Granblue Fantasy - Infinite Grind Mobile/Web Browser Gacha Game

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Granblue Fantasy is a crime against art even moreso than usual gacha. Fantastic design and visuals locked behind gachashit. I already ordered the game along other jrpg's due to the glowing reviews, so I hope the plot will be alright even if I never seen anything about the gacha/anime.

 

[ZMOT]

Localization pisses me of and just makes me more inclined to play in moon runes if story is so bare anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL36BW5zRfQ8QvWZvQHHvFJVRbJWOZfQdZ

cygames made the first 7 episodes free which explains at least the core character's origin. that's roughly over 2 hours, not much more than the average pedowood movie these days.

Granblue Fantasy is a crime against art even moreso than usual gacha. Fantastic design and visuals locked behind gachashit. I already ordered the game along other jrpg's due to the glowing reviews, so I hope the plot will be alright even if I never seen anything about the gacha/anime.

never played GBF but I found it hilarious that they fucked up so hard they got the japanese law involved, and apparently very generous at the same time...

however, what it comes down to is how they want to empty your wallet and what you get in return, that's the same for every product out there. no one is spending $70 on a game that's finished in 3 hours (and no one is gonna blame standalone game sales). so once you know how you play, depending on the game you can completely ignore the monetization, or simply have some patience and get stuff without spending any cash. big reasons gacha works the way it does is by catching more flies with honey. if you're ok with what you get/don't need it, no need to complain. or look at it like this: some people play asscreed once for the story, others 100% it. if you only play for the story, it makes zero difference how much "ubisoft open world formula" is in the rest of the game.

TLDR: always worth to take a closer look besides listening to simple "good/bad" opinions.

EDIT:
caved and bought it. runs pretty well even on my older rig, no technical issues so far. also the very first town has DELICIOUS BROWN DRAPHS. cygames absolutely knows what's up!
also the journal etc. explains some tidbits how the characters met etc., not that they are absolutely necessary since it's a new island (afaik) so it's completely new anyway.

 

[Local Degenerate]

After Vs, I don't trust Cygames as far as I can throw them. I love the world, and feel like they are one of the few who widely did trannys acceptably (Note: Not good, the only good way to use trannies in fantasy is to side step the issue all together.). LaDiva is a fucking lovable troon, and I adore that big wrestler energy. Still a man tho.

But VS dropping a re-release, charging the original game holders full price for it, wasting a slot on the season pass (which my goofy ass bought) on the gaming version of chlamydia 2B, then dropping battle passes and forced online bullshit AFTER all of the sales were in rubbed me so wrong, I can't even bring myself to play the game anymore, let alone get excited for Relink.

I played the demo, and it seemed fun enough and good enough way to learn more about the world (I won't be caught dead playing gacha-shit), but I do not trust they won't start dumping passes and extra bullshit ways to take your money.

 

[ZMOT]

After Vs, I don't trust Cygames as far as I can throw them. I love the world, and feel like they are one of the few who widely did trannys acceptably (Note: Not good, the only good way to use trannies in fantasy is to side step the issue all together.). LaDiva is a fucking lovable troon, and I adore that big wrestler energy. Still a man tho.

But VS dropping a re-release, charging the original game holders full price for it, wasting a slot on the season pass (which my goofy ass bought) on the gaming version of chlamydia 2B, then dropping battle passes and forced online bullshit AFTER all of the sales were in rubbed me so wrong, I can't even bring myself to play the game anymore, let alone get excited for Relink.

I played the demo, and it seemed fun enough and good enough way to learn more about the world (I won't be caught dead playing gacha-shit), but I do not trust they won't start dumping passes and extra bullshit ways to take your money.

given the history with the game it feels cygames is glad it's out of the door and over with. since it's somewhat of a monhun-clone I don't really see much options to milk players, if anything they could sell drops to shorten the grind, but since it's not online only and doesn't even have anticheat from a surface glance it's nothing cheat engine couldn't fix.

if they sell more characters it would be nice, but that wouldn't really be more content since you would still grind the same stuff over and over, especially when you have games like genshin who dump (allegedly) triple-digit millions into an aggressive 6-weeks patch cycle. which is a shame, since as you said the world is nice, seeing the characters in 3d is great, but I'm afraid that it's. if they had it released in 2018 as it was originally planned, it would be received much different than now.

