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Granblue Fantasy: Relink | OT | It's been 8 long years...

On which platform will you be picking up the game?


  • Total voters
    170
When anyone gets a chance to play this game, I’d like to know the following please:

1) On console, do the effects have a toggle in the options (to not be as flashy?)

2) Is it possible to play the single player experience with just a single party member?

3) What settings are changeable in regards to difficulty?

4) Do certain bosses still have way too much health?

I haven't play more than just the demo but from what I've learned before preordering I can tell you.

1) On console, do the effects have a toggle in the options (to not be as flashy?)
I don't think there is, the flashy combat is kind of part of the gameplay to distinguish between which party member is attacking.

2) Is it possible to play the single player experience with just a single party member?
You can play the whole campaign and even the multiplayer part solo if you want but I don't thing you can go to the quests alone because the combat is the best part of the game. The link in the name describes that your attacks should be linked with your party members to inflict maximum damage. Going alone will take one normal battle atleast 10 to 20 mins to beat.

3) What settings are changeable in regards to difficulty?
For the demo there were normal i.e no assist mode, minimal assist i.e easy and max assist i.e very easy.
The final copy might change and before going to the quest you'll be shown how difficult the battle will be with your current level and equipment of your and your party

4) Do certain bosses still have way too much health?
Enemies can feel like that if you don't use combos properly. Use combos (Link) to take out enemies and bosses faster. That's the key.

I hope I helped.
 
I haven't play more than just the demo but from what I've learned before preordering I can tell you.

1) On console, do the effects have a toggle in the options (to not be as flashy?)
I don't think there is, the flashy combat is kind of part of the gameplay to distinguish between which party member is attacking.

2) Is it possible to play the single player experience with just a single party member?
You can play the whole campaign and even the multiplayer part solo if you want but I don't thing you can go to the quests alone because the combat is the best part of the game. The link in the name describes that your attacks should be linked with your party members to inflict maximum damage. Going alone will take one normal battle atleast 10 to 20 mins to beat.

3) What settings are changeable in regards to difficulty?
For the demo there were normal i.e no assist mode, minimal assist i.e easy and max assist i.e very easy.
The final copy might change and before going to the quest you'll be shown how difficult the battle will be with your current level and equipment of your and your party

4) Do certain bosses still have way too much health?
Enemies can feel like that if you don't use combos properly. Use combos (Link) to take out enemies and bosses faster. That's the key.

I hope I helped.

I played the demo too, but I'm curious to know if there are going to be any changes made with the launch edition or day-1 patch based on feedback because sometimes there are. To give a little backstory, these were my impressions with the demo

My thoughts on the demo:

+This game nails the aesthetic it's going for, runs very smooth on performance and has a grand look to it.
+The combat feels nice(good gameplay feel) and once I learned more of the specials/chain attacks, perfect parries, and dodge system, I saw more of the Platinum influence.
+You are not locked into attacks(there is animation cancelling) and can block and dodge out of most of them aside from some of the larger specials(but enemies can't really attack you during these anyway)
+In the usual Platinum gameplay influence, there is a playable character with a Vergil-esque moveset.
+Online mode has potential but I need to see more.

-The story in the demo was lackluster and I also worry about the sidequests during story mode. If people are wondering why soulslikes have been preferred lately when it comes to storytelling style, what I see here is why. That genre usually cuts the fat and doesn't try to feed you meaningless typical dialogue like 'save the villagers from goblins' masked as important quests.
-The free roam camera had a habit of focusing downwards more than it should have, making me have to adjust it to take in the environment and vistas.
-The amount of visual noise far exceeds most games to the point where there are multiple times when the screen is covered in flashy effects and I barely have a sense of placement. Because of this, it made it way harder for me to parry and instead I simply chose to do more dodges. Someone should tell this studio that you don't need to cover the screen in flashy effects to look cool.
-The boss fight in story mode felt a bit too MMO-like in terms of it's padded health bar. If they're going to do this, I need to see more varied attacks and feel more at danger (like the inclusion of boss moves that remove half of a bar of player health or something).

And as stated above, aside from the lackluster story writing in the demo, this was one of my biggest problems with the demo as well:
They should have kept Platinum on for a bit longer to tell them that filling the screen with 4 separate players all emitting bright particles and huge effects to hinder sight of the combat, is a bad thing.

1xKT8HY.gif

giphy-downsized-large.gif

I don't mind flashy effects, but I need my character to be visible at all times. When another party member is performing a special move and my own isn't ready yet(to combo with) or was already used, the screen is covered in that character's effect like above. My job during that time should be to either apply pressure, heal others, or support elsewhere and I feel like I can't do this because I can't freaking see what's happening.

It should be like 'action game creed/law' to not do something like this. When I lose sight of my character during combat or lose sight of who's attacking and who isn't, it makes it difficult for me to follow up on certain actions and to me that's a failure on the game and dev. So I'm saying all this to say from that post you just replied to, if number 1 isn't possible like you say(changing effects) then I must solve the issue using number 2 which is playing the game completely solo. I'm okay with number 2, but I need to know if the boss health bars change based on the player doing things completely alone (related to number 4).
 

cripterion

Member
Nice OT!

