Granblue Fantasy Relink Endless Ragnarok PC Review

Gameplay

Graphics

Audio

Value

Summary: Granblue Fantasy: Relink – Endless Ragnarok is a great new expansion with a few flaws. However, those flaws don't hinder the otherwise enjoyable new pile of content.

4

Endless Grind

Granblue Fantasy: Relink – Endless Ragnarok is the latest expansion for Cygames’ Granblue Fantasy JRPG Granblue Fantasy: Relink. The expansion enhances the base game in many ways by introducing a new narrative, new characters, a weapon system, an upgrade system, a roguelite mode, and much more. However, while many of the new inclusions are excellent in many ways, some newly added features leave a lot to be desired.

Granblue Fantasy: Relink – Endless Ragnarok takes place after the events of the base game. The story begins when Seofon and Tweye appear to warn Gran and the Skyfarers of the new threat in the form of new strange mutated monsters called ragnalia. The monsters have been warped by a mysterious force that is heralding the end times, and it’s up to the Skyfarers to find out what exactly is happening and to defeat these monsters before it’s too late. Meanwhile, new gates have appeared into a world known as The Conflux, which puts players to the test to face several familiar foes through waves of combat.

Endless Ragnarok, unlike the base game, is notably less narratively rich, as players progress through its story mainly via short dialogue sequences and limited cutscenes. Additionally, unlike the base game, where the story is split into several chapters, the structure is now more akin to the Monster Hunter series, where players take on quests from the Fatebreaker section of the quest board and narrative sections are more sparse. The expansion’s storytelling takes a backseat to the giant boss fights and monster battles. While the fights are some of the best features of the game, it is a shame the narrative is now more lackluster as a result.

Narrative aside, The Conflux is a new roguelite mode that has players taking on challenges and waves of enemies. The new area can be accessed from Tredame, the icy sanctum seen in the base game. In it, players can grind out levels and acquire items by defeating enemies and bosses. After each stage, they select what bonus enhancement, buff, or item they wish to use to give themselves a gameplay advantage before moving on to the next stage.

However, several enemies and bosses are repeated throughout the Conflux, and many bosses are basically reskins of bosses seen in the base game. Additionally, because there are tons of similar waves and stages, progressing through the Conflux eventually becomes repetitive, which hinders the overall experience.

Endless Ragnarok also adds six new characters, all of whom bring new skills, playstyles, and useful movesets to the game. Beatrix is a high-speed, close-range melee fighter who uses the “Delta Clock” mechanic to ramp up her combo speed, while Eustace acts as an agile, lightning-charged ranged gunner. Gallanza dominates the mid-range with heavy, defensive polearm sweeps, whereas Maglielle switches stances to summon legendary weapons for dense combo attacks. Finally, Fraux blends martial arts with powerful Devil entity summons to multiply her damage, and Fediel utilizes teleportation to dominate the battlefield with a mix of short- and long-range dark elemental barrages.

Each new character offers unique traits and is useful in different ways, and at least one of them will match your preferred playstyle. All characters can be unlocked outright with the use of crewmate cards, with some needing more cards than others. However, they can also be unlocked dynamically simply by playing through the story at no cost. This system incentivizes players to wait and avoid spoiling story details to unlock a character early, while still giving them a choice regardless.

What’s more, the expansion adds the new Weapon Transcendence and Master Traits systems. The former sees players, especially returning veteran players, enhance their maxed-out weapons to allow them to dish out more damage on the newly buffed-up enemies and bosses.

Transcending your weapon works similarly to leveling Sigils, but getting all your characters’ weapons Transcended can be a chore if starting from scratch due to how many items you’ll need to farm. On the other hand, the Master Traits system has players level up a character’s traits to give them even more stat bonuses from a pool of random buffs. The system works well but can be confusing to use at first due to how vague the explanation is.

Gameplay-wise, players mostly take on a slew of large-scale boss fights, many of which are incredibly challenging. Bosses are all tough as nails and over level 200, due to the expansion being tailored for post-game players. However, while the fights are incredibly entertaining and fun to play due to the explosive and flashy fanfare each fight features, they can also be too tough to beat at times, at least for players who aren’t completely dedicated.

Not only do fights sometimes take a long time to beat, especially if players are unprepared, but they can also be incredibly grindy and time-consuming to prepare for. This is because obtaining upgrade items like Sigils and weapon upgrades can be arduous, especially at high levels.

Thankfully, Granblue Fantasy: Relink – Endless Ragnarok also provides new summons. Throughout the expansion, players gain access to several types of summons, which have several abilities and can even be controlled for a limited time during combat. These summons deal significant damage and are genuinely helpful in these large-scale battles. Still, some summons, specifically those with long-ranged attacks and high mobility, are more useful than others. Additionally, when conditions are met, players can also trigger large-scale cinematic Burst Attacks called Primal Bursts that look great and deal significant damage.

Lastly, Granblue Fantasy: Relink – Endless Ragnarok features incredible visuals and eye-watering effects. Half of the enjoyable aspects of gameplay is seeing how great the monster and character attacks are, as well as how intricate, smooth, and eye-catching the animations can be. The new character and boss designs also look immaculate.

Final Thoughts?

Overall, Granblue Fantasy: Relink – Endless Ragnarok is a great new expansion with a few flaws. However, those flaws don’t hinder the otherwise enjoyable new pile of content.

About the Author

Abdul Saad Abdul Saad is an avid gamer and computer geek. He's been writing for four years on news, reviews, previews, and more on multiple gaming sites. When he isn't writing or playing the latest JRPG, he can be found coding games of his own or tinkering with something electrical.

Granblue Fantasy Relink Endless Ragnarok PC Review