Granblue Fantasy started its life as a mobile gacha game back in 2014 and has been going fairly strong ever since. Published by Cygames—which would later go on to create massive franchises like Shadowverse and Uma Musume: Pretty Derby—the game remains a juggernaut in the genre.
When Granblue was finally set to come to the West, the developers took a fascinating route. Western players had already been playing the Japanese version for years, so instead of launching a separate worldwide version with isolated servers, Cygames simply integrated an English language option directly into the original game. This brilliantly created a single, unified worldwide server. My history with Granblue Fantasy started not too long after that. I picked up the game shortly before its fifth anniversary, and I have had a love-hate relationship with it ever since. You see, the absolute strongest suit of Granblue Fantasy lies in its story, its characters, and its world.
Taking place in a realm where land consists of floating islands drifting in the sky—and everything below is a void filled with a deadly, uninhabitable miasma—the game tells the story of a young captain setting out to find their father on the legendary island of Estalucia. It is a narrative packed with action, political intrigue, deep character development, mystery, and suspense.
I went through it all. I took down the Erste Empire. I topped the Great Wall. I reached Estalucia. And I loved almost every second of it. Even the flashback episodes, a trope notoriously known for being nothing more than filler, were handled with genuine purpose and care.
So, where does the "hate" part of that love-hate relationship come from? Well, I have played several gacha games throughout the years, as well as quite a few traditional RPGs, and I can honestly say that Granblue Fantasy is grind incarnate. Everything you do to advance and grow stronger requires clearing several layers of RNG and repetition, with some of the most critical progression loops being tied to limited events that only roll around three to four times a year.
As we announced here on Netto's Game Room a few months back, the first major arc of the mobile game—which unfolded over the past twelve years—finally came to a close. While the execution felt a bit rushed, it was still a fantastic conclusion that truly made following this narrative journey worth it.
To be clear, this is not a review of the mobile game itself. However, understanding the roots of this franchise is imperative to getting the most out of both Relink and its newest DLC, Endless Ragnarok. While the console spin-off tries to bridge the gap for newcomers who have never given the mobile game the time of day, I do not believe it entirely succeeds in doing so.
This review will be broken down into two distinct parts: one covering the base game, and the other focusing on Endless Ragnarok. If you have already played through the main campaign and just want to see if the expansion is worth your time, feel free to skip right ahead to the second section.
Granblue Fantasy: Relink — The Base Game:
As stated before, the world of Granblue Fantasy follows a captain—either a boy officially named Gran or a girl officially known as Djeeta—on a quest to find their father, moving from island to island in order to find Estalucia, the legendary "island of the Astrals."
Whether this game is canon or not is up for debate, and exactly where it takes place in the timeline is never quite clear. This ambiguity means it requires a basic understanding of the core Granblue lore. While it features conversations about past events and brief side episodes to recap the narrative, these summaries are not comprehensive enough to let you fully enjoy or understand this game's plot.
Even as someone who has been following the franchise for years, I found myself somewhat confused by how easily the game hands-waves some critical plot points. I would not recommend jumping into this title blindly if you have any intention of fully following the story. Either playing through the mobile game's narrative, watching the cutscenes, or reading a thorough synopsis is highly recommended before diving in. Having said that, there is still plenty of enjoyment to be found here even if you are entirely new to the franchise.
Relink, as I will be referring to it from here on out for the sake of brevity, is an action-RPG where the narrative unfolds across several sprawling stages packed with extra content to explore.
First, I should note a rather bizarre technical issue I encountered, which is something I haven't experienced with any other game. Every single time I booted the title up, it opened awkwardly above my taskbar. Switching between Borderless and Full Screen in the options menu fixed it instantly, but the problem persisted every time I re-launched the game. It might be a quirk from playing on an ROG Ally X running Linux, and while it is a fairly minor annoyance, it was an issue I couldn't permanently solve.
