TERA beta preview

In my articles I’m always talking about the next generation of MMOs. It’s an interesting topic, mainly because we’re on the very cusp of seeing where things are heading. As the general PC-playing populace grows, the power of their PCs will grow as well and that means there’s a lot of available power to play with in terms of development. They can make nicer graphics and bigger worlds, as well as more happening in that world, without the risk of alienating 90% of their audience, the people who would be left behind on ancient PCs. We’re getting to that point and, as a result, we’re starting to see different sorts of MMOs, not only in terms of graphics but in terms of real-time actions as well. TERA boasts to be part of the first wave of that next generation of MMO.

Shady Past

Its biggest claim-to-fame so far is, unfortunately, not a good one. NCSoft, the publisher behind Guild Wars and City of Heroes, amongst much more, has filed complaints against TERA developers Bluehole in both Korea and the United States. They claim that members of Bluehole, formerly working on Lineage 3, stole trade secrets from NCSoft and so are looking to get back damages and protect their work. If NCSoft are successful in the states, and given how many times Bluehole have lucked out during the appeal phase in Korea there’s a good chance NCSoft WILL be successful this early in the lawsuit, that could put back the launch of TERA indefinitely (if not just close down the idea of it launching at all). So, despite the beta being enjoyed by countless people, launch is still not quite yet a definite entity. And being realistic, it’s better for the thing to close down now before launch, rather than it open for a couple of weeks and then be shut down.

Creating a Character

No matter what’s going on with the development team and how amazing it is that TERA is anywhere near launch at all, the game itself is pretty decent. The character creation system is fluid and gives a hint at just how nice looking the game as a whole turns out to be. There are a number of races to choose from, from cute and cuddly to large and, well, you probably wouldn’t want to cuddle anyway. There really is something for everybody here, although there aren’t enough unique characters to choose from that you won’t end up seeing countless avatars that look just like yours. That’s because there isn’t a huge amount of customizability in the game. If you expect to be able to spend hours making your character your own, you’re going to be disappointed.

Art and Graphics

If you’ve ever played an MMO from the east, you won’t be surprised by the art design in TERA. Beautiful women, cutesy animals, mountainous regions and small villages; it’s an anime made real. There’s nothing wrong with this and the graphics are pretty enough to make it stand out from the crowd. The music is decent but ultimately passable, not a problem if you plan to play your own music while enjoying the game. In the end, you have something that looks beautiful, really it does, but without any sort of unique soul to the character design. It could have been much, much worse, I suppose.

Fighting in Real Time

For everything that TERA is, it’s the real-time battle that will give people reason to chat. The developers are so confident that they have perfected the notion of real-time battle that they’ve included support for the 460 controller in the game – a pretty big deal in the MMO world. In terms of comparison to other games, the greatest thing you’ll notice within a couple of minutes of gameplay is that you’re pulling off awesome moves, jumping around (actually DODGING attacks, can you believe?) and not once have you been forced to look at a bar and count the seconds till you get to do awesome moves again. It makes the gameplay more than just staring at the screen, waiting for animations to finish and then, again, staring at the screen, waiting to see what the next quest will have you doing.

Back to the Norm

With that said – and I appreciate it’s a big deal, so I’m not undermining the battle system at all – the battle system and shiny graphics are perhaps the only two things that set TERA apart from the competition. In reality, that will be enough to have people convert from whatever it is they’re playing now, but in actuality you’ll find yourself getting very used to everything more quickly than perhaps you’d like. It is still very much an MMORPG and performing quests is how you’ll gain experience. Gaining experience is how you’ll get access to harder enemies and harder enemies are likely to get you access to cooler stuff. With that cooler stuff you can gain experience and… the grind continues.
The story isn’t overly exciting – a couple of gods, some battle, some faux-mythology, go kill 10 rabbits for the good of everybody scared of rabbits – and you probably won’t pay too much attention to it, unfortunately. You’ll be waiting to get back out, dodging attacks and trying to kill endless enemies. As it happens though, grinding through quests will be a necessity, as it is in most of these games, and it adds to the drudgery.

Conclusion

TERA isn’t going to be for everyone and it wouldn’t surprise me if some of the MMO elite dismiss it for its emphasis on action. The problem is, in my mind the developers haven’t taken it far enough. They’ve shook up the way that combat works but haven’t necessarily upgraded the quest system or the adventure as a whole enough to warrant extended play. With that said, this far from release it’s impossible to say with any certainty that what we’ve seen in the beta is what we’ll be seeing at release and, if NCSoft has their way, it might be a while before that actually happens.

And for every bit of interest I’ve lost in TERA after actually playing it (and I haven’t lost much interest, honestly), it excites me more that this will open doors for other developers, interested in taking the real-time action that much farther. In short: by all means enjoy TERA for what it is (a standard MMORPG with a twist), but appreciate more the fact that in a couple of years, TERA will be one of the few games that were pushing this sort of thing before it was popular.

I’ve got no doubt that TERA is going to be a runaway success, not only because thanks to its earlier Korean release, it already IS a success. People seem generally excited for something new and, in some ways, TERA is something new.

by M. Growcott