Have never heard of the granblue series until a day before Relink came out. As a Monster Hunter and Elden Ring player, thousands of hours between em, Im happy to say GBF Relink has blown away my expectations and is super fun!
The director said there will be continual support and they will add harder content starting with the Lucilius raid. This was in an interview last week in France with Kayane who host the GBVSR tournament. This is awesome news
Thank you for the review Cas! I had a question as a steam decker. Would it be a heavy lift to include steam deck compatibility as one of the segments in your reviews? Keep up the great work!
But it's not really a JRPG though, it's more akin to monster hunter, the animated art style is confusing ppl, just because it's a Japanese developer doesn't make it a JRPG
@@mathewhosier9739 how is it not a JRPG? the term JRPG isn’t exclusive to turn based combat. Look at the mana series, where every main line game has been action oriented. Because of where the game was developed, its story, and art style, it is JRPG just as much as GBF:R.
The game is absolutely amazing BUT after 8 years of development I expected more unique bosses, however they're all extremely well designed and even the reskins have many different moves, I would've loved to see more iconic bosses in the game like the magna raids tho ngl.
I think they want to release new bosses and dungeons a little at a time. I also noticed the game takes place inside only 1 Skydom when there are many. So they definitely have alot of potential for DLC and content updates.
8 years of development doesnt mean the whole 8 years were spent working on this game. stuff gets thrown out, redesigned, etc. idk exactly what happened with platinumgames invovlement but that certainly took away some time from the project. also this is their first installment on the big gaming scene (aside from gbvs, thats a completely different thing)
@@Dillarune 8 years since the first gameplay showcase* There is no excuse and you shouldn't demand from people to lower their expectations, I'm not hating on the game and I absolutely despise people like you going akshuly ☝️🤓 over fair criticism.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the game. Ill definitely be checking this out.. Also love your outro music theme... kind of reminds me of Megaman! Thanks again!
I can atest, the "main story" is short, but the character progress is pretty deep and interesting. Grinding for 20 separate characters sounds soulcrushing....but the boss battless are fun....cant get enought of SBA animations xD everytimes it makes me gigle and I have a fuzzy feeling in my chest.... JUST BIG DMG SOUNDS ALL AROUND !!! xDDD Final verdict: its fun o/
First time watching a Fextralife review, but here's my two cents: why is the pricepoint considered when giving the game a score? I get that it is important to the consumer, but it is completely separate from the quality of the game itself. It adds unnecessary noise to the final score given.
Hi, thanks for the review ! Can you do the main story in Co-op or only the quests from the board ? I'm sorry if this was answered, I didn't catch it and can't find a clear answer online.
@@amoineauthe story is about 10 hours length and the game is heavily focused on end game quests which are like monster hunter. So I dont think it would be that bad decision to grab this game for multiplayer
@@cw9624 completely agree, but in my case I was wondering if I played alone, or bought a copy for my gf as well. And no way she will be interested in playing 15-20 hours (we take our time) before finally playing co-op. So I guess I'll be going solo on that one. Thank you for your input though.
I've played the demo and found it quite overwhelming, I've no idea what's going on in the combat, especially with so many characters attacking at once! Does the full game drip-feed you into it?
Honestly I am seeing that too, game is only 10hrs long.... the title says after 50hrs and the reviewer wants to play more???? Why do they think its 10hrs and that's it.
@@nathanscott2871 Sigh.. The story is around 10 hours long and the rest came from coop endgame. Some people just wanted to play the game like a longer story driven game which it isn't, or explore huge open worlds. Or hope, like me, that the AI is good enough in end game as I am not a people person
@nathanscott2871 People say the dumbest shit on the Internet, make thee worst assumptions, have unrealistic expectations and are just entitled af. Can't stand it lol May have to stop reading comments soon, because my brain can't take the amount of stupidity I read sometimes.
