The F2Peer Review: TERA

June 29, 2015 10:15 ( Articles, F2P News ) 0

The F2Peer Review: TERA

Next up for our assembled judges over at the F2Peer Review is 3D fantasy MMORPG The Exiled Realm of Arborea, more commonly known as TERA, a popular free to play game and ever a favourite with us, but we wanted to know what our readers though about the game and so put it to them. With multiple classes, action combat, PVE questing, raids and open world PVP this beautiful looking game really appears to have it all, but does it have depth when we look below the surface?

• JimSlam: I’m a huge fan of TERA, whilst I have played a lot of other MMORPGs they’re not always my go to for MMOs, typically I go in for MOBA or FPS games, but with the action combat it’s exciting to play an MMORPG that actually requires skill for once. Throwing in open world PVP on dedicated PVP servers, Duels and Deathmatches, even Guild vs Guild battles, it ticks every one of my boxes when it comes to what I expect in an MMORPG. The PVE isn’t too bad, a little grindy at times perhaps, but there’s plenty of challenges and dungeons to tackle with groups and some interesting places as well, particular with the new Fate of Arun expansion.


• IAMJohn: The game looks amazing, stepping in for the first time it’s nice to see what the Unreal Engine can do for an MMORPG and makes even most modern MMOs look like crap, the combat element is definitely fun and soloing content is more than doable. The only real issue is that the game probably isn’t different enough from most current MMORPGs, but if it is the first MMORPG you have played then it’s definitely a good choice and I don’t think players would be disappointed by the content and gameplay features.


• Kittypride: TERA is decent, but that’s about the level it sits at across the board, apart from one or two features where it excels, in other places it just doesn’t make a big enough impact or impression. When it comes to the areas of MMORPGs that I personally love, like exploring and collecting, then once again it floats in that “Yeh that’s okay…” range; there’s soooooo many mounts to choose from, a lot of them only available through the cash shop though, but with such unique mounts as Munchhausen the huge green goblin who lets you ride on his back, then there’s definitely some fun stuff that I like. The achievements in the game allow you to collect titles, which is always fun, but attaining them are pretty boring and revolve around killing a certain number of monsters or killing story/quest chain key mobs; that’s quite boring and doesn’t require much thought.


• Ballgon: The publishers and players really do hype up the combat system in the game, literally every article on any gaming website (I’m sure this one will be no different) always has to mention the action combat as if it’s groundbreaking and the only MMORPG that has it (it’s not, Vindictus had it before TERA and C9 had it afterwards). Aside from that, even if it was the only game with action combat, that doesn’t make up for the fact that the rest of the game is about as generic a fantasy MMORPG as you can get. Throw in their other unique system, the Vanarch feature, which lets a single player be voted into (yay popularity contests) a server wide position where on PVP servers they even have the ability to turn open world PVP off…. Literally the dumbest thing I have ever heard.


• Tenebrae: There is an extremely strong RP community established in TERA, very active and further supported by having an RP server (which so many MMORPGs lack these days) so we can only be thankful of that. The in depth lore and elements of character customization for personal appearances and clothing only further add to the RP potential and, whilst not as in depth as other MMORPGs, definitely does well for a non franchise game that doesn’t have as an extensive history as others (Star Trek Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic, World of Warcraft, etc.)


• Elijah: With what I love about TERA the questing is quite tedious at times, very repetitive and grindy, which for an otherwise pretty awesome MMORPG it is definitely its biggest shortcoming that could really do with being readdressed and made more interesting. It’ll never be thought of as a genre defining game, but it’s pretty solid and its core features are extensively tried and tested in other games, with just a few tweaks here and there and some more love to the more common features to make them more different then TERA could be the best MMORPG around; unfortunately it just falls short at the finish line.


• Your_Nemesis: I don’t typically like the more modern MMORPGs as they do all feel pretty much the same, the same kinds of classes, the same quest format, the same features, with very little in the way of innovation. TERA is definitely following the same World of Warcraft themepark style gameplay (tried and tested and known to liked) and tries to show itself as being original in key places (action combat, Vanarch system, Sky Castles, etc.) but the core features still define it. If anyone plays another MMORPG first then comes to TERA then they’ll probably think “Same as all the others”, but if they play TERA then play other MMORPGs then the thing they will take away is “Tabbed combat really sucks, TERAs combat was amazing”. It has potential for greatness, but I don’t think we’ll ever see it achieved.

Well there you have it, our players have pitched in with their thoughts about TERA, but what about you? Have you played the game, and if so what did you think, or if not why not? What do you think about what our players have had to say? Give us your feedback in the comments below!


The F2Peer Review: TERA

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