"You unlock new story events in Endless Ragnarok through clearing quests, unlike Relink's narrative chapter progression" Tetsuya Fukuhara and Sanshiro Hidaka speak extensively about Granblue Fantasy Relink: - Endless Ragnarok
At Summer Game Fest, we got a chance to check out Granblue Fantasy: Relink - Endless Ragnarok, the upcoming major expansion to Granblue Fantasy: Relink. We attended a special closed doors media presentation and went hands-on with a new build of the game that had all the characters unlocked, including all of the newly announced one. Those have been put up in a separate feature that you can go check out right now.
Additionally, we got to speak with Tetsuya Fukuhara (Creative Director of the Granblue Fantasy series) and Sanshiro Hidaka (Director of Granblue Fantasy: Relink - Endless Ragnarok). Hidaka previously served as the Narrative Director of the original Relink game.
This interview was conducted through a group so I, Josh Torres, was joined alongside RPG Site contributor Scott White and another unaffiliated journalist for our interview session. Note that the unaffiliated journalist had to leave early, so that's why Scott and I were able to ask multiple questions back-to-back as the interview goes on.
There are many new details that Fukuhara and Hidaka shared in our extensive chat with them, including how main story progression is not the same as how Relink handled it, how the collectible Wee Pincer crabs are back with a new twist, what the challenges were in implementing the new Summons mechanic, and much more.
Scott White: Regarding the new Summons mechanic - when playing in an online multiplayer environment, can everyone have a Summon out at same time or is it one Summon active at a time?
Tetsuya Fukuhara (Creative Director of the Granblue Fantasy series): Each player can bring in a kit of four equipped Summons. Think of the Summons as powerful moves that turn the tides. You use them, and you have a set time to control them. Because there is a set time, only one Summon can be out at a time. When someone else is using a Summon, you have to wait until they are finished.
There is actually a rule to Summons in online multiplayer. The cost of subsequent Summons goes down. If somebody uses a Summon before you, the cost of your Summon is now decreased than what it would have cost originally. So for example, a very powerful Summon would cost 3 bars, but if somebody uses a Summon before you, that Summon would now cost 2 bars.
With this in mind, there is a tactic. If you’re going in with more people and somebody else has a powerful 3-cost Summon, then someone could bring in a 1-cost Summon and use it before them to reduce the Summon cost of that more powerful Summon.
Scott White: Can the cost of a Summon be reduced to zero?
Sanshiro Hidaka (Director of Granblue Fantasy: Relink - Endless Ragnarok): The lowest cost a Summon can go is one, not zero.
Tetsuya Fukuhara (Creative Director of the Granblue Fantasy series): Each player can bring in a kit of four equipped Summons. Think of the Summons as powerful moves that turn the tides. You use them, and you have a set time to control them. Because there is a set time, only one Summon can be out at a time. When someone else is using a Summon, you have to wait until they are finished.
There is actually a rule to Summons in online multiplayer. The cost of subsequent Summons goes down. If somebody uses a Summon before you, the cost of your Summon is now decreased than what it would have cost originally. So for example, a very powerful Summon would cost 3 bars, but if somebody uses a Summon before you, that Summon would now cost 2 bars.
With this in mind, there is a tactic. If you’re going in with more people and somebody else has a powerful 3-cost Summon, then someone could bring in a 1-cost Summon and use it before them to reduce the Summon cost of that more powerful Summon.
Scott White: Can the cost of a Summon be reduced to zero?
Sanshiro Hidaka (Director of Granblue Fantasy: Relink - Endless Ragnarok): The lowest cost a Summon can go is one, not zero.
Josh Torres: You’ve mentioned that in order to start the Endless Ragnarok expansion, players need to have beaten The Tale of Bahamut’s Rage to start it. There are people who stopped playing after finishing that quest, but there are also people who continued playing and kept getting stronger to beat the final quest that was added to the game post-launch, Zero.
There is a vast difference in power between those who have beaten both of these quests. How did you tackle Endless Ragnarok’s design with this power gap disparity in mind?
Tetsuya Fukuhara: Lucilius’ Zero battle was added as a special update to Relink that marked the end of that game’s content, which means it’s a bit of a special battle. If we made that a necessary requirement for Endless Ragnarok, almost no one would be able to get to play it.
There are probably no battles in Endless Ragnarok that are the exact same difficulty as Zero. Instead, we are adding new challenges through adding new mechanics. Obviously, any players who managed to complete Zero are incredibly powerful. Therefore, they’ll be able to clear Endless Ragnarok’s early content quite easily.
