i dipped my toes a bit into this one, but i ultimately don't think it's for me. granblue fantasy: relink is potentially a dream for fans of the franchise, but if i imagine myself in their position, i feel i may be disappointed.

because granblue started as a gacha game, there are fundamental aspects of its design that i feel do not mesh well with relink's party-based RPG gameplay.

the first is its massive cast of characters. as a gacha game, the leading ethos manifests as either expanding the character roster significantly more than a standard video game, or expanding costumes, equipment, add-ons, or all of the above, in order to incentivise gambling from the player. as granblue shifts towards a more "traditional" style of gameplay with relink, the developers need to consider how to reign in scope without disappointing too many of their core player base -- which of its characters do you include, which do you exclude, what storylines or character arcs do you follow, etc.
while i'm not very familiar with granblue fantasy proper, the time i spent in relink had me thinking they decided on a decent cast for your party ... but, i also couldn't help but notice that when you swap members out from your original starting crew, they don't get any dialogue. no party banter or interaction with the world feels desolate in a party-based RPG like this -- so many of these types of games benefit from characters driving their stories, and i think a genuine downside to relink is that it sacrifices that feeling of getting to know your crew & watching them grow in order to fit as many core characters from the gacha predecessor as was feasible.
the main cast still talks with each other, which is great, but why even bother letting me swap out characters if those characters don't actually get involved in what's going on? i know the answer is that granblue isn't that type of story, and the most important thing is being able to move around freely in a 3D space with my already established favorite guy, but again, the RPG genre ends up feeling painfully hollow when it starts being less about character story, and more about character presence.

the second thing that relink's gacha past affects is its general presentation. the UI is utilitarian & expansive like an MMO's, making the game feel less like a guided adventure & more like i'm doing dailies for 10 minutes; the VFX are too flashy & disruptive, filling the screen with visuals that muddy the field of view & make every battle feel less like you're involved in a fight, and more that you're just mashing buttons & letting things happen; and finally, the main crew character designs feel dissonate from the world they live in or roles they're filling, each trying to be loud & unique without considering how or why these people look the way they do beyond sex appeal & surface-level character concept.
if you don't mind this style of gameplay, then it isn't a big deal i suppose. but even as someone who enjoys playing MMORPGs, i feel strange playing what is ostensibly a single-player experience that is completely drowning in modern multiplayer aesthetics, and unfortunately, this feeling is enough to turn me off from the game in the end.

i don't think relink is poorly design by any means, though. there's a level of polish here that is honestly hard to find, and from what i understand, granblue fans are quite happy with how characters have changed mechanically between the original game & this new version. but my standards are high when it comes to these sorts of adventures, and i can't imagine myself being satisfied if i was being advertised an expansive, involved RPG adaption of my favorite video game granblue fantasy, only to get something that's as narratively mediocre as this.

i will say, though -- i adore the portrait art in this series, and i'm very, very happy to see them trying to emulate that style with their 3D models. i think the look of the game is fantastic on that front. ( although, it could always be pushed further. i KNOW they've got the money to experiment & really push the envelope ... so do it, damn it!!! ) but that isn't enough to keep my attention, and so i'm afraid i'll be dropping this one for now.