Blue Protocol (PC) - Action RPG

[Kachiko]

M ratings are a tough sell in the game market rather similarly to movies. Even though it's adults with the buying power, companies still feel that including children and teens can lead to greater profits. Short of something being more stylized for adults from the ground up, it's probably the safest move overall. Granted, MMOs need to overcome their monotony issue and an anime aesthetic isn't really the winning ticket to that. And whether some agree or not, the sexualization of minor-presenting characters common within anime is a problem, thousand year old loli and similar workarounds or not. Targeting jiggle physics (and probably keeping bust sizes restricted) is just your typical right-wing puritanical nonsense, though.

Yeah...nobody is complaining in any way about anything regarding anime graphics and jiggle physics, and removing the "loli" type character just hits female players as they tend to be the ones playing those characters. Take Lost Ark as an example. What's happening here is Amazon Corp seeing "Cartoon" game and saying to take out the "bad" stuff cause cartoon games are for kids. It's what happens when people that know nothing abut the culture of gaming get to make decisions.

[Bombur]

This morning Bandai had another stream.

https://www.youtube.com/live/3kIecKDGIiI?feature=share


TL/DR version

Blitz Lancer release

Retroactive progress for Adventure board

You can gather while mounting (changes to Mount movement will be changed on October's patch)

New event with points (similar to the summer one)

Gacha banner (Maid themed + weapons)

New added items to the Raid currency shop

New Survey and Advanced Survey (Dungeons)

New TA and Score Attack

2 New Free-exploration surveys

3 New named enemies + Battle imajins

Balance changes to all classes + changes to Aegis's agro

Nerf to staggering enemies as Spellweaver

New Season Pass (Costume, e-imajin recipe at Lv40)


*The new event is a maid cafe area, where people can gather. New banners in the Gatcha shop will have slutty maid costumes.

[Bombur]

Bandai devs showed off the new Bliz Lancer, doing one of the lvl 50 instance dungeons.

[Bombur]

Bandai has a huge booth at TGS, and has been promoting tons of BP stuff, throughout the show. Tons of new info coming to the game.


Part 1



This was mostly feedback from all the criticisms the devs have been getting about the game, and how they are listening.

Long Version

Spoiler: show

[11:07] Please improve ui
Various elements will take longer than others depending on design and complexity, so some things may be prioritized first. A big one is having to reopen the menus when changing weapons, so that will be looked at.

[12:09] Please add high difficulty/end game content
Currently in development; once a release date is decided it will be announced. We think of end game content as a place for players to utilize the skills, playstyles, and weapons that they've developed while playing the game. Not only end game, but we're preparing various types of content, we'll touch on it a bit during the roadmap section.

[13:09] Please improve how images and information is presented overall in the livestreams
Starting today, we've prepared videos for gameplay demonstrations, and questions received on stream will be answered at a later date. For live gameplay, some of us will play while others will talk about what's happening on screen to avoid awkward silences. We've also made slight changes on how we present information in the slideshows.

[13:57] Please let us equip more skills
We've decided the direction we're taking with this and will show it a bit later in the stream during the update roadmap.

[14:33] Please let us change classes outside of town
This feature is mostly requested to be added to camps and villages. We're currently considering adding the ability to change classes while anywhere in a field, including at camps and in free exploration dungeons. Of course, there will be some restrictions such as not being able to change while in combat, as well as some other work that needs to be done, so it will take some time but we will update you on this later.

[15:55] Please let us start missions (dungeons) with fewer people
We're considering allowing the mission to start even if there aren't 6 people. It would allow a party to begin a mission with a few people, and other players could join mid-run. (The feature for joining mid-run already exists, but matchmaking and starting the dungeon with < 6 is not currently possible).

[16:30] Please change the gacha's 'Random Box' to a 'Selection Box'
This will be implemented in the September 20 patch, so at 110 and 220 pulls, players will get a box to select their desired set. Dye boxes will also have their rank reduced, consequently raising the chance of obtaining them. Additionally, Healing Aroma will be removed, and Mount Drive potions (reduced stamina usage) will be changed to Mount Infinite Drive potions (0 stamina usage). Items will have their rates adjusted, but the percentage of Ranks will be adjusted. The selection boxes that were only given at 110 and 220 pulls are now given every 110 pulls. Finally, in response to changing the random boxes to selection boxes, the BPP store will now contain ALL past gasha banner selection boxes (I believe this means S rank only, so the A rank accessories will not be added).

Future updates to gacha are also planned; one big change is that items obtained by using gacha tickets will be ineligible to be converted into BPP. This is so that gacha tickets will be easier to give out as event and milestone rewards, while avoiding possible exploits (such as the level up event abuse that happened at the game launch). For example, if we add gacha tickets as a reward for completing a specific adventure board, it will be retroactively rewarded to players who already completed it--these are the types of places we want to add gacha tickets.

