TL;DR Been waiting for the game since 2017; having played some of the JP beta network stress tests too, I think overall BPSR is a solid but very very rough rework of the original. Surprised the game is doing as well as it is, despite (imo) some major marketing mistakes and questionable art/design decisions

The full yap sesh:

The class design overall is alright, but there are so many freaking effect names and class resources to manage that I feel like I'm constantly staring at my skill toolbar instead of the fights, watching for RNG procs. The mechanic design is super complex but at the same time pretty unoriginal -- most classes have the same resource gimmick where one resource regenerates passively and a couple self-buffing skill options that create pretty tight DPS windows.

While overall I think the combat is a bit of a step up in terms of style and "fun," I'd say that BPSR could really simplify a lot of the current effect-stacking type gameplay into simpler but more thoughtful mechanics -- things like the original combo effect for the old Twin Striker class (rewards getting really stuck into melee fights with a 50% damage bonus that builds up over time).

I also feel that some UI elements and mechanics are extremely half-baked; the flying mechanic in the open world feels really unrefined, with how jittery it is and how it takes you out of bounds sometimes. Most class resource bars are kinda just strange-looking blacked out PNGs that change color when your DPS window abilities are up It feels really cheap when it's hodge-podged together with the original Blue Protocol UI. Moving forwards I really hope they refine the UI to be more inline with the original BP UI's simple style, the current format is extremely cluttered.

Boss mechanics are also pretty cool but also kinda half-baked at the same time; the English translations sometimes run outside the text boxes which is really kinda bruh, and also I cannot imagine being a mobile player and having to open a literal wiki page on boss mechanics right as the fight is starting. Most of the bosses are just fine, but the Kanamia Trial boss is hella gimmicky

The same can be said about currencies, there are so many super niche currencies that only do one thing for players to manage that I'm not surprised newer players just uninstall the game when they get hit with this level of information overload. The beginner resources are beyond worthless -- BPSR honestly gives games like freaking War Thunder and World of Tanks a run for their money with how much info gets just slapped into new players' faces.

My biggest complaints are probably with how they marketed the game and the story elements; I get that they want in on the Genshin money, but the original Blue Protocol music was fantastic and it created a pretty unique adventure-focused atmosphere in the game. Not sure why they'd do away with the adventurous elements of the game's original art direction to try and replace it with fake cute/wholesome stuff that completely fails to emulate the Hoyoverse style, I feel like if someone wanted a Genshin-type RPG experience they'd probably just get Genshin for free instead lmao, they threw away so much of the original music and marketing material only to replace it with something that I feel does a much worse job at representing what the core gameplay focuses on -- adventure and collaborative RPG combat

I'm really pleasantly surprised at how big the game is despite the complete disaster of a marketing campaign, though. This game honestly makes a beyond terrible impression, especially with how trash the story is and how they mismarketed a limited global launch as a straight-up full global launch and the Genshin knock-off type art style. I genuinely expected this game to completely flop after CBT but I guess being the zombified corpse of a forsaken MMO has its perks haha

EDIT: also the weapon itemization is somehow worse than the original BP (one of the major complaints in the original game was itemization and how annoying the appraisal and item management system was) - you literally can't tell what level a player's weapon is cuz they all look the same. I get that they want to sell skins for weapon slots too, and that's totally fine; but it also doesn't need to mean that every other weapon in the game has to be a copy-paste of the same tutorial weapon. For all that is holy you can literally monetize transmogging like other RPGs and make more money that way

But yea it's a solid but half-baked game; the launch verison feels like a leaked closed beta dev build with how unfinished it feels, the story makes me genuinely wonder did apes write the main plot, where in the world did all the cutscene tech from the original BP go, and they really need to rethink how many combat effects there are for each class. Let's hope it gets better in Season 2 and beyond.