 

[Gondola Enjoyer]

given the history with the game it feels cygames is glad it's out of the door and over with. since it's somewhat of a monhun-clone I don't really see much options to milk players, if anything they could sell drops to shorten the grind, but since it's not online only and doesn't even have anticheat from a surface glance it's nothing cheat engine couldn't fix.

if they sell more characters it would be nice, but that wouldn't really be more content since you would still grind the same stuff over and over, especially when you have games like genshin who dump (allegedly) triple-digit millions into an aggressive 6-weeks patch cycle. which is a shame, since as you said the world is nice, seeing the characters in 3d is great, but I'm afraid that it's. if they had it released in 2018 as it was originally planned, it would be received much different than now.

With the numbers the game's doing right now, I'm expecting paid expansions in the not-so-near future or something like Versus Rising, a paid re-release with more stuff.

 

[robobobo]

If any of you people with the PlayStation games aren't also playing the mobile game, I'd appreciate it if you sent me the codes for free shit in the mobile game that you can get off their other games. I don't own a PS5 and they're a bunch of faggots who didn't put those codes in steam versions.

 

[KonradCruise]

Vaseraga is peak granblue, change my mind.

 

[Golfing on the Moon 1971]

I am in chapter 6. Overall really enjoying the game, though I wish the city was bigger. It's nice to see the palatial environment backgrounds from the gacha realized as 3D environments you can walk through but I wish there was more than just the one pier and plaza.

the localization seems on par with their gacha game

I play the gacha and Cygames' inhouse localization of it is great. The "localization" of Relink is not. I am playing with the Japanese voices (since that is how I am used to hearing them) and often times the dialogue does not feel like the characters I am used to reading from the gacha.

 

[SiccDicc]

I play the gacha and Cygames' inhouse localization of it is great. The "localization" of Relink is not. I am playing with the Japanese voices (since that is how I am used to hearing them) and often times the dialogue does not feel like the characters I am used to reading from the gacha.

Sorry, I never played the game but I remember people complaining about liberties they took with the fighting game then saying it's no different in the gacha.

 

[ZMOT]

I play the gacha and Cygames' inhouse localization of it is great. The "localization" of Relink is not. I am playing with the Japanese voices (since that is how I am used to hearing them) and often times the dialogue does not feel like the characters I am used to reading from the gacha.

never played VS or the gatcha, so have no reference besides the anime. and since I don't speak moon, I can't really say what changed.

so far there isn't really anything egregious in the text tbh, the steam reviews/discussions made a bigger deal out of it than I expected. yeah it might take some liberties, but we're not in MUH PATRIARCHY territory here.
I feel it's some side-effect/overcompensation from the whole translator discussion going on right now where suddenly everyone who didn't give a shit or lived in happy ignorance suddenly thinks he has to add this 2 cents and regurgitate "opinions".

 

[That Chris Guy]

Sorry, I never played the game but I remember people complaining about liberties they took with the fighting game then saying it's no different in the gacha.

As someone who has also played the gacha, I still think the localisation is bad on both. There's been a couple of instances in the gacha where they give the main character a dialogue option, and some of them are just stupid insertions of popular-trend shit. I don't specifically remember the instance, but think something like, "All the single ladies! All the single ladies!" popping up out of the blue. That and like my previous example where they pad out a small line with something that gives more variety but alters the context.

It might not be as frequent or as egregious, but it still happens.

After Vs, I don't trust Cygames as far as I can throw them. I love the world, and feel like they are one of the few who widely did trannys acceptably (Note: Not good, the only good way to use trannies in fantasy is to side step the issue all together.). LaDiva is a fucking lovable troon, and I adore that big wrestler energy. Still a man tho.

I found it very amusing that in the training mode - at least on the original version - Ladiva was the training dummy. Of all the characters you could have been given free range to beat up, the troon was chosen.

 

[Waifuwars]

Relink has been in development hell for so long I completely missed that it was released. I'll probably pick it up once it goes on sale since Cygames for some retarded reason gimped the gatcha codes again to even the point where the nips are pissed off. Glad to hear that the game is at least fun.