Additionally, we're looking at things like duplicate items, number of pulls for pity (does not specify if he meant the 10/20/30 pulls emotes, or the 110 pull selection boxes), and rewards/"points" for number of pulls. We'll touch upon the details on the official site or on twitter when a date is decided.

[21:51] Roadmap

October update:

Chapter 4

Survey: Bernhart Castle Underground Waterway (Additional Survey), Drava Royal Institute (Additional Survey), Alston Mine (Additional Survey), Sopra's Trailway (Survey), Kartoum's Sandway (Additional Survey)

Advanced Survey: Valley of Machines, Borome Ruins

Field: West Bernhart Peninsula, Insect Fortress (Free Exploration), Spirit's Den (Free Exploration)

Arena: Rush Battle Stage 5, Ex Rush Stage 2 - Stone Titan

Raid: Boisterous Orochi - Sandbug Invasion

Time Attack: Chained One's Spawnery

Score Attack: Insect Fortress (Rerun)

Continuous Tower: Training Ruins (added floors)

Other: Level Cap Increase, Season Pass Season 3 start



[23:31] November update:

Survey: Castonoire Ruins (Survey)

Advanced Survey: Bernhart Castle Underground Waterway

Field: Thieves' Falls (Free Exploration), Yellowsand Cove (Free Exploration)

Arena: Ex Rush Stage 2 - Sneak Snake

Raid: Void's Island - Field Dragon's Assault

Time Attack: Sopra's Trailway, Dragonclaw Valley (Rerun)

Score Attack: Pillar of Divinity

Other: New Palette System

December update:

Survey: The Lost Arsenal (Survey)

Advanced Survey: Giant Tower Ruins

Field: Old Sunset Road (Free Exploration), Castonoire Ruins (Free Exploration)

Arena: Ex Rush Stage 2 - Violent Storm

Time Attack: Candlemere Tomb

Score Attack: Soundless City, Borome Ruins (Rerun)

Other: Defensive Battle (18-players, defend Asterliese gate), Limit Break System,
Season Pass Season 4 start

[24:06] New Palette System & Defensive Battle game mode
In regards to the new palette system, players can swap between two loadouts of 4 skills each. The November update will only handle the skills--no extra Battle Imagine slots yet, but it is planned.

For the Defensive Battle, there is a barrier with HP that enemies will attack. This is not the "High Difficulty/End Game" content referred to earlier--Defensive Battle is separate feature. We'll show more on this as we approach November.

[26:53] Limit Break System
This system allows you to further upgrade weapons and battle imagine by consuming duplicates, adding a +1 by its name. Battle Imagine have additional effects on their skills at +5.

When limit breaking weapons, the weapon with the most slots is set as the target weapon, and the other weapon is consumed as a material. Between the two weapons, you can freely choose which weapon's Special Effect and Plugs you want to keep. (Basically you can use this to reroll into a specific Special Effect and/or transfer Plugs). With each limit break, the stats of the weapon also increase. (The weapon shown on screen had a maximum of 5 limit breaks).

[29:57] September 20 Update

Survey: Candlemere Tomb (Survey)

Advanced Survey: Sanctuary of Blessings

Field: Valley of Machines (Free Exploration), Roseblush Woods (Free Exploration)

Arena: Ex Rush Stage 1 - Threestep Shadow

Raid: Void's Island - Thunder Dragon

Time Attack: Sanctuary of Blessings

Score Attack: Reikrid Tunnels

3 Named Enemies

Other: Raid Boss Battle Imagine

The Flare Demidragon Battle Imagine will be obtainable through the September monthly event; in addition to its active attack skill, it has another skill "Dragon's Contract": long-press the battle imagine button to get the buffs Attack Up (Medium), Movement Speed Up (Large), Stamina Recovery Up, and your jump height will be the same as when you're not in combat. As shown in the video, your dodge distance is increased by the movement speed increase.

[33:09] Monthly Event: Tricky Sweets
September 20 to October 25
Can obtain Flare Demidragon Battle Imagine, Smiling Pumpkin Eyemask, Laughing Lantern Cape, Giant Cat Paw gloves..

[33:49] September Gacha is Halloween themed. Outfits, Mount, and Emotes from 10x/20x pull rewards are shown.

[37:51] Blue Protocol Tokyo Game Show Exhibit
The Booth will have a photo corner, and finding the Happy Nappo will win you a limited edition novelty reward such as a random Class Emblem Pin (real gacha lol) or Einrain Stamp T-shirt. They will have life-sized weapons from in game to take pictures with. There will also be a lottery on twitter for the same rewards. The girl that appears in the gacha pull animation is named Tia, and will also be at the booth.