@Kyle-Marxluxia what annoys me is they think I'm some simp for the game because I think it's getting unjust treatment. I literally have never touched the granblue franchise, I'm gonna give this a go because it seems like something I can drop in and out of on days where I don't have time to smash out hours of gaming. Outside of that I don't have any bias for this game, but people be shitting on it as if they have played it and formed the opinion themselves, when they haven't.
Really enjoying the game, however, I do wish I didn’t have to wear headphones to be able to hear the dialogue. I googled it and ran across a thread in Steam where others were talking about this same issue, so I know its not just me. I hope this gets patched soon.
Cas - In the demo review you mentioned camera issues. After playing the demo I noticed it too...Was this fixed or is it still an issue or do you just get use to it over time?
So you mention that AFTER the story you will be changing and upgrading weapons. Does that mean that you can customize and change weapons during the story portion?
You can. There are ~6 diff weapons per character. There's also a transmog system too if you like the look of a specific weapon. You'll only get like 1-3 weapons through the story (at least from my experience), the rest will probably be done through later questing/missions.
I’m trying to stick to side quest and combat related stuff to pad my story time out. I do think this is a buy if you like action RPGs and fantasy. I’m surprised how polished a lot of it feels.
Tbh, you don't really have to. Because you will grind till crazy at the later stage of the game. Especially end game when boss have over millions of hp.😂
Everything mentioned about length / game structure is exactly what I want out of more games. Give me a short but well paced single player & then tons of replay able co-op content to do with friends!
Kinda glad the camera is smooth, since I'm worried I might get motion sickness with camera shacky-ness. Having blast so far with Ferry. 41+USD in my country for standard edition is also a huge plus.
Looks like, plays like, is like every JRPG ever made. But its great. Go play one from 2010-2015 and you find...nothing different. That means this will be some GOTY contender.....for no reason what so ever.
Too bad they bait n switched us on the Multiplayer aspect. I, among others, expected coop FROM THE START. You have to finish the game to play with your friends? Yeah. No. Waiting for a DEEP sale. I'm sure it's a great game. But my friends and I wanted it for the coop, and they screwed us. Hard pass until it's 50% off, then I'll play it.
What did you expect from a AA studio with no previous record in this field to base your expectations off of? Its also 10% - 20% cheaper than its AAA counterparts.
@@nathanscott2871 1) I don't think it is a problem. I prefer monster hunter mostly when compared to FF. 16 was the only good In the last decades and monster hunter is amazing, for me, since generations 2) CyGames is NOT a AA studio lol my phrasing was bad really, the "that's it" in the end. I'm happy if it is like monster hunter.
@Lxx00Jxx00 cool my bad but just a quick one I would estimate that focus entertainment (greedfall, evil west, plague tale, aliens dark descent, the surge) are a similar size to cygames. Focus entertainment are largely considered to deal in AA games. I felt cygames were of similar caliber to them so I would say they were AA especially their lack of experience. But other than that my bad, there's just been a lot of people shittin on this like they did with gotham knights. And when I eventually played gotham knights it was a solid 7/8 out of 10 and I wished it got more support. I dont want the same fate to happen to this because of butt hurt people complaining about something they never played themselves
So basically it's a boss battle simulator with prolonging game life artificially via crap drop rates and so many costly character upgrades. There is even a damage cap you need to constatly use gear to break through it. I loved the visuals and gameplay but was sad when story mode is so short and non important. Reminds me when I took in the gacha years ago where I loved everything except the fact that you have to grind your life out. Yeah no thanks I could play a bunch of great titles in the time it would take me to repeat a boss battle 300 times over
@Fabio-kk5xx how do you customise their role? How do you fill their shoes? (Role playing) oh wait you dont do that in fighting games, they have predefined movesets and combos, with little to no pre planning and build creation to define your role. To make the character your own.
