Granblue Fantasy: Versus (English) · Test

Fighting Game x 2D RPG Beat'em Up

Granblue Fantasy is an extremely popular F2P Mobile Phone game from Japan and also playable on selected web browsers. PS4 players get very special codes as a bonus within the game. Granblue Fantasy: Versus is developed by none other than fighting game aficionados Arc System Works (Guilty Gear, Blazblue, Dragon Ball FighterZ) and you can see it! The incredible anime-like graphics bring the characters in Granblue Fantasy: Versus to life in a very special manner.

The most interesting part would be the Singleplayer/Coop RPG Mode. It utilizes it’s fighting game mechanics for a 2D Beat’em Up RPG. Both fighting games and beat’em ups always had a connection since the dawn of the fighting game genre with Street Fighter II and Final Fight.

But what about everything else? We’re taking a deep dive into the story, contents, most importantly the gameplay and lastly DLC.

Phantagrande Skydom in Peril

Granblue Fantasy: Versus is based on the already established world of Granblue Fantasy. It seems to be at least a sequel or intermission because it skips at least the original story arc where they go against the Erste Empire. The world of Granblue Fantasy is nothing short of massive with different races and summons like creatures called Primal Beasts.

Peace has come back to the world after the demise of the Erste Empire (First Empire translated from German). Gran and his friends are enjoying the calm and are enjoying their hard-fought free time. Some of the crew are taking that time to do their things like going on a vacation. Katalina went to Albion to take care of a few things and this is where the story connects.

Gran and their ship the Grandcypher are on their way to pick up Katalina only to find out that something is amiss. The whole place is overrun by soldiers of the Erste Empire and in a surprising turn of events, it looks like Katalina is their commander?! What’s more surprising is the fact that she doesn’t seem to remember their past adventures.

Is the Erste Empire back? What happened to Katalina? These are just a few questions at the beginning of the game. Don’t worry, everything will get revealed!

The whole story is within the RPG Mode with a VN style storytelling with a lot of text and voiceover. In a few rare instances, you get realtime animated scenes. Despite all of that, most of the time it’s just talking and short interactions between characters. If you’re expecting some cool sequence with the whole crew going at it… then you’ll have to temper your expectations.

Another noteworthy thing is the fact that unlocked characters won’t have any further appearances. You get a short introduction, a free mission and then you won’t get to see them ever again. The RPG Mode is all about Grand and Katalina.

It’s important to note that the Glossary has a ton of extra information for all of the weapons. Some of the entries are interlinked in the story for additional information ready at a button press.

Story Impression

The plot and characters have unfortunately fallen flat in this regard. It gives you the feeling of watching a Movie that connects two Seasons of a TV Series. The characters are already established and there are only very few attempts of exposition. The whole story is just a means to introduce the playable characters which leads to a very weak integration of everyone besides Gran and Katalina. Even then, it’s just a story about both of them moving forward from place to place. It’s unfortunate but everything is kept at surface level.

Overall, the story is the weakest link in the chain. There’s too little information to be invested in the characters from a story point of view. The world of Granblue Fantasy is also only getting small snippets and are acting more as battlegrounds. It’s a wasted opportunity to introduce people into the vast world of Granblue Fantasy.

While Granblue Fantasy Versus is showing some flaws in this particular regard, this isn’t case for the majority of the other parts.

Content

In this section, we’re going over the content of Granblue Fantasy: Versus. The RPG Mode gets an extra in-depth look because it’s comparable to a separate game.

Characters

The base package consists of 11 and 1 unlockable DLC characters. Gran and Katalina can be considered the Ryu and Ken archetype with a Projectile, Dragon Punch and Lunging Attack. Metera, on the other hand, plays in the distance with high mobility switching between far and close up in a cinch. Ferry puts on the distance with her whip but comes with a DP and a delayed attack to augment her offensive pressure on top of her keep away game. Ladiva puts on the hurt with high damage with her combos and grappling. Despite the relatively modest amount of characters, there’s a good variety of playstyles. The 12th Character is unlocked by finishing the RPG Mode.

Gallery

You can look at the character artworks and re-watch the story scenes. Additionally, you can unlock the fight music for your jukebox listening pleasure.

Glossary

A huge collection of short information snippets that’s also interlinked within the RPG Mode that can be used when specific words are marked. The biggest bonus is certainly the short introductions of every single weapon in the game. Another very praiseworthy addition is the inclusion of fighting game terminology. It covers pretty much everything you see on the internet when you’re trying to learn more about the advanced strategies.

