Blue Protocol vs. Genshin Impact – Battle of the Anime RPGs

One of the most common misconceptions right now is that Genshin Impact is not only significantly better than Blue Protocol, but that Genshin Impact’s success is going to not only limit, but also inhibit the success of the upcoming MMO.
I’m taking a few minutes here, today, to showcase the contrasting differences between the two games and to address why I think Genshin Impact will have no effect on Blue Protocol.

Blue Protocol is an upcoming Anime MMORPG set in a large sci-fi fantasy world.
The game utilizes large segregated zones, has an extensive character creation system, provides players a variety of different classes with the option of swapping classes at any time during the game, allows for grouping and playing with a large number of players and has no RNG Gacha systems in place.

Genshin Impact is a new Anime adventure RPG set in a large fantasy world.
The game utilizes a large completely open world, has no character creation or customization, provides players with a large number of different characters each with their own unique aesthetic look, personality and combat style, allows for playing with up to 3 other players and has predatory RNG systems in place.

I think it might be easier to first talk about what makes them similar.
Both Blue Protocol and Genshin Impact are Anime games first and foremost. Aesthetically, I can see how people have gotten the two of these games mixed up as often as they have.
They both utilize full action combat systems, requiring no enemies be present to use your abilities and providing the option of freely aiming without any type of aim-assist.
They have large, beautiful worlds filled with things to see and do. And that’s about as far as the two games go in terms of similarities.
Their differences though are so large that you wouldn’t even consider them remotely similar.

Blue Protocol is an MMORPG. You can see 20, 30 players running around outside of towns fighting monsters. You can party with them and participate in large zone-boss fights together. You can see hundreds of players gathered in towns, talking, engaging one another.
Genshin Impact is an RPG with multiplayer functionality. You’ll never see players outside engaging in any type of content unless you allow them into your game, and even then, you’ll find at max 3 other players to group up and participate in content with. There are world bosses, but not nearly to the same scale.

Blue Protocol has a large developed story that you progress through each time you level up, much like the vast majority of MMOs. This way you always feel connected to the game and there’s always that sense of active progression.
Genshin Impact has a large developed story that is gated behind exhausting grinds that require you increase your Adventure Rank – something that requires extensive grinding, dailies and is one of the main sources of criticism for the game.

Blue Protocol allows for you to create and fully customize your character. You get to choose their appearance and highly customize them before beginning the game, with there being a plethora of different outfits present in-game to allow for some extensive originality and personality.
Genshin Impact has you select from one of two pre-designed characters, providing no customization options, and has nothing in the way of customization present in the actual game.

Blue Protocol has a cash shop. You can, at least right at this very moment, only purchase cosmetic items. You might be able to purchase mounts or other options in the future, but presently there is nothing available that could provide any benefits to players.
Genshin Impact has a cash shop. While the microtransactions really don’t necessarily effect you – seriously, you can do absolutely everything in-game as a free player without much difficulty – they definitely provide some benefits that make playing the game much more enjoyable, and provide access to many more attempts at obtaining various characters.
So yes, Genshin Impact is a Gacha game at its core while Blue Protocol does not, nor will it ever have Gacha mechanics present.

Blue Protocol utilizes large – but segregated world zones. This means there are areas that you can run around, quest in, fight in, group up with other players in, explore. But there are loading screens between regions – brief loading screens but it is not a single, seamless world.
Genshin Impact does have a large, completely seamless world with the exception of the dungeons you enter. This means that you can freely explore pretty much everything without feeling disconnected from the area you’re in.

Blue Protocol, as an MMO, has players work towards a common end-game goal: Hitting max level, crafting your gear and then grouping up to run dungeons, participate in their competitive party vs party system, and down raid bosses – as you’d expect out of an MMO.
This is the bread and butter of pretty much every MMO and I don’t think you’ll really find all that many that have achieved any form of success without them present.
Genshin Impact, as an adventure RPG just has you do whatever you want. There is no common end-game goal. You grind as much as you can to hit the next Adventure Rank, run dailies until you can afford a roll on a character, and continue grinding, running dailies until.. well, yeah. Rinse and repeat.
If you go online and Google around a little, you’ll notice that this limitation is the cause of the vast majority of complaints regarding the game and its playerbase.
Honestly I’m well aware that this appeals to quite a few people – having the freedom to do what you want, but at the same time there are equally as many players that require direction, and that’s where playing an MMO is better for them. Direction, and a goal to work towards that isn’t just more characters or upgraded characters.

So, Blue Protocol aims to be a completely traditional MMORPG, providing players linear direction, a clear goal and competitive play. Genshin Impact aims to provide players with endless freedom, a world that is constantly growing and expanding, but is ultimately inhibited by a very exhausting grind.
Both games – as I’ve played both of them for quite a few hours – are very unique, very different from one another.
On the surface they might look similar, but the more you play each of them the more you come to learn that they are about as different as an Assassin’s Creed game and World of Warcraft. With the exception of the aesthetic similarities, anyway.

I honestly don’t think that Genshin Impact will have ANY effect on Blue Protocol whatsoever. It will not in any way hinder Blue Protocol’s growth, nor will it inhibit the game or its growth.
Blue Protocol is going to launch to the same fanfare regardless of how populated and successful Genshin Impact is next year.
Will Genshin Impact’s heavy use of its predatory Gacha system have an effect on Blue Protocol? No, not at all. Blue Protocol will not have any type of Gacha system in place. They’ve never wanted to have one and they have no plans of integrating one going into the future.
This is for the most part a mobile feature that runs quite rampant in the mobile genre. One that I hope never makes it into mainstream MMO or console gaming.

Nevertheless, I’m excited for Blue Protocol. They confirmed the game will have a 2021 release in Japan with an international release coming not too long after. You should check out my dedicated Blue Protocol video for all the info on its release and what we can expect going into 2021!
I’ll include the link in the description and pinned comment down below.