Granblue Fantasy: Relink PS5 Review

<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Cygames&&num;8217&semi; <&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Granblue Fantasy&colon; Relink i<&sol;span><i><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">s<&sol;span><&sol;i><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400"> now out after over seven years in development&period; The JRPG aims to follow years of <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;granblue-fantasy-animation-episode-1-review&sol;">established lore and character background<&sol;a> with an all new story and new real-time gameplay elements&period; After playing through the game&period; I can say that the developers do a great job with the title but it has clear pitfalls&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-180065 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;02&sol;07111130&sol;Granblue-Fantasy-Relink&lowbar;2023&lowbar;12-21-23&lowbar;001-1-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"576" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">A New Grand Adventure<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Granblue Fantasy&colon; Relink <&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">features a new story that takes place in the mystical Sky Realm&comma; which hosts several floating islands&period; These islands are guarded by powerful creatures known as primal beasts&comma; which are worshiped by the mysterious organization known as the Church of Avia&period; In the game&comma; players control The Captain&comma; who can be either a male character whose default name is Gran or a female whose default name is Djeeta&period; You and your crew&comma; consisting of a young girl&comma; Lyria&comma; who has the ability to capture and hold these primal beasts and a slew of other interesting characters&comma; sail the sky as Skyfarers and go on adventures&period; Unsurprisingly&comma; during their latest journey to a fabled land called Eustalucia&comma; the group gets mixed up with the church&comma; and Lyria gets captured&period; As such&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s up to Gran and his crew to rescue her&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">It&&num;8217&semi;s worth noting that <&sol;span><i><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Relink <&sol;span><&sol;i><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">serves as an indirect continuation of the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;granblue-fantasy-versus-review&sol;">previous games in the series&period;<&sol;a> While advertised as a spinoff title&comma; players jumping into the game will experience an all-new story but with the same characters from the already-established series&period; As such&comma; if you&&num;8217&semi;re new to the series&comma; there are a lot of details you&&num;8217&semi;ll be missing&period; Many of the character relationships&comma; like Lyria&&num;8217&semi;s life-link to the protagonist&comma; and how that happened is not explained in the game besides from the in-game glossary&period; The game also features many returning characters whose backgrounds and origins aren&&num;8217&semi;t covered&comma; so new players who care about this will likely be confused if they don&&num;8217&semi;t read the aforementioned glossary&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-180067 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;02&sol;07111227&sol;Granblue-Fantasy-Relink&lowbar;2023&lowbar;08-22-23&lowbar;020-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"576" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">An unsurprising Story<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">If you can look past this&comma; Relink&&num;8217&semi;s narrative is highly engaging&period; While the story starts slow as it begins like most generic JRPGs&comma; it quickly gets more exciting with the introduction of the mysterious Alvia group&period; However&comma; while the plot has its fair share of engaging moments&comma; the bulk of the story is spent trying to rescue Lyria&period; The game doesn&&num;8217&semi;t focus on the origins of the church and their motivations&comma; at least not until much later&comma; which is unfortunate&period; Despite this&comma; the narrative is still captivating&comma; and the characters are endearing&comma; albeit a bit tropey at times&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Other than that&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s also worth noting that <&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Granblue Fantasy&colon; Relink<&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400"> is incredibly linear&period; Much more linear than anticipated&comma; especially compared to most JRPGs&period; While you can fast travel from the game&&num;8217&semi;s main hub town to the current mission&&num;8217&semi;s location&comma; at the start of each chapter&comma; each location is large but still highly linear&period; These areas are where each chapter starts and ends before moving on to the next&period; As such&comma; players who want a grand world to explore freely and openly with no barriers will not find that with<&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400"> Granblue Fantasy&colon; Relink&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-180069 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;02&sol;07111559&sol;Granblue-Fantasy-Relink&lowbar;2023&lowbar;01-20-23&lowbar;015-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"576" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">Highly Engaging&comma; Highly Simplistic<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">In terms of the meat and potatoes of the game&comma; the gameplay&comma; <&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Granblue Fantasy&colon; Relink<&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400"> sports highly engaging elements&comma; specifically its combat mechanics&period; While these elements are far from complex&comma; they make the gameplay experience very enjoyable and stress-free&period; Players explore several unique locations and biomes in each chapter&comma; traversing and scaling platforms and fighting enemy mobs and bosses in real-time combat&period; Like most RPGs&comma; players have access to several weapons&comma; a skill tree to improve old skills and gain new ones&comma; and a blacksmith to upgrade weapons&period; Learning to use new skills is an incredibly painless process&comma; and using abilities during battles is always exciting&period; Additionally&comma; you don&&num;8217&semi;t have to reattune spells or skills whenever you get a new one&comma; as the game will let you use any of them when their cooldown is up&period; That way&comma; you&&num;8217&semi;ll always have a skill you can use every few seconds&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Movements in <&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Relink <&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">are also swift and precise&comma; which greatly enhances the fast-paced combat&period; Attacks and skills are flashy&comma; and they all have mesmerizing special effects&period; The game&&num;8217&semi;s bosses are one of its major highlights&comma; as each is well-crafted&comma; unique&comma; and incredibly