When it comes to the social RPG scene in Japan, there are a few winners and a whole lot of losers. One of the bigger recent winners is Granblue Fantasy from Cygames. With music by Nobuo Uematsu and character art from Hideo Minaba, both Final Fantasy veterans, there’s no question it’s aiming for a certain familiar motif. The TV commercials for the game air frequently on Japanese TV during prime-time hours, and its booth at the Tokyo Game Show ought to be the picture in the dictionary next to the word ‘ostentatious’, with a massive airship and a pretty good-sized palace book-ending a giant video screen.
Of course, big in Japan is no guarantee of releasing outside Japan, especially in this day and age. But it appears that Cygames is willing to take that giant step, as they announced at the Tokyo Game Show that Granblue Fantasy would be releasing in the west in March 2016. It’s a social RPG with most of the mechanics implied by the genre, and the battles are turn-based affairs that look a lot like those found in Brave Frontier. The game also features a job-class system and the ability to summon powerful creatures, in case you weren’t able to make the connection yet.
I’ve linked one of the TV commercials for the game here just so you can see what comes on my TV every night while I’m eating dinner. Hopefully, that will tide you over while you wait for Granblue Fantasy to release early next year. Oh, and there’s also an anime series based on the game on the way, if that’s your sort of thing.
