We can't go back to exactly what it used to do. The old approach was simply broken, and people kept running in to the brokenness, and ending up making forum posts, filing issues and contacting support.
Previous Construct releases are still available - which is specifically done for cases like this where there is some kind of unexpected issue. So if you go back to r197.2 you can carry on using it like it was before, at least in the short term while we figure out what to do about this.
Considering a permanent change will cause permanent confusion, even years down the line, I would still prefer to use a workaround if one is feasible. That should only cause temporary disruption, and then should be a non-issue years down the line. So before taking any further action it would be useful to know: can you use keytool to rename a key password and continue publishing? Once you have the tool, it should only be one or two lines per keystore - not a lot of work at all.
I am so confused I am trying to build a signed Android app bundle and It never builds is it to do with the keystone as I generated it ages ago and now you are saying I have to change something with it?