Review of Granblue Fantasy: Relink, a Must Play for JRPG Lovers

The name Granblue Fantasy is no stranger to me. The game that first debuted in 2014 is still one of the most iconic "gacha games" ever released for Android and iOS platforms.

I'm also quite familiar with Cygames, the game developer behind Granblue Fantasy as I've played many of their other games from Princess Connect! Re:Dive to Uma Musume Pretty Derby. I can say that Cygames is a game developer that is quite consistent in presenting something unique and interesting.

However, Cygames' name in the AAA gaming scene is still unheard of. The last AAA game they released was Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising which, although it was available for modern consoles and PC, was a fighting game and not a AAA RPG. I can also say that Cygames is a new player in the AAA gaming industry.

That's why I was so surprised when I was given the opportunity to try out Granblue Fantasy: Relink, the first AAA RPG game from Cygames that I had also been waiting for since 2018. Granblue Fantasy: Relink is full of surprises, amazing cinematic cutscenes, and gameplay that will likely allow me to play this game for over 100 hours.

What makes Granblue Fantasy: Relink so impressive?

Cinematic Cutscenes Make Games More Exciting

Thanks to the development of technology, modern game engines today have the ability to display cutscenes that are much better than games a decade ago. Of course, this makes modern AAA games today must have quality cutscenes. Unfortunately, not all games can present cutscenes well. In fact, there are rarely games that present cutscenes with cinematic nuances. What surprised me while playing this game is that from the beginning to the end I was always presented with extraordinary cinematic cutscenes. Something very rare and brave presented by Cygames, which still does not have a long track record in the AAA game industry.

One of my favorite cinematic cutscenes was when fighting a giant golem in the desert. The golem was taller than the surrounding mountains and I was asked to destroy it. How do you do that? There are many stages ranging from destroying the legs, to the magic reactors that are all over the golem's body, and each stage is definitely punctuated by cinematic cutscenes that make me feel not only like I'm playing a game, but also like I'm watching an anime!

What's most interesting here is how Cygames seamlessly blends cinematic cutscenes with gameplay. Every time you fight a boss, there's a point where the boss unleashes its special ability. That's when the cinematic cutscene comes into play, making the battle that much more exciting. The sensation is like playing a game while watching an anime!

Cinematic cutscenes in this game also enrich the story. All of our actions as players in the game have been described very well thanks to cinematic cutscenes. For example, when I was dealing with Maglielle (one of the antagonist bosses who was ironically very cute), in the middle of the battle she often issued her "ultimate skill" which was to throw all the weapons she had. Suddenly, I stopped all my attacks and focused on dodging all her attacks. Just like bosses in RPG games in general, Maglielle's ultimate skill also has an attack pattern so it can still be learned. Every time Maglielle unleashes her ultimate skill, the game will show a cinematic cutscene that makes the fighting feel more exciting.

According to her character description, Maglielle has a hobby of collecting weapons so it's no surprise that her ultimate skill is to throw all the weapons she has. From there, cutscenes have more of a role in describing her character.

I can say that Granblue Fantasy: Relink has the best cinematic cutscenes or at least in the top class among other JRPGs. The cinematic cutscene is what makes this game very exciting to play

Action-packed and Varied Gameplay

If cinematic cutscenes are the spice that makes Granblue Fantasy: Relink more fun to play, the gameplay mechanics in this game are the main foundation that makes this game special. Cygames doesn't break new ground with the gameplay of Granblue Fantasy: Relink, but they managed to apply it appropriately.

Let's compare the gameplay of Granblue Fantasy for a moment: Relink with Genshin Impact because both of them both adopt a real-time combat system, where players will immediately face enemies on the spot, without changing the screen or UI. And even more similar, Granblue Fantasy: Relink and Genshin Impact both have many playable characters. However, Granblue Fantasy: Relink is able to perform much better. Why?

The first is the skills of each character. Unlike Genshin Impact where each character is only equipped with two skills, each character in Granblue Fantasy: Relink has at least eight skills. The number of skills makes Granblue Fantasy: Relink has more varied gameplay even though the elemental damage system is not so pronounced in this game.

