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Serra

Granblue Fantasy Review -- AKA, the BlueGartr Guild Recruitment Drive!

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I had a strange revelation a few weeks ago. Actually, two strange revelations. One, I was about to spend a lot of time at airports and away from home. And two, as if wasn’t already, my gaming time was about to consist of a single, overwhelming, and emphatically suffocating entity -- Granblue Fantasy. This put me in a predicament. Do I write a review on a topic of interest (perhaps on rankings in gaming..), or do I admit that mobile games can be both fun and addicting? Given the number of times I have spoken ill of Final Fantasy Record Keeper, you can imagine my conundrum. Of course, the obvious third option would be to ignore responsibility and just binge on more Granblue. Well, given that airplanes don’t all provide Wi-Fi (and I’m certainly not about to pay in the cases where it is provided just so I can feed my addiction..), here we are. Welcome to my review of Granblue Fantasy!

Granblue Fantasy tells the story of Gran/Djetta, a mostly silent protagonist who takes on the role of the player’s character, and his/her crew of skyfarers. The player receives a strange letter from his/her father which mentions the “end of the sky.” While preparing to leave Zinkenstill, the player’s home, a mysterious blue-haired girl named Lyria and her protector Katalina appear. The two are being pursued by the Erste Empire due to Lyria’s connection to the world’s primal beasts, hidden creatures which possess incredible and devastating powers. After escaping, the player teams up with them and sets out on a journey to reach the end of the sky and to protect Lyria. Central to this journey is the crew which the player builds consisting of a number of story-relevant characters and over three-hundred (give or take) randomly available members. This journey takes players across the world, the Phantagrande Skydom, as they traipse across the sky, battle primal beasts, confront the machinations of the Erste Empire, and attempt to learn more of Lyria’s mysterious powers.

While Granblue Fantasy certainly has an intriguing story and a wealth of fascinating characters and developments, what keeps it interesting and keeps drawing me back, personally, is the game’s addicting character progression and surprisingly detailed battle system. Players are able to choose from one of ten classic RPG jobs, such as Fighter, Priest, Thief, and Wizard. Reaching the maximum level of two jobs (level twenty) unlocks a specific Tier II job -- for instance, capping Knight and Lancer unlocks the Dragoon job. This formula continues for Tier III jobs with additional jobs unlocked by completing specific quests and requirements. Each job has two to three abilities, with higher tier jobs possessing more powerful abilities. Players are also able to equip a support ability from one of their other unlocked jobs. In addition to leveling jobs, players separately level their overall rank which provides additional attack and health. While Granblue’s job system is fairly robust, the true depth of character progression comes through the game’s weapon grid. In addition to a primary weapon, players are able to equip nine support weapons which provide perks and boosts to health and attack. Players can also equip one primary and four support summons which can provide additional benefits. A large part of the challenge comes from working to build a grid which harmonizes these numerous choices. For instance, doing the most damage isn’t simply about equipping the weapons with the highest attack rating, but requires taking into account the element of your primary weapon, the elemental composition of your party, the types of attack perks on your weapons, and equipping summons which can increase the effect of those perks. Maybe I’ll feel differently once I reach the maximum level (although I don’t actually know if there is a maximum level..), but part of what keeps me coming back to Granblue is that I feel like I’m constantly making progress. Whether it’s improving my weapon grid by powering up my existing weapons, acquiring new weapons and perks, or just leveling my overall level, every time I boot up the game, I feel like I’m doing something which is making me more powerful.

Of course, a great character progression system means nothing if there’s nowhere to enjoy the progress you’ve made. Thankfully, Granblue’s battle system is a nostalgic reminder of older RPGs. Players enter battle with up to four characters with two additional characters in reserve if necessary. These characters can be attackers, defenders, healers, or special characters which fulfill a variety of rolls. Combat occurs through a hybrid turn-based system. Selecting attack directs the player’s party to attack followed by the opponent(s). Between turns, players can use abilities, summons, and heal. Players and enemies also gain access to powerful charge attacks which build up through repeated attacks. Charge attacks can be chained together to deliver even more devastating damage to opponents. Additionally, every attack and offensive ability falls under one of six elements -- water, fire, wind, earth, light, and dark. The four primary elements form a circle where each element is strong against one while weak against another while light and dark form their own balance. Each character is assigned a single element while players can change their element by switching their primary weapon. Similar to Granblue’s character progression, excelling in combat requires synergizing characters, abilities, and elemental advantages.

