If the first words that pop into your head when I say “Granblue Fantasy Relink” are “gacha” and “pay-to-win,” I wouldn’t blame you. After all, Relink‘s based off of the 2014 mobile game. And if you’re wondering whether Granblue Fantasy Relink is a gacha game, read on.
Are There Gacha Elements in Granblue Fantasy Relink?
First, the good news. The answer is no, Granblue Fantasy Relink is not a gacha game. The original Granblue Fantasy required players to accrue in-game currency, which could then be spent to roll for random characters of various rarity tiers, and you could also spend real money to get said currency.
Unlike its predecessor, Relink isn’t like that at all. Instead, most of the characters can be unlocked through story progression and by exchanging an in-game collectible with Siero. The latter may sound worrying, but let us explain.
Crewmate Cards are collectibles that you can find within the game itself, or acquire through quest rewards. You can’t buy them with real money. In addition to that, when you give Siero a Crewmate Card, you can also pick the character you want to unlock, which completely bypasses the random element of most gacha games out there.
So if you were worried that you might have to crack open that wallet for more characters, on top of already paying full price for Granblue Fantasy Relink, you can rest assured that that’s not necessary.
Transmarvel Gacha Rolls
That being said, however, there is a gacha-like element that gets unlocked once you’re in the endgame. Upon unlocking Proud difficulty missions, you can start farming Knickknack Vouchers and turn them in for Transmute Sigils.
These Transmute Sigils can then be used to roll for random Tier III to V Sigils. Once you’ve rolled enough Transmutes to fill up a bar, you can then roll a Transmarvel Sigil that guarantees you a Tier V+ Sigil, Wrightstone, or character-specific Sigil.
If you’re at all familiar with gacha games, this should sound very familiar to you. The Transmarvel Sigil functions similarly to a pity system, where your rolls are random and you can guarantee yourself a high level item after rolling a certain number of times.
Will You Need to Pay For New Characters?
With all that said, though, Cygames has also confirmed in their 2024 roadmap that there will be new characters added to the roster in April. The two new characters can be unlocked through story progression, but you can also pay to have them added to your roster instantly.
It’s likely that this will be the case for post-launch DLC and updates, but if you’re content with just messing with the base roster, then there’s nothing to fret over.
Hopefully that answers your question of whether Granblue Fantasy Relink is a gacha game. Be sure to search up Escapist for more tips and information on the game.
