Granblue Fantasy: Relink - Endless Ragnarok [Review]

Effectively, Granblue Fantasy: Relink just got a meaty endgame with Endless Ragnarok, a definitive version of the 2024 game, designed in a very specific way: to make all the best parts of Relink even better, while ignoring the lesser areas that could be fixed. Finally, Relink feels complete, and the payoff to dozens of hours of "spreadsheet gaming" to polish my builds ended up being rewarding.

With extravagant but precise movement, each of the gazillion characters available to play are really different from one another, and to make everyone feel like the protagonist, Relink doesn't sacrifice any of the flashiness required to make an action game feel like an action game. Precise parries and dodges are absurdly rewarding at the same time that unleashing damage at the right time is as much "main character energy" as it can be.

Because of the character variety, gameplay difficulty can range from somewhat easy and button mashy to mandatory perfect dodges and specific timings. Granblue Fantasy: Relink really does know how to make playing well rewarding, so more complicated characters also have more complex and wide arsenals. I loved how many abilities could be better if I played better, and mastering the kinks of my characters always delivered great fun.

It is really difficult to care about this game's world, though. The story is... Messy. It doesn't really feel like the beginning of anything, but rather a great conclusion for something that came before. And everything on this game's story and cast is derivative, with plot points from famous animes and characters that are, frankly, very similar to other games. I know that there's a hint of originality here and there, but it is as standard and as generic as the first hours imply it to be. I still giggle a bit when I remember that the protagonist's name is "Gran".

The whole 140 hours that I had with this game and its fresh, new epilogue were in two very, very simple cities with absolutely nothing interesting going on other than the places that I needed to go to upgrade my armor or gear. I don't know if I was too naive to expect a new city in the "Epilogue: Endless Ragnarok" part of the game, but I sure was, and not having a third city was let down. There aren't mini games to play or actually interesting stories to read or secrets to discover: both the hubs in this game are ascetic and uninteresting after the first 30 minutes in them, so you can imagine in 100 hours.

In another bad note, this game suffers heavily from spreadsheet gaming syndrome. Too many hours looking at rows and columns, navigating through shiny and samey interfaces just to know if my "attack" stat has "reached its maximum". Discovering what is adding to these values is another challenge entirely. This constant tweaking could be better handled, it is often overwhelming even when I knew what I was doing. A myriad of important values are mysteriously missing, and calculations are not transparent. It is a mess.

Still, the way Relink plays cooperatively is great, with everyone needing to be a bit in sync all the time for the battle to actually work. Each time someone dies, a bit of life is drained from a shared pool, and the more it happens, the faster the gauge depletes. Nailing dodges and parries is not only good for me, but for everyone. Also, The Link mechanic rewards focusing the boss at the right time with a powerful, slow motion moment where abilities cooldowns are almost zero. If the enemy still lives, a very powerful finisher can be performed by up to 4 characters in sequence, to devastating effects.

This balance between solo and group accountability made the harder fights that much more rewarding, and because most of them are located in the endgame, added in this definitive edition, making a strong character is finally worth it, with interesting content to play for hours. I was a bit disappointed to see that most of the fights were with returning – but buffed – foes, but the new fights, exclusive to the endgame, are by far the best in the whole campaign, and are worth it.

Progressing through the game is posting quests in a counter and doing them to unlock the next quest to be posted in a counter. It is a boring way to deliver a story, and there isn't really a reason to pay much attention... The "fates", which are glorified power point slides, are required to unlock some of the progression and everything related to the story was a massive bore for me.

The way I played the most was with three other friends and sometimes with randoms on the internet. The reason for this is because I haven't actually progressed with four characters to be able to face the challenges in the endgame. I actually have one great character and one that does the job, but it isn't actually easy to face most of the late endgame content offline. Gearing them was possible, but I find it to be a bit too grindy, and the granularity of the builds and compositions makes gearing 4 characters feel like work. One was enough for me. I know that there are ways of "auto playing" the grind, and the 'rent-a-character' system helps, but still, I wish the game rewarded me better or at least enough to make 4 characters as strong as I wanted.

Also, even on this definitive edition, the first part of the game can only be done alone, with some quests that can be done with other players, until a certain point of the game, where it opens up for everything to be played with others. The biggest part of the game is playable with friends and other people, but the beginning isn't, and this is just another thing that they could've been fixed. It is not that big of an issue anymore, though, because the endgame is really big.

Most of the challenge is on the new endgame, and tweaking and understanding the characters is now more rewarding than ever with tight battles and interesting mechanics from time to time. Also, this epilogue made possible to make several different builds for the characters, with options that are good for the same character. I felt that I could better customize my play style in the epilogue more than any other part of the game.

Also, most of the more menial grinding before the epilogue now can be performed in a new mode called Conflux. A rogue-lite, "choose three" mode that rewards handsomely and is featured throughout the base game. Although fun and well crafted, I thought it was a bit of a missed opportunity, as there aren't any endgame content for the Conflux itself, nor multiplayer to it. It'd be amazing to do the runs with my friends, and I can't really understand why it isn't possible.

As a solo, single player game, Granblue Fantasy: Relink - Endless Ragnarok is almost there. As a co-op game, or even for someone who is willing to play with randoms online, it is a very fun and rewarding time. It is worth it, even if forgettable. His name is Gran?? Seriously? "Gran" from Granblue?! Alas...

8/10

for reference, I gave 2024's Relink a 7/10 on my Backloggd, at that time