TL/DR version

-they said that more "difficult" content is planned, among other contents that aren't difficult

-unlimited mount stamina planned

-change class outside of cities planned

-gacha guarantee will be changed from random box to selection box

-plans to give more free spins such as free spins from adventure boards and events and adjust bpp store to make free spins not abuseable

-chapter 4 and level cap increase in October

-8 skills in November (You will now be able to put 8 skills on your skill bar, instead of 4)

-new content "game mode" where you defend monsters from attacking the city in December. (FFXI Besieged)

-new added weapon grind where you can further upgrade a weapon up to +5 (you will consume a copy of the same weapon to inherit its stuffs) in December

[Bombur]

Next is Part 2

Part 2 was shown during the Bandai showcase. It starts at the 2 hour mark, and goes on for 30 mins. The new 30 man raid boss is shown at the 2 hr 25 min mark.



- Console release (JP) in Winter 2023 Winter release for consoles (PS5, Xbox Series X|S).

Includes cross-play (play with players on different platforms) and cross-save (use same account on multiple devices). Updates will be released for all platforms simultaneously. PlayStation users can link their PlayStation account to their Bandai Namco ID. Exact date will be announced later.


- New areas and dungeons shown

Kanaloa Village, Bernhardt Castle Outskirts, Kartoum's Sandway, Drava Royal Institute.

The Bernhardt Peninsula shows remains of being the frontline against the battle against dragonkin. Lots of mechanical enemies.

- Max level increased from 50 to 60. Skill levels increased from 3 to 4 (G3 to G4), including basic attacks.

In general, with a chapter update a new region will be released along with an increase to the level cap. Newer areas will boast stronger enemies, and existing content will be expanded for higher levels (endless tower, rush battle). (Preview of the new weapon graphics).

The current hardest endless tower dungeon will have 5 more floors added, with more rewards of course--gacha tickets and a nappo hat [38:30]. Make sure to give it a try and look for the hints that can help you clear floors faster!

- New raid boss: Desert Eater

- Other

Defeat the Gold and Silver Nappos to receive special rewards such as a large amount of EXP, headwear (gold or silver nappo hat), and beauty salon tickets.

New outfits and mounts will be added (gacha update, etc).

Recap of highlights upcoming in the November and December updates.

[Bombur]

Part 3

BP will be getting it's first expansion on Oct. 25th.

- New lvl cap

- Chapter 4 in the MSQ

- New skills

- New area's and dungeons

- New 30 man raid.

- The continuation of the story

An assassination has occurred in the Bernhardt Kingdom. Einrain and Carvein are charged and imprisoned. You and your party set off to the Bernhardt Kingdom to rescue them. There, you witness the truth of what's going on.

[Bombur]

Amazon is having a Closed Technical Test for the western version, from November 8 at 2pm PT and continue through November 10 at 2pm PT on PC (Steam).

If you haven't signed up, you can sign up here :

https://www.playblueprotocol.com/en-us/sign-up

Winners will be selected by email.

The test will be under NDA.

[Bombur]

Does anyone still care ??...lol

The game was an absolute mess and a bomb at launch, in Japan, so Bandai is doing the FFXIV: Realm Reborn method. The game is in a much better state now, and just got a new expansion this month. This is why Amazon keeps delaying the game. Hoping that the new rework will improve the game, and have a successful global launch.


Today's patch changed the Combat. Instead of picking 4 skills from the skill tree, you can now pick 8 skills, and put it on the hotbar . Bandai wanted more different builds, and skills.

https://www.youtube.com/clip/UgkxmR5...EEsGsQnS4phFlk


Also a new City Defence instance. Just like FFXI Besieged.

https://www.youtube.com/clip/Ugkx3J4...MUHW9ENTU3kdw3

[Madeline]

I'd like to care because I want a new MMO, but this one is unlikely to have enough money involved and amazon has already proven they're a risky time investment with the failure of New World.

[Kachiko]

I'd like to care because I want a new MMO, but this one is unlikely to have enough money involved and amazon has already proven they're a risky time investment with the failure of New World.

Amazon is publishing, no developing.

[Gokulo]

Amazon is publishing, no developing.

While I wanted to bring in the same points, it still doesn't mean they can't screw something up for this release.

[Obsidian]

No simultaneous release is what killed this game, bluntly. Any momentum it did have evaporated the second they delayed the global launch.

[Celeras]

Does anyone still care ??...lol

The game was an absolute mess and a bomb at launch, in Japan, so Bandai is doing the FFXIV: Realm Reborn method. The game is in a much better state now, and just got a new expansion this month. This is why Amazon keeps delaying the game. Hoping that the new rework will improve the game, and have a successful global launch.


Today's patch changed the Combat. Instead of picking 4 skills from the skill tree, you can now pick 8 skills, and put it on the hotbar . Bandai wanted more different builds, and skills.

https://www.youtube.com/clip/UgkxmR5...EEsGsQnS4phFlk


Also a new City Defence instance. Just like FFXI Besieged.

https://www.youtube.com/clip/Ugkx3J4...MUHW9ENTU3kdw3

Needs way more than that. Spellweaver was holding down a button to charge fireball, holding down a button to regenerate MP (????), and then charging another fireball. It was not fun and as far as I could tell had nothing going for it besides the art style.

[Bombur]

Bandai added a new Raid Boss. This is a Heavy Smasher. This is before the UI revamp.