As this is a freemium game, another central aspect (read: addictingly aggravating aspect) is the game’s lottery system which can be used to acquire characters, weapons, and summons. While progression through the story provides a full party, players looking to maximize their performance must often rely on random chance to acquire some of the best characters. Characters, summons, and abilities fall under one of three (four in the case of weapons and summons) classifications -- SSR, SR, and R. SSR are the most rare and typically most desirable and powerful. It’s worth noting, however, players do not need to spend money to acquire these characters. The game provides means to participate in the draw system even without spending money. Additionally, although it requires a fair bit of patience, it is even possible to game the draw system to acquire a guaranteed SSR character. While the game is produced Cygames, a fairly young company, longtime fans of the Final Fantasy franchise will invariably feel a nostalgic draw to the game’s artwork. Hideo Minaba, character designer for Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy IX, beautifully depicts the characters and summons. In the same vein, Nobuo Uematsu is behind game’s excellent soundtrack. The game also boasts a number of exceptional voice actors behind the characters during cutscenes and in combat. As far as mobile games go, Granblue is probably the most gorgeous and best sounding game available.

I would be remiss if I praised Granblue Fantasy while ignoring the game’s grind -- after all, there's a reason fans have nicknamed it “Grindblue Fantasy.” As I’ve mentioned, Granblue has a number of mechanisms which rely heavily on random chance. In addition to the game’s draw system, even acquiring loot from bosses is heavily reliant on the game’s RNG. Sometimes it can be generous (the game was throwing SSR event weapons at me two events ago), other times it can be brutal (this week, I emptied a treasure pool from over one-thousand five-hundred items to one-hundred fifteen before acquiring the single item I needed). There is no doubt that players of Granblue will spend a lot of time grinding and repeating the same events or fights over and over. However, as I mentioned earlier, one reason this doesn't feel painfully tedious, to me at least, is that the game still provides a sense of progress during these grinds.

As enjoyable as it is to progress through Granblue’s story, one of the peculiar aspects of the game is how often the story takes a backseat to other priorities -- namely the myriad of events Cygames throws at players. Like similar freemium games, Granblue limits the number of actions players can perform within a given time-frame. Most actions require AP to perform while raids require EP. The AP cap increases over time as players acquire more levels and recovers at one point every five minutes while EP is capped at five and recovers at one point every twenty minutes. Players who run out can use items (which can either be purchased or acquired through playing the game) to refill their AP and EP stocks. Honestly, from what I’ve heard, Granblue is one of the more generous games in this regard. To this day, I have yet to purchase one of these items and have a healthy stock even after burning through AP items the past two events. Seemingly every week, Cygames offers a new event for players to spend their AP and/or EP. Many of these events are raids, which, similar to the ones available at all times, allow up to thirty players to join in a single battle. Some events will focus on a single element and provide at least one SSR item or character for players to pursue while others offer more variety and options. For instance, the Rise of the Beasts event offers players the choice of four opponents, one of each primary element. Completing actions in the event rewards points which can be used to purchase items. Since all points are shared, a water user can repeatedly battle the fire opponent to acquire points to purchase water weapons. One of the most popular events is the monthly tournament, the Guild Wars. Players can join guilds and, typically once a month, complete in an event to acquire the most points. These events are especially popular as they provide a guaranteed mechanism to acquire powerful SSR characters -- albeit an incredibly grindy mechanism.. I’ll be honest with you all, one of my motivations in writing this review was in hopes of attracting more individuals to join our guild. Although we have our share of fervent players (read: addicts), we do not have the numbers to truly make an impact during Guild Wars and could use some more passionate players (read: addicts).

