3/5 ★ – bokonon764's review of Granblue Fantasy: Versus.

Another game with an out of control title. I’m unsure as to whether this is a specific version of of Granblue, or its own entity, I saw it on sale and I think I’ve played one of these before? I don’t know, in some ways it’s great; in others, not so much. Most importantly, the combat is accessible and enjoyable. The last fighting game I tried was an SNK game, the input for those games are so frustrating. Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising (Jesus, that name) has special attacks controlled through one button with cooldown meters to prevent constant use; The kind of an attack varies depending on direction held, and holding down other buttons increases the intensity and cooldown time. It’s sort of like an RPG or a dungeon crawler system, but jammed into a fighting game, I’m a fan of its simplicity. It can become much more complicated through combos and chains; I found myself getting straight up eviscerated by higher level computer opponents. So like other simpler fighter franchise games, like Mortal Kombat, GFVR’s (of which I will now refer to this game as) simplicity is accessible for casual players, and yet the depth gives the more hardcore players something to perfect. The art is perhaps the standout of GFVR; it’s a sort of mix of 2D anime flavor with an illusory 3D look. That, plus the bright colors and excellent character design make this game a visual treat. I think the one drawback is that many of the characters don’t feel unique enough to each other, giving the whole roster a bit of a hackneyed feeling. There are certainly standout characters that break that feeling; but the names are super tough to remember for me, which is a problem. I know there’s one called Beatrix, I think? I didn’t play as her though. Who else we got, Metera? Zeta, maybe? I’m actually sitting here wrackin my brain tryna remember the names, and they don’t come for me. So not the best names. At first glance, GFVR has a lot to offer for a single player experience. The deeper in I got, the less enthused I was with it. One thing that really turned me off to the game and its progression was the vastness of its leveling/reward system. Players can level characters up and obtain rewards for milestones; mostly cosmetics and art, but it’s just fun to get stuff. I think if there was a more steady stream of rewards, it would be a great system. But I played as Metera (looked up the name ha) for two or three hours and got to like level 9 or 10, and the highest level that you receive a reward for achieving is 1,500!! Like fuckin why?!? It’s just fucking insane to think of the amount of time one would have to spend with a single character to unlock everything. I mean, even level 200 would be crazy, but a thousand-plus more than that!? It made me feel a hopelessness that I could never even come close to a semblance of mastery of a character. I remember reaching the higher echelons of challenges with Black Canary in Injustice 2 and really feeling a sense of accomplishment that I rarely feel playing fighting games. I think that highest level was like 30 or some shit. 1,500? What a fuckin joke. On top of that, the story mode in GFVR is tropey anime shit with way too much exposition. There is a fun combat system specific to the story mode as well as RPG style enemies that can be fought in a sort of PvE style that I’ve not seen in a fighting game for awhile. I think if …… would have capitalized on enemy gauntlets, bosses, and actual 1v1 style fights then cut down on the exposition, the story mode would be that much better. All of those gripes aside, this game is fun as fuck and looks fantastic. I think I’m finding that I like the idea of fighting games more than I actually like playing them. I primarily play single player games, and I keep trying fighting games hoping I’ll find another Soul Calibur IV or 00’s Mortal Kombat. Even the most recent Street Fighter, with its massive single player campaign, felt hollow. Maybe I should stop buying these. Whatever…. GFVR, good fighting game.