Arcade Mode

The typical Arcade Mode with a single big difference. You can choose your first opponent and the difficulty. Afterward, you get to choose between selected characters presented to you, one for each difficulty. You get an artwork as a reward for finishing it.

Mission Training (Tutorial)

The very first place you should visit when starting the game and is split into 5 categories. You can decide on which side to do the training (P1 or P2). You can decide on the character of your choice as well for Basic Mission and Match-Ups, except for some selected ones that require a specific character.

Basic Mission: Introduction to all the basic mechanics of Granblue Fantasy: Versus

Skill Practice: Get a grip on all the Skills (Special Moves) of each character. Use the traditional inputs for the S-Rank.
Combo Practice: This teaches you the basic combos and are concepts for you to expand upon.
Match-Ups: Counter two specific Skills from each character and punish them for the mistake.
Glossary: Read everything in text form.

Free Training

You usual training mode with multiple slots for reactions on block, hit, etc. There is also an extra function of showing how negative or positive you're on block or hit. Unfortunately there's no frame data included. A very solid Training Mode with even a quick select for characters, stage and music.

RPG Mode

Your Main Mode for Singleplayer action with over 10 hours of playtime if you count in the higher difficulties and extra dungeon. The first playthrough should be around 6-8+ hours if you ignore the extra dungeon. The RPG Mode is a combination of Granblue Fantasy: Versus fighting system and classic 2D Beat’em Up with RPG elements. It also includes some of the RPG elements of the Gacha game with random draws but you won’t find any microtransactions in here. There are daily missions and loot boxes (Gacha) to draw for example of homages to the original game.

The RPG Mode also has exclusive special skills like debuff, healing, etc. and you can equip up to 2 of them.

Coop

As soon as you unlock the first Character in RPG Mode you also unlock the coop option. Close to all missions are playable. The only exception is the character introductory ones. Be it local or online both are available at your leisure and if you don’t team up there’s always an AI Partner ready at your service.

Playing it in coop adds another layer of strategy that can lead to combos that aren’t possible otherwise. There surely is fun in coordinating and choreographing. Coordination plays a huge role in the higher difficulty because it becomes paramount to recognize patterns and counteract them otherwise you’ll be dead in a flash.

The Flow of the RPG Mode

There are two major parts to the RPG Mode: The RPG Menu and Quests

RPG Menu

This is where you make all of your preparations. Shopping, Forging, Customization, and Loot box draws are what you can expect.

Most of it is pretty straightforward as their name implies. Forging is going to be important once you reach the higher difficulty after finishing the campaign because only then will you get new materials for most of them. Why is it important? Because all of the forged weapons are also alternate skins for the characters' weapons! Which means there’s at least something to prevent you from going crazy and trying to loot box a specific weapon.

Weapons

The weapons are overarching as Equipment, which is why there’s a Weapon Grid system. Supposedly, it is a homage to Granblue Fantasy and you can see it from Weapon Rarities going from common to SSR. You can ready up to 7 sets with each 1 main slot and 9 sub-slots. As there are 6 different elements it’s probably a good idea to ready up your sets for each element. The main slot decides over which element is in use and additional weapon specific buffs.

Every single weapon has its own level. You can only level it up by spending Rupies, the in-game currency. Also, each weapon has a level cap that can be increased by fusing duplicates for free.

The weapons affect your Element, Damage and Health Points. This is why it’s important to keep the maintenance across the playthrough because the enemies also become stronger. Most of the time when you’re in the RPG Menu you’ll be taking care of your weapons.

Quest

Get ready for some classic 2D Beat’em Up and the majority of your playtime within RPG Mode. Here you have your full move set ready to take on everything thrown at you. You only start with Gran but pretty much all characters are getting unlocked the further you go. This is comparable to a horde mode.

Some missions are multilayered and require you to go from one place to the next section. All of the battlegrounds are the same except with different backgrounds and they span about 2 screens in size which also means that enemies are frequently outside of your screen. A combo counter adds an extra mechanic of the buff when you reach certain milestones to add some extra variety and pushing you to play effectively. The first one is a combo count of 10.

After each wave of enemies, the combo count does stop until the next one spawns to keep things fair.

The RPG Mode is split into Episodes with each having multiple chapters. As you can expect, each chapter will move the story forward. The Free Missions aka sub-missions are just introductions of the newly unlocked characters.