fun&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">However&comma; unfortunately&comma; while being fun to fight&comma; these bosses are also incredibly spongy despite not being particularly tough&period; So much so that many boss fights often end up being over twenty minutes long&period; And because they scale with each chapter&comma; leveling up and upgrading your weapons does minimal improvements&period; And because the game is incredibly linear&comma; there aren&&num;8217&semi;t ways to grind out levels except by playing through the game&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-180071 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;02&sol;07111817&sol;Granblue-Fantasy-Relink&lowbar;2020&lowbar;12-18-20&lowbar;015&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"900" height&equals;"506" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">The Good and Bad of Gameplay<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">In terms of difficulty&comma; <&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Granblue Fantasy&colon; Relink <&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">is disappointingly easy&period; It is incredibly hard for an average RPG player to get a game over screen even on medium difficulty&period; And due to the game&&num;8217&semi;s linear nature&comma; you won&&num;8217&semi;t have time to grind but you&&num;8217&semi;ll always get healing items at the start of each chapter&period; To make things even easier&comma; each character can heal and revive you when you&&num;8217&semi;re about to die&comma; and you can also just revive yourself back to full health by mashing buttons&period; What&&num;8217&semi;s more&comma; you also get two revive potions at the start of each chapter&comma; just in case you find yourself struggling for some absurd&comma; highly unlikely reason&period; As such&comma; if you intend to have a reasonably challenging experience&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;d be best to crank up the difficulty to the most challenging&comma; and even then&comma; nothing less than a party wipe will make a seasoned action player struggle&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Furthermore&comma; while the AI in <&sol;span><i><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Relink <&sol;span><&sol;i><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">is really advanced and helpful&comma; it would have been nice if players could freely switch between characters with a simple push of a button early on instead of switching party leaders through the menu in between battles&period; This would make fights&comma; especially boss fights&comma; much more organized&period; Lastly&comma; another painfully noticeable aspect of  <&sol;span><i><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Relink<&sol;span><&sol;i><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">’s gameplay is that sometimes combat feels unsatisfying&period; Attacks feel way too floaty and light&comma; and lack the impact and weight you&&num;8217&semi;ll see in most other action RPGs&period; And because bosses are quite bulky&comma; it always feels like you&&num;8217&semi;re chipping away at a block of steel with a toothpick&comma; which never feels nice&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Granblue Fantasy&colon; Relink<&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400"> is also one of the best looking JRPGs of the year so far&comma; as the models are incredibly detailed&comma; the reflections are impeccable&comma; it sports amazing lighting with captivating colors&comma; and an amazing art direction&period; While some character models are less detailed than others&comma; the character designs makeup for it&period; In terms of performance&comma; the PlayStation 5 version runs really well with a consistent 60FPS on and great visuals in their respective settings&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-180070 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;02&sol;07111624&sol;Granblue-Fantasy-Relink&lowbar;2023&lowbar;05-24-23&lowbar;004-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"576" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">Final Thoughts<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Overall&comma; <&sol;span><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;relink&period;granbluefantasy&period;jp&sol;en&sol;"><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Granblue Fantasy&colon; Relink<&sol;span><&sol;a><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400"> is far from perfect but it&&num;8217&semi;s also a well crafted game that provides a stellar RPG experience&period; While said experience would’ve been better with less linear gameplay and a more fleshed out story&comma; the gameplay is entertaining and easy to understand making it one of the most fun JRPGs in recent years&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;review&lowbar;wrap">&NewLine; <h3 class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;review&lowbar;subtitle">The Review<&sol;h3>&NewLine; <h2 class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;review&lowbar;title">&NewLine; Granblue Fantasy&colon; Relink &NewLine; <&sol;h2>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;reviewheader clearfix">&NewLine; <div class&equals;"review&lowbar;score score&lowbar;avg">&NewLine; <span class&equals;"score&lowbar;value">7&period;5<&sol;span>&NewLine; <span class&equals;"score&lowbar;text">Score<&sol;span>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"desc" style&equals;''>&NewLine; <p>Granblue Fantasy&colon; Relink is far from perfect but it&&num;039&semi;s also a well crafted game that provides a stellar RPG experience&period; While said experience would’ve been better with less linear gameplay and a more fleshed out story&comma; the gameplay is entertaining and easy to understand making it one of the most fun JRPGs in recent years&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;reviewdetail clearfix">&NewLine; <div class&equals;"conspros">&NewLine; <h3>PROS<&sol;h3>&NewLine; <ul><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-check"><&sol;i> Great visuals<&sol;li><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-check"><&sol;i> Fun and direct gameplay<&sol;li><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-check"><&sol;i> Fun story for most parts<&sol;li><&sol;ul>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"conspros">&NewLine; <h3>CONS<&sol;h3>&NewLine; <ul><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-cross"><&sol;i> Inconsistent character models<&sol;li><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-cross"><&sol;i> Predictable narrative<&sol;li><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-cross"><&sol;i> Too linear<&sol;li><&sol;ul>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;reviewscore jeg&lowbar;reviewbars clearfix" data-scoretype&equals;"point">&NewLine; <h3>Review Breakdown<&sol;h3>&NewLine; <ul><li>&NewLine; <strong>Score<&sol;strong>&NewLine; <span class&equals;"reviewscore">7&period;5<&sol;span>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;reviewbar&lowbar;wrap">&NewLine; <span style&equals;"width&colon; 75&percnt;" class&equals;"barbg"><&sol;span>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;li><&sol;ul>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; &NewLine; <&sol;div>

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