TERA Review

If the questing in TERA is run-of-the-mill then the combat is a finely
tailored, distinguished commodity. It's elegant in its modesty and easy
to understand: point your crosshairs in the direction you want to
perform an ability and press the corresponding key. If playing a melee
character you can string maneuvers together in a graceful dance-like
chain of combos. Or, if ranged play is your fancy, take aim with almost
FPS precision and round out damage with a glorious blaze of spells and
projectiles.



These moves can take time to perfect but they separate the average
player from the excellent. Skill-based combat is rarely executed well
but TERA has managed to bring the concept into the realm of reality
with their system. Regrettably, I found I wasn't handicapped so much by
the game mechanics but rather by my own interface tools. Playing with a
mouse and keyboard wasn't nearly as effective and fluid as playing with
a controller until I tried it with my Razer Naga mouse. Once I had all
of my abilities hotkeyed to thumb buttons I felt empowered, in control,
and balletic in my bashing of baddie's brains.



Perhaps best of all is the streamlining of skills. In a case of
emphasis on player skill the adage of "less is more" holds true and
Bluehole seems to have understood that concept by a humble offering of
skills and abilities. As you level up you learn more skills, as is
again traditional, but never are there too many skills. My hotbars were
never teeming with abilities I would only use once per day. The
abilities are streamlined and purposeful without being superfluous. You
get what you need, and use what you get.



For all of its dazzle in providing a revitalizing approach to MMO combat, TERA does
exact a price on the social game. The combat is so involved that it
leaves one little room for much else. You won't be chatting with your
groupmates or guildies while killing the evils of Arborea. Typing text
while connecting combos is near impossible, though the game does offer
some quick macros that allow you basic responses like "follow me" or
"busy fighting" with the click of a button. It even takes a
considerable measure of dexterity to employ a push-to-talk key while
stringing attacks.



For the most part the inability to quickly communicate while fighting
isn't a gamebreaker, but it does become increasingly challenging if you
enter one of the game's instanced dungeons. Unless everyone in the
party knows the dungeon inside and out (which is unlikely in most
pickup groups) you'll need to take time to plan and discuss. Once
synchronous with your groupmates though, the instanced dungeons provide
challenging content and clever scripts that are rich in fun, even if a bit
prosaic.



As if in contradiction to the social drawbacks with the engaging
combat, another new element TERA brings to the MMO buffet is its
political system. These systems have been toyed with before in various
free-to-play titles and a smattering of Eastern MMO games but the
system in TERA is the first time the concept has been introduced to the
Western audience on such a large scale. The idea is relatively simple:
players level 20 and above vote once per month on their Vanarch.
Vanarchs are responsible for setting and collecting taxes from NPCs and
with the funding are able to open new merchant NPCs and fast travel
routes. The political system itself promotes a very social game, as
campaigning for votes plays a huge role in a candidate's success, as
does the guild the candidate leads. Yet, as in real life, the political game takes place at a remove from the core progression of the game for most players, and is (at least at the early stages) relegated to novelty feature status.