The Characters and Battle System:
When you start, you can choose to play as either Gran or Djeeta and rename them to your liking. Five more party members join you almost immediately, with over twenty characters eventually becoming recruitable. Each character plays completely differently from the next. For instance, while the captain charges up the power of their skills using normal attacks, Rackam is a ranged gunner who picks off enemies from a distance, and Katalina summons an entity named Ares to enhance her sword strikes.
Each character can learn up to eight skills but only equip four at a time. These skills operate on a cooldown and can be deployed immediately once charged. Every character has a unique toolset tailored to their specific kit, leaving it entirely up to the player to mix and match party members to their liking. You can take up to four characters into battle: one directly controlled by you, and up to three managed by the AI. The game features multiplayer missions where the AI will fill any empty slots not taken by real players, though story stages remain strictly single-player.
Elements play a major role in combat. Each character has a specific elemental affinity that dictates the element of their normal attacks, though their skills can occasionally feature a different element. Enemies have elemental alignments as well, following a classic counter system: Fire is strong against Wind, Wind beats Earth, Earth thumps Water, and Water puts out Fire. Light and Dark, meanwhile, are effectively strong against one another.
Defensively, you can both parry and block. While you cannot block every incoming move, guarding will protect you until your guard is broken. Deflecting an attack at the absolute perfect moment triggers a Perfect Parry, completely nullifying damage. Dodging can be executed up to three times in a row before leaving you briefly vulnerable. However, the evasion mechanic can feel a bit finicky; it is entirely possible to accidentally dodge directly into an incoming attack. Just like parrying, executing a dodge at the last second triggers a Perfect Dodge, granting you a few precious seconds of total invulnerability.
As you fight, you will build up a resource bar located right beneath each character's HP, scaling from 0% to 100%. Once this bar is maxed out, you can unleash that character’s Skybound Art—their strongest ultimate attack. Activating it instantly boosts the meter of all other party members by 10%. If multiple characters chain their ultimates together in short succession, they will trigger additional follow-up damage. Getting all four characters to chain their attacks in a row unleashes a Full Burst, a devastating team assault. This mechanic is pulled directly from the mobile game, though unlike the mobile source material, the specific order in which your characters activate their attacks does not matter here.
Another direct carryover from the mobile game is the Overdrive and Break system. When fighting bosses, a yellow meter beneath their health bar will gradually fill. Once topped off, the boss enters an Overdrive state, dealing more damage, taking less, and occasionally shifting to a completely different moveset. This is frequently followed by a temporary phase where the boss takes virtually no damage while dishing out a massive, scripted ultimate attack.
Continuing to assault a boss in Overdrive will deplete their meter. Once it hits zero, the boss enters a Break state, collapsing to the ground for a set duration where they take significantly amplified damage. Once they recover, the entire cycle repeats. While there are a few exceptions—such as bosses that bypass Overdrive entirely or enemies that remain permanently enraged—this cycle is the standard rule of engagement.
One mechanic entirely new to Relink, however, is the Link Attack. As you strike powerful enemies, a blue circular gauge will fill up. When it flashes at 100%, your party has an incredibly brief window to individually execute a Link Attack. Doing so drives up a party-wide Link percentage on the right side of the screen, granting passive buffs to the team.
If everyone lands a Link Attack when the team gauge hits 100%, the meter resets and triggers Link Time. During this state, time slows to an absolute crawl for enemies while your skill cooldowns recover at hyperspeed—making it the ultimate window to relentlessly wail on your target.
While I appreciate this addition to the combat loop, its implementation can be a bit hit-or-miss. Link Attacks take priority over all other contextual prompts. There were plenty of times I tried to pick up an item or interact with an object using the same button, only to find myself teleported several feet away to hit an enemy because a Link Attack window had just opened.
Every time you embark on a stage or mission, you are allotted a fixed pool of healing items: a few minor potions, a few mega potions, a handful of group heals, and a single revival potion to pick yourself up if your HP hits zero. Speaking of getting downed, a welcome quality-of-life change in a recent update ensures you only need to hold a single button to revive, completely replacing the tedious button-mashing required before the DLC patch. These items can be consumed at any point during combat, even while taking damage or recovering from a knockback.
