What Do We Love About… TERA?

May 27, 2015 14:05 ( Articles ) 0

 What Do We Love About... TERA?

 

The MMORPG market, for most, is quite oversaturated particularly in the fantasy genre with more MMORPGs being released every year it’s hard to make an impression that will stand you above the rest. TERA (The Exiled Realm of Arborea) is one of the games that has managed to rise above the competition and even as a Korean MMORPG that they don’t surprisingly well in the Western market, not feeling like your typical grind that we are all so used to from Asian developers. The game’s been published by En Masse in the NA market and by Gameforge in Europe.

With the right blend of questing, action combat, quality graphics and a pretty decent storyline there are quite a few things that we love about TERA and why we feel it continues to do so well in the market.

Action Combat
Immersive and skill based combat. Probably one of the key defining aspects of the game is its action combat where every attack must be aimed and timed, players must dodge and outmanoeuvre, where positioning and coordination is vital to taking down the biggest challenges. So many games offer a “tab targeting” system that it is a breath of fresh air to have a challenge in an MMORPG as TERA provides particularly with the number of ranged classes its most definitely separates those with skill and those without. Knowing how to play your role (Defence, Melee Damage, Ranged Damage and Healing) is a key part to surviving combat and working effectively with your team and is due to this that we feel the combat is really helps players feel like they have contributed in a meaningful way in a battle, particularly after an intense PVP fight or an endurance leeching raid. Throw in the ability to combo your attacks for extra damage and you have a really good system in place.

 

BAMs
“If it’s big, it’s bad”. The BAMs in the game (Big-Ass Monsters) are pretty formidable and whilst other MMORPGs have their share of elites walking around the world TERA seems to do a really good job of making them feel even more dangerous than other games do, in no small part due to the sheer size of these things that tower high about the players and will give most solo players a run for their money. If there’s one way to make someone feel truly heroic is to put them up against something that looks like it will crush you under its foot!

The Races
Seven unique races to choose from. For a fantasy based MMORPG the developers definitely went down their own path when it came to creating the races, creating law and tying in a unique races and cultures instead of using the same ones we’ve seen over and over (albeit we do have the classic Human and even High Elves). It’s easy to see the Asian influence with the animal Popori race who, instead of being animallike humanoids are more like bipedal talking animals, which is pretty cool; and then there is the community favourite, the child-like furry eared Elin. Whilst neither of the last two would be our first choice (Baraka all the way!), we do really appreciate the time it takes to commit to designing your own unique races and making different yet familiar enough to appeal to players.

The Graphics
The game just looks stunning. Even from level one and logging in the game looks impressive, but as you branch out, level up and get the chance to explore you begin t to realise how truly beautiful and detailed the world actually is, whether floating sky castles or huge cities, skylines or open vistas watching the world stretch out; you can definitely see the Unreal Engine working hard and in all honesty it’s pretty hard to take a bad screenshot. Whilst graphics don’t necessarily make a game awesome, it sure does help you become more immersed in the world and appreciate both it and the game that little bit more. Stepping into each new zone and finding the new landmarks and points of interest is a pretty fun activity in itself and just taking a moment to stop, look around and take it all in is one of the first things we do in a new area. In a close second is how our actual characters look and the sheer level of customization and number of different costumes and outfits we’ve been able to cobble together, we look and feel epic whether in newbie clothes or upper tier gear.

 

Free To Play
The game actually is free to play. It’s like a breath of fresh air when you get to play a free to play MMO that is actually free to play, where content isn’t locked behind pay walls, where top tier gear is only accessible through cash shops and RNG lock boxes, where subs and perks create a huge imbalance and a pay to win scenario. TERA has managed to find a good balance between pay for convenience items, XP boosts and other things is focusing primarily on more aesthetic and customisation options in their shop with no items that really give any advantage over the players and are relatively cheap in comparison to perks sold by other games. Combined with this is that most of the items that can be purchased in the cash shop can be acquired with in-game currency through the Broker (an auction house) as players are able to sell their cash shop items there, albeit usually for high amounts, but at least the Devs didn’t opt for binding everything to characters so players can only get them by spending money.

These are some of the things that we love about TERA, but what do you think? What do you love about this game? Would you add anything else to the list? We await your opinions! Let us know!!!!!

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