The skills in each Granblue Fantasy character: Relink is of course different and is a combination of attack skills and support skills. Unlike Genshin Impact (again), each character in Granblue Fantasy: Relink has a skill tree whose contents consist of new skills and upgrade statuses for each character. To upgrade this skill tree, I have to use special points that can be obtained from story missions, side missions, or quests from the Quest Counter. I should emphasize that there are so many upgrades in each character's skill tree that I had to grind to unlock all the skills for each character. That's why I said I could spend more than 100 hours in this game.

One other interesting thing is that the grinding process in this game is not too tedious. Although there are quests that feel repetitive, they are presented with different difficulty levels so they are still very challenging to play.

Unlike in Genshin Impact, I can only play one character when fighting but I am equipped with three other characters to join the party. These characters will later become NPCs who also help us when fighting. There is something special about the party, namely the Full Burst system, which is the action of attacking together using special attacks in turn and ending with one joint attack that deals great damage. This technique is very effective for taking down bosses that have very large HP. However, issuing a Full Burst requires special conditions that require quite a challenging struggle to achieve.

Granblue Fantasy: Relink is not a free-to-play game so there is no character gacha here. As for recruiting new characters, I had to struggle through various quests and missions that rewarded Crew Tickets. These tickets can be used to recruit new characters.

Like other RPG games, Granblue Fantasy: Relink also features an equipment system along with an upgrade system. There are not many types of equipment that can be used, but the upgrade process requires materials that can only be obtained from quests or missions. In other words, I had to do some grinding.

As I have previously stated, the gameplay mechanics of Granblue Fantasy: Relink is nothing revolutionary. But they all complement each other to create an overall satisfying gameplay.

Iconic Music and an Okay Story

Music is one of the most important parts of games, especially RPGs. All the famous RPG games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Final Fantasy VII all have very iconic music. Similarly, Granblue Fantasy: Relink which for me has very iconic music.

Written by Nobuo Uematsu, a legendary composer who has been involved in producing music for RPG games in Japan, Granblue Fantasy's music: Relink is not only iconic, but also full of emotion. Whenever I fought a boss, the music always matched the emotion and theme. It certainly made the play session more enjoyable because there's nothing better than the emotion of the game being conveyed to the player.

When it comes to emotions, story certainly plays an important role alongside music. Unfortunately for me, the story of Granblue Fantasy: Relink is quite straightforward but still at an acceptable and enjoyable level. What concerns me is the story of each character and the story of the Granblue Fantasy world itself.

Each character in Granblue Fantasy: Relink has a background story that can be viewed from the Fate Episodes menu on the Quest Counter. Completing Fate Episodes also grants extra status to the characters.

My favorite character in Granblue Fantasy: Relink is Charlotta, a Holy Knight who wields a large sword. From Fate Episodes, I know that Charlotta has a height complex. Charlotta is a member of the Harvin race and has the smallest body. Charlotta is 24 years old but her height is only about 90cm, no more than a toddler's height. It's no wonder that she gets so annoyed with people who "put her down" and compare her height.

But behind her very cute figure, Charlotta is very agile and able to attack quickly. Her attack area isn't very large, but her high attack speed makes her ideal for taking on large bosses. It's quite contradictory to her racial characteristics, but that's the interesting part.

In the future, I certainly hope that Cygames can bring more characters through DLC for this game.

Love JRPGs Means Must Play

After spending approximately 40 hours in Granblue Fantasy: Relink, I can give this game a score of 4.7/5. The exciting gameplay, epic cinematic cutscenes, and thunderous music are the main selling points of this game. Although the story is rather straightforward, I'm still very satisfied with this game. There are quite a lot of handsome and beautiful characters that you can play with in this game!

In addition, I also have to appreciate Cygames for delivering a game that is bug-free, has excellent optimization, and has intuitive and easy-to-use controls. I hope that there will be updates for the support of graphics technologies such as DLSS, FSR, XeSS in the future, because these technologies can help this game be more comfortable to play on PC handhelds such as ROG Ally.