This beta got off to a very rocky
start. I tried to log in as soon as the servers opened but...not
surprisingly...they were overloaded with people trying to get on all
at once. Now that's to be expected but I thought that they would be
better prepared to deal with so many users seeing as this wasn't
their first beta test. If that wasn't bad enough, lots of people
including myself had technical problems updating and getting the game
to launch. Even removing and spending hours reinstalling the whole
game didn't help me. Thankfully En Masse did get a patch out out
fairly quickly to solve the issue, but by then I had missed out on
the per-order early start for the event. So obviously by then my
excitement had been somewhat diminished, but minor issues aside it
didn't let that ruin my overall experience.
The biggest update that I saw for the
open beta was the new prologue opening which gives players a taste of
higher tier combat by staring with a level 20 character of their
chosen class along with those skills and leveled equipment. This
was a nice opportunity for new players to see what they can aspire be
right away and fight some powerful monsters right away. Of course
once the section ends you get dumped back down to level 1 but it is
good at showing what the game has to offer. However I did have a few
minor complaints with it. A small irritation was that I couldn't
remap the skills to a more natural location for me. Instead of
showing how you came to be shipwrecked on a beach the game only
provides a single line of text beforehand and some vague exposition
in the quest text. Not only that but the ending of the prologue just
sorta happens, the screen suddenly fading to black while I was in the
middle of fighting a massive monster. The following cutscene, while
nicely drawn and voice-acted, doesn't really explain what happened to
you exactly, making it sound like I had died somehow. Again there is
a little exposition in the quest text, but the first time through I
was legitimately confused as to what happened to me to cause such a
huge level drop. Overall I liked the new opening segment but felt the
execution and presentation could have been improved. Maybe that will
be fixed in the future since this was still just a beta test, but
even if they keep it as is that's not a deal breaker in my opinion.
Another change and likely part of its
westernization, was switching the economy from a pure gold system to
one using copper, silver, and gold like in most mmo's out there.
Personally I didn't mind the old system and some items still felt
overpriced. Every class got one new skill and warriors in particular
got an overhaul, giving them an “edge” system where certain
skills build up a warriors “edge” points which can then be spent
to use some of their more powerful skills. Enemies and bosses were
supposedly buffed and made to be tougher but I didn't notice much
difference, at least not in the early levels. There were a number of
other tweaks and additions to the game but for the core experience
was pretty much the same and that's perfectly fine with me.
There was so much to talk about last
time that I ran out of space so I'll say it now: Tera is absolutely
gorgeous! The vistas are breathtaking and the creatures are much more
diverse and creative than just the usual vermin, wolves, and orcs
found in the majority of fantasy games. If you look close the models
are not the best but they look fine and fit the rest of the world
perfectly. Odds are you'll be too busy enjoying the combat to really
notice but if you can take a break to actually take in the world
around, you won't be disappointed. Some big name actors like Michael
Hogan and Claudia Black have lent their voices to narrate some
cutscenes as well as a couple main characters that players will meet.
To be honest I thought that the original actor for Commander Samael
did a fine job (being a complete arse!) but Hogan does an admirable
job as well. The music is still good if standard fare though I
wouldn't blame players for muting it so they can listen to their own
music while questing.
As of this posting the head start is
beginning soon for players to create and level characters before the
game officially is released. I hope that you have enjoyed reading
these previews and look forward to seeing you all out there! Happy
gaming!
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