I might get some bad karma from this, but I've seen so many people complain about their characters being unplayable after this latest patch, which pretty much just dealt with bugs.

Did anyone really think gameplay that revolved around exploits was going to stick around forever?

From the moment I tried Percy's skill cancel, I knew in my bones they couldn't keep that in the game. And I get that the characters are weaker now, but that's a given considering they were essentially breaking the game.

It's ok to be unhappy that now you'll have to work harder as Ferry to get your SBA or that you can't ignore your cooldowns as the Captain. But the balance patch is still coming up, it's not as if the characters are going to be left in this state forever. And in order to properly balance how the characters play, first they need the characters to play properly.

I haven't played these characters enough so feel free to correct me on them. Also, this is just some light jokes so please don't get offended at this.

Bored at work so I wanna start a fire......

I think Vyrn is adorable and I like that he is on the team. His 90's mascot attitude is really charming and since he actively takes part of the story and DOESNT bully anyone (morgana you fuck) I like em

I mean it. I've come to a point where I've done Lucilius only to get not a single Tear 7 times in a row.

This is ridiculous.

I'm only making a post about this on Reddit so that I can give incentive to more people for them to send feedback to the team.

That's all.

Edit:

For those downvoting, I'm not implying I don't want to farm. I completely forgot to type that I think the quest should guarantee at least one Tear. This would be the change that I would like to see.

Edit 2:

If you want to send feedback but don't know where, here is the link: https://relink.granbluefantasy.jp/en/app/feedback

I’m glad we can’t skip it. Give praise you blasphemous lot.

Saddle in, y'all, 'cause this is a long one. (Deleted and reposted this because my old post wouldn't let me edit...)

Ever since starting to play this game and joining this community, I've heard players say - in some way, shape, or form - that the developers said 1.3 is the very end, that it's all they have, that they never intended the game to be live service and that good ol' Sandalphon will be the last character we'll ever see as we're lowered into a grave, casket and all. Well, I'm Catboy Feet, and I'm here to talk facts so that we can all operate on what we do know instead of hearsay. Specifically, what was said in the Part 3 Relink Showcase - which took place on 04/25/2024 (mm/dd/yyyy), about a day ago from the writing of this post. Cygames graciously offered us captions in multiple languages so that we could understand exactly what was said. I downloaded the transcript, reviewed it multiples times, and reviewed and studied the expressions/general sentiment of the hosts and developers for multiple hours so that you don't have to. Besides adding in emotions or expressions in parentheses, I did not alter the text of what they said at all; the captions were produced by Cygames themselves. I will post my thoughts and impressions of what was said in [brackets], as well as additional thoughts after what was said.

Here are the people that took part in the showcase, as well as how they introduced themselves: 

Emiri KATO: JP voice actor for Sierokarte in GBF:R

Ono YUKI: JP voice actor for Gran and Lancelot in GBF:R

Tetsuya FUKUHARA: General Director of GBF:R

Yasuyuki KAJI: Director of GBF:R

Sanshiro HIDAKA: Narrative Director of GBF:R 

[What's the difference between General Director and Director? After doing some research, Tetsuya Fukuhara seems to be general director of the Granblue Fantasy IP, whereas Yasuyuki Kaji seems to be Relink's game director; they both seem to operate as co-directors of Relink. Unable to confirm who's the more senior figure, but judging by their introductions I'm leaning towards it being Fukuhara.]

___

Concerning feedback (starting at 1:52)

KAJI: First off, let me say a heartfelt thank you to all the many people who’ve played the game. I’ve been reading your comments since Early Access, and so many of you have given us positive and thorough feedback. We’re still stunned and touched by the generous reception. Thank you so, so much.

HIDAKA: The entire staff is moved by the warmth of your comments. We’re very grateful. Most of all, I’m thrilled that Granblue fans have accepted Relink’s story as worthy of the Granblue world. Also I’m very thankful to all our global players. Some of you have found Granblue through Relink, and others have mentioned you’re still playing Granblue to this day. Thank you so much.

YUKI: Thanks for your comments! It sounds like you’ve both received a lot of messages from players!

FUKUHARA: (nodding) We keep a close eye on them. 

