グランブルーファンタジー, Guranburū Fantajī

A role-playing video game developed by Cygames for Android and iOS platforms, and released in Japan in March 2014, and in North America in April 2016. Notable for bringing in the talents of musical composer Nobuo Uematsu and character designer Hideo Minaba who worked on Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy IX, and Lost Odyssey. Currently plans are in the works to develop the franchise into an animated series sometime in 2016 or beyond. Currently there is also a series of Light Novels based on the franchise.

Gameplay

The gameplay unfolds in a standard RPG format of turn based combat. As characters battle and gain experience they gain access to new abilities and summons, an integrated class system allows for characters to branch to specific skills. New characters are unlocked via special quests in the main story, event based quests, or by spending in-game currency on shards to unlock them. Characters, their weapons, and summons follow a ranking system to determine their strength. From best to worst: SSR, SR, R, and N. Each character also has an associated elemental type: Wind, Water, Fire, Earth, Light or Darkness.

Characterization

Character races are split into 4 major races: Draph, Erune, Human and Harvin. The Human and Harvin species are primarily all humanoid, with the Harvin occassionally showing splashes of elven or demonic heritage. Draph and Erune can be subdivided further by in game characteristics such as horns and animal ears.