About the cutting edge visuals.... hmmm It's a bit of a bullshit claim considering how the game looks and how it runs too.
At least on the PS5 demo (even in fidelity mode) the game doesn't look like that first visual. The floating islands in the far off distance look way too clean.
 

Pejo

Gold Member
Nice OT, Thick Thighs Save Lives Thick Thighs Save Lives

I was hyped to the moon for this game when it was announced back ages ago with Platinum's involvement, and then one decision after another drove me to decide to not even purchase it. I won't be shitting up the thread though, and I hope everyone that gets it enjoys the game.

As a longtime Cygames fan, fuck Cygames.
 
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Nice OT!

About the cutting edge visuals.... hmmm It's a bit of a bullshit claim considering how the game looks and how it runs too.
At least on the PS5 demo (even in fidelity mode) the game doesn't look like that first visual. The floating islands in the far off distance look way too clean.
The game, by modern standards, looks subpar at best and that’s being reeeeeeeeally generous.
 

cripterion

Member
Didn't think the game would be that short. Keeping my money for FF Rebirth & DD 2. I Reckon this game will get a price drop real quick or eventually come to PS+
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Didn't think the game would be that short. Keeping my money for FF Rebirth & DD 2. I Reckon this game will get a price drop real quick or eventually come to PS+
I welcome it, escpially the amount of games coming out in Feb. I can finish the story and play Quest mode bite size while playing Persona 3 Reload and I hopefully I finish that before FFVII Rebirth comes out.

Also the Story has it own optional quests and character quest you can do.
 
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About the cutting edge visuals.... hmmm It's a bit of a bullshit claim considering how the game looks and how it runs too.
At least on the PS5 demo (even in fidelity mode) the game doesn't look like that first visual. The floating islands in the far off distance look way too clean.
The game, by modern standards, looks subpar at best and that’s being reeeeeeeeally generous.
For me it's hard to grade games like this graphically since it's going for a more subtle painbrush effect with it's aesthetic.

4IjHj4b.jpg


I think it looks nice and achieves what it is going for. Screenshot credit: TGO TGO
 
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Chastten

Banned
Should I be worried as a PC buyer? We didn't get a demo, we don't get early access, at this point I'm kinda worried PC is seen as an afterthought. Any confirmation about how it runs on midrange machines?

Still excited for the game, but man, the focus on PlayStation is a bit much
 
Should I be worried as a PC buyer? We didn't get a demo, we don't get early access, at this point I'm kinda worried PC is seen as an afterthought. Any confirmation about how it runs on midrange machines?

Still excited for the game, but man, the focus on PlayStation is a bit much
Over on the purple forum they said that one of the reviewers who's playing it on a 3070ti was only getting 40 - 50 fps at 1440p ultra settings. Now there might be a day one patch for PC which might improve the perf but idk. Link to the comment in question.
 
Someone on the other forum is saying that the image quality for performance mode looks "way better" on PS5 in the full release vs the demo. Can someone with early accesses who also played the demo chime in on this?
 
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Someone on the other forum is saying that the image quality for performance mode looks "way better" on PS5 in the full release vs the demo. Can someone with early accesses who also played the demo chime in on this?
Happy to.

As someone who was disappointed with the visuals on performance mode in the demo, I can immediately tell there’s some improvement here. I’m no Digital Foundry expert, but based on some of the dithering I can see in the hair (especially Lyria’s) it looks like they slapped FSR 2 on it.

It’s definitely still low res, but it looks noticeably improved, enough so that I’d say this isn’t a reason to skip on the title.

To put it as simple as I can: it went from ugly as sin, to a little soft.. and I can live with that.
 
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Happy to.

As someone who was disappointed with the visuals on performance mode in the demo, I can immediately tell there’s some improvement here. I’m no Digital Foundry expert, but based on some of the dithering I can see in the hair it looks like they slapped FSR 2 on it.

It’s definitely still low res, but it looks noticeably improved, enough so that I’d say this isn’t a reason to skip on the title.

To put it as simple as I can: it went from ugly as sin, to a little soft.. and I can live with that.
Thanks for confirming that they improved the IQ in perf mode. Now fingers crossed my physical copy arrives on launch day. :)
 

cormack12

Gold Member
Do you unlock party switching later? Also is online levelling diff to offline? Like if I level up only Rackam am I stuck with a high level Rackam for online play?

Edit: you get to switch party main after the first town

Also is lighting really weird in this game. Faces seem blown out but messing with brightness and hdr isn't fixing it on ps5

Also wtf at the share button being the system menu in towns?
 