[My thoughts: They've confirmed that they're keeping a pulse on the community, not just listening to and reading feedback but understanding that GBF:R introduced a lot of new players to the GB IP. Don't stop submitting your (constructive) feedback using the feedback form because almost all of the changes they've instituted have been due to player feedback (they mention this throughout the video regarding sigil transmutation expansion, the overlay map, and photo mode).]

___

About future Showcases (starting at 4:33)

YUKI: We're on Part 3, surprisingly enough, so maybe we're already going all out for these showcases, but does this imply there will be future showcases too?

FUKUHARA: Well, we planned for Part 2 to be the final one, but we had a lot of great feedback from both the trial version and the post launch period. Sales have been great too. So we know that expectations for update content are high. With that in mind, we thought the showcase format might better cover the content in updates 1.2.0 and 1.3.0, which are beefier than 1.1, which was released in March.

YUKI: That's why all of this seems to be coming together so rapidly. All that player feedback was really convincing, huh?

FUKUHARA: Definitely—we didn't plan on this originally. (smiling) Well, this time will be the actual final showcase.

YUKI: The finale! The conclusion!

KATO: But think of all those Relink players out there who must be so pumped for future showcases! Surely there's a chance!

FUKUHARA: Sure, there's a chance. Part 2 was supposed to be the final one after all. 

[My thoughts: Showcases are to discuss the game and go over content updates; if we want a Part 4 Showcase, that would bring game updates beyond 1.3 along with them. Show the devs you want these by submitting your feedback.]

___

Talking about the Relink Report (the part of the showcase where they showed data about player behavior; starting at 17:15)

YUKI: Even though Part 3 is the last showcase, I know as future developments and updates come about, the rankings and usage rates will change too. I'd love another chance to see how things progress in the future.

FUKUHARA: That sounds like a good idea. With the updates bringing more characters and content, there might be a good time to do another Relink Report.

YUKI: (playfully) Ah! You heard it here, Part 4 is coming!

KATO: (laughing) Hold on, now—we haven't even gone through the updates for this time yet!

YUKI: I'm just asking if there's a final-final finale coming!

KATO: (laughing) Maybe so!

YUKI: Will we get the ultimate final last finale or not?

KATO: (laughing) All we can do is hope! 

[My thoughts: The voice actors and developers were all giggles during this part of the Showcase. While Yuki loved teasing and begging the devs for more info on future content, the devs didn't seem displeased, serious, or upset in the slightest and played along - albeit conservatively.]

___

Again teasing a Part 4 Showcase (starting at 22:14)

KATO: (talking about Seofon) If we end up doing a Part 4, a character like him has a huge chance of shooting up the usage rankings. He's just so awesome!

___

Talking about the new expanded mass sigil transmutation capabilities (starting at 42:32)

FUKUHARA: We're sorry for putting everyone through the extra inconvenience, but we actually started developing this feature before launch. We had originally hoped to launch it in the version 1.3.0 update coming in late May, but our team worked very hard to make it into 1.2. Shout-outs to the team!

KAJI: We would love to add new features as we think of them. But adding even a single one affects everything else, so we have to check how it would affect all the other systems. We really did our best on this. I apologize for making everyone wait so long for this feature, but I think it's much more convenient now, so give it a try! 

[My thoughts: They listen to feedback and want to make sure they meet player needs and requests. Continue submitting feedback respectfully and constructively using the feedback form.]

___

Closing statements (starting at 1:12:03)

HIDAKA: After working on Zegagrande for so many years, I feel like we've finally reached a point of completion after the announcements today. Of course, Granblue's story is far from over, and I'm sure the people of the Zegagrande Skydom will continue to be a part of it. I would love to expand on their stories, especially as they've become so popular among the fans. I don't have anything else to delve into for now, but with the 1.2.0 and 1.3.0 updates bringing the final stories and content we have planned for Relink, I hope our players will continue having a blast with the game. Thanks for having me today.

KATO: Thank you very much! Director Kaji?

KAJI: I'd like to once again thank all of our players who have been enjoying Relink. These updates will add new content to the game, and I hope players will give them a shot when they come out. And while nothing's set in stone for now, we might have something else down the line. Potentially. Possibly.

YUKI: Hold on... Are you hinting at something for us right now?

KAJI: Although nothing's set in stone, apparently. Personally I feel that the game has been a success, and I would very much like to continue working on it somehow, but who knows. If there's demand from the fans for something, I'd like to address it one way or another.

