Naraka Bladepoint is arriving to consoles in a couple of days and NetEase has provided us with a detailed overview of the features that show the team's diligence in porting the game from PC.
We've had a chance to sit down with folks from NetEase and get a preview of the features coming to Naraka: Bladepoint when it arrives on Xbox consoles, which is slated for June 23, 2022.
Archer and Bingo walked me through all the juicy details while Raylan was dominating a match using an Xbox controller in order to showcase how the game runs when it's not on PC. After the gameplay session, I got to ask a few questions, answers to which painted a rather pretty picture of the near launch on consoles.
AltChar: You mentioned the optimisation for Xbox consoles. How different does it get from PC version, graphics-wise? Did you go for compromises or did you manage to keep the visual fidelity for the most part?
Archer: Actually not because, you know, just like you saw in the demo - everything in there like the environment, the lighting, it just feels fantastic. We also try really hard to maintain a stable framerate on the consoles. So you could say that with graphics, no, we are not making any compromises.
But you know, in the meantime we also do a lot of jumps in regards to sound effects and gameplay optimisation, just trying to, on the one hand, bring a very authentic melee combat feeling to the players while also providing an easy way for them to play.
AltChar: Awesome! [During the demo] You mentioned Xbox One as well, so I assume the console will have to stick with a lower framerate than XSX/S?
Archer: We don't think it's going to be something with a low framerate. It's still under development so we'll definitely try our best to provide the [higher] framerate to everybody on console.
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AltChar: So how do you guys feel about going to Game Pass?
Archer: First of all, I think it's pleasure always to be included with Game Pass and publishing with Xbox will help us to elevate awareness among the community and we're very thrilled to be able to reach a broader audience across the globe.
As you know, Microsoft has a strong audience base in American and European countries so, we are surely expecting a large number of newcomers to join the battle in Naraka: Bladepoint.
AltChar: You also mentioned crossplay and cross-progression?
Archer: We do have crossplay but not cross-progression because the game accounts are independent from each other. For example, your Steam and Xbox accounts.
But let's say you're on PC, you can definitely team up with a buddy from Xbox, and you can match with them, of course.
AltChar: Is there an option to opt out of crossplay?
Archer: For Xbox players, yes, there is an option which allows you to choose whether you want to play with PC players. For PC players, there is no such option but, you know, our system always attempts to match with very close rank and close ping.
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AltChar: As far as controller adjustments go, I've seen a lot of great features in the demo, like aim assist. Does it also work on the environment in the case of the grappling hook? For example if you are trying to hook to an arch and there is empty space around it, will the hook lean toward it?
Bingo: Yes, the aim assist works with ranged weapons, grappling hook and some hero skills if they are directional.
Archer: Yes, because in the fight there is a lot of complex scenarios and we need to understand that if you want to aim at a player or if you just wanted to aim at, let's say, ground around that player. The ultimate goal here is to provide clever augment that reads your mind and allow players to shape any kind of movement they want.
You can do more with additional strategies, you know, pass around the players without being confused by the grappling hook auto-aim.
AltChar: How advanced is the aim assist? Does it ever provide advantage to controller players?
Bingo: We took that into consideration because we keep the balance in mind whenever we do research on the controller. The problem is whenever the keyboard and mouse players can turn their camera around easily with their mouse but with the controller, it takes time to adjust that or to do detailed movements.
We kept balancing in mind while helping our controller players to have a better experience to fill up the gap between the different playstyles while providing better gameplay experience but we did not overdo it.
Archer: We do a lot of testing and listen to feedback to make sure that there is not going to be imbalance between PC and console versions.
We would like to extend our thanks to Archer, Bingo and Raylan for taking the time as well as Abbi from 1Up for putting it all together!