But with the addition of new systems like Master Traits and Summons, we hope that learning these new systems will help bridge the gap between those who have completed Zero and those who have only completed up to The Tale of Bahamut’s Rage.
There is a vast difference in power between those who have beaten both of these quests. How did you tackle Endless Ragnarok’s design with this power gap disparity in mind?
Tetsuya Fukuhara: Lucilius’ Zero battle was added as a special update to Relink that marked the end of that game’s content, which means it’s a bit of a special battle. If we made that a necessary requirement for Endless Ragnarok, almost no one would be able to get to play it.
There are probably no battles in Endless Ragnarok that are the exact same difficulty as Zero. Instead, we are adding new challenges through adding new mechanics. Obviously, any players who managed to complete Zero are incredibly powerful. Therefore, they’ll be able to clear Endless Ragnarok’s early content quite easily.
But with the addition of new systems like Master Traits and Summons, we hope that learning these new systems will help bridge the gap between those who have completed Zero and those who have only completed up to The Tale of Bahamut’s Rage.
Scott White: You mentioned with Endless Ragnarok that some quality of life improvements are coming, along with updated UI and crossplay. Are those additions that aren’t gameplay elements going to be added in a patch for those that just own the base Relink game, or are those updates strictly going to be only for Endless Ragnarok?
Tetsuya Fukuhara: We will release an update to Relink at the same time as Endless Ragnarok’s release. In regards to what specific updates affect both Relink and Endless Ragnarok or just Endless Ragnarok only, we’ll be covering those at a later time in patch notes.
Tetsuya Fukuhara: We will release an update to Relink at the same time as Endless Ragnarok’s release. In regards to what specific updates affect both Relink and Endless Ragnarok or just Endless Ragnarok only, we’ll be covering those at a later time in patch notes.
Journalist A: Fukuhara-san, you came here to Los Angeles seven years ago for Anime Expo with Kimura-san - I believe this was around the time for Granblue Fantasy: Versus. I wanted to ask if there was anything that Fukuhara-san learned from Anime Expo about international players, and how they tailored Granblue Fantasy: Relink for global players; were there any specific considerations in mind?
Tetsuya Fukuhara: There’s nothing that specifically comes to mind. When I came here before, I got to talk to a lot of fans and do a lot of panels. I realized that when it comes to the gameplay elements that they like and the characters that they like, there actually isn’t much difference between what international players prefer and what Japanese players prefer.
So when we undergo development, we don’t really have this mindset of “this is specifically for international players” or “that is specifically for Japanese players”.
Tetsuya Fukuhara: There’s nothing that specifically comes to mind. When I came here before, I got to talk to a lot of fans and do a lot of panels. I realized that when it comes to the gameplay elements that they like and the characters that they like, there actually isn’t much difference between what international players prefer and what Japanese players prefer.
So when we undergo development, we don’t really have this mindset of “this is specifically for international players” or “that is specifically for Japanese players”.
Josh Torres: When creating Endless Ragnarok, what are some aspects of development that you initially thought was going to be easy, but turned out to be difficult? And vice versa, what was an aspect that you believed was going to be difficult, but turned out to be easier than you imagined?
Tetsuya Fukuhara: One of the things that was quite difficult to implement was crossplay. We wanted to have crossplay originally in Relink, but due to time and technology constraints, we weren’t able to include it in the original game. This time around, all of our staff were very fired up and motivated about it, so we were able to include it as a feature.
Between PlayStation, Steam, and Switch, the way that they have online elements and UI are all different between each platform. It required a lot of modifications on our end that was quite intensive.
There wasn’t anything in development that we thought was particularly easy, but something we were pleased about is that all of the ideas we wanted to implement actually made it into the game.
Sanshiro Hidaka: We were worried that developing for the Switch 2 would be more difficult but from an early stage, the engineers and artists were able to make beautiful graphics. So they’re really good I would say.
Tetsuya Fukuhara: One of the things that was quite difficult to implement was crossplay. We wanted to have crossplay originally in Relink, but due to time and technology constraints, we weren’t able to include it in the original game. This time around, all of our staff were very fired up and motivated about it, so we were able to include it as a feature.
Between PlayStation, Steam, and Switch, the way that they have online elements and UI are all different between each platform. It required a lot of modifications on our end that was quite intensive.
