On the more casual side of things, the Feb 20, 2020 issue of Famitsu spoke to Katou Emiri and Takagi Miyu, the hosts of their weekly GBF stream, for their thoughts on Granblue Fantasy Versus.
Katou Emiri
Famitsu: How was your experience with RPG Mode?
Katou: It was really cool to see a different kind of story from the Main Story of GBF. I think fans will have a lot of questions like “Where does this take place in the GBF timeline?”
Famitsu: There are a lot of fun things in there for GBF fans.
Katou: The quests that explained why all these friends and allies were fighting each other were fun to watch, to explain events and fights that have never happened in GBF. As a game, well, I don’t play many fighting games, so I’m not very good at it. However, the tutorials taught me a laught about how to fight, and the enemies start out pretty weak, so I got better at timing my abilities.
Famitsu: So it seems like the game wants you to start in RPG Mode.
Katou: That’s probably true. It’s a really high barrier of entry to throw you straight into Versus mode, so I think people who know GBF or are just getting into the franchise will enjoy the story first, and learn how to fight in the battles.
Famitsu: What did you think of the boss battles?
Katou: There are a lot of bosses who will be familiar to GBF players. So you’ll see moves and think “hey, I know this”. For example, in the Colossus boss fight, you’ll think “Dimensional Cleave is coming!” And on top of that, I got really hype seeing weapon drops on the victory screen (laughs)
Famitsu: (laughs) What did you feel about GBVS as a fighting game?
Katou: The move inputs are easy, so even a fighting game newbie like me can get into the action. The same moves work between the action RPG and the fighting game, so if you learn how to fight in the action game, then you’ll have a lot of good basics to work from.
Famitsu: There are a lot of unique characters who haven’t been in fighting games before, too.
Katou: On top of that, even if you never use the technical inputs, every character has the same basic controls, so you don’t have to learn a new move set for every character. I think that’s nice.
Famitsu: Finally, do you have any messages for the players who’re waiting for GBVS?
Katou: I think one of the biggest appeals of GBVS is that you can see all of these familiar characters and control them exactly the way you want to. GBF needs you to do things like level up weapons, and it’s a big time sink. That kind of makes it harder to catch up when you join it late, but GBVS is the kind of game you can jump into and enjoy immediately. So I hope that people fall in love with GBF this way, and go from here to watching the anime and experiencing a whole lot more Granblue Fantasy. I want to watch all your gameplay videos!
Takagi Miyu
Famitsu: We had you play Versus Mode on the stream this time, how did it feel?
Takagi: I’ve never played a fighting game before, so it felt really good to be able to get in there and do a combo immediately. And when I finished the combo, the announcer shouted “Great!” at me, so I was like “Nailed it!” (laughs). But I’m so new, there were only a few times I was able to use my Skybound Art, even when I had full meter (sad laugh). In a match, I panic, and press the R1 button too early, so other abilities come out…
If I’m calm, I can do it, so I have to practice that. But as a newbie, I’m really thankful that every character has the same commands. Thanks to that, I was able to jump right into the game. It’s easy to go from one character to the next. There are a lot of commands in fighting games that tend to be the same kinds of moves, so that helps. I heard that the technical commands reduce cooldown time, so I think people who’re better at the game will be using the technical commands a lot.
Famitsu: Definitely! And once you’re used to the game, you might benefit from practicing that in the game’s training mode.
Takagi: The training mode was pretty easy on me as a newbie too, so I learned a lot from it. You can see in the input log which direction you were pressing, so if the ability you wanted didn’t come out, you can look at it and say “oh, this was where I went wrong.” I liked that. I think I’ll be spending a lot of time in this mode practicing how to do a Skybound Art (laughs)
Famitsu: What else made an impression on you?
Takagi: The animations for all of the characters’ abilities are so cool. Charlotta’s Holy Ladder felt so good to do.
Famitsu: When the game is released, do you think you’ll play much versus mode?
Takagi: I think my first priority is to practice enough to be able to control the character. I want to get to the point where they move the way I want them to move. So I’ll play RPG Mode first, and I think I’ll use that to learn how to play Charlotta, because she was the one I was able to control the best. After that, I might jump into the waters of online play. I think I’m going to get my ass kicked, though (laughs). I think there will be a lot of people like me who start playing GBVS because they love GBF, so hopefully I’ll be able to learn the game along with them.
Famitsu: Finally, do you have any messages for the players who’re waiting for GBVS?
Takagi: GBVS is the kind of game that’s really easy to get into, even if you’re absolutely new. The Skybound Arts are easy to do, and just seeing a lot of your favorite characters moving on the big screen is really fun. I hope a lot of people play it! I’m gonna jump into the online waters with all of you (laughs), and I hope I’ll have fun playing against people. See you there!