Recently, Cygames has announced a major update coming to Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising. For the uninitiated, this is the second iteration of the fighting game based on their flagship IP, a Japan-only mobile game, and developed by Arc System Works, who is responsible for smash hit fighting games such as BlazBlue and the Guilty Gear franchise. Since launching on December 11, 2023, the game has received a number of minor balance patches, as well as four new characters including guest character 2B from Nier: Automata.
Update 1.5: What We Know
Although the developers are currently tight-lipped about the details of the character changes, there are some things we know concretely about the upcoming patch.
Balance: Cygames has stated that the entire roster will be receiving a comprehensive balancing pass. One thing players might be expecting is a significant nerfing of Nier, a high-skill-ceiling character who has demonstrably outshined much of the cast since launch. Beatrix, a highly-anticipated character, was introduced in a state that many players considered overpowered and was since brought more in line with the rest of the cast. It’s likely she will continue to see minor tweaks as the developers dial in her tuning. Metera has taken a backseat as a heavy zoning character, as the offense-focused style of the title feels largely incompatible with her game plan.
Cygames has confirmed on X that Gran will now be able to combo his Overdrive Surge (L) into Overdrive Surge (H) on hit, which is sure to excite Gran mains. Lucilius will now gain a blade level after hitting with Iscariot (M) or (H), up from half a level, and the second hit of Phosphorus (H) will bounce the opponent higher. Overall, the developers seem more likely to broadly pass out buffs rather than nerfs, so most players should probably not be concerned about their favorite character getting significantly downgraded.
More Story: Rising launched with three story chapters: one from the original Granblue Fantasy Versus, and two more. In the 1.5 update, it will be receiving additional episodes, although it remains to be seen if this will constitute a fourth chapter. For those who haven’t gone through the story, each chapter is actually rather long, and an additional chapter would be an enormous amount of gameplay for a free update.
New Character: Versusia, a story character original to Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising, is confirmed to be joining the playable cast as the fifth Season 1 character. If you have played BlazBlue: Central Fiction, you may recognize some of her moveset as being referential to Susanoo, and will likely have an extremely similar playstyle. It’s of course unsurprising that the original character by Arc System Works would pay homage to another one of their characters.
New Stage: We don’t have any details yet, but the new stage is probably going to be related to Versusia.
New Rank: Competitive ranked players will doubtlessly be excited to grind out the new Grand Master rank on all their favorite characters.
New Battle Pass: Patch 1.5 will go live with Battle Pass 5. As with previous passes, we can expect colors for a few characters, a handful of weapon skins, a couple of BGMs and titles, and of course the pass will culminate with an alternate costume for some lucky character.
Cygames also promises a quality of life change that shows connection quality during matchmaking, a new minigame for the online lobby, a new mode for Grand Bruise!, and “much, much more.” Fans can look forward to finding out what that means on August 20th when the patch goes live.
But That’s Not All!
In addition to the massive 1.5 update, Cygames also announced that Vikala would be joining the roster as the sixth and final Season 1 character. Vikala has been a highly-demanded character since the game’s launch, standing at the top of the Japanese character popularity polls. She’s one of the Twelve Divine Generals and the second one to be playable in Rising alongside Anila. Players can look forward to her joining the crew in October.
What’s potentially more exciting for the Western audience is that Sandalphon, the character that tops the American popularity poll, has been confirmed to be coming in Season 2. That he is the first character announced for the season should indicate that he will be the first up. As far as who else will be joining him in Season 2, it’s hard to even speculate as there are a mind-boggling number of characters in the Granblue universe. There are certainly core members of the Grandcypher that are conspicuously absent, namely: Io, Rakham, and Rosetta. Further members of the Eternals or more Divine Generals are certainly within the realm of possibility. Even Sturm and Drang could be worthy additions to the roster.
This is an exciting time for fans. Now that we know there’s not only going to be a massive update but also (at the very least) a second season, we know that this great game isn’t going anywhere for quite a while.
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