Naraka: Bladepoint has a brand new weapon coming this week that brings the influence of the Shaolin to the game: the staff. This is the second melee weapon in the game, following the Dual Blades.
While some might underestimate the staff, those skilled can almost look like they’re dancing with this ranged weapon. This new weapon option makes its debut on November 17th, and is said to feature a dynamic move set that will inspire those graceful styles. This has been a much-requested weapon, according to the devs, so if you’ve been with Naraka: Bladepoint since early on, your wish will finally be coming true.
In a press release announcing the staff’s pending arrival, the game’s lead producer, Ray Kwan, gives some behind the scenes input on how the team approached bringing in this requested weapon.
“To really bring the weapon to life, we invited a Shaolin monk to our Hangzhou HQ to provide our Staff mocap: recording a range of genuine Shaolin staff moves like sweeps, thrusts, upward swings, and many more. Then we set about making them work in-game. With a little tweaking, these moves were ready to fit in NARAKA! A large factor in why NARAKA's combat works so well is the fluidity, along with the functionality, of intricate movements like these. We micro-adjust them by hand, ensuring each flows into the next. This continuity work took a fair while to get right with the Staff.”
If you're already familiar with using the spear in the game, there will be some familiarity between the weapons. the horizontal and vertical attacks will be similar and they will differ with their unique moves and options. With the staff you can close the gap if your enemy tries to run because you can perform a dash attack. the staff can also be used to unleash charged strikes that you can chain into combos and a new stance.
Because this is similar to the spear, expect that this will be the first of a number of what the team is calling “lineage style” weapons, that are similar to existing weapons so that they'll be easier to learn but also possess their own attacks and gameplay for variety.
For more, head to Naraka: Bladepoint.