There wasn’t anything in development that we thought was particularly easy, but something we were pleased about is that all of the ideas we wanted to implement actually made it into the game.
Sanshiro Hidaka: We were worried that developing for the Switch 2 would be more difficult but from an early stage, the engineers and artists were able to make beautiful graphics. So they’re really good I would say.
Scott White: You mentioned in the press presentation before this interview that Endless Ragnarok wasn’t originally planned. It came into being because of the popularity and success that Relink achieved. About how long after Relink’s launch did the pivot to develop Endless Ragnarok happen?
Sanshiro Hidaka: Two months after the release of Relink is when the first talks of Endless Ragnarok internally started. Then after a month, we began to pursue its development so three months after the release of Relink is when development on Endless Ragnarok began. Then, it took about two years to develop.
Sanshiro Hidaka: Two months after the release of Relink is when the first talks of Endless Ragnarok internally started. Then after a month, we began to pursue its development so three months after the release of Relink is when development on Endless Ragnarok began. Then, it took about two years to develop.
Journalist A: Is Belial one of the bosses that will show up in Endless Ragnarok?
Tetsuya Fukuhara: In the media briefing presentation before this interview, you’ll remember there was a slide that showed three bosses - two of them have been announced, and one has not. We have The World, Beelzebub, and then… unannounced bosses that are even more imposing.
Tetsuya Fukuhara: In the media briefing presentation before this interview, you’ll remember there was a slide that showed three bosses - two of them have been announced, and one has not. We have The World, Beelzebub, and then… unannounced bosses that are even more imposing.
Josh Torres: Maglielle and Gallanza were previously bosses that we fought against. I got to try them out at the hands-on demo on the Summer Game Fest show floor. I saw that there’s a lot of new skills they have that were not previously there during their boss fights. I’m interested in learning the challenges of creating them to be playable and conceiving of their skills & movesets creatively and technologically, so they could be playable to players.
Tetsuya Fukuhara: When making characters playable, we first think about what the core or backbone of that character would be. Then, our first priority is to express their character through their traits and personality. After that, we think about what kind of skills would make them really fun to play.
In Maglielle’s case, even in the story she was known for her use of Superlative Weapons as well as her Skybound Arts. We wanted to keep that charm and anticipated what players would look for in her playable iteration.
Sanshiro Hidaka: Maglielle has a tool in Endless Ragnarok where she uses her magical swords that kind of look like angel wings. She jumps back, and then she throws all her swords at you. That wasn’t in Relink, but one of the developers though that looked really cool so we decided to implement that just to make her look more beautiful. It was an aesthetic choice.
Something that was a challenge, and something that we realized, was that you were able to express characters even through their roll actions and special attacks. For example, most characters use a little animation when they dodge, but if you take someone as big and buff as Gallanza, he looks a lot lighter if were to do that. There was a lot of staff that pointed that out. We decided to start breaking that rule, in order to better uniquely express him.
Tetsuya Fukuhara: When making characters playable, we first think about what the core or backbone of that character would be. Then, our first priority is to express their character through their traits and personality. After that, we think about what kind of skills would make them really fun to play.
In Maglielle’s case, even in the story she was known for her use of Superlative Weapons as well as her Skybound Arts. We wanted to keep that charm and anticipated what players would look for in her playable iteration.
Sanshiro Hidaka: Maglielle has a tool in Endless Ragnarok where she uses her magical swords that kind of look like angel wings. She jumps back, and then she throws all her swords at you. That wasn’t in Relink, but one of the developers though that looked really cool so we decided to implement that just to make her look more beautiful. It was an aesthetic choice.
Something that was a challenge, and something that we realized, was that you were able to express characters even through their roll actions and special attacks. For example, most characters use a little animation when they dodge, but if you take someone as big and buff as Gallanza, he looks a lot lighter if were to do that. There was a lot of staff that pointed that out. We decided to start breaking that rule, in order to better uniquely express him.
Scott White: You’ve mentioned that the new Master Traits system was partially inspired by Diablo builds and how the communities for those games fleshes those out. I’m curious if there are any Sigils that have been added that directly tie into Master Traits.
Tetsuya Fukuhara: There are some Master Traits that strengthen Summons. Sigils have been available since the base Relink game, and there are Sigils that are unique to each character. Since Sigils are very closely tied to character skills, we had that entire kind of process in mind when we were designing the Master Traits for each character. There aren’t any Sigils that will directly strengthen Master Traits in general.