As long as a character remains downed, a global Critical Gauge begins to deplete, draining even faster if multiple party members are knocked out at once. Teammates can interact with you to speed up the revival process, but the overall gauge does not replenish for the remainder of the mission. If it empties completely, it's an immediate game over, and you are booted back to the nearest hub town.
One mechanic that is so underplayed I almost forgot it existed is part breaking. Aside from yielding extra material rewards, breaking boss parts doesn't change much. With how chaotic and visually flashy the combat gets, you will rarely notice the physical difference on the enemy. Unlike Monster Hunter, where breaking a part fundamentally alters a monster’s behavior and moveset, it feels barely noticeable here.
That said, I cannot help but commend the spectacular boss designs. The very first encounter at the start of the game left me in absolute awe, and a later showdown in the desert had me grinning. While the quality fluctuates slightly across the board, there are several incredibly memorable spectacles here.
However, my single biggest criticism of the combat is the game’s love for juggling the player. Getting hit once can send you flying across the arena. Combined with a frustrating lack of invincibility frames (i-frames) upon taking damage, it is not uncommon to get caught in a multi-hit attack string and watch your entire health bar evaporate while you're completely helpless in the air.
Thankfully, the core combat system is fun enough to withstand these pain points, but I won't deny getting quite frustrated with the stunlocks at times.
The Basic Game Loop:
The main story takes you across a wide variety of stages that differ significantly in layout, visual style, and atmosphere. Each area is populated by unique assortments of enemies and boss encounters that require completely different tactical approaches.
At any point during a stage, you can pull up the map to see the exact location of every treasure chest and collectible Wee Pincer crab. I am somewhat conflicted about this feature. On one hand, it saved me the massive headache of wandering around blindly to achieve 100% completion. On the other hand, laying it all out on a map feels like it diminishes the magic of organic exploration. There are hidden slimes to discover that aren't tracked on the map, but since finding them all only nets you an in-game trophy, tracking them down doesn't offer the same sense of satisfaction.
Ultimately, though, I suppose this map system is a blessing in disguise. While you can replay story segments, some of them contain unskippable timed sequences. Protecting Historiath from waves of monsters for several minutes in Chapter 5 is fine the first time around, but it becomes incredibly tedious by the third rerun. Viewed through that lens, not having to comb every single nook and cranny for a missed crab is a very welcome convenience.
For veterans of the mobile title, the bestiary is a massive treat, as almost all the standard grunts and monsters are pulled directly from the source material.
Between these major stages, you will explore two central hub towns. Each city features its own set of side quests and houses the game's three primary facilities: the Shop (which is self-explanatory), the Blacksmith (where you forge and upgrade your weapons), and the Quest Counter. The Quest Counter is where you accept optional hunting missions and view character-specific Fate Episodes.
Fate Episodes are a direct nod to the mobile game, serving up a highly condensed backstory for your unlocked roster followed by a brief narrative adventure set in the current skydom. Unfortunately, this is just about the only screen time most of the optional, non-story characters get in the entire game, making these sequences feel like little more than text-heavy fluff.
Aside from the two hub cities, you can also hang out on the deck of the Grandcypher—the crew’s signature airship. While it is incredible to see the vessel fully modeled in 3D and explore a completely walkable bridge, it feels like a missed opportunity that you can't step inside the cabins, nor is there actually anything to do on deck.
I also want to touch on the localization, which was a point of anxiety for me before going in. I have played plenty of long-running gaming series where different entries were handled by entirely different translation teams, resulting in inconsistent naming conventions and shoddy terminology. Fortunately, I am happy to report that the translation here feels like it was handled by the exact same group that manages the mobile game. While there are a few moments where the English script strays a bit far from the original Japanese dialogue, the localization is more than serviceable.
It is also fantastic that virtually every major story scene is fully voice-acted, with the original mobile cast reprising their roles. Oddly, though, there are a handful of scenes that completely lack subtitle translations if you are playing with Japanese audio—most notably during the flashy character introduction title cards.
