Granblue Fantasy
Granblue Fantasy | |
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Developer(s) | Cygames |
Publisher(s) | Cygames |
Producer(s) | Yuito Kimura |
Artist(s) | Hideo Minaba |
Composer(s) |
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Platform(s) | Android, iOS, web browser |
Release |
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Genre(s) | Role-playing game |
Mode(s) | Single-player, Multiplayer |
Granblue Fantasy[1] is a Japanese media franchise and a role-playing video game developed by Cygames for Android, iOS and web browsers, which first released in Japan in March 2014. The game is notable for reuniting music composer Nobuo Uematsu and art director Hideo Minaba, who previously collaborated on Final Fantasy V (1992), Final Fantasy VI (1994), Final Fantasy IX (2000), and Lost Odyssey (2007).
Gameplay
The game plays as a role-playing video game with turn-based battles.[2] The game also contains summons and a class system that alters the main character's move-set and growth.[3] Characters gain levels and abilities by accruing experience; by collecting a certain materials, some character may earn an extra star (which called "FLB" or full limit break) summons and weapons equipped also confer characters with bonuses on attack power and HP. The characters themselves are gained either via quests (the main story quests or special event quests) or by using in-game currency to receive random crystal fragments, which may contain special weapons that add specific characters to the party. Characters, summons, and weapons are ranked (from best to worst) as SSR, SR, R, or N; each is also of type wind, water, fire, earth, light, or darkness. It is recommended to use a superior element on battle (for example using water against fire) as some dungeon giving a penalty to the non-superior element. Voice actors provide voices for all of the characters in battle, and for much of the main and event story lines.
Plot
The Captain (the player character, either Gran or Djeeta by default) and their winged companion Vyrn are relaxing in the town of Zinkenstill, when they spot an Erste Empire airship in the sky nearby. The Captain inadvertently comes to the rescue of a girl named Lyria and an Imperial Officer named Katalina as they try to escape from the Empire. However, the Captain suffers a mortal wound during the fight, forcing Lyria to merge her soul with them in order to bring them back from the brink of death. Lyria then uses her power to summon a giant monster called Proto-Bahamut, driving the Empire's forces away. With the Captain and Katalina's fates now tied to Lyria, the three of them decide to head to the island of Estalucia, both to escape from the Empire and possibly find clues about the Captain's estranged father.
Unfortunately, Katalina's poor piloting skills cause them to crash-land elsewhere in the Port Breeze Archipelago. The trio look for a working airship and a pilot to steer it. They end up meeting Rackam, an odd helmsman working on an airship that has been broken for years. However, the Empire follows them to the island as well, looking to recapture Lyria. The three eventually manage to convince Rackam to help them fight off the Imperial soldiers chasing them, and in return help him finish repairing his airship, The Grandcypher, to make it skyworthy.
As the Captain travels across the skies, gathering up more allies on their journey and fighting Primal Beasts, the crew find themselves slowly dragged into a plot involving the mysterious Black Knight, the doll-like Orchis, and the history that the Empire seeks to keep secret while they pursue Lyria.
Game economy
Granblue Fantasy uses a gacha system; rather than buying new characters outright, players spend crystals, or tickets, then get a random "drop" from using the crystals or tickets.[4] Characters and equipment are acquired randomly; any one crystal only has a certain percentage chance of being a desired character.[5] This system has proven lucrative, as some players compulsively attempt to get desired characters via spending money on repeated random character acquisitions. It was so effective to the point of raising worries of government regulation to stop exploitation; the Japan Online Game Association imposed stricter restrictions on the industry after a player streamed themselves spending around ¥700,000 (~6,000 US dollars) attempting to get Andira, a new and heavily advertised character, on December 31, 2015.[5] There was a time-limited period where Andira's appearance rate increased, with her becoming more difficult to acquire on January 3, fueling "delirium" and peer pressure on players to attempt to get her immediately.[4] Frustration and claims of Andira's "drop rate" being less than advertised from other players as well led developer Cygames to offer compensation in crystals to people caught in the incident, a promise to set up a system to automatically give a drop after too many "misses", and an apology from the management.[6] After the change in policy, players choose and immediately acquire a desired character after spending 90,000 crystals (300 draws).
Development
I thought to myself, "Can we really make a mobile RPG with such a large-scale feeling from this?" but after seeing the game screen, I was truly surprised...It's as if you completely forget that you're playing a mobile game.[7]
– DeNA director Kenji Kobayashi
Uematsu worked on eleven tracks for the game, with Tsutomu Narita doing nine others, and Minaba drawing roughly 100 potential character designs.[8] The game also contains voice overs from Hiroaki Hirata, who previously worked on Final Fantasy XII and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy.[3]
The game was originally planned for release in Japan for December 17, 2013, but it was put back to March 10, 2014.[9] The game is free-to-play and published by Mobage.[10] At TGS 2015, it was announced that the game would receive an international release in March 2016.[11] Instead of an international launch, a language patch was released adding an in-game option to switch from Japanese to English.[12] This allows international players who have been playing the Japanese version to keep all of their data.
