We unhappy few.

There’s a certain frustration in seeing a game not live up to its potential that differs from one that is just plain bad. Whether through inexperience or lack of budget, a terrible game can be written off and forgotten about, with perhaps its only redeeming qualities being a good showcase in what not to do. A game that at its very core is fun and exciting to play, yet is brought down by a myriad of other reasons is so annoying because you want to like it, but just quite can’t. Enter Granblue Fantasy Versus, a joint Cygames and Arc System Works title based on the Granblue Fantasy IP, which has proved popular in Japan.

In an interview, creative director Tetsuya Fukuhara stated that he wanted Versus to introduce Western audiences to the world of Granblue, a goal that it is arguably failing at. And it’s not because of a shortage of effort either, Versus looks incredible, and the whole thing screams high production. Animations are slick, the world is vibrant and colourful, and the cinematic supers are guaranteed to catch the eye. Riding off the success of Dragon Ball FighterZ, you would think that the online community would be just as big if not bigger considering it was the hot new release from a beloved developer – yet, this is not the case.

I can’t speak as to what it was like during launch, but about half a year in and Versus’ lobbies are pretty much a wasteland, with only the Japan servers seeing consistent activity. So why is a 2020 game less populated than fighters that came out years ago? I can only speculate as to why, but I think the woes of Versus started when it announced its roster, or to be more precise, its roster number. With only 11 fighters in the base game, it was hardly packed but what did them no favours whatsoever was announcing DLC characters before even the launch of the game. The problem here is perception. Versus was always going to have characters added, but the publisher announcing that it wants more of your money on top of buying an already malnourished game, likely turned some people off.

I guess hopes rested with that RPG mode, but do I really have to tell you that the story part of an Arcs System Works game isn’t worth your time? Outside a few admittedly impressive boss fights, the RPG mode is a boring grind that is only worth suffering through to unlock weapon skins, character colours and the 12th fighter to add to the meagre collection. Online is where people are going to put their time in, and this is where the most notable issue will crop up: delay-based netcode. For those not in the know, delay-based netcode is suitable for connections that are close to each other, but not so much when you want to play someone over longer distances. A match against someone outside my country can sometimes feel like playing underwater, as we slowly push through the delay to begin the arduous task of hitting each other.

Rollback netcode on the other hand can handle these further connections better, but many Japanese developed fighters still don’t make use of it. Rollback isn’t the magic silver bullet that will solve lag forever, but it’s what Versus’ online sorely needs. As it stands now, there are parts of the community that just can’t have decent matches with each other, which in turn discourages people from continuing to play, which in turn causes the Versus’ population to shrink.

But games with bad netcode still manage to pull in an audience such as Tekken 7 and FighterZ, so what happen to Versus? As you’d imagine, Granblue doesn’t have the franchise clout to make it big in the West on its own, so a large marketing push was essential to get eyes on it. With the world in the grip of a global pandemic, offline events were off the table, and with the netcode as it is, online events had to be small in scale. Evo 2020 was likely going to be Versus’ time to shine but I’m sure you know how that all ended. The pandemic has also affected the release of updates, and given how Versus wasn’t exactly bursting with content to begin with, it runs the risk of becoming stale quickly.

So why is Versus a game worth playing at all? For starters, it has an interesting way of dealing with inputs, dividing them into two types: easy and technical. Technical types are your standard z-motions, charge moves, full-circle inputs and so on, but then you have the easy types which usually only require a button press and a direction. At first, I thought it was strange having two types, why not just go with one or the other? But as I played, I realised that it adds depth to Versus, with both types offering their own advantages and disadvantages.

Easy inputs are always faster, meaning you can do them in situations where timing is going to be very tight, but a long cooldown means you can be left without important tools during critical moments. Technical inputs will have faster cooldowns as well as various other advantages depending on the move, but these inputs are slower to perform, meaning they are riskier. The easy inputs can also act as a stepping stone for beginners, as they learn combos with their fighter of choice, they can begin attempting the more difficult motions as time goes on. But a truly good player will know when to utilise the easy or technical input depending on the situation.

Versus is also a huge shift from the hyper-fast FighterZ, and is far less systems heavy when compared to Guilty Gear Xrd. There is a focus on a slower and simpler kind of play, though one unique aspect that I mentioned earlier is how special moves are on cooldowns. Using the fancier version of the move will increase that cooldown time, meaning you won’t be able to use it at all until it recharges. So say that your opponent tries to anti-air with an EX uppercut but misses, this means for a short time you know that your jump-ins are going to be safe – well, safer. The spot dodge and forward dash are also an extremely fun pair of mechanics, giving you a small window of opportunity to escape from an adversaries assault. The dash can slip past projectiles to gain ground, and spot dodging a super is perhaps one of the most gratifying things I’ve done in a fighting game.

Versus should be an easy recommend to those looking to get into the genre, but then I remember all those lobbies playing host to no one. I’m not saying it’s impossible to find a match, and I wouldn’t call the online completely dead, but just be prepared to fight the same people over and over again. And with such a small amount of players, the skill curve is very steep considering the lack of beginners. Hopefully the second season of DLC will attract people back, and maybe Versus will appear on PS Plus along with a deep Steam discount at some point to bring in some fresh faces. But as it stands now, for as much as I like it, I really don’t blame people for giving Versus a miss.