Just over six years after the original announcement, Cygames is finally about to release Granblue Fantasy: Relink. This action RPG was originally meant to be a collaboration with PlatinumGames, but Cygames decided to split off around early 2019 and finish the game on their own, which led to a long delay.

　　At long last, fans of the popular franchise will get the first RPG game on PC and consoles (after the fighting game Granblue Fantasy: Versus) in less than two months from now. Wccftech was recently invited to a press event featuring a near-final build of Granblue Fantasy: Relink; you can check out our impressions here. We also joined a roundtable interview with Game Director Yasuyuki Kaji. The full conversation can be found below, edited and tidied up.

　　Granblue Fantasy: Relink will be available from February 1, 2024 on PC (Steam), PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.

　　WCCFTECH: In multiplayer, can multiple players take the same character at once?

　　Yes.

　　WCCFTECH: Okay. Similarly, if you're playing offline, can you have three AI-led Charlottas all working with you?

　　That's not possible.

　　WCCFTECH: In the demo we played, we had the weapon level cap at 10. Is there going to be a level cap that goes up based on the chapter you're on, or is it the difficulty tier of quests?

　　There are no caps on the character level. You can just go to 100. As for weapons, you have to collect certain materials and uncap the weapon. That's a special process to unlock the next tier of levels for that weapon.

　　There are also other upgrade systems for characters besides levels, like side episodes. Completing those will buff your characters a bit, either with stats or other things. There's also mastery points that allow you to increase your character stats or have them learn new skills.

　　Are there any skill differences between Gran and Djeeta (male and female protagonists)?

　　For one of the skills, Gran's range is shorter but it's more powerful, while Djeeta's version of that same skill is longer but less powerful.

　　Can you change them at any moment?

　　You can change them at almost any time. Anytime that you could change your characters around, that's when you can change Gran and Djeeta's appearance, but you wouldn't be able to change them during battle.

　　WCCFTECH: In addition to unlocking the perfect dodge ability, can you upgrade the dodge to, say, be able to do more than three in a row or shorten that cooldown after you do the third dodge?

　　You can equip sigils to enhance the dodge.

　　WCCFTECH: Okay. On that note, can you equip multiple of the same vigils, or are they unique?

　　You can. However, if you equip multiple of the same sigil, they all have traits associated with them. Traits do have maximum values, so if you're equipping multiple of the same trait to exceed those maximum values, you'll just be limited to that maximum value from the trait. While the sigils are technically the same, you might go over with the trait, so just be careful there.

　　WCCFTECH: Do characters have access to elemental weapons?

　　There are no elemental weapons in Granblue Fantasy: Relink. Each character's elemental affinity is fixed, so if you want to play around with the elemental system, you'll need to change out your party.

　　WCCFTECH: How important is that elemental affinity system in the endgame? Are you not going to be able to beat a boss that isn't weak to your elements?

　　The way we've approached endgame design is we really wanted to focus on the people who want to use a character because they like that character, not because of that character's elemental affinity. So there is no content where you are forced to use a certain character just because of their element.

　　When you first unlock certain endgame content, it's true that using a character with the correct elemental affinity will perhaps lower the hurdle to defeating them, but that's nothing a little bit of grind and a little bit of skill development won't fix in due time.

　　WCCFTECH: Is there any sigil trading between Granblue Fantasy: Relink players for the multiplayer?

　　There is no item trading in multiplayer.

　　WCCFTECH: What about social stuff, like a guild system?

　　We have a friend list and also a way for you to favorite the players that you enjoy playing with frequently, but there is no guild system.

　　WCCFTECH: Are there any daily login rewards?

　　We don't have anything too major to miss out on, but we do have like a very minor thing called quick quest. You can do this once per day, and this will make the rewards for any random quest just a little bit better. This is the only thing we have in the game in the way of a daily check-in type of thing.

　　WCCFTECH: You can only use those tickets on the random quest, you can't farm the same boss and use the tickets for a higher drop rate, correct?

　　That's correct. These quests will generally prioritize uh joining quests that are looking for people to join.

　　Can you unlock all the characters in single player only?

　　There is an item in the game called crew mate cards. You'll receive them upon reaching certain benchmarks in the main story as well as by clearing specific quests. You can use those crew mate cards at Siero’s Knickknack Shack to unlock any playable character you want in any order. You will not be able to unlock every single character just with the main story, you will have to play some quests in order to get the full roster.

　　WCCFTECH: Can you unlock stickers for the communication wheel?

　　Yes.

　　What else can you unlock?

　　Colors and trophies.

　　WCCFTECH: Can we unlock different costumes entirely? It looked like Gran had a different coat and color on at a higher level.

　　Gran and Djeeta do have different costumes. A portion of some of the other cast members also have different costumes, but that's not true of everyone.

　　WCCFTECH: What's the highest level a boss can get in Granblue Fantasy: Relink?

　　At this moment, probably 150.

　　Thank you for your time.