Anime RPG Granblue Fantasy: Relink gets its biggest update yet with free new quest

1 month ago 71

Plus fixes for progression blocks, multiplayer balancing and camera

Granblue Fantasy: Relink has received a sizeable game update, which adds a new, difficult quest, The Final Vision, some additional camera and aim sensitivity settings, and new Steam trophies. That's in addition to a brace of bug fixes, character-specific balancing tweaks for multiplayer, and assorted quality-of-life improvements, including visual and audio indicators to indicate when you've lost your buffs.

Our Alice B described Cygames' latest as a "slick JRPG wedded to the rule of cool" in our Granblue Fantasy: Relink review, noting that "the combat is kind of weightless, but it's layered and fun - if you can be bothered to get to the bottom of it". There are certainly layers to the version 1.1.1 patch notes. The bits about changes to characters are a fusillade of nitty-gritty observations like "Io should no longer lose the Mystic Vortex status effect even after taking a hit from an attack that removes positive status effects". Fans of Ghandagoza, meanwhile, will rejoice in the knowledge that they've nixed a problem that stopped you dodging right after performing an aerial barrage, while Cagliostro players will be happy to learn that "objects transmuted as part of a link attack should now hit foes with greater accuracy".

I still haven't played Granblue Fantasy: Relink (with suspiciously good timing, Alice B is on holiday today, or I'd have asked her write this piece) and reading the full patch notes feels a bit like trying to glean map directions from waterfalls of Matrix code. I feel like all patch note writers should learn from Larian, whose patch notes are often very funny for all their absurd intricacy.

Let's persevere. You'll need to polish off The Tale of Bahamut's Rage to access the new Final Vision quest. The quest introduces two new characters, Lucilius and Sandalphon: completing it unlocks new sigils with new traits at the Knickknack Shack's Treasure Trade.

As for those extra camera options, camera sensitivity and aim sensitivity both now have two separate settings for vertical and horizontal movement speed, and the maximum sensitivity for each setting has been raised from 10 to 20. The developers have also adjusted the camera to stay centered on a locked-on foe that's far away whenever possible, and fixed a problem that caused auto-targeting to lock onto a blameless ice pillar on Mt. Neigelith after destroying or losing the previous target.

The more important-sounding bug fixes include a fix for an outright progression blocker if the chapter before Chapter Ø (yes, that's Ø not 0) was played via chapter select before clearing Chapter Ø - if you're affected by this bug, quitting the chapter should restore progression. The game will also warn you about having fewer than four characters in your party before entering one particular section of chapter 4 (I'm guessing a lot of players have walked in understaffed and been murdered by some kind of boss).

Have you been playing Granblue Fantasy Relink? I would very much like to - this was one of our 75 most anticipated games of 2024, don't forget - but alack, mortal life hath but precious little time for gigantic RPGs, and right now, my attention is occupied by Dragon's Dogma 2.