Recent reviews by embrace

Great action mecha game. if you like mechs, then this game is for you.

Story : 7/10

As most fromsoftware games be, the story is rich but the storytelling is very subtle through the environment, encounters, item descriptions, collections etc..

If you are an average player that don't bother to read every little things that they write out, then you will probably will miss out on most of the story. Well, you will end up watching vaatividya anyway to understand the story.

that aside, you can still understand most of the context and understand what you fighting for through normal gameplay.

The casts are amazing though. Even though they don't have faces that you can see, the voice acting is incredible that you can feel every emotion through their voice. You are able to connect with these characters and understand their personality through their voices alone, it's amazing!

The story is short, first playthrough took me only 20~ hours, and around 40 hours total for whole 3 playthrough (there's 3 endings). but different new game+ have some additional missions and branching decisions that you can choose, so it's not repetitive. Though some newgame+ playthrough, they just add more enemies, it's more artificial difficulty and annoying rather than fun.

Gameplay : 8/10

Gameplay is very good. I think the core gameplay of the game is building the perfect mech for you to overpower your enemy. With different leg types, weapons, bodies, it all dictates how you will play the game. Sometimes the missions/bosses require different type of gameplay. You might want to be very fast, or a very tanky mech, change the weapons a bit to maybe laser, or maybe guns etc, they all perform differently in different situations.

At some point of the game you might find a perfect build that can handle most of the bosses without changing ur build, but the payoff is that the gameplay is pretty much the same at that point. Of course learning your enemy is important but when you have that perfect build, sometimes it doesnt matter and it plays the same everytime. For example, when i have a build that lets me move very fast, i can just move at one direction and pretty much dodge most of the enemy attacks without thinking much. Whether you think that is good or bad, it's up to you. For me, the balance is good as i only have to change my build few times to unblock my progress.


Visuals : 8/10

Good. Not much to talk about, the mechs designs are amazing, despite most of the map being ruins, they managed to insert some colours that makes the environment pop and beautiful.

Music : 7/10

Some are good, few are amazing. but for the most part, they are okay. Can only think of 2 song that are amazing and memorable.

Summary :

It's a good game. If you are willing to play 3 playthrough, it will be around 40~ hours of gameplay. If you are fan of mech, i'd definitely recommend, though I would probably buy it on a discount.

Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a game that perfectly managed to capture the magic of Monster Hunter, combined with FF14, and tales of arise.

The combat gameplay and loop of Monster Hunter, the MMO-like raid mechanics of FF14, and the sense of party and teamwork in gameplay in tales of arise.


The story is at most a 5 or 6. It's acceptable enough for you to go through it without feeling bad. Cliche anime plot, no big plot twists, nothing too crazy. It's just to set the mood of the game so that you have something to aim or "fight" for. Thankfully the story is very short and pretty easy to go through.

However credit's where it's due, the cutscenes are done beautifully, the fights spectacle are great. Fortunately, the good part of the game starts after the story ends.


10/10 Graphics. Beautiful and unique artstyle. Blending in 2d painting and 3d, and yet they look seamless and pretty. VFX are beautiful, animations flow very smoothly from one another. E.G : gran's/djeeta feels very smooth and agile because of the animations. Siegried/vaseraga hits feels very impactful with every attacks hit. Animations are also very well telegraphed when determining the timing of the spells or attacks. example : narmaya charged attack, katalina ares attack, monsters attack. Not to mention the SBA animations that are beautifully crafted and captures every characters' personality really well.



One of the best part of the game imo. Characters are very unique, both in terms of gameplay and personalities. Most characters have very low ceiling but when you know the nuances of the game and the characters, they can get pretty complex. Some characters also have the ability to play other styles, example, katalina can be a glass cannon dps or a support healer/tank. Gran can be a dps or healer, buffer, debuff, tank.

Granblue managed to do what tales of arise failed to do. Characters interacting with each other in a party. In tales of arise, you can change between characters mid combat and also tell them to do some skills for certain situations. and if conditions are met, they can link together and do a special move. but these are still not enough and they still feel disconnected and doesnt really interact with each other.

Meanwhile in granblue, characters talk with each other. whenever you do a link attack, they have unique dialogues for certain characters, when you do a perfect dodge or guard, they compliment you, when you do a link attack, when you do SBA, they will follow up and pass to each others while saying their name. It really feels like it's a whole party that are connected with each other and actively cooperating together.

VA of the characters are also great. characters personality are conveyed perfectly, and adds to the spectacle of the fight when they are shouting their lines.


Maybe a 8/10. Music of the game are generally very good, some of them is OK but some of them are GREAT. Unique, conveys emotion and story, and great to listen to. Example, managamr theme, versa bahamut theme, furycane theme and also the training dummy theme ( yes the training theme is a banger too )

Really well done.


The best part of the game. While it starts slow at the start of the game, it's mainly because you were given gran/rosetta. At first these characters may seem slow or barebones, but as you learn and play through the game, animation cancelling spells by dodging can unlock the full potential of these characters. Gameplay of each characters are unique and distinct. Be a slow heavy hitting vaseraga, fast and mobile lancelot, invincible vane, mobile and very strong zeta, glass cannon IO, and much more. There's a playstyle for everyone. When you are bored with one characters, play the game with different characters can add a lot of replayability. Whenever i start playing another character, i never stopped saying "this will be my new main". This is the GBF version of MH weapon class.

The combat is 10/10. There's perfect parry, perfect dodge, posture etc. Guarding/dodging at the perfect time grants you invi buff and also reduces enemy posture. Certain sigils also grant you damage. When you do damage to enemy when they are overload, enough damage can break their posture and stun them in break mode where you do more damage.

