I shared my thoughts on the Blue Protocol Closed Network Test a couple of months ago and there were some serious concerns that players raised. The drop rates of materials were the number one complaint and the developers were quick to acknowledge the issue and promised fixes. With the game finally releasing in Japan, I managed to get into the game and am pleased to see the amount of progress the game has made.
The Game Still Needs Considerable Improvements
The enemy AI left a lot to be desired and it felt like some of the enemies just stood like sitting ducks while you used your abilities and took them out. While the gameplay was fun, it lacked challenge and this enemy AI issue was mostly present in the open world. Compared to the previous Closed Network Test, things feel a lot better but there is still room for improvement.
Questing has seen no changes compared to my previous experience with the game and it feels terrible trying to get materials from enemies to complete quests. It is very difficult to get drops and if you are planning to craft items, you can get really unlucky.
This is something that Blue Protocol Development Director Fukuzaki addressed in the past and the developers are aware of the issue. It does not seem like the drop rates have been improved much yet and we can expect things to change for the better. In Bandai Namco’s defense, Fukuzaki did say in the official announcement that some of the issues might not be fixed at launch and we can expect the issues to be addressed via post-launch updates.
Things like the Adventure Board and leveling system have improved tremendously. I had major gripes with how the leveling system felt and it is leagues ahead of what it used to be two months ago.
The core gameplay itself is fantastic and most of the classes feel great to play. Spellweaver and Keenstrider were the two classes that did not stand out to me but endgame builds may change that perspective. I went with a Twinstriker, which is a dual-wielding DPS class that feels fantastic to play because of the fast attack animations.
In terms of performance, I faced zero issues in the Closed Network Test and things ran great in the Japanese version of the game. There were plenty of login issues on the launch day which forced me to wait it out until the servers stabilized but things have been smooth lately.
A Breakdown of the Monetization System
While the monetization is mostly cosmetic, there are purchasable gameplay items. There is also a gacha system in place for cosmetics which is a strange decision but considering how successful gacha games are, it is not a surprise. Let’s go over all of the monetization systems that are in place at the moment. It should be noted, however, that this reflects the Japanese version, how the Western shop will materialize still remains to be seen.
Item Shop: You can purchase skins, reward tickets, affix tickets, quest tickets, stamina items, potions, and more. Most of my translations from Japanese were through Google Lens so I might be wrong on some of these items. I am not sure how easily some of the gameplay-affecting items are available to free-to-play players. The skins cost around $30 USD which is pretty steep.
Gacha: The gacha system features banners and mounts and you get a “gift” every 10 pulls. To put things into monetary value. You get 520 Orbs for around $30 USD and it costs 50 Orbs to do a single pull. An 11-roll costs 500 which is what most players will deviate toward.
BPP Points Shop: You can get BPP points by rolling on the gacha banners and leveling the battle pass. I am not aware of any additional sources of BPP Points yet. You can spend these points to get items.
Battle Pass: The paid battle pass has a few boost items which is concerning. One thing that I need to point out is that the battle pass has a discount coupon at the very end so completing it can make things cheaper.
The Global Launch is a Massive Elephant in the Room
Lost Ark publisher Smilegate is working on the Korean version of the game, which will release later this year. Cayenne Tech is responsible for the Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau release of the game and it will be bringing the game to the three regions by Summer 2023. But the English version of the game will not be available until 2024. It has left some players concerned and unhappy with Amazon Games’ handling of the game.
To play devil’s advocate, we don’t know what caused the delay and if Amazon Games is truly at fault here, but it truly feels like players who are waiting for the English version of the game got the short end of the stick. Even if the game launches in January 2024, which is the earliest we can expect the MMO, we would still be six months behind Japan and this leads to a problem.
Related:
Here's How To Get Started On Blue Protocol's Japanese Servers
WARNING: If you are planning to try out the game on a different server, expect to get banned. Xigncode 3 is a program that has been deployed by multiple MMOs over the years and it is reportedly present in Blue Protocol as well. The game is detecting VPN usage and foreign IPs are getting flagged so your time on a foreign server may be short-lived if you are trying to play unofficially.
Blue Protocol’s Western Delay Has Left Us in a Weird Spot
At its core, Blue Protocol feels great. The gameplay is great and the improvements to the AI and loot were much-needed. But the global release’s delay may have a negative impact on the game, or it might not matter at all. What concerns me more than the delay is the monetization. To get a fair view of the monetization we should wait for the global beta which will release later this year to have a better understanding of how things work.
The silver lining is that we might get a more polished experience when the English version of the game is released. With us being several months behind, we may get plenty of fixes and improvements that are not available in the current versions of the game. But it does feel disappointing to watch several regions experience an MMO while we wait with no definitive release date in sight.
