Not long after getting into Genshin Impact, I began to wonder – inadvisedly, in retrospect – if I could learn to love any other gacha games now that the seal had been broken. One had always piqued my interest: Granblue Fantasy. I'm a sucker for its penciled illustrations, sky islands, and romantic view of adventuring, plus I liked the anime adaptation well enough. So I gave it a try, and promptly uninstalled it within an hour. I was immediately fatigued by its fractally padded grinding, questionably balanced combat, and downright terrifying wiki. Sadly, the other big Granblue game, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, is a fighting game and therefore kryptonite to me. Will I never get to play through this cool-looking universe in a genre that clicks for me?
Enter Granblue Fantasy Relink, fast becoming the top contender for my 2024 GOTY. Finally, something my speed: a flashy 3D action RPG that has a huge cast of playable characters with diverse moves, fun but crucially optional co-op, and a wealth of quests to grind for that juicy S++ score. The boss fights and timers speak to my Monster Hunter-loving heart, the epic Primal battles are outdoing even Final Fantasy 16's giant monsters, and I've found myself surprisingly endeared with the (mostly) lighthearted story which does a good job of incorporating so many different people. It's chock-full of weapons to upgrade, secrets to dig up in bite-sized open zones, and irresponsibly large skill trees that are optimization catnip.
