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First Impressions
Like many, I grabbed at the opportunity for the last weekend beta. I can't say that I'm disappointed, because I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. However, I wanted to comment on a few details that I couldn't determine until I got my hands on it.
Combat
Yes, the combat is refreshing, although I have some issues with it. For one, you can't attack while moving, which makes it feel a little sluggish. Also, most characters are pretty limited on how much "dodging" they can do. To compensate for these things, I noticed that the monsters, themselves, are quite sluggish and awkward-moving. And as a whole, it still feels very MMORPG-like, especially when compared with a game like Kingdoms of Amalur. I'm not saying it's bad, but I feel that it would have been better if they would have given a few more liberties with the control, allowing the monsters to fight more organically.
Questing
Let me preface by saying that I am not an advocate of the ubiquitous system of quests, and this game is no different... perhaps even more trite. For example, one of my quests was to save piglings from this tree monster, and another quest had me killing the piglings, so even if I made some attempt to enjoy the story, it would be for not. Though I don't tend to follow the questing stories in other games, I've heard they can be enjoyable for the enthusiast, but I don't see it at all in this game, so far.
Visuals
The graphics, themselves, are quite good (though not necessarily beyond expectations for a 2012 P2P), and the environments have a certain charm to them... in a very pastel way. It's a little too "bright" and the Asian influence creeps in pretty heavily (which may be a good or bad thing, depending on what you like). I actually found the starter area to be the most enjoyable. It was pretty whimsical and fantastical, but once I got to the mainland, the environments seemed to be fairly generic (however, I only saw a handful of them). One thing that wanted to note is that each zone is separated by the obligatory mountainous wall of rock, but I was actually able to scale it and make my way to the other zone, without having to use the pathway. I thought that was pretty cool. In a nutshell, the whole game feels like a jazzed up Korean F2P.
EDIT:
Sound
I should also mention that I found the sound to be good. The music, albiet not the most memorable, provided good tone, and was pleaseent to listen to. Another thing worth mentioning is the ambient sound. The chirping and breeze of the forest to the chatter in town makes the world feel alive and adds a lot to the atmosphere.
Final thoughts
Overall, the combat, itself, was enjoyable; however, that's usually what I find to be the most enjoyable about MMOs. I don't think that I'm quite sold on it though. The format just felt all too familiar, i.e. being corralled from zone to zone, which seems to serve as nothing more than filler until the end-game. With so many other prospects on the horizon that will undoubtedly be huge time eaters (e.g. GW2, D3, TSW), I just don't see myself taking the plunge into TERA.
Comments
Actually, that's entirely intended.
Think of other 'combat' games - For instance, Street Fighter. You can't move and attack at the same time - You have to choose, do you block, do you move/dodge or do you attack? Same with games like God of War - You can't just do your big attacks while moving around. They have a certain animation that has to be followed. Do you make this attack, or do you play it safe and reposition before trying it?
This makes the combat a lot more tactical. It shouldn't be a matter of facerolling the keyboard like in a lot of other MMO's, you have to think about when to do what, rather than follow an optimal rotation.
It sounds a bit rude, but the combat is not going to change. Tera may not be the game for you if you can't adjust to this way of thinking (just being blunt here, not trying to be rude! :P)
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I realize that it's intentional, and not going to change. I was comparing ot to other MMORPGs, not fighting game. In most other MMOs, you can move while using skills, which makes the combat feel a little more fluid. I know that the counter argument is that it's not supposed to be like other MMOs, however, I was just expressing that I'm not really fond of the change, and the flow of the combat feels a little sluggish because of it. Others may disagree, and that's fine; it's just my opinion.
Just not worth my time anymore.
It feels alot like "press and pray" to me.
For an action combat system, to be locked into a move or cast feels awkward.
It is fun though, even through the "Asian immersion" and poor story. Sometimes you "gain" if you have the right view of poor translation.
The Asian art style will be a deal breaker for many, and undoubtably will hurt TERA in the "western" markets, of NA and EU.
The "M" rating also seems to attract not-so-mature chat. That could be also a function of it being beta, but if as I heard claimed several times, the majority of these beta-"testers" were pre-orders (myself not included), the community will drive away just as many as the art style.
If I were to grade it, I'd say it is the best F2P asian-action-mmo out there.
You can't really judge any MMO off of low level content alone. I wouldn't say TERA is "press and pray" at all. Just take a look at some of the end game content. With just a 24% attack speed increase the combat will feel a lot more fluid. Trust me.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MujA0nfuBdE - level 50 group pvp
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqcQFIp6vA4 - 24% cast speed comparisons for sorcerer
It's all about timing and positioning!
I'd say you first impressions are a pretty accurate representation of my overall impression of Tera
I think the biggest gripe i have with Tera is the combat and it is a weird one at that, since it is kind of like a love-hate relationship. I so dislike the constant animation rooting in combat but at the same time the combat does add an action-oriented and tactical aspect to it, which can be very engaging. The consequences of poor aim and missing a skill in Tera is definitely more severe than in any tab-target game. But these consequences come at the cost of (in my opinion) less dynamic and fluid combat gameplay compared to what it could have been, had Tera implemented combat mechanics more in line with 'true action combat'.
But many people like this style of combat and more power to them. Variety on the MMO market is only a good thing in that it ensures there's an enjoyable MMO for all of us!
* Waves at Pushkina *
Good review. I feel like it's a fair assessment.