Tetsuya Fukuhara: There are some Master Traits that strengthen Summons. Sigils have been available since the base Relink game, and there are Sigils that are unique to each character. Since Sigils are very closely tied to character skills, we had that entire kind of process in mind when we were designing the Master Traits for each character. There aren’t any Sigils that will directly strengthen Master Traits in general.
Josh Torres: When you first released Granblue Fantasy: Relink, there were already planned post-launch game updates. With Endless Ragnarok, will there be any planned game updates post-launch?
Sanshiro Hidaka: (laughs)
Tetsuya Fukuhara: Much like Relink, we expect that there will be lots of expressed desires for more content. There are things that are cooking in our mind, but in terms of concrete details, we’ll announce it if we have anything planned.
Sanshiro Hidaka: (laughs)
Tetsuya Fukuhara: Much like Relink, we expect that there will be lots of expressed desires for more content. There are things that are cooking in our mind, but in terms of concrete details, we’ll announce it if we have anything planned.
Scott White: Do you have a particular favorite and/or silly Summon that the development enjoyed designing?
Tetsuya Fukuhara: We do have a lot of silly Summons. For Relink, the tone of that game is quite serious, so when we were developing Endless Ragnarok, we wanted to give it a more light-hearted mood that was truer to the original browser game. In terms of a Summon I like, there’s a crab rain that is more effective the more Wee Pincers you collect. The amount of crabs that rain down will increase the more Wee Pincers you have. I really like that one.
Sanshiro Hidaka: I really like the Cat Summon. If you do it well, a lot of cats come out and the more cats you have, the more powerful it becomes - much like in real life.
Tetsuya Fukuhara: We do have a lot of silly Summons. For Relink, the tone of that game is quite serious, so when we were developing Endless Ragnarok, we wanted to give it a more light-hearted mood that was truer to the original browser game. In terms of a Summon I like, there’s a crab rain that is more effective the more Wee Pincers you collect. The amount of crabs that rain down will increase the more Wee Pincers you have. I really like that one.
Sanshiro Hidaka: I really like the Cat Summon. If you do it well, a lot of cats come out and the more cats you have, the more powerful it becomes - much like in real life.
Josh Torres: Speaking of crabs, are there more crabs to collect in the story stages of Endless Ragnarok? And are there any new collectibles to collect?
Tetsuya Fukuhara: There are new crabs.
(Josh raises his fist in celebration; Fukuhara and Hidaka laughs)
Sanshiro Hidaka: One type of crab that you’ll find in Endless Ragnarok is a new, black Wee Pincer. The inspiration for this crab came from Far Cry 3, where you could see their locations but not a clear path towards them. You have to take advantage of the 3D environment to get to them. Instead of being able to just walk to their location, you have to take hidden paths to find them.
In the original Relink game, you were rewarded a special, powerful Sigil if you collected all the Wee Pincers. This time around in Endless Ragnarok, you will also obtain a very powerful certain something… please look forward to it. Please collect them all.
Tetsuya Fukuhara: There are new crabs.
(Josh raises his fist in celebration; Fukuhara and Hidaka laughs)
Sanshiro Hidaka: One type of crab that you’ll find in Endless Ragnarok is a new, black Wee Pincer. The inspiration for this crab came from Far Cry 3, where you could see their locations but not a clear path towards them. You have to take advantage of the 3D environment to get to them. Instead of being able to just walk to their location, you have to take hidden paths to find them.
In the original Relink game, you were rewarded a special, powerful Sigil if you collected all the Wee Pincers. This time around in Endless Ragnarok, you will also obtain a very powerful certain something… please look forward to it. Please collect them all.
Scott White: You mentioned in the media presentation that the Summons system for Endless Ragnarok came late into its development. Was it easier to implement than you expected?
Sanshiro Hidaka: It was not easy, and we were very worried at the start of its implementation. A lot of the models for Summons already existed of course, but the size differentials with the rest of the party when you control them requires the camerawork to be completely different. Plus, we couldn’t just use the animations from enemy characters. When I first pitched the idea, I was worried that there would be a lot of pushback in the office
From the beginning, there was the wish to have all the monsters and characters available as Summons. I was expecting there to be pushback, or a lot of people to say that we can only do half because we wouldn’t be able to meet the deadlines. Instead, the response was really positive and everybody gave it their all. We were able to execute the vision somehow. It did require a lot of problem solving, but everyone was having a lot of fun while they were doing it.
