Granblue Fantasy: Relinkhas built up quite a bit of anticipation for its upcoming release.Granblue Fantasywas originally released in 2014 as a mobile and web browser RPG. Since then it has been adapted into anime and given a couple of fighting games that incorporated RPG elements.Granblue Fantasy: Relinkreturns the series to an RPG format, much to the excitement of many fans. A demo launched this week for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 to let players get a taste of what the new action RPG has to offer, and playing through the demo was the morning priority at Hardcore Gamer.
The demo has three different game modes: Tutorial, Story and Quest. Tutorial Mode addresses basic combat mechanics and can be completed in just a few minutes. It’s a good opportunity to cover the specifics of combat, but battles are intuitive enough where everything covered in this mode can be quickly figured out, especially those with action RPG experience. Story Mode offers a small sample of the story campaign and gives the player a taste of the main game. Quest Mode offers three different battles. This sampling doesn’t get incredibly in depth into what will be in the final game, but gives a good enough look for players to decide if this seems like it’s their cup of tea or not.
Story Mode begins when the Skyfarers run into some not so smooth flying and Rolan needs to take the ship down. As luck would have it the place where they were forced to land has problems of their own, so Rolan tends to the ship while Gran and some of the more battle-ready companions head out to address the current goblin problem. One of the first things Gran is advised to do is check out Hallowed Ground markers which serve as save points that recover health, and also offer other services that were not available in the demo. After leaving the landing site, the party travels to the different areas that have villagers that need rescuing and goblins that need slaying. Quest markers make this a straightforward journey, and after liberating a few areas that have been overrun by goblins, the party is greeted to a bigger and badder boss goblin.
Quest Mode is three different battles that are taken on at a kiosk in town. One battle is fighting a few waves of goblins and the other two are boss battles, one against a Quakadile and the other against a Rock Golem. The two boss monsters are damage sponges, but this also leads to them being good opportunities to learn some of the more intricate parts of party combat. The player controls one character and the other three members are handled by AI. Linking attacks with party members is a useful tool against the stronger enemies, and chaining together Skybound Arts is a great way to inflict a lot of damage on these beasts. Eleven playable characters for Quest Mode are in the demo, which are Gran, Katalina, Rackam, Io, Charlotta, Ghandagoza, Narmaya, Lancelot, Siegfried, Yodarha and Zeta. These battles can be fought solo or with other players online.
Granblue Fantasy: Relinkhas a couple of options for player assistance to make it accessible to all skill levels and play styles. The demo was played in the default setting with no assistance activated, which is where using all the skills properly and learning the specific timing for battles is essential. Some of the bosses in Quest Mode did offer a challenge, but nothing that was too much to handle, though it’s likely the difficulty will ramp up in the full version of the game. The two assist options are for players who either inexperienced with action games or simply want to enjoy the story. One of the assist options simplifies gameplay where the player can feel powerful by button mashing the attack button, and removes the need for finesse from the experience. The full assist option essentially puts the game on autopilot and handles all the heavy lifting in battle. Purists can complain about options that make games too easy, but one perspective is that these different accessibility options do nothing more than give people more options on how to enjoy the game.
This shouldn’t be surprising to anyone, but the gameplay ofGranblue Fantasy: Relinkis very different than the twoGranblue Fantasy Versusgames. Perhaps it’s due to a recent playthrough, but the game play seemed reminiscent ofKingdom Heartsalbeit less janky. Battles were very intuitive and the AI companions were actually useful for the most part. One area of criticism is the constant dialogue boxes and chatter during battle, which is not an uncommon occurrence in action RPGs. Between all the particle effects, damage indicators and multiple characters executing flashy attacks, the screen can get busy. Plus it does break the sense of immersion when two characters are essentially face timing each other in the heat of melee. But even with that complaint, the time spent with the demo was enjoyable asGranblue Fantasy: Relinkseems to be shaping up to be a solid action RPG.
The demo is short and if the PlayStation dashboard timer can be trusted, it took about an hour to complete everything. There are rewards that can be transferred to the full game for completing the Story and Quest mode, provided the demo save file isn’t deleted. Unfortunately, progress made in the demo will not transfer to the full version, but as short as the demo is, this isn’t that big of a deal.Granblue Fantasy: Relinkis scheduled for release on February 1 for PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