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I’d enjoy this game, but I really need to know that multiplayer won’t be dead. It is a niche game locked behind the PS+ paywall, segmented into region, further segmented into sub-region, then segmented into particular quests, and no cross play with PC. Seems like a recipe for failure.
 

cormack12

Gold Member
Can you go back to the first town? I picked up the side quests but didn't do one and the story is just carrying on through chapters
 

Isa

Member
Played past the demo stuff. Its alright so far, pretty as expected. I lowered the difficulty simply because I don't like the sponginess of the enemies, its way too much for me. The characters are different enough that finding a style that suits you can be nice and rewarding. I wish it didn't feel so mobile grindy, in that nearly all the chests, loot and and currency is all about improving gear and gear score which makes it feel kind of cheap. Like their is no real item management for me so far. Also the story is not my cup of tea, its pure Shonen/Saturday morning cartoon fare in a neat world. Way to simple and innocent for my tastes which I admit far transcend the weird.

I'll probably end up sidelining it to carry on with Infinite Wealth which is just an absolute blast to play and satisfies many of my grievances here. Persona 3make and FFVII will also probably take priority as well, but I can see hoping into this every now and then.
 
Gonna be honest. I never heard of the Granblue series, but someone described it as an anime Monster Hunter, so I pre-ordered it on PS5 to play it early. I like it so far, reminds me of Xenoblade Chronicles 2. The art is amazing.
 

phant0m

Member
It’s adm
Someone on the other forum is saying that the image quality for performance mode looks "way better" on PS5 in the full release vs the demo. Can someone with early accesses who also played the demo chime in on this?
It’s admittedly been several weeks since I played the demo but I will say I’m playing the full release on performance mode and have been very happy with the image quality.
 

MagiusNecros

Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
Is it true that the game is similar to Dragon Quest Heroes? DQH wasn't well reviewed, but I liked it a lot.
It's not a Musou game. It's actually similar to TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan.

I think the game overall is similar to Monster Hunter, PSO2 or Vindictus in terms of design.

Generally a main hub area and you go up to a NPC for mission/quests.
 

Labadal

Member
It's not a Musou game. It's actually similar to TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan.

I think the game overall is similar to Monster Hunter, PSO2 or Vindictus in terms of design.

Generally a main hub area and you go up to a NPC for mission/quests.
Dragon Quest Heroes wasn't really a Musou game, imo. It also had a quest hub, and you picked missions to do? That's how I remember it, at least. DQH was a long time ago.
 

FeralEcho

Member
After playing the demo and loving it, I've been checking out videos about this and I can't wait for it....It turned into a day 1 purchase.This month will be RPG month for me it seems with both this and FFVII Rebirth.

Japanese devs on fire this year.First Tekken 8 then Yakuza 8 now this then FFVII then next month Dragon's Dogma 2. It's good to be a japanese game fan right now! We eatin' good
 
Played past the demo stuff. Its alright so far, pretty as expected.

I'll probably end up sidelining it to carry on with Infinite Wealth which is just an absolute blast to play and satisfies many of my grievances here. Persona 3make and FFVII will also probably take priority as well, but I can see hoping into this every now and then.
I like it so far, reminds me of Xenoblade Chronicles 2. The art is amazing.
Does the difficulty pick up more later on? I just started Chapter 4, haven't died once.
Can you go back to the first town? I picked up the side quests but didn't do one and the story is just carrying on through chapters
I have a quick favor to ask you all, just for a hard confirmation on my end.

In the story/campaign, can you do me a favor and see if you can remove all other party members and adventure and fight without any companions on your own (completely solo)? And can you tell me if the game scales and how much damage you are doing towards enemies when solo?

I'll probably buy this game depending on what the answers are.
 
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I have a quick favor to ask you all, just for a hard confirmation on my end.

In the story/campaign, can you do me a favor and see if you can remove all other party members and adventure and fight without any companions on your own (completely solo)? And can you tell me if the game scales and how much damage you are doing towards enemies when solo?

I'll probably buy this game depending on what the answers are.
I'll try it out after work. I am only in the first real mission, but I will let you know.
 
Looking forward to more confirmation of image quality/resolution improvement over the demo on PS5.
I didn't play the demo, but I am playing it in performance mode, and it's very stable 2 hours in. I do notice slowdown when there's like a million effects on the screen, but it's minuscule to me. Exploring and stuff is smooth.
 

envyzeal

Member
Been playing for around 3h and having a blast. Game is really fun, combat feels great and I even though graphics arent top notch, it fits really well. My only concern is that it looks like a short game.

I've heard something about 20h to complete story but I feel like it's going to be a little less than that.
Online missions also look like they'll be quick jump in -> hunt -> finish and I'm ok with that, as long as there's a good variety.

Good thing about it is how you can develop characters, specially if you consider that there's a full roster with 10 characters + skills + equipments + etc.

It's funny because there are some mechanics that scream gacha/mtx, maybe from its mobile "dna" but for now, no microtransactions available, but there's a lot of room for DLC's.
 

envyzeal

Member
I’m getting physical copy so I have wait till Feb 1st to play it….
hate-you.gif
I wish I had this option but I can’t find it for a reasonable price in Brazil.

Btw just saw your banner, just platinum’d 13 Sentinels this weekend and Frieren is top manga. You’re a man of high culture.
 
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