Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising Review (Emuser)
This is for anyone wondering about how this fares compared to the original GBVS game or never played either game before.
Unfortunately most of what you unlocked in the previous game won't roll over except previous battle pass stuff and ex colors if you unlocked them in the past game. This game is more akin to something slower paced like Street Fighter but with dash attack shenanigans thrown into the mix. The dash attack stuff is a lot different than most fighting games and will be the main point of contention for those that liked the more traditional fighting game feel of the original. Dash L is a pretty game-defining universal move at the time of writing, it is really important to know how this move works specifically as it is a plus on block approach anyone can do very quickly. I personally feel like it helps to make this game stand out from other fighting games but it clearly continues the trend of making everyone play more aggressively which has been a popular trend in fighting games over the past few years.
Inputs have a small buffer window to help give the game it's easier to pick up and play feel and a skill button exists for one button specials with a direction or qcf inputs for supers. This game is secretly a 7 button game with Light, Medium, Heavy, Unique, Skill, Block, Run each having their own buttons. You can run and block like in a traditional fighting game but these are useful macros to have so you should expect a 7 button layout for optimal play. This game feels like it was designed with a controller in mind and it feels great on controller, I cannot say how it works for those on other control methods. The amount of use the skill button will get can vary based on character, specials have no drawbacks using the skill button so can even be extra useful occasionally i.e. charge inputs being able to use skill button to skip the charge requirement. I could describe this game as one that is relatively easy to pick up and do combos with after some practice, but with TONS of little skill checks at higher level play. A lot of them aren't particularly complicated but small things you learn across time with repeat play.
Deluxe Edition is the best bang for your buck since you are given costumes for Gran and Djeeta which are ungodly expensive in the in-game shop normally and the DLC characters tied to the first pass at a nice overall discount. If you can get it on sale it's even better. The in-game currency for this game is earned through a series of daily and weekly challenges, with a mix of some that can only be done online and others that can only be done offline i.e. in arcade mode. Single player is not this game's strongsuit containing a watered down story mode that is much more straightforward than how it was in the original game which was more of an RPG stat-filled experience whereas Rising is more streamlined and takes nowhere near as long as originally to complete. Story progress can carry over from the original game as well, so it will be even shorter to complete the new stuff for veterans. Most of the stuff to unlock in this game is tied to online:
There are Battle Passes lasting about 5-6 weeks normally which cycle from time to time and give more in-game currency, costumes, weapon skins, music and other goodies. Passes are surprisingly inexpensive to buy into like $7 or $8 USD. If you play the game routinely it is very easy to finish the pass as long as you play a few matches every week and some extra games in between to finish passes. You can buy levels with real money as well to finish up the pass if you are running out of time or super late and want all of the rewards tied to it. I think it would be ~$30 or so if you were to buy the pass and then buy all of the levels upfront if you really didn't want to play but still get the pass' content, but it's easy to finish levels with only a few matches a day across 3-4 weeks. The main downside of battle passes is that you HAVE to play online in the public lobbies to get credit for them so is worthless for those that won't play Casual/Ranked Matches or in public lobbies online.
You can create private rooms but the amount of experience you gain in private rooms is much less and some challenges for the battle passes may not be able to be completed in a private lobby. If you aren't committed to the game where you know you will play it during a pass' duration you might consider skipping out on the battle pass instead. The devs had stated in the past that they would like to bring back previous battle pass content later for those that missed out on previous passes, but no further word beyond that.
P.S., Djeeta da bes.