There’s only a limited variety of goals: Defeat all enemies, survive until the timer runs out or defeat a specific enemy.

Another RPG Mode exclusive thing are the grunts. These weak enemies tailored for it. The range of attacks is very limited and certainly not fit for the fighting game part.

2 additional mechanics add some extra challenge and reward. Every mission has a ranking up to S and 3 extra missions to complete. The ranking amplifies the base reward and the extra missions give you various items, money or Drawing Tickets. Those who like to 100% their games will find some extra replayability due to this.

Aside from the Horde Mode like gameplay, there are two types of boss fights with some extra mechanics. First off, are the playable characters. They fight pretty much the same except the extra bells and whistles as bosses. The biggest one is the Hyper Armor state when they attack. You can’t interrupt them at all which makes the timing when to attack more difficult because they can just let it rip.

The second type is big sized bosses. These are more predictable but also have much more unique ways to attack resembling traditional boss battles. In the normal difficulty, it’s very doable as long as you keep your equipment tidy at high levels for some serious attack power.

Things become a lot more strategic in higher difficulty putting your AI in constant peril because it’s not smart. Coop will prove to be an interesting experience because it’ll require cooperation and knowledge to survive the attack patterns.

Impressions on RPG Mode

It shows a lot of potential by taking polished gameplay into a different genre and shows well why there’s a connection between both of them.

Unfortunately, it loses steam after some time because the gameplay loop is rather short and it also lacks in variety when it comes to grunts. With roughly 10 different enemies, excluding palette swaps, you can most likely feel the stagnation coming in after some time. For a mode that offers more than 10 hours of playtime if you include higher difficulty and optional dungeon then it falls short.

The highlight is obviously the boss enemies which are much needed to break up the action once in a while. The Characters offer a fighting game like feel while the oversized ones are akin to reactive puzzles.

Controls and Gameplay

Glossary

Just like the UNICLR Review, we’re going to use the Numpad notations for the directions. 2 is down, 4 is back, 6 is forward and 8 is up. This is how the Numpad looks like for reference:

789

456

123

Buttons

Considering that all buttons can be customized at will, we’re going the different actions.

Light Attack (L), Medium Attack (M), Heavy Attack (H), Unique Action (U), Skill (S) and Guard (G).

Run (66)

Your usual run mechanic where you can hold to run longer. Be careful though, there’s a small period of vulnerability when the run ends. Get too close while running and you get an Attack in your face.

You can change the arc of your jump using the momentum of the run.

Jumps (7/8/9)

There are two kinds of jumps available. The normal jump and Super Jump. The latter one is higher and thus covers more distance; the input is 2 and one of the up directions of your choice.

Crouching (1/2/3)

The only way to block low attacks but is susceptible to Overhead or Jump attacks. Curiously, when you get hit while crouching you’re stunned for about a single frame leading to combos that aren’t possible otherwise.

Guard (4 or Guard Button)

The guard button is a game-changer when it comes to the defense because it removes the guess between left and right. Those mostly happen with jumps or special moves from characters (namely Charlotta and Narmaya). Then there’s a just guard which just gives you more SBA Meter.

Even though defense should be easier in theory, you still have to guess between high, low and throw.

Another important thing to note is the ability to guard in the air. This means you can block projectiles while in the air. Some DPs (Dragon Punches) can also be blocked as long as it hits you high in the air or it not being an EX Version.

Evade (Guard +4) and Crossover (Guard + 6)

Both are additional defense mechanics suitable for different kinds of attacks. Both of them have a short time of vulnerability after executing them so they are not a catch-all utility and bear a certain amount of risk. The length of both moves are identical with a difference in invincibility and movement. Ladiva’s crossover is the sole exception of being slower than the rest.

The Evade is invincible against everything except throws. It’s best used against Heavy Attacks as they are very slow or Projectile to dodge the chip damage from blocking.

Crossover is vulnerable at the lower part and therefore prone to sweeps or low attacks. You can also use it to move across your opponent but you won’t use it that much because it’s dangerous to use a slow move point black. The most interesting use for it is to dodge projectile while moving forward. The use case of blocking the standard attack and using the crossover to dodge the following projectile is part of the Basic Mission.

Standard Attacks (L, M, H. Also known as Buttons in Fighting Game lingo)

Just like many other fighting games, it has proximity attacks. I.e. the attack change based on your distance to the opponent. The two distances are far and close up. The close ones have the special ability to move into an automatic attack string.

