Tera Hands-on Preview

We play Tera, the upcoming MMORPG that brings axe-swinging, spell-slinging action to a traditional fantasy setting.

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At last year's GDC I got my first look at Tera, an interesting massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) being brought to the west from South Korea. It looked like many similar such high-fantasy themed games, until I was handed an Xbox controller to play it. Unlike the games it resembles, Tera approaches combat differently, with players moving around, attacking, blocking, and dodging like they would in an action game. Back then the controller got that point across, but it was too early to see much beyond hacking and slashing a few monsters.

This year I got to play Tera again, this time with a mouse and keyboard to illustrate that it's an equally viable control setup. When the game launches, the choice between the two probably comes down to deciding between moving with the WASD keys or a thumbstick. Everything else is customizeable to fit the character being played and their skills.

For instance, in the demo I played as a berserker--one of Tera's heavy fighters designed to be up front, engaged with the enemy, inflicting as much damage as possible. They wield enormous axes--the most powerful weapon in the game as a matter of fact--that strike hard and cut a broad swath. It can be swung in a standard strike that does considerable base damage, or used in a number of special skill attacks. In this I demo I had available a flattening ground smash that would stun an enemy, a big whirling attack that could hit a number of enemies around me, and a vampiric strike that stole some health from the target when it hit.

As my primary attack, I left the standard strike mapped to the left mouse button. From there I wound up with the smash on the button next to it. This arrangement worked out well both for initiating attacks and getting out of trouble if I needed to slow an enemy down a little to regroup. Then I left the other two on the number keys. As this description of skills probably gives away, combat has evolved beyond just smack it till it dies.

Tera winds up in a fairly unique middle ground between the multi-button combos of an action game and the click-on-icons-for-actions of a traditional MMO. Like the former, I needed to stay active around enemies, moving for good fighting position and watching their "tells"--signature animations that give away attacks--to know when to block. But like the latter, when I wanted to really get in some licks, I fired off my skills. In the end I wound up dancing around enemies a lot, hitting and blocking, but all the while keeping an eye on recharging skills to know when I could get in and hit them harder.

Once I got into the rhythm, I enjoyed the pace of the action. It's not without its challenges, though. The toughest I faced was using my chargeable skills while moving around. The whirlwind attack, for instance, could be charged by holding down the key. But since I'd mapped that to a number key, I had to twist my fingers to get down to WASD while holding it down.

Tera uses a simple pop-up system to avoid similar issues with finger gymnastics when trying to chain combos in the heat of battle. Whenever a skill could be used as a combo, or situational bonus--like a rising strike, its icon appeared on my cursor. I could then use it with a tap of the space bar. I thought I'd dislike this for being too automatic, but in play it felt right in keeping with the pace of action.

Though already out in Korea, publisher En Masse entertainment is taking its time bringing Tera to North America. Well aware of the reputation for "grinding" in Korean MMORPGs, the team is spending a lot of time balancing out things like level progression and quest management. They can do this because they are also reconstructing the game's story from the ground up for the west. Both are smart steps that should help Tera's appeal when it comes out here later this year. After my brief demo, I'm definitely interested in playing more and seeing how it works out.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 14, 2011 8:00 AM

    Comment on Tera Hands-on Preview, by Garnett Lee.

    • reply
      March 14, 2011 11:08 AM

      So what happens when you have more than a single skill that could be viable during a combo?

      For this type of game I'd think combination input (ie: forward + lmb, forward+forward+lmb) would work better than hotkeys. Well for from line classes. I guess hotkeys would work fine for mages and other ranged classes.

      • reply
        March 14, 2011 11:48 AM

        Supposedly it selects the most appropriate one for the situation but I got the impression that more it's just that if you hit skill 1, then depending on whether it lands and if so whether some effect it has proc's, then there's probably only one natural skill to then chain on.

      • reply
        March 14, 2011 12:23 PM

        probably same thing Aion does with its chains: there's a default chain spell you get when you press the same key again (looks like spacebar for Tera), and you can map the alternates to other hotkeys

    • reply
      March 14, 2011 12:21 PM

      From what I've been reading about it in Korea, there are mass desertions going on because the hacking has been so bad and gone largely unaddressed for such a large period of time.

      • reply
        March 14, 2011 1:29 PM

        Well that's a bummer. Pretty reliable source? I can follow up with the publisher and see what they have to say if you can point me to the leads.

    • reply
      March 14, 2011 12:26 PM

      And the caption of that picture: "are you looking at my tits, frog face?!"

      • reply
        March 14, 2011 12:28 PM

        Thats exactly what I was just going to post, haha. I'd of been doing the same if i was that lizard guy. Those Korean's sure like to play around with the eye candy.

    • reply
      March 14, 2011 12:30 PM

      they are also reconstructing the game's story from the ground up for the west

      why? usually it's Korean gameplay that's the problem, not Korean storylines

      • reply
        March 14, 2011 1:33 PM

        They haven't figured that out you, electroly. They think all you need to do is give them white-eyelids and skin and a 'story,' and it'll make WoW.

