Granblue Fantasy: Relink General Director Tetsuya Fukuhara and Director Yasuyuki Kaji Talk About Story, Balancing Game Difficulty and More in Interview

With Granblue Fantasy: Relink releasing soon, we had the golden opportunity to head on over to Cygames HQ in Shibuya and talk with Tetsuya Fukuhara and Yasuyuki Kaji in an interview.

Tetsuya Fukuhara is the general director for the Granblue Fantasy IP. Fukuhara had joined Cygames back in 2012 where he first worked on Rage of Bahamut before eventually becoming Granblue Fantasy’s creative director for nine years.

Yasuyuki Kaji is the director for Granblue Fantasy Relink. Kaji was a former lead level designer at PlatinumGames, where he previously contributed to titles such as Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Bayonetta 2, and NieR: Automata. While at PlatinumGames, Kaji had also served as the director for Granblue Fantasy: Relink from its inception.

Changes from the Delays

Granblue Fantasy: Relink has been in development for quite a long while and has had several delays as well. We were curious as to how drastic the change was ever since the game’s initial announcement.

To which, Fukuhara replied by saying that it took some time in the beginning considering the team had shifted from PlatinumGames to Cygames. However, he mentioned that there wasn’t a lot that was changed, but the team managed to include a lot of things that they originally wanted to put in the game, even though that took time to get to what they have right now.

Kaji also shared his thoughts on this matter, saying that it also took time for the development team to make Relink into what fans would expect out of a Granblue Fantasy game, especially with the visuals that took a considerable amount of time as well.

Teamwork Mechanics

Link Attacks and Chain Bursts are gameplay mechanics that put emphasis on teamwork between characters. We asked Kaji what was the design philosophy behind this feature.

Kaji replied by saying that there were a lot of ougi/chains in the original Granblue Fantasy team, and so the team wanted to keep fans of the original title happy.

“It felt right for an action game to have the ability to play with three other players, and so we focused on making that interesting.”

Thus, Link Attacks and Link Chains are added to make it more rewarding for players that love action games.

Is the Story Linked?

To scratch our curiosities, we asked Fukuhara if the story of Relink is linked to the original Granblue Fantasy.

Fukuhara mentions that the original game has a long story with lots of branching episodes, and Relink is considered to be one of those episodes.

“It doesn’t really have the reconnection to the original game, but it is set in the new skydom within that realm.” Fukuhara continued.

Balancing Game Difficulty

Considering that Granblue Fantasy: Relink can be played either solo or with other players, we wondered how the development team managed to balance the game’s difficulty to accommodate both the solo and multiplayer gameplay.

“From the beginning until the end the game will gradually become more difficult, but we wanted players of other genres to be able to enjoy the game as well. So, at the very beginning the difficulty set quite low.” said Kaji.

Kaji mentions that the team wanted players to go through the main story without a lot of difficulties, so they’ve made the main story to be quite easy. However in Quest Mode, each of the quests are set by specific difficulties, so that players who are looking for a challenge can play to their liking.

Designing Moves and Fighting Styles

Each character in the Granblue universe has their own unique moves and styles of fighting. We asked Kaji about the process of designing and implementing those into the game.

“We wanted players to enjoy the action bit of the game. So we saw different variations and we just wanted players to basically be able to have fun controlling the characters, and that was mostly our vision for most of the design process.”

Making a Comeback

Another question we had asked Fukuhara was whether or not fans could see more original characters appearing in Granblue Fantasy Relink.

“We can’t discuss too much about it, but there are plans that some characters will appear post-launch.”

However, considering that the game is set in the Zegagrande Skydom, there’s not much room for characters from the previous game to appear.

Is Relink Beginner Friendly?

For some people, Granblue Fantasy Relink might be their first exposure to the Granblue Fantasy franchise. We asked Fukuhara if there was anything that newcomers would need to know before playing the game to appreciate it better.

“Of course the original game has been around for a long time, so we can’t have everyone know every detail that’s happened in the game. But we have tried to best accommodate new players who haven’t ever touched the original game.”

Fukuhara continued by saying it was the same case with Versus, and the team tried to accommodate to new players as best as they could. Using Katalina as an example, she was a character from the original game that also appears in Relink, so Fukuhara and the team explained her storyline by using adaptations like anime and other media so that people could understand the characters and their backstory.

Carrying Over Experiences from Previous Works

For someone who worked on other APRGs like Bayonetta and NieR Automata, we asked Kaji what was the experience like bringing what he learned from those projects into Relink.

“Of course the original game has been around for a long time, so we can’t have everyone know every detail that’s happened in the game. But we have tried to best accommodate new players who haven’t ever touched the original game.” said Kaji.

The ARPG Genre

Another question we asked Kaji was how did the team find a balance between accessibility for players who are new to action RPG and for those who are experienced in that genre.

“If I were to split it into a ratio, I’d say the game is more action than RPG.”

Kaji mentions that Relink has an Assist Mode to make it easier for players, as well as settings to adjust to fit personal skill levels.

“The concept for us was to basically have you mash buttons and once you have a good sensation from that. We also have button prompts that help guide players who have not played before, so we think it’s an easily accessible game for newcomers to the action genre.”

Going more in depth regarding the Assist Mode, Kaji mentions there’s two different options, one being the Full Assist Mode and the other being Semi-Assist mode.

“The Full Assist Mode basically lets you play the game automatically. If an enemy moves close to you, you will attack back with Skybound Arts. As for the semi, it is not as automatic so you can unleash combos and special moves if you mash the button. You can also switch back and forth between them.”

Aspects That Players Should Try

To finish off the interview, we asked both Kaji and Fukuhara what aspect of Granblue Fantasy Relink they were most excited for players to try out.

For Kaji, it was the large roster of characters in the game, with each of them having their own unique playstyle.

“I’m looking forward to players trying out each character and seeing what they said to each other in battle and what kind of strategies you can perform between characters.”

Meanwhile, Fukuhara mentions that it was the battle system that really changes between characters.

“If you get bored of a certain character, you’ll have an entire new experience by playing a different character. It almost feels like a whole new game. So I’d love players to try that out. Also, once the story is finished, you can go back and play it again. If you play it with different characters, they will have different dialogue.”

We would like to thank both Tetsuya Fukuhara and Yasuyuki Kaji for taking the time to answer our questions. We would also like to extend our thanks to Cygames for setting up the interview.

Granblue Fantasy Relink will release on 1st February 2024 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC.

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