Reception
By March 2016, the game had been downloaded over 10 million times in Japan,[13] which had risen to over 25 million by December 2019.[14] The game grossed ¥20.9 billion ($190.43 million) between January 2017 and October 2017.[15] In 2018, it grossed ¥33.9 billion ($308.88 million) where it was the year's sixth highest-grossing mobile game.[16] Combined, the game grossed at least ¥54.8 billion ($499 million) in Japan between 2017 and 2018. Many journalists compared it favorably to earlier Final Fantasy games.[2][10][17]
Other media
Animation
- Granblue Fantasy The Animation (2017), an anime series adaption of the franchise. A-1 Pictures produced it in the Spring 2017 season.
- Granblue Fantasy The Animation Season 2 (2019),[18] began airing in Japan on October 4, 2019. The voice cast of Season 2 remained mostly the same as Season 1, but the production staff were almost entirely different as the studio was changed to MAPPA.[19][20]
- Guraburu! (2020), an anime adpatation of the 4-panel comedy manga by Kikuhitomoji. DMM.futureworks produced it in the Fall 2020 season.[21]
Video game
- Granblue Fantasy Versus (2020), console video game. The game was first announced at "Granblue Fantasy Fes" in December, 2018.[22] It is a 2.5D animated fighting video game developed by Arc System Works for the Playstation 4 and PC via Steam. Versus initially planned to release in 2019, and the closed beta test was held from May 8 to May 24. The game was officially released on Feb 6, 2020, according to the latest announcement at "Granblue Summer Fes" in August.[23]
- Granblue Fantasy: Relink (TBA), a proposed 3DCG animated console video game until its developed by Cygames Osaka, as replacement of PlatinumGames.
References
- ^ Japanese: グランブルーファンタジー, Hepburn: Guranburū Fantajī
- ^ a b James, Dean. "Granblue Fantasy revealed as Nobuo Uematsu's mobile 'blockbuster' JRPG". Just Push Start. Retrieved 2013-11-27.
- ^ a b "Final Fantasy veterans team up for mobile 'blockbuster JRPG' Granblue Fantasy". Polygon. 2013-11-08. Retrieved 2013-11-27.
- ^ a b $6,065 Spent in One Night Shows Dark Side of Japan's Mobile Games
- ^ a b Smartphone gamers blow small fortune on their obsession
- ^ グラブル」高額課金をサイバー副社長に問う
- ^ "Final Fantasy VI Art Director Reunites With Nobuo Uematsu For A New RPG". Siliconera. 2013-11-08. Retrieved 2013-11-27.
- ^ Schulenberg, Thomas (2013-11-09). "Final Fantasy 6 art director, composer working on Granblue Fantasy". Joystiq. Retrieved 2013-11-27.
- ^ Shearer, Stew. "Nobuo Uematsu and FFVI Art Director Join Mobile RPG Granblue Fantasy". The Escapist. Retrieved 2013-11-27.
- ^ a b "Nobuo Uematsu and FFVI art director reunite for Granblue Fantasy, a Mobage mobile game". Pocket Gamer. Retrieved 2013-11-27.
- ^ Musgrave, Shaun. "TGS 2015: Hit Social RPG 'Granblue Fantasy' Will Be Coming To The West In March 2016". Touch Arcade. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
- ^ "『グラブル』新ジョブの賢者・ガンスリンガー・剣聖・アサシンが発表。新コラボ情報も【TGS2015】". 電撃オンライン (in Japanese). Retrieved 2015-11-11.
- ^ "登録者数1000万人突破!!". Granblue Fantasy. Cygames. 25 March 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
- ^ "2200万人突破キャンペーン開催のお知らせ". Granblue Fantasy (in Japanese). Cygames. October 13, 2018.
- ^ "課金売上トップは『モンスト』、勢いを増す『FGO』―『ファミ通モバイルゲーム白書2018』12月12日発売". Famitsu (in Japanese). December 8, 2017.
- ^ "2018年アプリ収益予測@Game-i". #セルラン分析/ゲーム株『Game-i』 (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 January 2019.
- ^ "Final Fantasy Devs Collaborating on 'Blockbuster' JRPG Granblue Fantasy". EGMNOW. 2013-11-11. Retrieved 2013-11-27.
- ^ TVアニメ「GRANBLUE FANTASY The Animation Season 2」PV第1弾/2019年10月放送開始, retrieved 2019-11-05
- ^ "「グランブルーファンタジー ジ・アニメーション」公式サイト". anime.granbluefantasy.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-11-05.
- ^ Inc, Aniplex. "GRANBLUE FANTASY The Animation Season2公式サイト". anime.granbluefantasy.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-11-05.
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has generic name (help) - ^ "Granblue Fantasy Game's Guraburu! Comedy Anime Spinoff Unveils Studio, October TV Debut". Anime News Network. August 8, 2020. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
- ^ "GRANBLUE FANTASY|Cygames". granbluefantasy.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-11-02.
- ^ "GRANBLUE FANTASY|Cygames". granbluefantasy.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-11-02.
External links
- Official website (in Japanese)
- Official website (in English)
- Granblue Fantasy
- 2014 video games
- Action-adventure games
- Action video games
- Android (operating system) games
- Browser games
- Cygames franchises
- Fantasy video games
- Gacha games
- IOS games
- Japan-exclusive video games
- Japanese role-playing video games
- Mass media franchises
- Multiplayer video games
- Role-playing video games
- Science fantasy video games
- Science fiction video games
- Single-player video games
- Superhero video games
- Video games developed in Japan
- Video games featuring parallel universes
- Video games featuring female protagonists
- Video game franchises
- Video games scored by Nobuo Uematsu
- Video games adapted into television shows