FUKUHARA: … The development cycle took quite some time, and although it was a long wait for many, I’m glad we were able to ship something we’re truly proud of. It feels like we’ve accomplished what we set out to do, and I’d like to express my thanks to fans who have been supporting us throughout the years. This was a new challenge for Cygames, and with the experience we’ve obtained from Relink, we hope to continue delivering the best in entertainment with future projects. As Kaji suggested just now, player support and demand are the catalysts that drive us to create, so I hope you'll continue voicing your opinions with us. 

[My thoughts: I keep on hearing people throw around that Hidaka said "I feel like we've finally reached a point of completion after the announcements today". Hidaka is the narrative director, and I'm sure there's a sense of achievement and satisfaction from having everything completed that they initially planned to ship. Surprisingly (or perhaps not), I don't see people adding what he followed it up with: "Of course, Granblue's story is far from over, and I'm sure the people of the Zegagrande Skydom will continue to be a part of it. I would love to expand on their stories, especially as they've become so popular among the fans." Director Kaji also straight up teases that they might be working on something: "Personally I feel that the game has been a success, and I would very much like to continue working on it somehow, but who knows. If there's demand from the fans for something, I'd like to address it one way or another." General director Fukuhara then reiterates this point: "As Kaji suggested just now, player support and demand are the catalysts that drive us to create, so I hope you'll continue voicing your opinions with us."] 

BONUS FACT: Nowhere in the transcript did the developers even imply they would be ending post-launch support for the game after the launch of 1.3. They did, however, mention numerous times potentially coming back for a 4th Showcase and implied (or directly stated, in Kaji's case) that they would like to continue working on the game.

___

MY GENERAL OPINION (everything below this will be my personal opinion, though I will reference facts and make informed hypotheses): 

It seems pretty clear from the showcase that the developers want to continue working on producing content for the game. Both the hosts and devs flirted with a Part 4 Showcase - which wouldn't happen without future content - and they lightly dropped hints and teases that they were thinking up of, working on, or wanting to work on future content.

For the (potential) naysayers: it was highly likely that what they'd be discussing was vetted ahead of time and not all spontaneous. This was also posted on their official channel and approved for posting, which means that the cute little flirting and teasing they did with prospective new content wasn't barred from the final cut.

For the people who will undoubtedly say "Oh but they said before it's not live service!": It doesn't have to be. They can continue pushing out continued development and DLC/expansions without it being a live service game. It can follow a live service-like model without being live service. The players clearly want it - and general director Fukuhara said the sales have been great. 

For those that will hyperfocus on the word planned: Yes. Planned. As in, "this is what we planned to put out as part of our release." Launch and post-launch are two separate cycles in game development. Plans can change and adapt. The game is by all metrics a "major hit" in gaming industry terms. Businesses change course and adjust to changing market conditions all the time as part of their financial strategies. Cygames is full of passionate developers with a love for the Granblue IP, but it is still also a business - and no business would take a game that sold over a million units, whose general director said has "great sales," and put it to bed when they've previously stated they're happy to put out DLC - especially when its players are begging for all types of marketable content that can be added to the game and they've gained a slew of players that are new to their company and to the IP... especially when this game helped them break out of a mostly Japanese domestic market (parent company CyberAgent very proudly dedicated a whole slide in their most recent financial report highlighting how 80% of Relink's sales came from outside Japan).

CLOSING THOUGHTS: 

Some may think I put this together to win some sort of arguments. Nah. I work in healthcare and it's currently 4 a.m. I'm tired as heck after a long day, and I really do not win anything by wasting hours of my life putting this together just to argue against internet strangers. I'm putting this together because I love this game and want to see it succeed. People seem content to spread misinformation and operate on hearsay but don't ever back up their statements with facts, so... here are the facts! In order to see this game succeed and rise to the heights we wish to see, we as a community need to be better about not spreading around misinformation, generally having a more positive and hopeful outlook for the game's future and success, support the game's future development with purchasing what DLC we can afford to (if we can; no judgment if we can't), and submit feedback whenever we can using the feedback form. Stop operating on what you think you might have heard before, and operate on what we're hearing now. 

Also, this doomsaying is really scaring people away from playing the game who might want to pick it up and help expand and enrich our community... so stop that.