From the main menu, you have access to Lyria’s Journal, which acts as an archive for the world. It includes a glossary explaining every lore keyword encountered in the story, a list of in-game trophies that offer material rewards, and—new to this latest update—a dedicated cutscene viewer.
However, the UI for the trophy system leaves a lot to be desired. The journal will notify you when you have a reward waiting to be claimed, and it breaks the trophies down into clean sub-categories. The problem is that while it tells you which category houses a newly unlocked trophy, it fails to highlight which category contains an unclaimed reward. I once spent several tedious minutes clicking through every single menu layer trying to hunt down one stray reward before finally giving up and moving on.
The Quest Counter:
The Quest Counter is where the vast majority of the post-game takes place. Divided into several distinct difficulty tiers, it allows you to take on various missions either solo or with friends online. You can also register one of your characters to be available as an AI companion for friends when you are offline, or recruit characters your friends have set up to fill out your own AI slots.
The mission types vary, ranging from straightforward boss encounters and wave-based mob survival to timed defense challenges. However, the vast majority of these quests are boss fights, and every single one comes with a strict time limit. If the timer runs out, it is an immediate mission failure.
If you succeed, you are awarded a set of treasure chests containing a randomized selection of items from a predetermined loot pool, with the total number of chests scaling based on the mission's difficulty. You are also ranked on your performance and whether you managed to complete three specific side objectives exclusive to each mission—such as clearing the fight under a certain time, avoiding a specific number of downs, or successfully breaking all of a boss's parts.
Beating all available missions in a tier unlocks the next set of challenges, and this progression loop continues until you have cleared them all. In fact, to even access the Endless Ragnarok story content, you are required to clear nearly every single base-game mission on the board.
While the main campaign starts off fairly easy, the difficulty curve steadily ramps up. By the time you reach the post-game narrative content, the game expects you to topple some incredibly punishing bosses and encounter groups. Because of this steep progression curve, consistently optimizing your gear and getting stronger is absolutely vital if you want to see the true end of the game.
The Relink Grind:
To get stronger, you have a few different avenues available. First, as in any traditional RPG, you can level up. The maximum level cap in the game is 100, though you won't need to climb nearly that high just to clear the base game's main story.
Another method is to forge new weapons, level them up, and uncap them so they can be upgraded even further. This process requires specific monster drops and materials gathered from quests, along with Rupies, the game's primary currency.
Third is equipping Sigils. Sigils are items you can find hidden in stages, earn as boss drops, or purchase from the shop. They plug into your characters' weapons to grant a massive variety of passive effects—ranging from simple stat boosts to letting you survive a lethal blow with 1 HP or automatically reviving you when downed.
The fourth progression system relies on Mastery Points (MSP). You earn MSP naturally as you play, and you can spend them to strengthen characters individually. Each character features two separate progression grids—one offensive and one defensive—alongside additional nodes that unlock as you upgrade their weapons. There is also a collection of random over-mastery bonuses you can roll for. These grids are also how your characters learn new combat skills. Thankfully, Mastery Points go into a universal pool, meaning you can accumulate them with one character and spend them on anyone you like.
And the fifth path—yes, there really is a fifth layer of progression in the base game—involves using Wrightstones to imbue your weapons with extra traits, alongside utilizing standard whetstones to rapidly boost their raw levels.
On the bright side, when you recruit a new character later in the game, their starting level and Mastery nodes will automatically scale up to match the average strength of your current roster. Even characters left sitting on the bench will still passive-earn a small amount of EXP from your exploits.
Ultimately, while the base campaign itself is a fairly breezy experience, breaking into the high-end post-game content forces Relink to become almost as grind-intensive as its mobile predecessor. To even unlock the Endless Ragnarok, you are forced to topple the second-most powerful boss in the entire base game—so definitely be prepared for a serious uphill climb.