2H is your universal anti-air attacks and those can lead to devastating combo opportunities on counter hit.

All attacks are universally special cancelable.

Auto Combo (3 x attack button)

The first attack automatically combos into 2 further attacks leaving you enough time to pick a Skill of your choice to end the attack sequence depending on whether your opponent got hit or has blocked your attacks.

The trade-off is a high scaling in damage but it’s a great tool to mount some easy pressure.

Throws (L+M or L+U)

Since the inception of Street Fighter 2, there’s always been the rule of 3. Attacks can be blocked, the blocks can be broken with guards and attacks fend off throws.

Throws a little bit slower and potentially reactable in a lagless environment with your full attention. There’s an additional mechanic that balances the payoffs due to different throw breaks. If you’re fast enough it’s a normal throw break with both being at equal positioning.

Late breaks come with a slight loss in Health Points and longer recovery, ergo if you break late then your opponent is the first to be able to move.

Another important fact is that throws are one of the few attacks that result in a hard knockdown.

Overhead Attack (M+H)

Just like SFIII:3S and Dragon Ball FighterZ, there’s a universal Overhead Attack available for every single character. It needs to be blocked standing otherwise you get hit but this time there’s more to it.

This attack is signaled by a short effect flashing and goes into the air, therefore, dodging low attacks and throws. Usually, it doesn’t combo but this changes with a counter hit or catching a throw. Some characters can turn it into an extremely damaging combo in the corner because you can follow up with a 5H and yes you can react to the counter hit.

If there’s one thing to say it’s “Take the throw” to a certain degree.

Unique Action (U) and Sweep (2U)

Every single character has their Unique Action. Some are instrumental for their basic gameplan others are less so. Gran’s is a slice that can be charged up to 5 levels but the speed of this game is most of the time far too quick to get an opportunity to do so but it can be used for a combo extension in the corner. Metera’s lets her do a short hop on the ground which is very hard to react to and she can even move in the air with it, leading to very high mobility.

2U is pretty much the universal sweep (low attack) that puts the opponent into a hard knockdown state which enables you to set up the next step of offense.

Special Moves (x + L/M) and EX Moves (x + H)

The special moves can be done in the traditional fighting game way (called technical input) or using easy input with the Skill Button. The latter comes with a few caveats such as lower damage and longer cooldown.

This leads us to the next topic: Cooldowns. This is a unique mechanic of Granblue Fantasy: Versus which leads to important strategic decisions that do not exist in other fighting games.

Unlike other fighting games, there’s no special bar, the special moves have cooldowns instead. For technical inputs, the cooldowns are pretty much instant while easy inputs take slightly longer. But what about the EX versions? This is where the crux of cooldowns lies because they are relatively long when you use the EX versions. The result of that is that you lose that move for a certain amount of time so keep it in mind when you use them. Otherwise, there might be moments where you try to hit your corner combo only to forget that you can’t because one of the moves is on cooldown.

All EX Attacks also have the unique property of dealing with a hard knockdown.

Skybound Art (236, 236 + H) and Super Skybound Art (236, 236 + U)

Your typical Super Moves and all of them have invincibility. As soon as your Skybound Gauge is filled up it’ll be available to you. It has no other use which makes it something you want to use freely. How does it get filled? By blocking, hitting or even moving forward does the deal.

As soon as your HP reaches 30%, the Super Skybound Art becomes available. It does more damage and therefore most of the time preferred over the Skybound Art when available.

Just like sweeps and EX Moves, these are also leading to a hard knockdown.

Combo Limit

This is a concept that can be seen in SF4 and SFV to limit damage and prevent infinite combos. When the opponent is juggled in the air you can only do a limited amount of attack before he becomes invincible. There’s some math behind it with different values for each attack so it’s probably easier just to try it out yourself.

Guts

You might have noticed it in other fighting games as well that there’s something different about the Health Bars when they get closer to depletion and you’d be correct. It’s called Guts and scales damage down the less life you have left. In Granblue Fantasy: Versus it starts at 60% health with a reduction of 5% and maxes out at 10% health at 25%. Don’t be surprised when a combo seems to do less damage when your opponent has less life left!

