Is Blue Protocol Star Resonance f2p-friendly or pay-to-win?

As a free-to-play game, Blue Protocol Star Resonance immediately has people asking if it’s pay-to-win, or if it’s f2p-friendly. It’s a fair question too, but the downside comes in when you consider that everyone has a different opinion on what constitutes a pay-to-win game. Some people insist that if you can buy any convenience item at all, that means it’s already a predatory game, but not everyone thinks that way.

You also have to consider factors like content being time-gated; most content in the game is time-gated, and even if whales do manage to buy a bunch of power through convenience items, it’s still a game that requires skill to complete the content. Is Blue Protocol f2p friendly, or is it pay-to-win slop? Let’s talk about that.

Blue Protocol Star Resonance is mostly f2p-friendly, but is more pay-for-convenience than p2w

Blue Protocol Star Resonance is not a pay-to-win game, but is certainly pay-for-convenience. It’s still very highly f2p in reality, but is going to still feel pretty grindy, thanks to how time-gated things are, and how many different resources you need to manage. You need stuff like Advanced Skill Books for your skills, Starforge Crystals for your gear improvements, and Luno for pretty much every single thing in the game.

There are lots of resources to manage, sure, but you can't just go to the shop and buy Skillbooks (Image via A-Plus/YouTube@Braxophone)

Advanced Skill Books, for example, can be unlocked by doing in-game content, but you can also buy them on the Player Market. That requires players to farm and sacrifice their own books to sell to other players; that’s not pay-to-win, not in my book. This could change later, but at launch, this isn’t an issue.

The same goes for Starforge Crystals, which are used to upgrade your gear. You have to grind to get these by completing dungeons, and thus, are a scarce resource depending on how much grinding you choose to do in Blue Protocol.

Your only other options are from Resource Shops (not real-money), the Player Market or from the rotating Mystery Shop. Again, as it comes to the Player Market, you can expect players to want to hoard these for now.

You can easily just play this game and grind for your important resources, but it might take a while. Ultimately, there's no rush (Image via A-Plus)

Luno should never be a scarce resource, as it’s the main currency, and rewarded for doing pretty much anything in Blue Protocol. Sure, you can use the paid currency to buy Luno from other players, but will players be giving up their Luno this way early on? Hard to tell.

While yes, there are a ton of microtransactions in this game, as well as a Battle Pass, I still don’t think Blue Protocol Star Resonance is a pay-to-win game. It definitely has some convenience options, but everything you can buy, you can grind for in the game (other than the fancy costumes).

I don’t think it’s especially predatory either, at least, not at this time. That could change in the future. The main reason I don’t think Star Resonance is a pay-to-win game, is because it still requires skill.

You do get extra resources in the Season Pass/Battle Pass, making it worthwhile for people who just want to invest a bit into the game (Image via A-Plus)

If you don't take the time to learn the game's mechanics, and how your class functions, convenience items will not make up for that. I do, however, think the Battle Pass/Monthly Card are worth it for people who want to invest in the game. In that way, it’s kind of a gacha game, but also definitely not.

Think of it as a subscription, like any other MMO, that comes with some extra bonuses. In that way, it’s not too dissimilar from ESO+. If you want to enjoy this game as a f2p MMO, you can certainly do that, and easily.

Check out our other Blue Protocol Star Resonance guides and features

About the author

Jason is an Esports and Gaming journalist at Sportskeeda holding an amazing 11 years of experience under his belt. Having put out 4000-plus articles and amassing over 15 million reads for Sportskeeda, he is among the company’s most experienced writers. Jason holds a Bachelor's degree in English from UNC Pembroke and was inspired to become a gaming journalist very early on in life after reading Nintendo Power.

Jason is a jack of all trades when it comes to gaming journalism. He’s a key writer in Sportskeeda's MMO department, but he also likes to help out in other categories, like streamers, RPG, card games, and whatever else is needed. A solo gamer at heart, Jason's favorite titles include Earthbound and Dragon Warrior.

Jason places high value on accuracy and relevance in his write-ups. He achieves this with thorough research to sift facts from rumors. One of the biggest highlights of his career is his interview with Canadian pro wrestler Kenny Omega about his inclusion in the Like a Dragon game series. He is also good friends with journalist Kazumo Hashimoto, who he admires for the kind of stories he works on and his deep ethics.

A true cinephile, one of Jason’s primary hobbies involves enjoying cinematic experiences. He also loves reading, be it fiction or manga, when not working. Additionally, he streams on Twitch and posts his gaming insights on YouTube.

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Edited by Jason Parker