Endless Ragnarok DLC:
Endless Ragnarok is truly a beefy expansion, introducing further weapon awakenings, an entirely new character upgrade mechanic, a fresh game mode, six new playable characters, three additional quest difficulty tiers, two major combat system overhauls, and a brand-new storyline. The narrative itself is pulled pretty much directly from the mobile game's lore, focusing heavily on Fraux and Fediel.
I'll start with the new playable characters, as they are the easiest to break down. The first two, Eustace, Beatrix, are added right into the standard roster. The next two, Gallanza and Magielle, join after beating the main story. Just like the rest of the cast, they also receive their very own unique Fate Episodes.
The other two additions happen to be two of my absolute favorite characters in the entire franchise, representing two very distinct groups: Fraux of the Arcarum Evokers, and Fediel of the Six Dragons. Both play pivotal roles in the new expansion story and show up frequently throughout the campaign. If you want to jump into action with them immediately, you can recruit them right away at the cost of two Crewmate Cards; otherwise, you can simply wait until you've progressed far enough into the Endless Ragnarok story to unlock them completely free of charge.
With the launch of this expansion, all weapons can now be further awakened, a process that requires rare endgame materials exclusive to this DLC.
Additionally, your surplus Mastery Points can now be funneled into upgrading your roster even further. Through a brand-new progression system simply called "Masteries," you can raise a character's specific Mastery level to pick and choose from an array of powerful endgame passive boosts. When you first unlock this mechanic, your Mastery level cap is hard-capped at 10, but the ceiling steadily rises as you push deeper into the DLC's narrative, unlocking even stronger selectable buffs along the way.
The Conflux:
The Conflux is a brand-new mode introduced in this DLC, and it follows its very own self-contained storyline featuring a mystery villain whose identity will be instantly obvious to anyone familiar with Granblue Fantasy lore.
Players who have experience with rogue-likes will feel right at home here. The mode is structured into five distinct cycles; the first one unlocks immediately after you clear the base game's main story, while the remaining cycles open up as you advance through the Endless Ragnarok campaign.
Each cycle consists of a set number of stages, and you are given the choice to choose your next destination after every victory. The encounters themselves range from standard combat objectives, like clearing out waves of monsters, to quirky mini-games, like chasing down a fast-moving slime or playing a shell game where you have to keep your eyes on one of three lookalike NPCs as they shuffle around the screen.
When you successfully clear a stage, you get to select one of three randomized passive buffs that will stay with your party for the remainder of that specific run. Win or lose, you will also earn a dedicated currency that can be spent between attempts to permanently strengthen your characters for future runs in this mode.
The Battle System Improvements:
Unfortunately, this feature only becomes available once you dive into the expansion’s narrative. Because accessing it requires you to have already beaten the second-hardest boss in the base game, it demands a significant amount of grinding before you can even experience it.
The DLC also introduces two major upgrades to the battle system, both of which center around powerful summons.
The first upgrade allows your Full Burst team attacks to essentially evolve over the course of a fight. After you successfully trigger Link Time, your subsequent Full Bursts will be followed by a massive, automated summon attack. These extra attacks unfold in a strict, sequential order: the first activation brings out Proto Bahamut, the second calls down Excavallion, and the third summons Azure Bahamut—with all following activations sticking to Azure Bahamut for the remainder of the battle. This extra burst of damage triggers immediately after your team finishes their Full Burst sequence, adding a massive chunk of passive DPS to your arsenal and making the synergy between Link Time and ultimate chains more vital than ever. It is just a bit of a shame that you already need to be an endgame-tier player to unlock it.
The second major addition,and a massive selling point when the expansion was first announced, is the ability to manually call summons directly into battle.
You earn these summons by clearing various DLC milestones, and you can equip up to four at a time. Each summon comes bundled with passive party-wide buffs; because these traits are randomized, you can actually farm multiple copies of the same summon to hunt for different stat combinations.
To call them into battle, you have to build up a dedicated summon gauge at the bottom of the screen. Triggering a single Link Time fills roughly half a bar, and you can stock up to three full bars at a time. Different summons require anywhere from one to three full bars to manifest.