Sanshiro Hidaka: It was not easy, and we were very worried at the start of its implementation. A lot of the models for Summons already existed of course, but the size differentials with the rest of the party when you control them requires the camerawork to be completely different. Plus, we couldn’t just use the animations from enemy characters. When I first pitched the idea, I was worried that there would be a lot of pushback in the office
From the beginning, there was the wish to have all the monsters and characters available as Summons. I was expecting there to be pushback, or a lot of people to say that we can only do half because we wouldn’t be able to meet the deadlines. Instead, the response was really positive and everybody gave it their all. We were able to execute the vision somehow. It did require a lot of problem solving, but everyone was having a lot of fun while they were doing it.
Josh Torres: When I went hands-on with Endless Ragnarok, I saw early on that Seofon (Siete) and Tweyen (Song) were interacting with the player’s crew to advance the story. I was wondering if other base game characters will become more involved with the story this time around, or does it solely revolve around the new character additions, such as Fraux and Fediel, in Endless Ragnarok as its active participants?
Tetsuya Fukuhara: In terms of characters that appear in the new story, Seofon (Siete) and Tweyen (Song) are going to be often the stars of the show. Sandalphon from the original Relink that was added post-launch will be involved, as well.
Unlike Relink which did its narrative design in a chapter progression sequence, you unlock new story events in Endless Ragnarok by clearing quests. Because the storytelling direction has changed, we won’t have a bunch of characters that will make cameos like in the base Relink game. This time, I’d say the cast is more front-loaded.
Tetsuya Fukuhara: In terms of characters that appear in the new story, Seofon (Siete) and Tweyen (Song) are going to be often the stars of the show. Sandalphon from the original Relink that was added post-launch will be involved, as well.
Unlike Relink which did its narrative design in a chapter progression sequence, you unlock new story events in Endless Ragnarok by clearing quests. Because the storytelling direction has changed, we won’t have a bunch of characters that will make cameos like in the base Relink game. This time, I’d say the cast is more front-loaded.
Scott White: How are Summons earned? Are they quest rewards, craftable items, or are there a variety of ways to obtain them?
Tetsuya Fukuhara: Generally speaking, they come from quest clears and they have something to do with the enemies that appear in that quest. Another way you can get them is, for example, in town you see a lot of NPC sidequests. If you help them clear that, they could also reward you with a Summon.
Tetsuya Fukuhara: Generally speaking, they come from quest clears and they have something to do with the enemies that appear in that quest. Another way you can get them is, for example, in town you see a lot of NPC sidequests. If you help them clear that, they could also reward you with a Summon.
Josh Torres: With the addition of new characters in Endless Ragnarok, there are new emote actions for them. Are there any particular character’s emote actions that you want players to pay attention to?
Tetsuya Fukuhara: Fediel. She’s got quite a unique character in the world of Granblue. When our developers were trying to design her, many of them were asking what to do for her expressions. I worked with them to help flesh out her image, but we also took a look at images of the official Granblue cosplayers. From that, we came up with some pretty cute expressions for her and believe Fediel fans will be very happy.
Sanshiro Hidaka: My favorite emote actions come from Gallanza. Among the emotes for existing characters, there are several that do squats or push-ups. Meanwhile, Gallanza’s emotes are quite superhuman. He’ll throw down his spear and jump on top of it to exercise. I really want players to pay attention to how irrational and out of the ordinary that his training style consists of.
Josh Torres & Scott White: Thank you so much Fukuhara-san and Hidaka-san for speaking to us about Granblue Fantasy: Relink - Endless Ragnarok!
Tetsuya Fukuhara: Fediel. She’s got quite a unique character in the world of Granblue. When our developers were trying to design her, many of them were asking what to do for her expressions. I worked with them to help flesh out her image, but we also took a look at images of the official Granblue cosplayers. From that, we came up with some pretty cute expressions for her and believe Fediel fans will be very happy.
Sanshiro Hidaka: My favorite emote actions come from Gallanza. Among the emotes for existing characters, there are several that do squats or push-ups. Meanwhile, Gallanza’s emotes are quite superhuman. He’ll throw down his spear and jump on top of it to exercise. I really want players to pay attention to how irrational and out of the ordinary that his training style consists of.
Josh Torres & Scott White: Thank you so much Fukuhara-san and Hidaka-san for speaking to us about Granblue Fantasy: Relink - Endless Ragnarok!