As a ten-year veteran rider, Granblue Fantasy Relink has indeed exceeded my expectations. In my imagination, this is just a fan-oriented "two-dimensional monster hunt" with elements of fighting. But I didn't expect cygames to present us with a serious ARPG with a compact plot, brilliant combat design, and a lot of growth elements and post-content.
The game is bounded by the "true ending" of the main story, and is strictly divided into two stages of play: the first half of the pure "JRPG" experience of about 20 hours, and the later "MMO monster hunting" stage of more than 50 hours. In this work that combines two gameplay methods, Cygame, which is making a console game for the first time, really shows the same hard power as the first-line Japanese factory, so that this work, which has been delayed for nearly eight years, is perfect.
It's worth noting that this isn't a traditional Japanese RPG, and its main story is shorter than other RPGs, and the depth of the story is limited. If you're only interested in the plot part and don't want to spend time in the follow-up online game-based "brushing" elements, this work is still worth waiting for a while.
But as a reminder, Granblue Fantasy Relink is still essentially a fan-oriented game. Our high rating for the game is also based on the fact that an old Rider has enjoyed it in its entirety and has received almost all of the elements that pay homage to the game's base game and serve the fans. If you are not familiar with the IP of "Blue Fantasy", there may be some "unadaptation".
But in any case, the game is undeniably of high quality. For fans of "Sky Rider" and pan-two-dimensional elements, as well as passers-by who are interested in fighting gameplay, "Granblue Fantasy Relink" is definitely an excellent work worth experiencing.
Grants rush forward
The original Azur Fantasy is a browser game that has been in operation for ten years, and its plot is not to mention quite substantial, including hundreds of different styles and diverse characters.
Of course, if you're a veteran player who has been exposed to web games or other CY titles, you might get even more extra fun.
Fortunately, you don't need to know any information about the original work to play "Relink", this is about a gaiden plot that has little connection with the original world view, and there is also a simple plot and character review at the beginning. Even if you've never known Granblue Fantasy, you can fully understand the plot of this game.
The game also offers a terminology explanation feature to help explain some of the proper nouns in the game.
Although the story of Relink is a classic Japanese RPG structure, it unfolds quite neatly and without any muddy. There are almost no parts of the JRPG in the game that require repeated errands, side quests, and shopping and chatting. For example, when the protagonist arrives in a new city, other RPGs may have already assigned the player a bunch of toilet tasks, but the protagonist group of Relink almost only walks around the city twice, and in 10 minutes they are already on their way to their next destination.
So, in essence, the experience of "Relink" is similar to the linear process of "Devil May Cry" and "Bayonetta". The main process of more than ten hours has also maintained the highest quality. Spectacular scenes, well-designed boss battles followed, and there were many amazing combat designs with performances and mechanics that were no less amazing than the summoning beast battles in FF16.
I'm sure everyone understands how valuable a Japanese-style RPG is that doesn't drag on time. Even though the game has a short flow process, the overall experience is still excellent. To use a less apt metaphor, the story experience of Relink is like a condensed version of FF16 stripped of junk and meaningless map exploration.
In addition, clearing the game does not mean the end of the main story, and there is a plot hidden in the commission of the "Mission Center". Take "Monster Hunter" as an example, the normal ending is like opening up the "village mission". The "True Ending", on the other hand, requires the player to reach a certain stage of the "Gathering House" before it can be opened. Don't worry, the game will give you detailed tips on what to do after beating a level.
However, the condensation of the main line process also led to the lack of sufficient display of the characters and world view in the script. With the exception of a few core roles, most of the partners lack sufficient shaping in the process. If you're using a non-protagonist cast character (such as Charlotte, Nalume, etc.) that has been added to the "Character Voucher", they won't even appear in cutscenes except for a few lines in a specific story, and the experience is indeed a bit fragmented.
Although there are regrets, fortunately, the plots of these characters outside the main line have a "fate chapter" as a supplement. Although the presentation of "Destiny Chapter" is a lot of galgame-style text and two simple battles, it can be regarded as perfecting the character's character design and plot shortcomings.
The mechanism is unique, and the choice is yours
As an ARPG, ReLink has a whopping 19 playable characters. Except for 6 starters + 1 story character, all other characters need to purchase them from the merchant with "Character Tickets" to join the party. However, both the main story and the "Mission Center" will give away vouchers from time to time, so even if you play solo, you can eventually unlock all the characters.
Due to the large number of playable characters, it is difficult to describe the gameplay and characteristics of each character in detail, and can only describe the characteristics of Relink's combat system in general.
