Cygames revealed new information about the Granblue Fantasy Versus series at Anime Expo 2023 on July 3. The company has announced that a “partner” system is to be introduced in the newest title.

Granblue Fantasy Versus is a 2D fighting game produced by Cygames and developed by Arc System Works based on Cygames’ mobile RPG Granblue Fantasy. The new title brings over many of the characters from Granblue Fantasy as battles unfold. A new version of Granblue Fantasy Versus, titled Granblue Fantasy Versus -Rising-, is currently in the making.

Apparently, one addition to the Granblue Fantasy Versus series is going to be “partners.” This is a system designed for players who find themselves struggling with loneliness as they spiral into battle. It consists of the player choosing a character that will encourage them, cheer them up or give them advice depending on the result of a battle. In the image attached in the official post, Tetsuya Fukuhara, the director of the game himself, is shown holding his head in despair, probably suffering the frustration of defeat. But there comes Narmaya, urging him to calm down. In competitive games, especially fighting games, the stress of bitter defeat can be overwhelming, which is why this assist function is being introduced as a way to help ease and comfort broken players.

I LOST AGAIN?! BUT I WAS BETTER—GRAH!!11!!

Sound familiar? Partners are here to help ease your battle tension! Your favorite characters from GBVSR will cheer, support, and advise you through your most glorious of W's and most bitter of L's!#GBVS #GBVSR #AX2023 pic.twitter.com/DhiOdmzZbH
— GBVS/Granblue Fantasy Versus (@gbvs_official) July 3, 2023

In fact, the introduction of a system dedicated to those defeated in battle has been under consideration for some time: in an interview with the game’s development team members Tetsuya Fukuhara and Kazuto Sekine conducted by our Japanese site in March 2022, both members mentioned wanting to do something about the bitterness of losing. The partner system being introduced now is likely one of the development team’s solutions to this challenge. It will be interesting to see how many advice patterns are actually prepared and how effective they will be.

Following the announcement, users are reacting positively to the future feature, finding amusement in imagining what kind of encouraging messages are going to come out of characters such as Belial and Beelzebub.

Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is scheduled for release in 2023 for PlayStation 4/PlayStation 5/PC (Steam).

Written by. Amber V based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2023-07-03 12:17 JST)