When activated, you actually transform into the summon for a limited time, with the exact duration varying depending on the creature. While transformed, you gain access to a completely unique, heavy-hitting moveset.
While these summons are undeniably devastating, they can also feel incredibly finicky to control. I noticed that if you do nothing but mindlessly spam attacks, some summons will actually have their active timers run out right in the middle of a combo animation, cutting you short. Because of that quirk—and the fact that each summon can only be called once per mission (though multi-stage gauntlets will partially refresh your uses halfway through)—I found they are best saved exclusively for Link Time windows, where you can maximize their damage potential undisturbed.
You are completely invulnerable for the entire duration of the summon animation, but even that perk isn't always a flawless safety net. On more than one occasion, my transformation timer expired at the exact worst moment, dropping me right back into a massive, unavoidable boss attack string.
New Story:
I am honestly a bit conflicted when it comes to this expansion's new story arc. It is well-written, it prominently features some of my favorite characters in the entire franchise, and it draws from a rock-solid foundation established by the mobile game's best side stories.
Despite those positives, I still have two massive qualms with it.
First, it flat-out spoils the mystery surrounding the captain's parents. This might not sound like a dealbreaker to a casual observer, but that mystery serves as the entire driving force for the mobile game’s massive, twelve-year-long first narrative arc—the very glue holding the early universe together. Having it completely exposed in a single, casual scene that didn't even require the spoiler to function felt incredibly frustrating.
Second, the structural delivery of this new plot is relentlessly monotonous. While the base game treats you to a campaign filled with sprawling, cinematic stages to actively explore, the narrative progression of Endless Ragnarok can be entirely summed up as: "Go grind out Quest Counter missions until the next cutscene unlocks." With three punishing new difficulty tiers blocking your path—all of which must be cleared to see the ending—this loop turns into quite the exhausting undertaking.
I am fully aware that the Quest Counter is content designed to be tackled in co-op. Since the DLC isn't officially out at the time of writing, I had to brute-force these missions entirely on my own. Even so, I find it hard to believe that playing with friends would stop this loop from quickly overstaying its welcome for players who just want to see where the plot goes next.
I am genuinely glad the developers added more story to the package, and the extra endgame missions are fantastic for groups looking for a challenge. However, I can't help but feel that the magic of the base game was lost when they abandoned its clear separation of a curated story campaign and optional Quest Counter challenges, blending them instead into one massive grind.
Should you play it?
The base game is incredibly easy to recommend, especially for veterans of the mobile title. It is filled to the brim with intentional nods to its source material, ranging from narrative beats and visual designs right down to core combat mechanics and the post-game progression loop. While it might not hit quite as hard for players unfamiliar with the franchise, the action-heavy gameplay is still a blast to master, offering a massive roster of characters to fit almost any playstyle.
Endless Ragnarok, on the other hand, is a bit harder to recommend. The individual features and systems it introduces are genuinely fantastic, but unlocking them can frequently feel like a tedious chore.
If you don't already own the title, I highly recommend picking up the base game on its own first. It is a wonderfully fun romp packed with content that both newcomers and longtime fans can thoroughly enjoy.
If you have already cleared the base game, your decision to purchase the DLC should depend entirely on how much you enjoyed the endgame loop. If you wrapped up the main campaign and stopped right there, you likely won't find it satisfying to force yourself through a massive quest board grind just to see the new expansion content. However, if you loved the combat enough to happily climb the Quest Counter ranks—either solo or with a regular co-op group—there is an absolute mountain of deep endgame content here to sink your teeth into.
Overall, Granblue Fantasy: Relink - Endless Ragnarok is a fantastic experience for action-RPG fans, offering tons of extra content to sink your teeth into. While the Endless Ragnarok expansion adds an impressive amount of depth, it demands a level of grind that might push it past what the general audience is willing to tolerate. That said, the base game is absolutely worth a purchase on its own, and if it leaves you craving more, Endless Ragnarok will easily provide enough high-end content to keep you busy for a very long time.
VERDICT: Recommended
Reviewed on PC
Review Copy was Provided
Post a Comment