Also, regarding Ladiva, he's far from the troon representative that most people think he is. He explicitly states that he'd never do anything to change his body it was a gift from his parents in the gatcha (something troons could never understand).

 

[Gondola Enjoyer]

Also, regarding Ladiva, he's far from the troon representative that most people think he is.

Now Cagliostro, on the other hand :^)

 

[That Chris Guy]

Now Cagliostro, on the other hand :^)

Considering that Cags is an ancient guy who created a female body to escape his original sickly, debilitated form, and is also the creator of alchemy (which is thematic to his profession- changing from one thing into something else entirely), I think trannies have a misinterpreted view of him.

They just take a look at him and go, "Trans! Xe is like me!" At least to my knowledge, he is not like them. He takes no sexual gratification from it, there's no, "I'm actually [opposite sex] inside [my actual sex]'s body" argument, pretty much the only thing he has in common with them is that he LARPs a cute girl for manipulation, but "trans" is oversimplifying it down to the few things they want out of it.

Of course, I could be wrong and we might get a Bridget scenario where the director eventually says they were a tranny all along, but currently I chalk it up to trannies being shallow-minded caricatures.

 

[Gondola Enjoyer]

Considering that Cags is an ancient guy who created a female body to escape his original sickly, debilitated form, and is also the creator of alchemy (which is thematic to his profession- changing from one thing into something else entirely), I think trannies have a misinterpreted view of him.

They just take a look at him and go, "Trans! Xe is like me!" At least to my knowledge, he is not like them. He takes no sexual gratification from it, there's no, "I'm actually [opposite sex] inside [my actual sex]'s body" argument, pretty much the only thing he has in common with them is that he LARPs a cute girl for manipulation, but "trans" is oversimplifying it down to the few things they want out of it.

Of course, I could be wrong and we might get a Bridget scenario where the director eventually says they were a tranny all along, but currently I chalk it up to trannies being shallow-minded caricatures.

Cag just wants people to call him the cutest to feed his gigantic ego, that's about it.

 

[Freelance Police]

About halfway through the extreme difficulty quests but I feel like I'm confident enough to leave a decent review of relink. I've never played the gacha game so I wasn't familiar with any of the characters or the overall plot, likewise I had no expectations for the story. I was pleasantly surprised by the group dynamic bar the main character who's supposed to be a self-insert. It's nothing phenomenal, but I did think they were at least competent enough. I was also very surprised by how many ideas they were able to bounce through across each chapter. Maybe this is just my own brainrot after recently finishing coldsteel 1-4, but I've really come to appreciate games that are able to just get to the fucking point. I bought this game because I saw cool boss fights and a giant robot in the trailers and I got exactly that, every chapter is just nonstop jumping from setpiece to setpiece, constantly introducing new ideas while also making sure the more gimmicky ideas don't overstay their welcome. If you're not impressed with the character writing, chances are you'll still be engaged because of what's literally happening on the screen. It's a short campaign, but it's one full of spectacle and ideas that keep it fresh enough that I found myself enjoying every minute of it. If you've ever played a Devil May Cry game, the story structure is more or less like the mission structure of those games, except without the puzzles and shitty platforming. I also appreciate the glossary you can open at any time during dialog so you can keep up with the terminology the characters use like astrals or primal beasts/gods, it helps players like me get much more invested in the world when I can actually keep up with the conversation and why certain things are significant.

Gameplay is where I consider the game to be at its strongest. People keep trying to compare this game to Monster Hunter and I have no idea why, it feels more akin to something like God Eater honestly. There's 20 playable characters that all have their own nuances and gameplans, some are a bit more involved like Narmaya who has two different attack styles to incorporate in her gameplay or Siegfried who's more of a rhythm based character since you have to time each of your attacks to get the most out of him. I haven't played everybody yet but the ones I have played were quite enjoyable and substantially different from each other, so there's a lot of variety in terms of how you go about killing shit. The bosses share a lot of design philosophy with bosses from MMO games, AOE's will be marked with giant red circles over their impact zone or a line of sight will appear when the boss decides to just cleave through the arena. Each boss also has it's own moment of spectacle, I especially liked Maglielle's unlimited bladework gilgamesh bullshit and the sheer scale of the entire Escavallion fight. Overall I found the bosses and combat to be very fun.