Gameplay Impression

Granblue Fantasy: Versus offers a mix between Street Fighter and King of Fighters (some are even saying a resemblance of Capcom VS SNK2 due to the different mechanics) leading to a more grounded approach which is very unlike the usual Arc System Works type of fighters. There are plenty of options circumvent projectiles but none of them are too strong, unlike SFV. Jumps with air Block, Dodges and Crossovers are part of the equation.

Jumps also don’t offer as much pay off as in Street Fighter and add potential high damage 2H Anti Airs you get a good balance between risk and reward with both offering equally damage potential and corner carry.

Be it defense or offense, all mechanics meld together in a fun and interesting package that offer unique interactions you don’t get anywhere else.

By offering Auto Combos and Easy inputs for Special Moves, even casual players can get a taste of the full move set of all characters.

It doesn’t mean that there’s a lack of depth or complexity. It’s quite the opposite. There are other things such as Attack Priority (similar to SFV) and Match-Up knowledge to keep even the most experienced veterans entertained.

How does the gameplay flow look like? In the middle of the screen, you won’t need to fear high damage outside of Skybound Art is available even then it’s not that high. Technically, it’s a tug-of-war on putting your opponent into the corner and utilizes the hard knockdowns for continued pressure.

Once you get close to the corner things become dangerous. Gran, for example, can dish out like 50%+ damage, he can easily go above with Skybound Art but he’s more of an exception than the rule. Expect something like 40%+ across the cast.

Since Granblue Fantasy: Versus was released just recently, there’s not much to talk about balance. This is even more so because we’re in the age of balance patches. But so far Gran and Katalina are looking strong with a well-rounded moveset and big damage potential. Lancelot is another strong character due to being fast, great mobility and overall good moveset, when he’s close it becomes really difficult whether he’ll hit high or low.

Lowain’s Super Skybound Art which is a summon will for sure be a big challenge for more easy-going players and requires some dedication to circumvent the attacks by Yggdrasil that do a lot of damage.

Just with the release of the DLC characters of Soriz and Djeeta, it also got a small balance patch.

1.21 Patch (07.04.2020)

2H got normalized as Anti Airs for characters that had terrible ones before. Namely Zeta, Percival, and Vaseraga. Zeta’s 5M and 2M have now faster recovery which makes them extremely good tools in neutral. Percival’s Unique Action (X-Seele) can now lead to a 5H without the corner which offers better follow up actions.

Overall a few select characters got improvements while strong ones like Gran are still the same so nothing is lost. Another Patch was announced to come with the next DLC character at the end of April. From their small preview on the next patch, it’s looking mighty fine.

Online

The online is the typical Arc System Works style that comes with interactive lobbies consisting of a cute small version of the characters and virtual arcade machines where people can sit down and show their readiness to play.

Ranked has a complicated rank system that requires consistency to rise in the ranks.

There’s one big flaw that needs to be mentioned. Before you are allowed to have access to any online mode you have to do the Initial Ranking matches that consist of 5 matches vs CPU and 2 online matches. You do not have access to online lobbies before that so if you’re planning on playing a friend make sure to do that beforehand or you’ll leave them waiting for some time.

DLC

There are currently 2 Character Passes announced so far. Character Pass 1 (£24.99/$29.99) comes with 5 characters though one of them is unlockable for free by finishing the RPG Mode.

So far 1 character has been revealed for Character Pass 2 and we can probably expect another 4-5 characters.

You can purchase a Digital Set that comes with the first Character Pass at a discount.

DLC Characters in RPG Mode

The additional characters come with about 3 extra Missions each and get small alternate story glimpses it seems. Unfortunately, they are not part of the main story so keep your expectations moderate. The unlockable character is more like an epilogue which is an exception.

DLC Characters Overview

DLC Character 1 (Link to Trailer)

Probably has the biggest projectile in the game with the Medium Attack version and is very unlikely to be jumped over outside of a well-timed Super Jump. You also can charge the projectiles which also changes the timing and harder to dodge or crossover.

Another notable special move is his Dive Attack called Unisonic. It changes his trajectory into a downward diagonal attack with 2 different timings depending on whether to use the Light or Medium version. The Medium version is delayed by quite a bit but offers an additional guaranteed advantage on block.

He also has an invincible reversal but it’s also the slowest one so far in the entire game so keep that in mind.

The Unique Action is teleportation with a fixed distance and you can switch sides when you’re close enough. It’s a special kind of mobility and could be useful in escaping a move towards the corner.

His most notable weakness is the low damage output and therefore requires the Skybound Art to deal with anything substantial in comparison.