      • reply
        March 14, 2011 2:01 PM

        If they are looking to ease the length of the grind to NA levels then they likely are going to have to eliminate some of the story fluff to compensate for the reduced time they have to tell said story. Like distilling a book into movie form.

        • reply
          March 14, 2011 2:03 PM

          grinding is never part of the story; if they only remove the grinding, the story should still be intact

          • reply
            March 14, 2011 2:03 PM

            and judging by the other Korean MMOs i've played, the "story" is probably pretty thin and primarily told through the marketing promo materials and the poorly translated quest text

    • reply
      March 14, 2011 12:31 PM

      I'm hoping this game is good. Everything I've seen says "Monster hunter the MMO!" And MH was half an mmo anyway, so it seems like a natural (and fun) fit. I could use a non-wow-based MMO to play.

    • reply
      March 14, 2011 1:21 PM

      It's an Asian port. That's all that needs to be said.

    • reply
      March 14, 2011 1:21 PM

      This line made me cry a little: an interesting massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG)

    • reply
      March 14, 2011 1:30 PM

      I thought this had to do with hands-on and Tera Patrick.

    • reply
      March 14, 2011 5:16 PM

      fuck it if you wont fix your shitty blinding white background im going repost every article in the chatty


      At last year's GDC I got my first look at Tera, an interesting massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) being brought to the west from South Korea. It looked like many similar such high-fantasy themed games, until I was handed an Xbox controller to play it. Unlike the games it resembles, Tera approaches combat differently, with players moving around, attacking, blocking, and dodging like they would in an action game. Back then the controller got that point across, but it was too early to see much beyond hacking and slashing a few monsters.

      Combat in Tera is more than click an icon and watch
      This year I got to play Tera again, this time with a mouse and keyboard to illustrate that it's an equally viable control setup. When the game launches, the choice between the two probably comes down to deciding between moving with the WASD keys or a thumbstick. Everything else is customizeable to fit the character being played and their skills.

      For instance, in the demo I played as a berserker--one of Tera's heavy fighters designed to be up front, engaged with the enemy, inflicting as much damage as possible. They wield enormous axes--the most powerful weapon in the game as a matter of fact--that strike hard and cut a broad swath. It can be swung in a standard strike that does considerable base damage, or used in a number of special skill attacks. In this I demo I had available a flattening ground smash that would stun an enemy, a big whirling attack that could hit a number of enemies around me, and a vampiric strike that stole some health from the target when it hit.

      As my primary attack, I left the standard strike mapped to the left mouse button. From there I wound up with the smash on the button next to it. This arrangement worked out well both for initiating attacks and getting out of trouble if I needed to slow an enemy down a little to regroup. Then I left the other two on the number keys. As this description of skills probably gives away, combat has evolved beyond just smack it till it dies.

      Tera winds up in a fairly unique middle ground between the multi-button combos of an action game and the click-on-icons-for-actions of a traditional MMO. Like the former, I needed to stay active around enemies, moving for good fighting position and watching their "tells"--signature animations that give away attacks--to know when to block. But like the latter, when I wanted to really get in some licks, I fired off my skills. In the end I wound up dancing around enemies a lot, hitting and blocking, but all the while keeping an eye on recharging skills to know when I could get in and hit them harder.

      Once I got into the rhythm, I enjoyed the pace of the action. It's not without its challenges, though. The toughest I faced was using my chargeable skills while moving around. The whirlwind attack, for instance, could be charged by holding down the key. But since I'd mapped that to a number key, I had to twist my fingers to get down to WASD while holding it down.

      Tera uses a simple pop-up system to avoid similar issues with finger gymnastics when trying to chain combos in the heat of battle. Whenever a skill could be used as a combo, or situational bonus--like a rising strike, its icon appeared on my cursor. I could then use it with a tap of the space bar. I thought I'd dislike this for being too automatic, but in play it felt right in keeping with the pace of action.

      Though already out in Korea, publisher En Masse entertainment is taking its time bringing Tera to North America. Well aware of the reputation for "grinding" in Korean MMORPGs, the team is spending a lot of time balancing out things like level progression and quest management. They can do this because they are also reconstructing the game's story from the ground up for the west. Both are smart steps that should help Tera's appeal when it comes out here later this year. After my brief demo, I'm definitely interested in playing more and seeing how it works out.

      • reply
        March 14, 2011 5:36 PM

        I simply solved that by coming here less.

    • reply
      March 14, 2011 6:29 PM

      Sorry for the delay on the video. It got corrupted the first time I tried to grab it from the pr agency and it's a pretty hefty file. It's all glamorously cut together but does give a pretty good representation of what the game looks like, though not from a player's perspective or with the HUD.

    • reply
      March 15, 2011 1:05 AM

      Smish smash! At least the grafics look current gen and way better than Runes of Magic. Currently playing RIFT which is quite enjoyable and to which I will be measuring up Tera, as both are subscription based and quite recent MMOs as well.

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