First of all, all characters have perfect defense and perfect dodge abilities, and there are two ways to respond to attacks. Perfect Defense increases the enemy's stun rating (the blue progress bar on the target's body), and nearby characters can perform a "chain attack" when they are fully stunned. The perfect dodge will give the player a period of invincibility, note that it is a "period of time" rather than an instant, when encountering some short consecutive large damage, as long as the first perfect dodge has passed, the subsequent waves of attacks can be passed through the invincibility state.
Although there are many characters available in the game, their attacks, skill mods, and systems are not completely independent of each other, but rather consistent. Many characters have some kind of "resource", for example, "Fili" will summon a "spirit" after the basic attack charge ends, and when accumulating three spirits, not only will the skills be used to have additional special effects, but the damage of the charged heavy attack will also be greatly increased. Io's Charged Basic Attack accumulates a "Magic Vortex", and when it reaches the third floor, it can charge 4 stacks of heavy attacks to achieve maximum damage. And "Gondagasa" (Grandpa Niu, Fire Bald Head) also has a similar "No Twin Stream" level, but this character needs to accurately attack according to the rhythm, otherwise the number of stacked layers will be reduced, and after reaching the tenth floor, you can also use Charged Heavy Attack to convert the accumulated resources into extra damage.
The character's attack mode is roughly divided into three types: charged, combo, and eyed. Typical charged characters are "Io and Emperor Yan", these characters use charged heavy attacks as their main means of output, and after using skills or basic attack combos, they have special effects that increase the charging speed or damage. On the other hand, combo characters add damage or enhance skill effects based on the number of attacks, and "Charlotte, Lancelot" are characters who need to keep getting close to the boss Ping A to maintain the combo state. Represented by the Meg-type are Siegfried and Gundagasa, which enhance their attacks and trigger additional effects when they press their attacks at a certain rhythm (similar to Nero's Red Knife, but with much more relaxed input timing).
Most of the characters' modes of operation can be summarized in these three categories. However, there are also some special characters, such as the milk knife "Nalumei", which everyone loves, who need to switch between the two stances at the end of the attack combo to maintain high-speed combos and accumulate the number of butterflies. There is also the sniper rifle-wielding "Eugen", who is the only ranged character who can aim freely, and the Flying Monster, which is difficult to reach in other melee characters, can be output as casually as in FPS.
It's also worth mentioning that almost all characters have an "offset" combo compensation system similar to that found in Bayonetta. To put it simply, when a character uses Dodge to move or dodge damage, they can still maintain the number of attack combos or charge stacks they were in progress. This is useful for characters whose attacks require a long "foreplay" to play an outburst. In a sense, this mechanism is also one of the traces of "platinum" in the past.
In addition, each character also has some hidden mechanics and skills with unique effects that cannot be summarized in the review. For example, taking damage and counterattacking the entire team, removing enemy power-ups, and even "HP will not be reduced below 1", etc.
In short, although there is not as much research for each character as there is for each Monster Hunter. But the fighting style, output ability, and gameplay covered by these 19 characters can still guarantee a fresh experience for a hundred hours. At least after 20 hours of playthrough, it's hard to say that I have fully mastered all the mechanics of the four characters I control.
What's more, it also takes a lot of time to just train a few main characters who are easy to play. Because next, there is the bottomless pit of character development and strengthening, as well as a large number of "endgame challenges" that far exceed the strength of the final boss of the main story.
"Liver scrapping" level of co-fighting cultivation
If you're not a JRPG storyteller, but you're here for the fight part, then the end of the main story of "Relink" may be the "real beginning". Because the "mission center" is positioned as similar to the "assembly house", it is your eternal home.
In the "Mission Center", there are as many as 7 difficulty levels to choose from, from "easy" to "proud". When you complete the main story, "Very Hard" will be opened, and to complete the "True Ending" of the main story, you will need to clear the "Extreme" difficulty.
In order to challenge these off-main contents, you'll need to keep farming dungeons to gain materials, experience, and skill points to develop your character. And the depth of cultivation provided by the game, I still can't see the end after 30 hours of play, and there is still a steady stream of new "liver scrap" content.
For the old rider, seeing these familiar cultivation elements may already be smiling. You might even feel "That's it?" I don't feel like it's half complicated to do the 'Ten Heavenly Poles.'"
For example, if you want to develop a character, the most basic development is to level up and strengthen its skill tree. Each character has multiple skill trees, which are used to improve the character's basic attributes, as well as unlock skills and special abilities, and can also open additional factor slots, which is the highest priority training content.
When your character's level reaches 80, "Boundary Break" will also be opened, and you will be able to invest any excess skill points into it. This is a "ring enhancement" setting similar to the "Granblue Fantasy" page game, and each time the boundary is breached, random attributes and skills will be added to the character, and if you want to roll out an entry that is perfect for the character, you need a lot of skill point reserves. By the way, level 90 and level 100 will also open two other "Boundary Break" slots, which will have higher stats and require more skill points.
