ArcSystemWorks creates a game that is going to make people talk at a competitive level, but that comes with little content. Now on sale on PC and PS4.
Great Blue Fantasy Versus is surprising in the competitive fight scene. The title, based on a successful Japanese JRPG that has been one of the great references of mobile gatcha, came by surprise to Steam – it was not announced until a few weeks before – and generated attention, especially in communities such as the Spanish one that it is supporting The bet. Now, March 27, it finally arrives on PS4 after a chaotic launch: when it came out in Japan there was no date for the old continent. The result? We are facing a first level competitive bet, but one that comes with more than debatable decisions at the product level. The two sides of the coin.
The franchise is a real hit in Japanese lands. It was born with important names behind it such as the composer Uematsu or game developers like Final Fantasy 6 and 9, and marked the evolution of the type of gatcha game that we have today on all pocket devices. Its success in the Land of the Rising Sun is guaranteed by this, by the rewards that are linked between games and also because it is an excellent fighting title. Its sales debut surpassed Tekken 7, FighterZ, and Street Fighter V. So its breakthrough on PS4 – which will presumably be the main platform for almost everyone – will give it yet another boost.
A playable wonder: the face of the coin
Unlike ArcSystemWorks games, in this case we are faced with a title that has a slower pace, in which the neutral game is very important and where the infinite combos are left for another occasion. Granblue looks more at a fighting style like Street Fighter, but with its own peculiarities. And what it manages to generate is an attractive new bet for both the most novice in the genre and competitive players. Few better entries to the genre you will find that Granblue Fantasy Versus, capable of accompanying you from an incipient state.
There are several reasons for this. The first, an accessible combat system with three attack buttons and a unique special for each character, with technical commands based on known movements (moon quarters, shoryuken, etc.) and with a similar execution between characters of their special attacks. Then, of course, the fact that we are not facing a title with complex combos in the style of BlazBlue or Under Night. And third, because the game incorporates a simple command system to offer the specials at the push of a button and one direction.
What Granblue does to not make this a waste is to reward the technical player: if we use shortcuts, the cooldown -recovery time to make the same special- is much slower, so at a competitive level or online is the most recommended. It is precisely one of the thanks of the game, to offer this system for those who want to play alone, buy the title for the license but are not scholars in the genre without affecting the traditional fighting games player.
In Granblue everything is accessible although it has its substance to dominate the combos with specials, with EX versions, using the bounce from the wall and changing properties depending on whether we enter normal or on the counter, among many other peculiarities. The characters have an autocombo – three times weak, medium or strong – but it does not work if we hit close, not from any distance, and the sequence, in blocking, leaves you sold. It doesn't reward as much the pounding as it can happen in other games because the punishment can be almost 50% of life bar. And that is another one, in Granblue the main art is to gain position and open the rival defense. It costs and there is a work of moments, but when it is obtained it is necessary to maximize the damage. For what may happen next.
And so we will spend our first games, understanding the combos system, seeing how there are EX attacks that allow the enemy to bounce off the wall, as there are others that raise enough the rival to continue with a low attack and keep hitting without touching the ground and learn the specifics of each special attack. The game has an extensive tutorial that allows us to know not only the peculiarities of each character, but also some of their basic combos, combat strategies to follow and situations that are going to happen above the ring. How to punish certain situations, how to react to rival offensives (such as cross-ups), what properties some of our attacks have … Or knowing how to use defense. In addition to the guard, both by button and pressing back, we have the option of making a perfect guard that generates more arcane bar and we can make two types of evasions: a forward dash to overcome blows and projectiles or a dodge movement from our position .
Each of them has its advantages and disadvantages. Movements of this type can help us to advance if they try to zone us and, with long-range characters such as Ferry or Katalina, punish the rival. Or dodge when under close pressure to be able to quickly punish after the completion of a rival combo. If we add to this the air block, ground and air grips, the universal overhead -ideal to press and if it is in counter, to make devastating combos- and the use of the arcane bar, we have a very complete variety of combat actions.
The arcane bar serves, when we have it at 100%, to launch two types of attack. One devastating and one even more, Celestial Arcane, with animation included when we have 30% health. Knowing how to put it in a combo, like the Supers of a lifetime, is key. Managing the bar and EX special attacks – his recovery to use that attack again is slower – are part of the strategy to be carried out in Granblue.
11 characters and a great balance
The title comes with 11 selectable starting characters, all of them with variants thanks to both their specials and their unique moves. Gran, the protagonist, is the classic shoto character, who has a chargeable attack and can be used in a combo. Katalina, similar but with higher rank thanks to her sword, can use a special guard to counterattack and to lengthen combos. Lancelot has mobility and dashes in all directions making it a hassle to appear close and behind us, while Metera has a combo-hitting multi-hit attack. Naturally, its size (Charlotta is super small and Vaseraga a mole), its range and properties of normal attacks and its specials also define the options of each character. Lowain, who takes out food to recover life or arcane bar and his multiple allies (counterattacks, rocket launcher robots, pressing companions) is one of the most original.
