First Impressions: Granblue Fantasy x Code Geass: The Blue Reckoning

Arguably the most anticipated collaboration of the year for Granblue Fantasy (from here on shortened to GBF), Code Geass joins the ranks of other series such as Cardcaptor Sakura, Persona 5, and Princess Connect (another Cygames title) in the hall of collab fame.

Disclaimer: I have not seen much of Code Geass besides the very last episode and I personally don’t plan on watching it because I’m not a fan of mecha anime or the whole noodle people character design. I do love GBF though and think that this collab will be really good for the game.

The Story

Two strange dishes of pasta get isekai’d and the first thing your character does is welcome them and their giant robot onto your airship and make them cook for you. In hindsight, I really should have at least done some minor research into Code Geass…

I am kind of bothered with how intelligent Lelouch is, it gives me Death Note vibes where both Light and L were doing their mental gymnastics and it just made it so uninteresting to read. Kallen seems cool so far; loyal, hardworking, but not too much else. Suzaku on the other hand… why is his pose so… interesting? Does he really need to be cheeks out facing you like that?

There’s someone running around pretending to be Zero and committing murders to tarnish his name. Lelouch figures out that he has Nunnally held hostage which really grinds his gears and I think this is the big motivation for him. Lelouch is seemingly very open with his secret identity being Zero basically dropping that bomb once he sees people from his own world. They locate the base where she’s being kept and siege it with their cool mechs, previewing the playable characters introduced this event.

We’re supposed to believe that Lelouch is some kind of tactical mastermind but he’s mostly just sitting on the sidelines talking to himself and his green-haired girlfriend. The big bad poisons his sister demands that Lelouch pays for his crimes, and it’s all very cliche and disappointing. Some of my friends have said that the Code Geass characters aren’t written true to themselves which could play into the lackluster story.

Part 2 will be released on the 19th so I will update this review once it does. Lelouch will also be available as a playable character marking this event as the second one featuring three SSR units. Hopefully, the rest of the story is more interesting than what we’ve seen thus far.

Part 2 of the event really helped a lot with the story; it actually felt like the conflicts mattered and you were able to see Lelouch using his Geass and wit. The identity of the fake Zero is revealed to be Delfina Angell, a girl from Lelouch’s world who also has a Geass ability that lets her read people’s minds. Lelouch concocts a plan to draw Delfina into a meeting through spreading a fake virus with his Geass. He has surmised the nature of her ability and uses that against her to force her right into his trap.

Through clever use of his Geass and the help of the team, Lelouch is able to retrieve the cure to Nunnally’s virus and corner Delfina. Delfina calls on Magnesia to aid in her defeating you and the Knightmare Frames but Lelouch has already thought of a counter measure to Magnesia’s control over magnetic fields. In a shocking ending, Lelouch decides to fire his Hadron Cannon at both Delfina and the teleportation device that would allow him and his friends to return to their own world. The event ends with the noodle humans joining our crew and your group planning a lovely trip to the islands of the skydom.

I never thought I would watch Code Geass but if anything can convince me, it’s definitely Granblue. After finishing the event story I am curious of what actually happens in their universe. I’ve become used to their elongated anatomy and Geass just seems really sick. I only roughly remember the ending to the series so hopefully that won’t ruin the experience for me. To all my friends I made fun of for watching Code Geass and my cousin who forced me to watch the last episode, you won in the end.

Note: Even if the story is lacking, the art done for this collab event is undeniably incredible. Shown below are the uncap artworks for Kallen and Suzaku (Lelouch once he is added) and C.C.’s summon. These collab characters boast some of the coolest and most dynamic artwork in GBF and I hope they continue this trend for future units.

Gameplay Elements

The event itself is another trade in style where you farm materials for the rewards in the event shop ranging from pots to a new wind SSR, Suzaku. I highly recommend farming enough to grab all of the draw tickets, damascus crystals, and arcarum points. If you like farming then snag yourself the rings, half elixirs, and C.C.’s for extra quartz.

Kallen is a melee specialty fire attacker with some nice utility from gravity and blind as well as passive charge attack boosts and echoes making her a powerful free unit. She boasts an impressive set of EMPs with 3 crit nodes, a charge attack cap node, and three multi-attack nodes. Her melee specialty gives her ultima viability since Fire has plenty of good melee units already. A pretty simple but effective character that newer players will definitely be thankful for.

Next, we can purchase Suzaku from the event shop to add a sword and melee specialty tank/attacker to our lineup of wind units. His jammed buff is on the lower end of duration with only 3 turns but this plays well with “Geass of Absolute Obedience”. Suzaku turns into a monster with boosted specs across the board and the inability to take damage or be debuffed once his Geass becomes active. His EMP nodes are slightly less impressive than Kallens but definitely nothing to laugh at.

And finally we have Lelouch joining the team as a gun specialty dark buffer. The highlights to his kit are his unremovable buff granted by “Druid System” and his stamina passive “Leader of the Black Knights”. The values of his stamina buff passive are currently unknown but it is always nice to see more stamina options in the enmity element of dark. Unfortunately the main character of this collab has the worst EMPs of the three with nothing really to write home about. I’m looking forward to trying out Lelouch the most because of his compatibility with Doctor and ultima gun.

A lot of people will be upset that C.C. was made into a summon and not a playable character but… What exactly does she do besides sass Lelouch and eat pizza? I know she’s some kind of witch or something but really though what does she do…

For an event summon, C.C. is actually pretty great; uncapping her to 4* grants you 50% Charge Attack Damage Up (1 time), a 2000 point shield, and 20% charge bar on call. Her stats are pretty low since she is a farmable summon but she’ll be a big help nonetheless.