There's also mini posture where it's affected by your "Stun" value. dealing stun damage fills this posture meter up and upon fill, your whole team can do a link attack where they dash to the boss and do an attack that deals a lot of damage. At the same time, also fills up each character's gauge, skip combo and fills up Link Time Gauge.

Link Time Gauge can be filled through various means but mainly through working each other. Posture damage, link attacks, SBA attacks, revive. Further encouraging players to cooperate with each other. When this gauge is full, activate a Link Time where the time is slowed for the enemy and players gain massive buff (damage, regen, cd reduce, crit chance). Essentially a burst mode for the whole party where they can go all out.

Doing actions, hitting enemies, link attacks all contribute to SBA(Skybound Art) gauge. Essentially this is like LB if you play ffxiv or it's an ultimate ability. Casting it will deal a lot of damage to the enemy and at the same time will stun them in process. It will also freeze the timer, if the boss is casting a spell. IF, players cast them one after another, it gets stronger and will stun the boss longer. When at least 2 players do at the same time, it will activate a chain burst where it will deal additional damage and stun the boss.

Bosses are also very well designed and telegraphed. Just like in FFXIV, you can see the aoe markers on the ground before they hit. Especially some end game bosses (not looking at you pyet or any nihillas). End game bosses hits hard if you dont have any defensive sigils, and also have a pretty high hp. Or you can just perfect dodge/parry everything and become invincible. While having high hp is important, some bosses also have a dps check at certain points. They also have enrage timer. if you dont pass the dps check, you just die instantly. You can also use Link Time or SBA to slow/stop the enrage timer. Which in turn, you can strategize and save them specifically to pass these dps checks. And at the right timing and scenario, using SBA to finish off the boss is the most cinematic way you can end the fight, which adds to the spectacle of it.

Some endgame bosses are annoying bullet hell mechanics, but they are still great. Looking forward to lucilius.


(im reaching the words limit so gonna cut off some stuff)

50/50 on the gameplay loop. It's great but also a bit annoying at some parts.

Good at beginning but can get bad at the end with weapon farming and sigils farming.

Weapon have a really low drop rate and are randomed with each characters. (still no narmaya terminus)
Sigils transmute/ curious are also crazy RNG. If you really want to min max, it takes a lot of time. But really you dont NEED them.


Low sigils build variety due to damage cap. Can easily be solved by reducing damage sigils max level and damage cap.
Ends up everyone just build damage since you can skip mechanics and do boss faster with it. Some bosses will also feel unbalanced and too easy if the damage is too high. Because of how the sigils are designed, it's harder to balance the damage output of players while giving them freedom of build variety.

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All in all, I give this game a good 8.5/10.

Mid story, Perfect combat gameplay, Great Graphics and music, Good gameplay loop.

If you like MH, FFXIV, tales. This is the game that you can play to scratch the itch while waiting for MHWilds.

Also plays perfectly on steamdeck

Monster Hunter Rise is probably the most fun gameplay wise among all monster hunter. With addition like wirebug, it opens up a lot of flexibility in terms of gameplay style. No longer one weapon have to play a certain style. If you feel like greatsword charging is too slow, change to surge combo style. While it can't be denied that some playstyle is better than others in terms of speed or strength, it's not to the point that only one playstyle is viable to be used.

Story wise, well... it's better than others too though the bar is set really low. Monster hunter is never about the story though it can benefit greatly if it's there. The huge difference from previous titles would be the addition of followers. NPCs have names and unique personalities, instead of just "NPC" that are addressed by their roles. This makes it a lot more enjoyable whenever the npc appear in the story or quest. Remember MHW handler? yeah, not really a good one.

One of my favorites addition is probably the ability to hunt with your followers. The thing about playing online is, it's a bit frustrating when you or your ally fainted, especially when the boss can one shot you. With this feature, you can play solo while also enjoy company from your followers that each have their own unique personalities and also playstyle.

On the topic of monster roster. Compared to MHW, it doesn't add much to the list. But it did bring back a some of fan favorites. Valstrax, the magalas, nargacuga, mizutsune. Overall monsters gameplay design is designed really well though there is exists some move that is too fast while also deals a bit too much damage ( result of gameplay becoming more counter oriented )

Now to the not so good part.

Graphics is a downgrade from MHW. For obvious reasons, it was designed for switch and then ported to PC. Well im grateful they even manage to port to PC at all this time.

Lobby maximum capacity is 4 only. Compared to MHW, it was 16. While every quest you can only bring 4 person, it loses that sense of community that MHW had with 16 people. I still remember we used to have 16 people in a discord vc, even though we're on the different quests, we still talk to each other, It was really lively. That thing is gone now with MHR. Not to mention there's no quest such as safii jiiva that encourages people to play together. Every quest can be done solo. While it's a good thing that it can be done solo, quest that encourages these teamplay is important for the game longevity. Compared to MHW ( 1000+ hrs playtime ) i find myself playing MHR a lot less ( 357 hrs )

Conclusion.
i enjoyed my time playing MHR. I get to fight mizutsune, valstrax after years of only seeing it released on handheld MH titles. Wirebug mechanics are really fun, being able to change playstyle on the fly is amazing. Followers quest is fun and enjoyable, especially with NPCs that are actually interesting this time. I hope for the next MH title, they design it for PC. MHW is a living proof that PC MH title is the way to go.

works exactly as you would think it would work. just open the software, all the setup is done automatically, restart the PC, and you got your own soundboard! Its easy to add new audio aswell, just drag and drop the file ( mp3 / mp4 also works )

can preview the audio on your mic only, headphone only, or even both. audio can also be set to a key for easy access. all and all, easy to use and works as intended.

Innovative gameplay and soundtrack are really great

good game.

Poof ur life is gone now

Dragon's Fury wak lu

Make sure to get ur friends and mic , then have fun