Saturday, 14 September 2013
Hi, welcome to my first game review on my blog. Hmm, having played many titles so far, I feel that the MMORPGs that are actually good and sustainable nowadays may be very few. What defines "good" is very subjective as well. There are some which are very game-orientated and lacks the community element in the "social" part of the game. Others, focus too much on profitability and changes the direction of the whole experience. Nonetheless, they are still admirable creations in providing players a source of entertainment at its best.
TERA Online being an action MMORPG, left me a great impression, which I shall be reviewing in this entry.
Background
This game was released first in South Korea and Japan in 2011, North America in 2012, and in Europe on May 3, 2012. My friends and I decided to play on the Europe server as it was the latest one opened then.
So what actually brought us to try this game - the spectacular graphics. One cannot deny that the developers did a really good job on the character design, map design and animations. TERA was initially intended to be released as a P2P (Pay-to-play) game, but after it's beta test, it was eventually announced and released as a F2P (free-to-play) game. This was a really good piece of news to the entire universe of players, for it was a pretty anticipated and highly recommended game even before its release.
The following segments will contain my own reviews and ratings :) These are based on my personal playing experiences and are subjective.
Graphics
Race & Classes
Quite a variety to choose from - there are 7 race namely Aman, Castanic, High Elf, Baraka, Popori, Human and Elin. They each have a racial trait that gives passive ability (e.g. a faster swimming speed.) You may choose one that compliments well with your class. But in my opinion, they don't make much a difference, unless it's a critical trait that affects your class's performance.
Classes or jobs come in 8 types - Warrior, Lancer, Archer, Sorceror, Slayer, Berserker, Priest and Mystic. The tank class here is the Lancer, and Warrior is almost equivalent to an assassin class in most of other games. Archer and Sorceror, as their names say. Slayer wields 2-hand sword, light-armoured, is a damage dealer and performs relatively good as a PVPer as well. They have both speed and damage, but they are difficult to control in my opinion. Berserkers wield 2-hand huge-ass axe, heavy-armoured. Slower attack speed, but better in defence as compared to slayer.
Priest is the main healing class in this game, as they can do single-target healing and AOE healing as well (all hail AOE healing !!!! \^^/). Mystic is a very good support class as they give good buffs, acts as a sub-healer, and is capable of doing a bit of additional damages as well to help out the party.
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| "I drop balls and I cannot lie~" |
Gameplay
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| Outlaw Declaration. |
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| Casting lock-on skill. |
SYSTEM: This is an action MMORPG, involving real-time combat. It feels like a combination of Dragon Nest and Perfect World, with the game-play system similar to Dragon Nest and environment comparable to Perfect World. Fire at will, however, you should also have some skills that enable target-locking. Basically, you are suppose to press the skill button once and mouse over to lock on targets, then left click your mouse to execute the skill. May sound easy, but takes practice to ensure that your casting is seamless during combat.
Being an action RPG, TERA's extensive map caters for comfortable space for combat, and that helps a lot especially when you're fighting BAMs (Big-Ass-Monsters).
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| Gwahhh! I shall call you BUM - Big Ugly Monster |
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| Party-matching system |
INSTANCE: Nexus is an instance in the game, where players can enter to defeat the nexus monsters in that phase. It consists of 3 phases, where the completion of each phase opens up the area to proceed on to the next. It requires multiple parties to take down the nexus lord, and only by defeating it will the nexus be closed. Each phase in the nexus battle is compounded in difficulty by a random effect that covers the entire nexus area.
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| Default mount. |
EXPLORING: Navigation wise, you don't go from one portal to the next immediate map (like e.g. Dragon Nest). You have to mount on to travel physically from one place to another to quest or dungeons. This may be a hassle after some time, because TERA's map is reeeeaaally huge. You may find yourself riding for full 5 mins or more if the place is far. So, plan your quests well to avoid any unnecessary detours.
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| Pagasus Platform |
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| Real-time flight experience...ahh~ |
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| Going through inter-continent portal. |
GEARS UPGRADE: In TERA, you need to work really hard to get godly gears. Weapons can be enchanted by an agent called "alkahest" to +9. To open up the possibility to enchant to +12, you have to do Masterwork and use even more alkahest which should cost you a fortune. The probability of enabling a weapon to be qualified for further enchantment to +12 is already very low, let alone the success rate of enchantment beyond +9. In all, the trade-off in time and effort to perfect enchantment is just too much.
Community
Recommendation (8 / 10)
Generally, I would say this game is totally worth a try for pull factors like its game content, graphics, combat system and environment. Levelling is a breeze in TERA, as there are main story quests and side quests to help you through until level 50s, so you should not require any unnecessary grinding if you follow through the quests correctly (I really hate grindinggggg). Travel vast and explore the lands, and you will naturally enjoy the experience.
PROBLEMS FACED: Firstly, we faced the lag issue. There was noticeable delay between our action and skills performed. For example, Archer's Rapid Fire of 7 arrows becomes a 4 or 5. Well, the lag could probably be due to the physical distance between us and the end-server (SG - EU). Annoying though, because this would mean we have lower chances at PVPs. We just had to deal with surprise attacks and random ninjas then o_o. Lastly, we didn't manage to upgrade our weapons beyond +9, because it requires too much money and luck. Full-stop.
Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience. If you are someone who aims to go for perfect endgame weapon (both PVE and PVP gears and weapons) however, be prepared to invest tremendous amount of time, effort and perseverance. Money probably can't get you there, for you require tonnes of pure luck!
Try it today at:
TERA Online (NA)
TERA Online (EU)