DLC Character 2: Narmaya (Link to Trailer)

She has 2 stances that you can switch to using the Unique Ability. This is comparable to Gen in SFIV or Zeku in SFV. Her full moveset changes with nothing left untouched. In general, you can categorize the stances into Defense and Offense. Both stances do not share cooldowns making her the only character with 6 special moves.

Defensive Stance (Genji, you start with this)

This stance offers slightly farther-reaching albeit slower normal attacks and defensive Special Moves. She got a medium-range projectile that destroys other projectiles, a normal invincible DP reversal and a command dash that lets you use the special moves of Offensive Stance.

The projectile has a slow startup and the medium has even slower startup with the ability to delay the timing. It can easily be jumped if you’re not careful but if you can keep your pressure varied you can use the medium projectile to create another advantageous situation for you because you do recover faster.

This stance will have your go-to reversal so keep that in mind when you’re getting pressured.

Offensive Stance (Kagura)

Has faster normal attacks and has special moves that move you forward. If you use the command dash from Genji you can also switch sides for a surprise when your opponent is blocking without the guard button. Overall it offers the most corner carry and should be preferable in close combat situations.

Narmaya is a very technical character that requires a lot of experience in when to use which stance. Utilizing both stances is required if you want to get any damage going even in the corner. Adding to her difficulty, her damage output is also very modest.

DLC Character 3: Soriz (Link to Trailer)

He’s a little bit of an oddball with various peculiarities. The most notable thing is probably his Super Skybound Art (SSBA) that blasts off his clothing leaving only the traditional Japanese Fundoshi. All of his special moves except Roundhouse Fang are safe on block. His Unique Action gives him hyper armor and can lead to a short-ranged attack to interrupt your opponent.

Impact Knuckle (236 + Attack)

A Rush Punch very similar to SF2’s Boxer but as command input. The light version will probably your most used move in his arsenal because it pushes the opponent away leading into a more or less neutral situation regardless of it being blocked or not which makes it a prime move for a special cancel. Medium takes a little bit more time before he moves forward and thus making it more reactable. The EX version is for combo extension in the corner or if you want both speed and range.

Most will probably spam the light version of Impact Knuckle and if you add some variety in timings then it could get more complicated for your opponent to defend against this. Beware of characters with good buttons though because you can still get hit out of it.

In SSBA the attacks become a little bit faster in movement making it possible to connect cr.L into light Impact Knuckle which wasn’t possible without Ex for example.

Punch the Stars (214 + Attack)

Your alternate goes to attack when Impact Knuckle is on cooldown. The EX version can lead to extra air juggle off a 2H counter hit anti-air into 5M if you hit high enough. This, in turn, can give you additional corner carry by canceling the 5M into EX Impact Knuckle.

In SSBA it opens up 2 different follow-ups. One is a forward kick and the other is a guard crush. The kick is straightforward and used when you managed to hit your opponent. The latter one is a little bit more tricky because it’s slow and advantageous on block. Offering continuous offense to a certain degree. Advanced players could set up meaty timing to combo off the guard crush.

Rock Smash (22 + Attack)

Soriz smashes his fist down and creates a little fire geyser. So far there hasn’t been found that much use for it. It can neutralize a projectile but I doubt it’s really useful in that regard. The medium version is advantageous on block but slow which is high risk because you have to use it close up and the opponent can interrupt you easily.

The most apparent use is this for combo extension in the corner as it props your opponent up and leaves you with enough time to juggle with a 5H for big damage. The EX version is also advantageous on block but you’ll lose big damage in the corner as a trade-off.

Has a bigger attack range in SSBA state.

Roundhouse Fang (623 + Attack)

A very quick attack and can be used as an Anti Air. The usage if very limited as well. In the corner, you could use the light or medium version to create an air reset into the Overhead. Otherwise, you’ll be using this to finish your combo for coroner carry.

EX in particular leaves you enough time to do the Medium Impact Punch into another turn of offense. You can combo into EX Roundhouse Fang from EX Punch of the Stars when the opponent is crouching.

Has a bigger attack range in SSBA state.

Unique Action: Muzzled Fury (5U) and Reactive Muscles ( while 5U, 6 + Attack)

Soriz goes into an open stance to take the incoming attack head-on with Super Armor (and increased defense) and can retaliate with Reactive Muscles that gains him 10% on hit and 20% SBA Gauge on counter hit. It’s also safe on block and advantageous on hit.

