Let me start this off by saying that this is coming from the perspective of a GBF veteran of 8 years, as I have played the gacha version ever since 2016, so I apologize for any bit of bias here and there.
Now, let's begin with the one thing, the story.
The pace and structure of the story remind me a lot of the anniversary events of Granblue Fantasy. A somewhat slow, but meaningful start that already sets the tone for how things are, with the middle part being that of mostly information and a bit of worldbuilding with nothing really flashy, to the end where everything starts to come together and really show itself. So understandably, some parts might seem a bit drawn out and all, but not to a point that it just kills things.
Now, I will say that the story itself, in the eyes of a majority of folk, would be nothing to write home about. But those who are Granblue Fantasy fans would really come to enjoy it and the characters it introduces. I wish I could say more, but not without spoiling things.
For those who say that the game expects you to know the characters, it's both true and false. Yes, characters like the main crew an do have the air of familiarity and some stuff mentioned is really for those who've played the gacha, but Cygames did implement the Fate episodes feature. They're basically mini stories that give you background information on the character and even shows you how they develop as they face circumstances in the new skydom.
Moving onto the graphics... Wow, just, wow. The graphics of this game are absolutely beautiful. Actually being able to see how the environments are supposed to be in 3D and how the characters interact with it is rather surreal. Sometimes you really can't help but to stop and just take in the surroundings and realize just how far Cygames has come with Granblue Fantasy.
The gameplay is pretty simple on the surface; you have skills, an attack, a jump, a dodge, and block. You also have potions to use via the directional pad on your controller, and you also have four skills to use, which can either damage the opponent, buff you and your allies, or debuff the opponent. And you don't have to play as the Main Character, as there are 5 others you can try out, and more you can recruit as you progress the story and do some quests, which means there's variety to choose from.
However, where things get interesting is in the Mastery system. It's basically Granblue's equivelant of a skill and trait tree, where you spend your Mastery points (skill points), and unlock nodes in either an Attack or Defense tree, unlocking more skills to use while also increasing your stats. When you hit a certain level, you unlock Over Mastery, which gives you even more stat boosts, albeit at random, so you do need to spend quite a bit of mastery points.
There's also the blacksmith, in which you can upgrade weapons, craft new weapons, and imbue traits into them. You can also upgrade items known as Sigils, which are like bonus traits that can do a variety of things, ranging from basic stuff like flat damage bonuses and giving more damage based on how much health you have, to things like letting you dodge more often, or even making it so you're always superior in element to an enemy.
Moving on to the quests, this is where things get more Monster Hunter-like. You have a variety of quests to pick from, like Survival, Defense, Conquest, or even the usual Boss fights. It's where you're going to be spending the rest of your time playing the game once you finish the story. However, you don't have to take the quests on alone, at least when doing Hard and above. When you select a quest, you do have the option of either matching up with other players, or going at it alone with your own party. Things do get pretty difficulty, and some fights are pretty questionable, but those are few in comparison to the others that are very enjoyable.
All in all, if you're a fan of Granblue Fantasy, then you can definitely pick this up.
If you're a fan of action RPGs and also need something that can scratch the Monster Hunter itch while waiting for the next game, then you can definitely give this a try. The game does have a demo on the PS Store, so check it out first to decide if you want to get the game or not.