One of the peculiarities of the game is that despite the fact that the community agrees to see Gran and Katalina as the best characters in the game, especially due to some properties of their attacks and possibilities, it feels very balanced. Surely this will be diluted somewhat over time, but so far all the characters seem – with reservations and with certain combats more uphill than others – viable to try to be competitive. The balance work of the campus, at least if we compare it with other contemporary fighting games, is much more visible in this case, and is appreciated.
Controversial DLC
We have a varied and well-differentiated workforce despite the fact that the bases are the same for everyone. Although it is not too extensive, its main setback is the controversy with the DLC. The game was announced with a season pass for five characters: Beelzebub, Narmaya, Soriz, Djeeta, and Zooey. Due to the lack of control with the departure of the game in the West, when it arrives on PS4 today the players find that the first two are already available to buy and the third has already been presented via trailer. It is as if the worst of the original mobile and browser game, brilliant as JRPG but tough wing as far as gatcha is concerned, has also moved here in this way. Considering the scarcity of startup characters and that Beelzebub is present in story mode, surely the downloadable strategy should have been different.
RPG mode and other single player options: the coin cross
Great Blue Fantasy Versus arrives with an RPG mode as a great claim for the solitary player. It is a story mode in which we advance through different missions throughout five chapters while we improve weapons according to their typology, we create new ones, we equip ourselves with improvements and we accumulate characters to make us a team to suit us. The missions are divided mainly into two types: on the one hand, those of killing enemies everywhere as if it were a beat’em up on a 2D plane; and the second, the battles with the bosses who in turn have normal confrontations and others with large bosses of enormous dimensions not present in the squad of fighters.
As we move forward we earn tickets to unlock new weapons, skins and other extras. The problem with RPG mode is that your story doesn't have much of a hook and is quite predictable on the one hand; and on the other hand, it doesn't quite work as expected. The enemy smashing missions are simple and repetitive, and the crafting and weapon upgrading system is not exploited throughout the main plot (about six hours). We don't have the feeling that we need to improve that water-type weapon to have a decisive advantage against enemies, to understand each other. The best thing about RPG mode is, on the one hand, in being able to play cooperatively locally or online and, on the other, in the final bosses that offer us much more interesting and spectacular battles.
When we finish the story we open missions in difficult and other extra missions, as well as a tower of challenges. All this, more interesting content in terms of challenge, but that does not give us much in the rewards we can get. You can go calmly above 10 hours, but it fails to maintain interest after the first few challenges and for what we achieve with it.
The offer for the solitary player ends in a kind of Arcade with consecutive battles of different difficulties and the possibility of fighting locally. All the good that is the training, glossary and specific training has contrast in the shortage of modalities for the player who does not want to try online. There, online, that the title fulfills: battles with a classification system for ranked matches and lobby-style rooms such as in FighterZ where you can meet, communicate and play with other players from our or other regions. The netcode, when we choose opponents of maximum bars or at least optimal (4 out of 5) holds the type in the 1-2 frames of delay, allowing you to see good games without problems in this regard.
A (quality) anime in our hands
We cannot finish our review without mentioning the spectacular audiovisual finish that Granblue Fantasy Versus has, which looks like a quality anime in motion. The character design is brilliant, and its animations, specials, and effects make the title a visual gem, very enjoyable to watch. Also the scenarios, with great detail and changes in the third rounds, although unfortunately we have rather few at the moment (there are only six). In addition, the introductory and end-of-combat scenes, story mode scenes, and Heavenly Arcane attacks are also on a high level. All this accompanied by a simply brilliant fantasy and epic soundtrack, capable of giving you goosebumps with some melodies sung in full combat. A game that falls in love with the eyes and ears.
This Reviews has been performed with a PC code provided by Xseed and a PS4 code provided by Meridiem Games
CONCLUSION
Granblue Fantasy Versus will hit hard at a competitive level and will be one of the outstanding games in this 2020, of that there is no doubt. Playable it is a delight, a gift for beginners and for experienced players and it has a fairly balanced template -especially compared to other contemporary games- and an audiovisual section that make it a safe bet to play and to watch playing high level. But unfortunately, as a product it comes with no minor gaps, both in the form of content for the solitary player and in a more than debatable model of DLC characters. They are both sides of the Granblue Fantasy Versus coin.
THE BEST
- Playable it is a delight and different from other current proposals
- Raised for novice in the genre and for more experienced, it has room for everyone
- Quite balanced and differentiated template
- An audiovisual show
- Training with combos, strategies, glossary … Very detailed
WORST
- Scarce in general content
- Controversial DLC policy for launch
- RPG mode could give much more of itself
Very good
Game with a remarkable finish that we will enjoy and remember. A good purchase, highly recommended for lovers of the genre. It is well cared for at all levels.