There’s more to it than just being a defensive move. Every time he uses Muzzled Fury he can gain a single defense stack, this stack isn’t active until you’re in the SSBA state. The defense buff ranges from 1 (16.7%) to 5 (37.5%). Supposedly, that defense buff is also present in Muzzled Fury.

Skybound Art (SBA): Leaping Tiger, Charging Dragon (236, 236 + H)

A short-range SBA that is only useful at about point-blank range. It does the average SBA damage of 3500. This gets buffed to 4500 when he’s in SSBA state.

Probably best used either as a reversal or combo ender.

Super Skybound Art (SSBA): Macho Ultimatum (236, 236 + U)

Soritz vaporizes his closing and switches over to the traditional Japanese Fundoshi. In this state, he gets the defense buff from the Muzzled Fury stacks and opens up two follow up attacks for Punch the Stars. As mentioned before, all his special moves are getting slight improvements and even his run speed is increased.

Putting the defense buff from Muzzled Fury and Guts together, you get some good extra lease on life but it still won’t save you from a full-blown corner combo.

Which leads us to another question. Is it any good? In a game where good characters can kill you very quickly, there’s a good chance you won’t even get to activate his SSBA.

So far it doesn’t seem like a game-changer and simple damage cash out like everybody else might be better but the real answer is: We don’t know.

There’s also something else that Soriz gets with his SSBA active!

Macho Ultimatum: The Way of the Fundoshi Fist (236, 236 + U)

Once you’re in SSBA you get access to this badass looking SSBA attack. It does 3500 damage, which is lower than your usual SSBA Attack, and it requires you to hit a Heavy attack to combo into it. Also, this move does not have any invincibility so it’s not a move you want to stick out as a panic move.

There’s something more interesting when it comes to this particular move... Your opponent can’t block it at point black. So if you got your opponents on the ropes and blocking, this thing will blast them open because it is not reactable.

Soriz Impression: It’s difficult to say whether he’s good or bad. So far there are mixed impressions but he’s without a doubt fun. A lot of his unique properties are bound to his SSBA which makes those a little bit restrictive to use though people are already finding some guard break setups that can change the course of a match in a blink of an eye.

On the defensive side, he doesn’t have an invincible reversal outside of his SBA which makes it even more important to have a rock-solid defense because advanced players don’t even need safe jumps.

The damage potential in terms of 2H Anti-Air and Corner Combos are not too bad. Overall, he seems to be on the technical side as he has to find ways around the cast's toolsets.

DLC Character 4: Djeeta (Female Version of Protagonist, Link to Trailer)

If you’ve seen the trailer and the similarity between both characters then it’s no surprise because in Granblue Fantasy you can decide to play as female or male and Djeeta is the female version. She has subtle differences with a few things being better than Gran and others a little bit weaker. Out of all DLC characters, she’s probably the easiest to put into the upper ranks. Without further ado, we go through a few things in comparison to Gran the male counterpart.

Djeeta vs Gran

Normals

She’s very similar with a farther-reaching 5H but very slightly slower to recover than Gran’s. Her close 5M is also neutral on block so she’s a little bit weaker in that regard but it’s to be expected that Gran will be changed similar to her in the next patch.

Unique Action: Overdrive Surge vs Power Raise

Djeeta does a jump spinning heel kick that should go over low attacks and is safe on block. It can be charged as well and adds ground bounce at one of the higher levels though it’s very unlikely that you’ll be able to charge that high in a normal match.

Unlike Gran’s Power Raise it’s not useful in combos but adds another safe approach option.

Reginleiv (236 + Attack) Reginleiv Recidive (236 + Hold Attack) vs Reginleiv

Very similar. The biggest difference is that Djeeta can change her timing by charging her Reginleiv and turning it into Reginleiv Recidive. Her M version does not attack beforehand like Gran’s.

The EX Version of Reginleiv Recidive can attack the opponent turning it into 4 hits at close up range.

Rising Slash (623 + Attack) vs Rising Sword

Very similar without much to say. It’s invincible and your go-to reversal when you want to get the opponent off your hide.

Vorpal Blade (214 + Attack, 214 + Attack, EX 214 + Attack) vs Overdrive Surge

One of the biggest differentiators. She does a two-part attack similar to Gran’s light Overdrive Surge. The second hit is unsafe on block so keep in mind when it’s getting blocked and keep it at only the first part. The EX version is a 3 parter with the third attack being unsafe. The tradeoff between two moves is that Djeeta’s Vorpal Blade is always safe on block while Gran requires some finesse in distance.