I did get to play the game up until lvl 30, and while the world does open up, the game doesn't change a whole lot. The biggest difference is in the combat. You get more skills, meaning more combo opportunities, and you get to equip glyphs which add different boosts to your skills.
The combat and graphics are definitely the high points for this game. The combat does feel a bit sluggish, but as was pointed out, this is by design. It's meant to be so that you have a chance to evade / dodge / block attacks as they come in. However, I can see how that would bug some people (and it bugged me for quite a while, until ~lvl 20 or so).
That said, I didn't really like much else in the game. The questing was basically a poorly masked grind, and I met quite a few people who just ended up grinding instead. The game definitely felt grind-heavy, though the first 25 or so lvls were obtained fairly quick (maybe the exp was boosted for beta, not sure). Also, I tried to follow the story briefly, before realizing there was no point. This game isn't about story. It's all about combat.
XP was not boosted for Beta. In Korea they implemented a fairy buff that gives you 50% bonus XP as you level. The level and drop rate is at least double what it is in the NA version.
i miss the challenge. i am now lvl 18 and there was no fight, i was even close to death. heck, i never was below 50% health. as a mystic with tank-pet i usually win with 90%+ health. my pet, too. this is ridiculous
perhaps challenge kicks in later. unfortunately too late for me.
nothing against grind. if just the battles are challenging. but even my dog could press the few buttons to kill; no tactic needed. dont get me wrong, the combat-system is better than most others on an operational level. but fully tactic free. and dont ask for strategy in a theme-park anyways.
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First impressions are lasting impressions and the first impressions of Tera leave alot to be desired. From the cutsey art direction to the melee penaliyzing melee combat to the downright brutal and more boring questing system to ever grace the MMO landscape. Heck Tera might of been better off to nix quests altogether and just turn itself into another typical Asian Grinder.
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Again, it's part of the balance.
No unless we can move as if our upper and lower body are 2 seperate been than this game combat sucks!!! /sarcasm
You can explain it all you want really and honestly i'm sick of explaining it people who don't get it or don't want to get it never will.
Regarding the root effect, it does feel a bit awkward during the first few levels of the game, particularly if you are a ranged class. The other thing is that, even though it inhibits ranged classes from kiting indiscriminantly, it doesn't prevent them from successfully doing it. It's an automatic root that lets you fire off your ability while on the move, but roots you in your tracks to do it. This is an important distinction between one in which you have to manually stop moving to get off an ability because those can be interrputed or not fire off at all if you don't stop in time. At least this way, you can hit your ability on the move, and it will automatically time the root effect correctly for you.
I just imagine it like every attack you make requires you to briefly set yourself up to aim, which, in effect, it does. Not much different than real life, where most guys with guns aim much better standing stationary than firing away on the move. In some ways this does make the combat animations look a little odd for ranged classes. For example, seeing rangers and priests inching back slowly while spamming their ranged abilities has kind of an odd look to it.
Also, in regards to the dodge mechanic, remember that every class technically has a spammable dodge ability with no cooldown on it: It's called "moving the hell out of the way." Even if your rolling dodge is still on cooldown as a melee, you can still sidestep abilities when you see the tell if you time it correctly.
Regarding the mobs's AI, that does improve as the game goes along and the areas get more challenging. The mob AI in the starter area is really bad. They simply come at you at a snail's pace give you one big, long, protracted tell before using one ability, and then a simple side step or dodge and they completely miss and end up facing the wrong direction while you beat on them. As the content gets more challenging, however, mobs start using more abilities during a fight, and using them much more often. They also start moving more "intelligently" while stalking you.
First the yellow paragraph:
Labelling general movement as a universal dodge is quite a stretch. For PvE, the later (more tough) mobs aren't that easily dodged. This may work on piglings & hyenas, but it doesn't work very well on basilisks or the SB bosses. Not to mention that certain classes (i.e. Berzerkers) aren't designed to move around much. It's pretty frustrating in that regards. That said, as you lvl passed 20, you get A LOT more customization in the form of glyphs (in addition to the gems you can buy). Doing this can not only give you boosts to general movement speed, but reduce the cooldown on your dodge skill (for classes that have it).
However, that still doesn't change the fact that only a couple classes have any sort of real dodge. Because of this it feels more like a class gimmick, than an actual feature of combat. Not to mention in PvP there are skills that DO NOT have tells, so you basically have to either get lucky avoiding them, or keep your distance. A good example of this would be most of the melee stuns, they fire off instantly, and you can't see them coming (unless your opponent is super predictable). Once stunned, you can be knocked down, slowed, etc. And that's exactly how I won a lot of fights on my slayer.
Now the 2nd paragraph:
You are right about the mob AI, but it didn't improve as much as I thought it would. The AI really shines on elite mobs, and elite mobs only. I have yet (up through lvl 30) to face a general mob that was anywhere close to a challenge. Even some of the elite mobs I could solo, they just took way too long to do so. That said, they still felt very telegraphed, and the only times I'd fail to get outa the way would be when I either (a) didn't care enough or (b) didn't manage to save enough MP for my dodge skill. Hell, for all but 1 of my SB encounters I ended up serving as the 'tank' because I was dishing out so much damage, and dodging most of it. Something the slayers aren't generally supposed to be able to do (if you go off the char descriptions).
For the most part that's how I'm playing it.
This is the only game where I don't read the quests. Of every game that I've ever played. But I love the pvp, I love the BAM fights as they can change on teh drop of a dime, I love the open world. It feels more like Lineage 2 to me (it's not, I realzie but it's closer than any other game I've played) and is the only game I'm actually excited about.
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