Whether you’re new to action RPGs or a veteran of the genre, Granblue Fantasy: Relink tries to accommodate all skill levels with its difficulty options.
You’re given a choice between three difficulty settings upon starting Granblue Fantasy: Relink, and you can freely swap between them while in town or after getting a Game Over. But things get a little more complex once quests become available since those are split across multiple difficulties.
So, let’s break down every difficulty option in Granblue Fantasy: Relink and figure out which works best for you.
Granblue Fantasy Relink: All main story difficulty levels
Story
This is essentially Granblue Fantasy: Relink‘s easy mode, designed for novice players who may have only picked the game up for its story and characters. Enemies have less HP and deal less damage, so the adventure should be a breeze. The main story is short, though. You can potentially clear all 10 chapters in just a few days if you blitz through it, so you may quickly grow bored with the lack of challenge.
Action
Action is the standard difficulty level, aiming to offer a comfortable challenge in combat while allowing players to enjoy the story. This is the difficulty I stuck to throughout the main story and everything feels decently balanced. Enemies are a threat, but not overwhelmingly so, and I was able to recover from being knocked out during boss fights quite regularly, rarely getting a game over even when slightly ill-prepared. As long as you keep your main party decently leveled and regularly upgrade or acquire better weapons, you shouldn’t struggle too much with this one yet still find victory satisfying. I’d recommend this mode over Story difficulty for beginners. If it ever gets too much for you, remember you can drop down to it.
Hard
What it says on the tin. Hard mode is for more experienced players, granting enemies more health and stronger attacks. In this mode, you’ll need to more carefully prepare for battles, ensuring you have the best party for the job and can take advantage of elemental weaknesses. You may even need to completely retry a boss fight or two and frequently visit the Quest Counter to bolster the party. Hard mode is nothing too extreme, though. In fact, veterans may come away not finding it challenging enough. It’s still worth attempting if even Action mode feels too easy. But again, you can always tone the difficulty down in the options menu if one encounter keeps giving you grief.
Granblue Fantasy Relink: All quest difficulty levels
Quests are an important element in Granblue Fantasy: Relink since they’re a reliable source of experience and items throughout the story. Honestly, with how short the story is, quests can be considered the main focus, especially in the post-game.
Quests operate independently of the story, meaning they have set difficulty levels that can’t be altered. So, even if you’re playing on Story mode, late-game quests won’t be any easier to complete. There are seven difficulty levels split across three grades, which are as follows:
- Novice Skyfarer: Easy, Normal
- Veteran Skyfarer: Hard, Very Hard, Extreme
- Zegagrande Legend: Maniac, Proud
At first, you’ll only have access to Easy level quests, but you’ll progressively unlock higher difficulties. Maniac and Proud are a bit special, though. To unlock the former, complete Chapter Ø and its main “Finish the jobs Rolan started” questline. After that, another chain of quests to unlock Proud will be available.
Which difficulty should you choose in Granblue Fantasy Relink?
For the main story, it’s a matter of preference. I recommend Action difficulty since it’s a decent balance, offering some challenge without feeling near impossible, and you can always bump it up or down should you fancy more or less challenge.
But when it comes to the quests, you don’t have a choice since their difficulties are set in stone. If you want to see all the story content, finish Chapter Ø, which requires you to tackle quests up to Extreme difficulty. Best get to farming experience and materials, unlocking the best weapons, and learning all the combat mechanics if you want to stand a chance.
Aside from teaming up with experienced players in co-op multiplayer, there is one thing you can do to make things a little easier: Turn on Assist Mode. You can find this in the Gameplay options menu. It comes in two flavors. Regular Assist Mode lets you pull off more intricate combos by tapping a single button, making the more complex party members easier to play. Full Assist Mode practically plays the game for you. All you need to do is move the control stick and the game handles the rest. But this only works for the main story and Easy to Extreme quests. You can’t rely on it for Maniac and Proud Quests. Granblue Fantasy: Relink wants you to earn those victories
