It’s time for a pretty top tier RPG that came out a little while ago. It’s a pretty long game so there is plenty of time to squeeze in a bunch of storylines, hype characters, and lots of action. The levels also get rather difficult so you definitely have to make sure you level up and beat a bunch of enemies or it’ll catch up to you at the worst possible time. You can’t let that happen or it’s all over. This game definitely surpassed my expectations and really ended up being a standout hit.

The general plot has the main character sailing the skies with his friend Lyria and the rest of the crew. They are still trying to get to the final island at the edge of the skies similar to what Luffy is doing on the waters but along the way they always end up helping people in different villages. Lyria is linked to the lead with their souls so if one dies then the other will too. So they both have to do their best to stay strong and throughout their adventures they have learned how to tame giant monsters and really fight as a team. Well their biggest threat is here now as a mysterious group wants to kidnap Lyria for nefarious purposes. This group is incredibly powerful…can they be stopped?

The game sort of starts you off right in the middle of the journey but even if you haven’t played the other games or watched the anime I would argue that it’s fairly new player friendly. You quickly get an understanding of the team dynamics and personalities and their goal is simple enough. Meanwhile you have the villains jumping in and getting in everyone’s way which makes enough sense. The game is stand alone enough for this to all be easy while still connecting to the overall plot by the end. So yeah there’s really a good story here all the way and Gran really has to work on getting stronger if he wants to keep on protecting Lyria.

You have a good amount of twists, betrayals, and hype moments scattered throughout the game. Another reason why I really enjoy RPGs is because in general they are long enough to get all of that content in. If a game is short then there’s only so much that you can do with the story after all. The character designs are on point and things even get rather high tier by the end. These characters are definitely not messing around.

The gameplay is a 3D action title where you go in and smash away at your enemies. You have 4 different special moves per character and you choose which ones you want to use from the menu. You learn so many different ones that it can be hard to decide on just 4. Additionally as you level up you can keep on adding to your character tree. There’s no way to power everything up and all of the characters share points so you can choose to put everything into one character and make him a beast in combat or you can keep it fairly equal and distribute the whole time. It’s really up to you. I went ahead and gave it all to Gran since I played as him the whole time. I figured I should give myself the best possible chance to win and I’d rather trust myself than the A.I.

I suppose you could make that same case in favor of powering up your partners since they’ll need the stats more than I might but in general I like being strong enough to take on the boss as needed. The gameplay mechanics aren’t all explained very well so there’s some stuff I learned rather late in the game. One is that you die for good when your team’s danger meter goes all the way up. I thought I just had to revive people before the meter went out but every death adds onto the total which is why sometimes it would seem like my team died for no reason. Also you can speed up your revival by smashing the control stick in each direction. So I highly recommend doing that because every minute seriously counts.

For what to power up on the tree, I just did that randomly. It’s probably better to have a plan but you get so many power ups that it just felt more efficient to be throwing them all around. I’d be pretty strong either way. There’s even more to the gameplay after all of this but have fun exploring it as you play. There’s so many different ways to tackle a level and you can keep on switching characters in your party which is cool. The game has some very occasional platforming which feels a bit out of place but it’s pleasant enough. Just know that you will be mainly focusing on the battles either way.

The sheer amount of content in the game is super impressive though. Aside from the story which is already really long, you have a ton of side quests, missions, post game content, character stories for every character, etc. Getting the platinum trophy for this game and clearing everything probably will take you at least 60 hours if not longer. They really went all out on this game and I appreciate it. No corners were cut and it’s clear that the developers put a lot of care into this one. The boss battles are spectacular and the whole thing is really a lot of fun.

The graphics are super good as you would expect. There are even a few battles mid cutscene which are always a lot of fun. Then you have the soundtrack which is pretty good as well. On the technical side the game definitely does not disappoint. When you are solid all across the board like that then there is really nothing that can stop you. This is a game that I won’t be forgetting anytime soon and definitely deserves a lot of praise. I’m really going to have to keep my eye out for more Granblue games when they come out now.

Overall, Granblue Fantasy: Relink is definitely an excellent game. It’s really got everything you could want here from great gameplay to a compelling story. It’s no small potatoes either how there is so much voice acting in the game. It always helps to make a game feel newer and this one feels like it’s got a bit of everything. Even 20 years from now, this game will still look and feel really good which is why it excels. The quality of life features are all intact and there are no real pain points here.

Overall 9/10