@Fabio-kk5xx is elden ring an rpg? Is baldurs gate an rpg? Is final fantasy an rpg? Satrcraft? Fallout? Destiny? Notice that all these games are rpgs yet they play all very different from each other, monster hunter is an rpg, diablo is an rpg. If this game is like monster hunter then it is an rpg
@@TheRoleplayer40kYou play fighting games stfu about value when FG's aren't worth more than $20 unless you are an online sweat and play 100000000's of hours playing online against no life tryhards
word like dont get me wrong Jpn dub is usually better and stuff but when you in the middle of a chaotic battle and they screaming I dont have time to read when im dodging. It was one of the reasons why I didnt buy that SD gundam game. It suffer by not having a english dub to understand what was being said as the battles started.
Great review. Started playing it yesterday and it is really fun. I bought it for the great combat with 19 different characters and the ability to improve and get better and better grade while enjoying over the top monsters and fantastic visuals.
I'm most excited about is the AI party, most ppl are not talking about it enough but from what I see so far, it's the answer for any mmo that is struggling with players doing specific content. Example WOW, the AI party can replace missing players in a raid, and guess what? the AI will know the mechanics of the fight and if you don't know the mechanics, you can just see what the AI party is doing and learn from them. A game like lost ark will never have support problems or needing to ask anyone for ur 8 man run of old content that no one wants to do, because the AI party is always there and ready when you need it. This does not take away from the online experience, this will enhance it. You want to play with other players, go for it and if ur missing a person or two the AI is always and option and if want just to play without anyone with you and just use the AI party then go for it. Freedom is king and this will open all kinds of doors. This is why I find this game very exciting, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the AI party system works.
I just got into action jrpg and wow. I put 120 hours into trials of mana, then 100 in tales of arise. Now I'm going to buy this game before visions of mana. Most fun I've had in gaming in awhile
Great review. Thanks for the info. I was ready to pick this up day one after playing the demo but as someone who wants a robust narrative experience I may now wait for a sale. I'm glad you broke it down the way you did. 💯
Agreed, I was assuming this game would have a lengthy vsst narrative similar to tales of arise. Glad I found out ahead of time that's apparently not the case.
I am still a bit on the fence, as you do say its for hunting fans, I just dont see the endgame being that long-lasting. Characters don't have the depth of different weapons in MH, simple combos and combined with the fact you can dodge whenever feels a lot more button bashy, sigils and weapon upgrades are just stat boosts, and because elements are tied to characters do you ever really want to change to a different weapon? That seems my impressions from playing the demo and watching various reviews. Don't get me wrong I want to like the game, just don't see what people are jazzing about. Probably waiting for a sale myself
Am I the only one who hates higher damage numbers? Like once you’re over 10,000 per hit it just seems arbitrary as it’s basically untraceable at that point
i personally prefer longer and deeper stories in my JRPGs (my all time favorite game is Xenoblade), but i think it's cool that we're getting shorter and more straightforward games on the genre now. this could serve as a good entry point for people who want to get into JRPGs but are intimated by the longer stuff. most of these games are a huge commitment, so it's cool to get a game that delivers the core experience of the genre without being too time consuming. looking forward to trying this!
Well it's not really a JRPG, it's a coop action RPG that focuses on endgame, the main story is basically just a tutorial to teach you the mechanics of the game
Honestly, after 7 long years of development and due its rich ip, some people were probably expecting a big immersive jrpg not a grind "end game" button smashing fest. I guess this is the state of the gaming market nowadays.
"State of the gaming market" pfft, stop talking so much rubbish. You sound absolutely ridiclous lol There are plenty of games of all genres and all types out there, you just so happen to have garbage taste. Move on
For one it doesn't have that outdated crap where you have to touch an enemy just to enter some random field of combat. It doesn't compare too much though to the Tales Of series though.
I see what you did at the available character screen 😂. I personally wished it was a retelling of the story from its original game, but I can also understand why they chose to do a complete different story. Just a quick reminder, they’ve already announced two dlc characters and a boss battle dlc. There’s also more updates planned for release in May.
