Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Granblue Fantasy Versus - Releasing Early Next Year

It's finally happening! Today XSEED announced in a blog post that Granblue Fantasy Versus will be releasing in the West early next year. Along with this announcement also comes information about the physical preorder, and preorder bonuses. Check out the chart below:

(Credit for this image goes to XSEED)
As you can see there are multiple options here. The digital deluxe pack will come with a GBF code for the original game, the digital soundtrack, artbook, the character pass (only 11 characters are included in the base game), PS4 avatar/theme set, extra colors for the characters in game, and an exclusive PS4 theme. If you're looking for something cheaper though, you can also go with the character pass set along with the base game (which is basically a season pass).

On the physical end of things we have a special edition that includes most of the content mentioned above, minus the character pass and extra PS4 theme. It does come with a collectors edition box though (as it's physical). If you want the most out of this version though, you'll also need to buy the character pass.

Then of course you have the standard digital and physical releases that only include the game.

What is Granblue Fantasy:

(The crossovers are also pretty great.)
Now I know I haven't been keeping up with this game's news, so let me fix that now. Granblue Fantasy is a free to play mobile/browser game created by Cygames (or as many may now know them as, the developers of Dragalia Lost). The game uses a simple turn based system where you fight through a series of battles while using different skills and abilities, as well as summons that you collect and level up throughout your adventure. The game runs on a gacha system where random characters are pulled at random, but others are unlocked from the story and events. While this isn't anything new in the world of mobile games, what makes GbF stand out from the others is it's characters, world, and story. The art is highly stylized, all story dialogue is fully voiced, and there is a large cast of characters wrapped up in a surprisingly engaging story. In a way the game feels more like a novel, and is a great pick up and go game. On the flip side it also features a lot of grinding for those who enjoy it, but it's really the player's choice what they want to do or not. In other words, you can simply go through the story and see the world for yourself, or you can let your addiction take hold and spend hundreds of hours building the best team possible. Again, up to you.

Although the game is only out in Japan, this doesn't mean much. It doesn't appear on US app stores, but considering it's a browser game that's no big deal. Simply go to the website (https://granbluefantasy.jp/en/), select English as your language, and you are good to go. Of course if you don't want to play for yourself there is also an anime adaptation out there, but it's honestly better if you play the main game before you watch it.

What is Granblue Fantasy Versus:

Onto the second question... What is Versus? Well that's a pretty easy one to answer. Granblue Fantasy Versus is a fighting game spin off from GbF, and is developed by the amazing Arc System Works. These guys are known for their own original series such as Guilty Gear and BlazBlue, but also their fighting game versions of popular series such as Persona 4 Arena, and the very popular Dragon Ball FighterZ. Continuing this trend, Granblue Fantasy is one of their next major projects, and looks to adapt the original game's style and characters into something new. That being said the game also includes it's own "RPG Mode" where you get to go through an original Granblue story line. Sure it's a fighting game at heart, but that doesn't mean they've completely abandoned their old fans.

And that about wraps it up! If any of this sounds interesting to you, I recommend checking out the original for sure. It's free, and only takes a few minutes to get setup. No download required.