Vorpal Blade can’t be used to approach the opponent unlike Gran’s Overdrive Surge and does comparable corner carry.

To initiate a corner juggle combo you have to skip the third part of the EX version.

Skybound Arts: Eternal Ascendancy (236, 236 + H) vs. Tempest Blade

Very similar attack with a huge difference. Djeeta’s is without a doubt better as she has a much better range for full damage than Gran’s Tempest Blade. The catch is that it’s very technical because it’s a 10 part move if you exclude the activation.

Super Skybound Arts: Skyfall (236, 236 + U) vs Catastrophe

Unlike Gran, Djeeta’s Skyfall is an uppercut and is unsafe on block. Otherwise, there’s not that much difference. Funny enough, there’s currently a bug where it can deal extreme Damage to Lowain when he’s in his SBA form.

Djeeta Impression: Similar but still very different. It feels like half of her attacks are the same but with subtle differences. With at least 2 safe options you can play a guessing game on block by utilizing her reversal, DP Rising Slash. She doesn’t do as much damage in the corner but has more damage potential midscreen due to her superior Skybound Art.

DLC Impression

The extra missions you get for RPG Mode aren’t anything substantial. Granblue Fantasy Fans might want this Character Pass purely just for the codes they offer on the PS4.

I recommend the DLC to people who love the RPG Mode or veteran fighting game players who like to spend a ton of time playing it competitively online.

Graphics & Sound

The graphics are nothing short of fantastic. Arc System Works is known for their impeccable anime graphics and this is no different. The characters are animated in incredible quality and picks up the slack of the story mode. The expressions and attacks are showing their unique styles. The Skybound Arts and especially the Super Skybound Arts are real eye candies and Gran even summons a dragon to do the honors.

While there are no alternative costumes, there are different colors and weapons available. The latter are unlocked within the RPG Mode. Be it PS4 or PC, I couldn't see any visual differences between both.

The Music benefits from Granblue Fantasy’s portfolio of OST which is a collection of songs made by multiple artists. One of them is no other than Nobuo Uematsu who’s famous for his contribution to the Final Fantasy series. As you can already guess, it’s one of the best soundtracks within its genre. Most of the time you’ll experience the use of traditional instruments giving it an epic feel.

To round things off, all characters are voiced in Japanese or English. They also have a separate intro and ending sentences that add some extra information between characters.

Long load times for the PS4

One of my biggest annoyances with Granblue Fantasy: Versus on PS4 is without a doubt the load times. This is especially the case when you’re playing the RPG Mode which comes with a lot of load screens. Each of them can take as long as 5-20 seconds. It might not sound much but it really adds up over the hours of playtime.

The most common length is about 10 seconds and this is with an SSHD and PS4 Pro.

The PC version can benefit from an SSD tremendously which reduces the load times down to 4 seconds.

Verdict

Granblue Fantasy: Versus is a fantastic fighting game that tries to reconnect 2D Beat'em Ups with the RPG Mode. This is very important for those who love playing Singleplayer or Coop with friends. It's a good try but still the weakest link in the chain when it comes to the whole package. The story and the characters are very surface level and the gameplay loop doesn't change much. It's still better than the majority of the current crop of fighting games.

The modest amount of characters of 11+1 isn’t that bad because they are very detailed and offer a wide breadth of playstyles. On the other hand, it’s understandable if you feel a little bit sour for the sole fact that there are already 2 Character Passes announced which is comparable to a full-priced game.

The gameplay, graphics, and sound convince with quality and makes it one of the best first entries into the genre. You can enjoy Granblue Fantasy: Versus as a standalone game but there are without question a lot of details missing from the original mobile game. Considering the inclusion of the sought after extra codes of the PS4 version for the mobile game, it might be a good idea to give it a shot if you are starting to like the world and characters of Granblue Fantasy.

Granblue Fantasy: Versus brings a lot to the table for £49.99. Fighting game fans will a very good game while those who’re looking for some singleplayer action aren’t left behind at all due to the 2D RPG Beat’em Up mode. In short, if you like fighting games, 2D Beat’em Ups, good graphics and a fantastic soundtrack then this is the game for you.

Additional Resources:

Dustloop Wiki

Frame data data by @matosh_lee

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