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TERA: The Feral Valley
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
En Masse Entertainment has partnered with MMORPG.com to bring our readers an exclusive first look at the TERA Feral Valley through video and screens. Not only are we treated to a tour of the zone but also watch as a player takes on a BAM (Big Ass Monster) in this new video. Check TERA: The Feral Valley and then let us know what you think!
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Comments
The game's art style is normally not my bag, but man is this pretty.
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I gotta say though, we see a number of recycled skins even by 22.. Seeing a Basilisk.. not even recolored.. at whatever level this is.. it's not reassuring.
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug.
12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
Of course monsters are recycled, it happens in all the MMOs, especially with TERA the monsters that have complex AIs youll see it more. They have BAMs at almost every level from 20-58, roaming in every zone.
While there are over 20 BAMs they do get recycled, and whats the problem with that? You have higher level versions of the same mob to grind when you get higher level, not to mention sometimes they come with a new move or two and a new skin.
They are also adding three more next patch which we should get on release.
What are those BAM´s people keep mentioning?
Big @ss monsters - and there are lots of them
BAM = Big Ass Monster.
That basilisk in the video is an example of one, although it is one of the smaller ones and has a more predictable AI.
Each BAM comes with 5-10 moves, a lot of health, and an enrage mode which changes their appearance, attack power and attack speed.
ahh i see lol, thank you!
Very pretty scenery here. With all that action I hope I have time to enjoy the environment!
Don't worry. I still really want to play this game but all I saw in beta was many reuses of the same skin. Die-hard fans will defend it however they like but you have to acknowledge weaknesses when the game has it and recycling skins (not even recoloring, just recycling) is a weakness of the TERA team.
Before anyone says "I'd rather have them putting time in [x] than [y]." X and Y are done by different teams or subteams or whatever. Creating a few more mob styles wouldn't have taken away at all from the programming of the AI, the political system, the beloved combat interface.
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug.
12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
I agree it was somewhat lazy, but atleast they made sure we had elite mobs to fight at every level of gameplay. Every zone has multiple types of BAMs roaming around which is always nice.
I think the issue is that almost all of TERAs mobs seem to have their own style of movement and special attacks, it just seems like it would be more work programming these mobs than most of the mobs in WoW for example that just have a single move. It may be a reason for so much re-use. Just speculation, or my fanboy defending it, who knows.
I mean even normal level 15-20 mobs usually have 2-3 moves and some even have an enrage mode, it's impressive imo.
"big ass monster" name is the cheesiest thing i've ever heard, but the vistas are very pretty in this game.
You can't AGREE with me!!! We were supposed to have a days-long argument chain-quoting each other =P.
I didn't do much exploration in the CBT, but I wll be this time (I kept levelling and capping characters, only to delete them because I wanted to play again...) but I did encounter some very neat world bosses. Some spider thing that starts out looking like a vase before you agro him.
There's no question, the art team is exceptional. Everything looks good but I think that's part of the reason it annoyed me to see sooo many walking trees or centaurs so early in the game.
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug.
12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
Reuse of graphics assets is certainly an issue. It is rather prominent at the starter island, but I don't recall having the same experience of reused mobs further on. Of course, I've seen only as far as level 22, so not far enough to make a solid judgement on the matter.
Exploring is wonderful, if you go south of Velika you will reach a very, very large desert and maybe encounter a giant flying windfish if you are lucky. Whereas if you go northeast you will find your way to Popori which is very pretty and if you keep going north you will first pass through a jungle only to end up in Castanica and then finally fyremount which is basically the inside of a volcano.
While the desert and Poporia are packed with mobs for some reason Castanica, the Jungle and Fyremount are completely lacking mobs or NPC's. Nothing is in the client yet, which is weird.
My question is can I actually explore or is it more like Swtor with follow the path.
my pet peeve of this game is the over large weapons the toons use- they are over proportioned looks dumb. maybe casters look better. but so far all i see are huge swords and polearms running around it distracts from the rest of the game-shame, looked like a cool game.
Too early to tell really. I didn't do much exploring in level 22, you better ask people that played in Korea or those who braved the wilds with their 22 characters in the beta.
it's an open-world, there is no load screen between zones. but depending on youre level the mobs in certain zones will easily kill you.
I've got the straight edge.
Unlike most games though the oversized weapons are backed by power, they feel heavy and when you use a kncokdown ability it feels like you just destroyed your enemy.
However all casters have pretty small weapons(sorcerer disc and mystic staff), archers bows are pretty reasonable as well. As for melee, warriors have the smallest weapons.
You can most certainly explore, I can do a full 360 around the brim of the continent without a loading screen, but don't expect to be fighting anything in a lot of the zones, as the monsters level will be much higher than yours.
This game has what seems to be near endless exploration. I don't have to go from one one to another to another in a boring path for all characters. I found that I actually missed quite a few zones and I'm level 37 now in Korea-TERA. That means when I make alts I can go through those zones and take a new route leveling up. The game world is THAT big (hugeeeeeee).
As far as art direction, I simply haven't played a more beautifully imagined world in any other game. The amount of creativity is astounding and baffles me how every new zone I visit surpasses the beauty of the last. Animations, character models, armor, weapons, everything looks amazing! I saw one poster who said he didn't like the big weapons - I personally LOVE them. Nothing is more hilarious than a little fuzzy Popori with an enormous 2H sword struggling to swing it into your face!
All in all, the gameplay is by far the most amazing feature. The pvp is calculating and fun - a dance of skill and timing. This is not an RNG tab target borefest like most MMO's. I really can't wait for NA release and man I been playing MMO's for darn near 15 years now. Haven't been this excited in a while especially after the horrible disappointment of SWTOR (such a terribly unfinished and shallow game).
This is something people will be pleasantly surprised with as they level up, the zones are just so versatile and it really is unlike any other MMO.
With the 60 patch adding a huge sci-fi element I'd say TERA has every zone I can think of.
I'd have to agree actually. While much of the game doesn't stand out for me in UI, content uniqueness, etc. those boss character models really look awesome! The player character models and animations as well look great!
Have to agree waving a 25 foot weapon around while screaming "have you seen the size of my todger" does nothing for me, and says truck loads about the target audience.
Basing the entire audience on the size of the weapons for particular classes that not everyone will play? Glad you won't be joining me in the game then lol.