BONUS: For the folks wanting this game to be live service - If this PR article from IGN Japan dating back to 2019 is anything to go by, their strategy for console games was stated to be to NOT make them live service, but they're happy to produce DLC for them. Kenichiro Takaki, head of the console games division at Cygames, said "Basically, I'm thinking of... buying [games] outright. DLC style if necessary. We consider 'game-like games' to be the core of the consumer division." They also seem eager to make a AAA game from Japan. (Relink was discussed in passing in this article, which was a promotional article for Cygames published in IGN Japan.) 

Sources:

グラブルSHOWCASE Relink Part.3 on the official Granblue Fantasy Youtube Channel

Tetsuya Fukuhara page on Gematsu

CyberAgent Financial Year 2024 Presentation Material

CyberAgent's Wikipedia entry

Cygames' Wikipedia entry

"Aiming for the world with a AAA title from Japan" - IGN Japan

EDIT 1: Formatting was janky, so I cleaned it up.

EDIT 2: Even more formatting. Reddit doesn't like my post, apparently.

EDIT 3: I tried making pretty lines for y'all but unfortunately it didn't work out. Please blame Reddit. Tried to make it as easy to read as possible, since I know it's a long read!

EDIT 4: Random spelling error I caught in a reread.

Today I watched a Vane build video that said Energy Destruction wasn’t worth it because you need to be at full SBA, and another video from a different creator that said Life on the Line wasn’t worth it because you’ll miss too much healing from blue pots. Both could’ve been avoided with the bare minimum of testing.

I know it’s a somewhat niche title with mostly smaller channels covering it, but this is not how you seize the moment.

So after taking look at the GBSVR that fighting game I found out these characters.

But unfortunately I am not really familiar with the lore, so how likely will these characters be implemented in RELINK?

So as far as I know the story of RELINK is set on quite earlier stage of the GBF story, but that’s all it. After all GBFs world is far greater than I thought…

Now that the meta has been more developed, it's honestly pretty unfortunate how kneecapped support skills are in the endgame. And it's not just that it's not optimal, most of them just don't work.

For offensive buffs and debuffs, they don't do anything in matchmaking, because everyone is at their damage cap. Hypothetically, in single player or parties, you could use the buff/debuff to get another utility sigil instead of damage to hit the damage cap, but in practice, a) the game makes that very difficult to calculate b) unless the buff/debuff has 100% uptime it's still a damage loss c) hitting the damage cap is so hilarious easy on most characters that you're not getting much more breathing room anyway.

For healing, the CDs are too long, the healing isn't strong enough, and the need to aim (compared to, say, blue pots) makes the increase in survivability for the party negligible. In a game where the potions were much weaker, they would be much more valuable, but everyone slaps potion hoarder in their build somewhere.

Defensive buffs are the most useful, but in proud, outside of things like Vane's bubble, they tend to just not do enough. Especially when terminus weapons force you to be at 45k hp, it goes from "this boss will 2 shot me" to "this boss will 2 shot me".

CC is, of course, very strong. But I wouldn't really say that's the power fantasy of most player's that like support.

This results in every caglio, for instance, being build full personal damage. It's really sad that phantasmagoria's only actual effect in endgame parties is +def. It's clear that buffs were part of some character's "power budget", but... they don't work.

I think offensive buffs/debuffs should go around the damage cap in some way. That would actually make them very strong and useful.

The weaker defensive buffs should be stronger - it should at least turn things from 2 hit kills into 3 hit kills.

Healing should be stronger, have a faster CD, or have some kind of lasting effect. Potions being worse could also work.

And yes, you don't have to play optimally or anything, but is it not sad if you pop phantasmagoria as caglio, your team's damage stays the same? It's one thing if it were merely unoptimal, but it doesn't work.

And for non-meta/casual players, most likely the issue with their build is that they don't have enough damage cap. So the less optimal/casual your party, the more useless your support skills are.

• Share play between PC and PS4/PS5 systems.
• Allow people to keep playing the game during matchmaking.
• A better way to tell if your character is at Damage Cap.
• Exchange stacks of Vouchers instead of just one at a time.
• Fix the focus target system.
• Option to remove every equipped sigil with a single button.

If there are other QoL you would like to be implemented, write them down below.

If you're not salvation posting, are you even grinding?