Next, it's time to make the ** that the character uses. Each character has 6 ** with different skills, except for the last ** is the boss crusade drop, the production and breakthrough of the others** also require materials dropped by enemies with different tasks and different attributes (just like you did in "Monster Hunter"). Once you've crafted the last ** and broken through to level 150, you'll be pleasantly surprised to find that it can be enhanced by 10 ......levelsAnd the materials required are also more complex and numerous.
The characters and ** have been cultivated, and you think it's time to come to an end. But in fact, cultivation has just begun, because the most important "factor enhancement" part of the game is here. Each character can equip up to 12 "Factors", each of which carries a variety of skill effects, such as "Attack Power", "Defense Power", "Critical Strike Chance", "Experience Increase", "Overlord", "Auto Revival", "Skill Cooldown Reduction", and so on. Almost all the attributes in the game have corresponding factors, and everything is encompassing.
As for the enhancement of factors, it can be simply understood as the "equipment beads" in "Monster Hunter Rise", each factor has a different initial level, and the accompanying skills can also be upgraded. At the same time, equipping the same factor skills can be stacked levels, for example, a "Attack 2" increases by 4 levels, and "Attack 3" increases by 7 levels, then equipping them together will increase the attack power level by 11 levels. The attack skills in Relink can be stacked up to level 50.
As with most co-op games, factor drops are fraught with randomness and resentment. First of all, since there is no level limit on the equipment hole of the factor, the higher the level of the factor, the better, and the plus factor that carries two skills at the same time will also be dropped in the game, so the graduation equipment is naturally 12 "high-level double skill factors" The most ideal.
If you really can't brush it out, players can also go to the merchant to exchange the excess materials for ** coupons to directly extract the factor, and some low-security factors can also be exchanged for task materials to temporarily replace them. By the way, there are also "character-specific factors" in the game, such as "Saida", which has a factor that lowers the threshold for aerial combos, which greatly weakens the difficulty of operation.
These cultivation elements alone are enough for most players to drink a pot, after all, this is just a character's cultivation link, if you want to be proficient in martial arts, ......Then the above steps have to be repeated even 19 times. Of course, in the process of brushing skill points and factors, there is a high probability that there will be some graduation embryos of other characters by the way, but even so, the content of cultivation is still terrifying.
The above is just the basis for cultivation, if you still want to know other things that can make the liver, then ......*You can also inlay blessings, which randomly carry three factor skills, which can be randomly dropped through dungeons, or randomly drawn with coupons from merchants. In addition, the game also has daily login rewards and random participation mission rewards, and completing random tasks can earn gold medals, which can be exchanged for low maintenance factors and other rare "grudge items" with drop rates.
Compared to the unusually rich "liver" part, the endgame content provided by the game is actually a little repetitive in terms of "content". At least until the proud difficulty, the various quest bosses that players have tackled are still variants and skins of the bosses in the main story. The number of monsters in "Relink" is obviously not as rich as in the "Monster Hunter" series, and I have obviously felt tired in the process of repeatedly brushing materials and factors.
Maybe it's because you can't play online during the evaluation period, so you can only carry AI alone to repeat the strategy. After the official release of the game, if you play a dozen random tasks every day to accumulate materials, or use online voice brushing with friends to complain about levels or planning, this process may be a little more interesting.
Due to the time constraints of the review, I was not able to experience the highest level of relink's co-op missions. However, as far as the development part is concerned, the game clearly provides enough depth and "durability" to play, and there are clear ways to improve and feedback at almost every stage. If you set a small goal and have all the characters graduate, you might be able to play until the ...... GTA6 releases
In addition, the statement that this game is a "two-dimensional monster hunt" is not entirely accurate, because there are a lot of boss mechanics and furious stages in the game. After the boss reaches a certain amount of blood, it will also enter a state of invincibility or damage reduction, and then send a bunch of round, straight, and circular AOEs for the player to dodge, which is obviously a little more MMORPG than "Monster Hunt". The follow-up addition of "Fasan" has been determined that there are 12 trials that players need to lift in battle, if you don't know what the twelve trials are, you can refer to the mechanics of the original page game in the picture below.
Conclusion
In the first 20 hours, "Granblue Fantasy Relink" is a "condensed" ARPG with fierce combat, many playable characters, and no water injection in the plot flow. After 20 hours, it became a "two-dimensional fighting game" with more "MMO" combat mechanics than "monster hunting". Its complex character development and difficult dungeon challenges require a lot of time to study, and it is really a "time black hole" full of fun.
In this big month of blockbuster games, Granblue Fantasy Relink managed to occupy all my free time. As a rider, there's no reason why I shouldn't recommend it.