I don't have much to say about the music or artstyle, the art is really colorful and pleasant to look at and I'm a sucker for orchestral pieces that go heavy on the brass and strings.

As far as criticisms go, the postgame is pretty much all about the grind. I personally don't mind since I really like the gameplay but if you don't like grindy postgames then this probably isn't for you. I also wish the crewmate card characters felt more involved in the story, occasionally they'll give a line or two of dialog during the mission but they're not nearly as involved as the main cast. Granted these are characters normally obtained from the gacha from what I understand, so they're not too involved with Granblues main story in the first place, but I still wish they had a bit more presence.

Overall I'm really enjoying this game, it's becoming increasingly more rare to find AAA games that aren't filled with bullshit monetary practices or DRM malware, and I've really come to respect developers that are able to just release a game that looks good and is fun to play without any retarded strings attached. The main story is short but there's no fat to it, it's just consistent spectacle after spectacle, and instead all the grinding takes place once you've finished the story for players who do want to engage in that kind of game. If you're looking for a rich story or if you hate grinding, then this game isn't for you. If you're looking for a character action game with JRPG and MMO mechanics with a ton of spectacle, then you'll probably enjoy this game a lot.

Final rating: Just wanna play video games/10

 

[ZMOT]

Final rating: Just wanna play video games/10

this. if I had to describe it in one word, it would be "solid". it does what you'd expect, and very pretty, very smooth, without much fuzz.

heck with current year vidya it almost feels old-school in the way it does things, with the story, spectacle and "game" as a whole. "you want game? you get game!".
they even pull no punches since the mc is probably one of the more difficult chars to play, and he's mandatory for the storyquests. so better git gud.

People keep trying to compare this game to Monster Hunter and I have no idea why

hard grind, but instead of weapons you get characters. plus I'd assume monhun is the most notorious style of that game, hence it getting referenced instead of other games.

I was pleasantly surprised by the group dynamic bar the main character who's supposed to be a self-insert. It's nothing phenomenal, but I did think they were at least competent enough.

only watched the first season of the anime, so know at least the origin story. given it's from 2017 (with the gacha being from 2014) it was kinda odd to see that lyria is still basically a plot device/mcguffin, with yet another damsel in distress story (I don't mean that as a woketard-critique, more like that's what seems to always happen to her as a character).
otoh it's originally a gacha story with heavy battle shonen elements, so it never going anywhere shouldn't be surprising since the goal is the journey and to meet new characters (you can roll for).

speaking of rolls, here's the roadmap so far: https://relink.granbluefantasy.jp/en/updates
no details what the paid content is gonna look like, the announced chars will be "free" but gated behind a grind probably to make buying them more enticing. rest probably depends how successful the game is, even new characters won't be that interesting if you already "beat" the game...
probably some alternate outfits for the waifus (and husbandos) too.

EDIT:
apparently it sold 1 million in 11 days, dunno if they count playstation too:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/881020/view/4040360837481966991

pretty much the only thing he has in common with them is that he LARPs a cute girl for manipulation, but "trans" is oversimplifying it down to the few things they want out of it.

most genderbend/crossdress stories in anime are more of the dragqueen kind, as in they want to be cute/pretty or have a specific goal for the plot. none of that agp/dysphoria shit you always get in the west these days.

 

[Hiphopopotamus]

As someone who just knew of Granblue's existence through people posting the various goat/cow/whatever people on chan boards, Relink's decently fun.
The story is whatever, I skipped all the cutscenes, and even with the rather limited feeling bosses I've just been having fun hitting Quick Play and doing whatever gets thrown at me.

The terminus weapon drop system is dogshit though, should've been a token drop instead of "any character you have unlocked"

This is after like 40 Proto Bahamuts, but I got Percival and Id so I'm content.

 

[Freelance Police]

My sides went into fucking orbit the second I saw the name of budget Nero's SBA.

 

[ZMOT]

My sides went into fucking orbit the second I saw the name of budget Nero's SBA.
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people shit on the translation but you gotta admit they were having fun with it.
personally I'm still waiting for some CHAOS quote.