I agree with a lot of this.
I want to say Roger failed, and all the previous Joyboy incarnations failed, because of different reasons. I had believed Roger committed certain sins that cost him "Heaven's Acceptance Criteria". For example, we hear stories of how Roger had killed people without regard for them. This is particularly evident in Luffy, Sabo, and Ace's interactions with Naguri (Roger destroyed his ship and defeated his crew, and he spent the rest of his life trying to fix the ship = suffering to this person because it stopped their dream). Roger also seemed to have knowledge of the Void Century before he began his journey. Luffy, however, has no such knowledge. Some of this is speculation.
So... I want to say Roger failed because he committed sins against Heaven and Xebec failed because he didn't even try to appeal to Heaven. Xebec acts as though Heaven doesn't exist.
For example, Xebec's stunt at Mariejois was futile, and he put very important people in jeopardy for it.
So I would suggest this game also proposes an "alignment points" system for good and bad acts.
For "good points" Roger was on his way to 100 (full points) but then he plummeted into "bad points" several times. This resulted in him being forsaken by Heaven and doomed to failure.
The "soft lock" you speak of is related to who is blessed by Heaven and who isn't.
It might read... Roger was "revered" status, and he was on his way to "exalted", but the sins he committed forced him to have "exiled" status meaning forsaken by Heaven.
