythm. And in terms of gameplay, there's always something new.
Cinema!
Really, everything about the visuals in this game is impressive. The graphics have that look we're used to seeing in the franchise's fighting games, but which have been transported to the more 3D look present in this game. Every scene, no matter how varied (and there are many variations), is beautiful.
As I've already said, there's always something going on, whether it's the grasses moving, the lava exploding, among other things. Everything gives the impression of having been drawn by hand, so perfect is it that I've taken several captures that are far (but far) above what we can put in this analysis.
The art direction has also done a good job here, because there would be no point in the game having incredible visuals if it didn't have good direction. In this game, we have some shots that couldn't be defined any differently: cinematic. Many of them you can already see here in this review.
And if the visuals are good, what about the soundtrack? The level of quality in both audiovisual aspects is well balanced, with an equally epic soundtrack at all times.
Verdict
Having done all this for you, I couldn't possibly not recommend this PlayStation-exclusive game, which is one of the great surprises of this year. The game's story has its moments, but on the whole it's very simple, full of twists and turns as usual in oriental games. But you won't have any trouble understanding what's going on as the game is subtitled in Portuguese.
The combat, visuals and soundtrack are the game's main positive points, but I would also mention the accessibility, which makes the experience satisfying for all audiences. It's a straightforward story, without a lot of fluff, and it's a lot of fun. Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a sensational game!
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