I will be straight with you all, I have definitely been one of those people who has made fun of the Final Fantasy Record Keeper crowd on numerous occasions. While I tried my hand at it, Record Keeper just didn’t do it for me. However, since Granblue Fantasy received an English option, I have been a frequent player. It is honestly the first mobile game that I’ve played for an extended period of time. Yes, Granblue Fantasy has its flaws -- there is no doubt that the game is built heavily around randomness and grind and Cygames has stifled third-party quality-of-life improvements while, at best, saying they’ve got things in the works. Still, for me personally, the pros far outweigh the cons. In addition to the constant feeling of progress I described above, another thing that keeps me coming back is the stellar community we have developed here on BlueGartr. While there is currently only a handful of us who really play the game at a heavy level, everyone has been helpful and tries to share any knowledge we have. Whether it is here on the forum or through Discord, there is typically always someone around who can answer a question or hop in to assist during a tough raid. Honestly, playing Granblue Fantasy reminds me a lot of playing Final Fantasy XI -- not just from a gameplay or perpetual-grind perspective, but also for the phenomenal communal aspect. If you’re looking for a fun mobile game or a new addiction, although it isn’t the most straightforward game to install, I hope you’ll give Granblue Fantasy a chance. At a minimum, you owe it to yourself to install the game so you can read the cavity-inducingly adorable Grand Blues comic series.

“...a foreboding but gentle breeze beckons the start of a new adventure.”


All images owned by Cygames.

Comments

  1. BerenTebogo -
    BerenTebogo's Avatar
    This was a really good write-up Serra, thanks.

    I would like to add/emphasize a few points relating to FFXI since this is a FFXI forum after all, as well as add one or two deeper comments to Serra's points.

    1: The grind really is like FFXI. Things take a while and if you want to complete them in less time it is going to require time commitments. That said, you always feel like you are working towards something and making progress on it - like Serra said. Some quests are reminiscent of the FFXI relic style quests where you can incrementally power up a weapon and at the end you get something that is so much more powerful than alternatives you can't help but chuckle.

    2: Endgame and guilds. I've only just recently started end game, but the change from the rest of the game (raid style battles with 30 people) is that the difficulty spikes and the number of people you can bring drops to 6 or 18 people from 30. This means that a lot of fights are done all or mostly within guilds, just like linkshells in XI. One or two people go tank jobs, someone goes healer, someone goes enfeebler, etc. You communicate and have to work as a group to do a lot of the endgame stuff in this game. However, unlike XI, no single group activity is really too time intensive. Pops are farmed solo, no queue to fight something, just show up at specific time and blow through your fights as a team. It really is nice.

    3: Longevity, this game has it. I played both FFRK and BF for many months, hell I even maxed out on content in Brave Frontier pretty early and found myself sitting on my hands waiting for 1 week of new content every 5 weeks (more like 3 days worth). This game...I've been playing for I don't know, 6-7 months? and I only just hit end game raids this week. I will probably have to play for another year or more to get to rank 150+ (currently rank 101). Much of the content currently in the game never becomes trivial at that level, except in certain niche situations.

    4: Lack of gacha necessity. In other freemium games you cannot do some content without some SSR (highest rarity) characters. In this game the weapons you farm for, not spend money for, determine your progress. It is entirely possible (possible, not easy) to do something like 90% of the content in the game with a fantastic weapon grid and just SR characters. SSRs are icing on the cake, and yes some of them are so powerful they trivialize certain parts of the early and middle game, but not having them doesn't STOP you from doing anything. You can always make progress, even if you're horribly unlucky and F2P.

    That's all from me. If you check out the game drop Serra or I a PM and we'll get you
  2. BerenTebogo -
    BerenTebogo's Avatar
    ...(god damn keyboard) into the crew.

    Last caveat: Much of the early game you are on your own, so there won't be as much interaction in game. We will be here to answer questions in thread or on discord though!
  3. Lebensohl -
    Lebensohl's Avatar
    Hey I saw your reddit comment. I'd be interested. ID: 12604923. Just started (rerolled for zooey), but I've been making really fast progress.
  4. Edgie -
    Edgie's Avatar
    I need to join a crew Sath, hoock me up.