Granblue Fantasy Versus: A game whose wings were plucked before it could fly
With the release of Guilty Gear Strive taking the fighting game community (FGC) by storm; a lot of new eyes have fallen upon Arc System Works as their flagship series is now one of the most dominant fighting game as of 2023. A lot of new members of the FGC now look to the developer as constant source of quality due to their successful releases which brings a lot of attention toward their past titles. With gangbusters like Dragon Ball FighterZ and Blazblue Cross Tag Battle being the first thing that comes to mind, it’s easy to forget that prior to the release of Strive there was one game that fell between the proverbial couch cushions of Arcsys’ library. Many people would assume that this would be either due to poor quality of gameplay or outdated graphic design but this could not be farther than the truth.
Granblue Fantasy Versus had excellent gameplay and fantastic graphics, but was robbed of success by factors completely out of it’s control.
FROM GACHA TO GREATNESS
Granblue Fantasy Versus is an anime fighting game only by it’s aesthetic and graphics. Based on a popular gacha game (gambling game) the fighter follows a lot of design philosophies that gave Arcsys plenty of success with its later fighting games. This includes an auto-combo system, simple inputs for special moves, and a cooldown system. These three fundamental pillars of GBFV allowed the gameplay to be simple to pick up for those who were new to fighting games without sacrificing any depth.
Auto-combos were a staple to Arcsys’ previous title Dragon Ball FighterZ and was a big reason why many people found it easy to pick up and play. GBFV also has this mechanic which allows any player to confirm a hit into a full combo by pressing one button over and over again. It would be easy to see how this could be a potentially boring mechanic but just like DBFZ, GBFV also allows you to create your own combos using special moves to juggle your opponents into favorable knockdown situations. However, the difference in combo variety is palpable between the two games as GBFV is a more grounded game akin to Street Fighter than DBFZ’s fast paced neutral.
A big barrier to entry to all fighting games is the learning curve attached to learning motion inputs. Getting used to something like a dragon punch input is something that requires several hours of practice to get down. GBFV covers this by allowing players to input these difficult maneuvers by pressing a direction and a dedicated special button. This is great for new players but also added the option for veteran players as many would opt to use easy inputs in certain situations. These easy inputs were balanced by doing less damage and being placed on something unique to GBFV, a cooldown.
Cooldowns were a strange sell for GBFV, the concept of being barred from using a special move would sound insanely bizarre for many people who looked at the mechanic at a surface level. Being locked out of an invincible reversal seemed nearly devastating for many long time fighting game players, and it is true that this situation could occur. What gave the cooldown system it’s nuance was the situations that it made people think about. Using a motion input greatly shortened the cooldown compared to using an EX move or simple input, but can be harder to execute in high stress situations. This created a mind-game where a person could choose to use an EX version of a move for more damage and knockdown pressure but they would have to sacrifice the ability to use that move later on. This could come back to bite them as they find themselves in a situation where they really need the move that they spent just a few interactions prior.
All these fresh ideas combined with beautiful graphics and a banging soundtrack that was typical from most Arcsys games made for an incredibly polished fighting game. It received a large amount of initial success as people from other games played in large scale tournaments and even a place on the main stage of Evo 2020. All of these factors gave Granblue Fantasy Versus a solid score on Metacritic, and it seemed that the title would follow in the footsteps of it’s predecessors as a wildly popular fighting game. Unfortunately, something occurred that absolutely nobody was ready for.
A DELAY BASED GAME LIVING IN A DIGITAL WORLD
Covid-19 was a bonafide disaster for the entire world, but it nearly killed the FGC. The major issue that the virus had placed on the community was being forced to an online only hemisphere which was cataclysmic for Granblue as it had the curse that plagued many games produced at the time, delay based netcode.
In the modern era where rollback is a huge selling point for most of the fighting games produced, many could take for granted just how good the online connection is for a lot of these games. In the case of GBFV the online netcode was horrific. The large amounts of lag and heavy delays between different regions effectively killed the momentum that GBFV had. On top of this, Evo 2020 was cancelled and moved to online which also stunted the potential growth that the game could have received from being played on such a large stage. The worst part about all of this was that a lot of these factors were completely out of Arcsys’ hands.
At the time of production rollback was still a fairly new concept and many games weren’t expected to have it implemented. Even some large games such as Street Fighter V and Tekken 7 had either delay based or rudimentary rollback implemented for their online gameplay. These games did suffer a bit from the quarantine, but had their falls buffered by being attached to IP’s much larger than Granblue Fantasy gacha game. GBFV was relying on it’s inventive and solid gameplay to make a name for itself. This in tandem with a small starting roster effectively doomed Granblue Fantasy Versus to a far smaller and niche audience than it could have had otherwise.
BUT WAIT, THE GAME IS STILL GOOD!
Despite all that I have said in the previous section, the poor netcode and roster are things that do not take away from the core value of this game. I have been playing Granblue Fantasy Versus a ton recently and can say that this title is some of the most fun I have had playing a fighting game. I also have not ran into many of the online issues that were outlined previously as I have been playing with people who are physically within my same region. The roster has also been expanded to house a lot more characters that have their own unique playstyles.
I personally have picked up Soriz, an old pugilist who beats his opponents to a pulp with forward moving specials and ludicrous plus frames that set up crazy frame trap situations. In addition to this, the game is still on the main stage at Evo as well as having a decently large scene in Japan. Whether you are a beginner or a fighting game pro, please consider picking up this game as it deserves to fly into the heights of popularity.
If you are looking for an online local to join for SFV and GGST, please consider joining Knight Fight Nights. It is a weekly local that I host alongside my friend Viraj Rajpal, you can join with this discord link: https://discord.gg/VxnrHnUBQ2
If you’re looking to get into Granblue Fantasy Versus or any fighting game please comment below! I would love to answer any questions about the history of this game or any mechanics that need clearing up.