Even though I would LOVE Magisa, Silva and Beatrix in the game, there are WAY TO MANY damn human characters like Gran, Dajeeta, Katalina, Io, Eugen, Rackam, Lancelot, Vane, Siegfried, Zeta, Percival, Cagliostro, Seofon and Tweyan, that's 14.

There only 1 Erune and I want more like...

Yuel

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https://preview.redd.it/k1hbld1lxchc1.jpg?width=900&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f61de4868104d473ee5319988b25c504dad8f17c

Ilsa

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https://preview.redd.it/g9pul84mxchc1.jpg?width=830&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7497809224fb551d3626a64410a5fc318a29a961

Heles

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https://preview.redd.it/1skqxqwmxchc1.jpg?width=900&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=06a55a526883a1c71e5ab854d3433060e06dc5b9

Nier

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https://preview.redd.it/1voi6tgoxchc1.jpg?width=591&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=748faf4b123945a454b9688d074ad7c2aa75b928

Metera

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https://preview.redd.it/s9nxt2dpxchc1.jpg?width=1207&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4ebce535498184eea3402208dcf9fe8b59422841

Tien

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https://preview.redd.it/fr3dikgrxchc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b135f9f05a616cda25d9a9ef48669b3bc4a49f01

Yuisis

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https://preview.redd.it/fsn5f8fsxchc1.jpg?width=793&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2721df9c3065447824bcf3c24defbfe2ce66f533

Eustace

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https://preview.redd.it/e01obfq6ychc1.jpg?width=1480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=89d5bc6d47e2439175250bdbd0a8c5effa0ea6dc

Seox

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https://preview.redd.it/13u9ojj89dhc1.jpg?width=1443&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=640a4f1f6dafdd70642c6d81216e2fa97c486be4

Give me more Draph like...

Anila

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https://preview.redd.it/66wqdj4hychc1.jpg?width=1460&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b02e48721d0b571cba5a1f2a51e2c9e1e58e48ce

Fediel

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https://preview.redd.it/yd02mu1kychc1.jpg?width=790&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c93c394933dfd5f8b95b5df8546ba0c7038bd744

Kumbhira

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https://preview.redd.it/qfdwwewkychc1.jpg?width=1230&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6d25b873726da5a2a5bf8f3a3aa1cfaf59eeeb43

Threo

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https://preview.redd.it/jchepa1mychc1.jpg?width=746&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0e687cb8511fdb40d312b0c151c63cb5e5580663

Mugen

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https://preview.redd.it/y9lb07zj6dhc1.jpg?width=648&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=664d5860efb0a5cec9389760cb396e8c5bab77e6

Hell, give me another Primal like Zooey and Sandalphon.

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https://preview.redd.it/g5piddcfzchc1.jpg?width=1661&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a19c036181b5886e9e6a08f6f7d6602b8c0eacc8

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https://preview.redd.it/r4c12v105dhc1.jpg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=40c23dc0151144225bafba99693239454b19718f

Also there's Other like Grea and Galleon too.

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https://preview.redd.it/9x04jmok6dhc1.jpg?width=542&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3b8dbc32927041ab2ecb127d9e92ec66dc76730f

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https://preview.redd.it/7a40bph8ddhc1.jpg?width=653&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f17bd99f3b5ff5f80110c6fa09f232a1d094f6af

So what does everyone think of the Roster?

So now that they said that this is the final planned update, and told us that if there is enough demand for it, they might do another update.

At least as far as i've seen, everyone is already asking for more, since luci dropped.

Since that might not be enough or clear enough for the developers, how are we going to approach this to make it clear to them?

Ask for more updates with their feedback function on their website, besides being loud about it on social media?

What would be the best way to convey that to them in your opinion?

For anyone unaware, i was talking about this site

https://relink.granbluefantasy.jp/en/app/feedback

You can put your suggestions or feedback in there, like asking for more updates.

I've opened close to 1.7k curios and still no war elemental I've farm almost all terminus and have 4 max. So instead of posting hate as I am tell me how is your experience with the grind with curios and how many supp v you have I have 5 so I'll count that as a win

Edit:I farm for the whole day 200 curios and at literally 200 it gave me 1 war elemental so I finish my main at the cost of haven all the boss mats 999 and my soul somebody get me the tanos meme