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TERA: Our Official TERA Review
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
TERA has been released for nearly a month now and we've been not only putting the game through its paces but we have been chronicling our adventures throughout the past few weeks. We've got the bottom line ready to roll so keep reading before adding your thoughts in the comments.
You can get a pretty good idea of just what I think of TERA, En Masse Entertainment’s first foray into the world of MMO Publishing and Western rebranding over the course of four previous Review in Progress articles. See exhibits A, B, C, and D. I’ve played the game for over fifty hours since launch, and while I’m still only in my 30s on my main character (an Amani Lancer), I think I’ve come to know enough about the world of Arborea to give it a fair and honest review. Will you agree with my final tally? Well, that’s a silly question. There’s always dissention when it comes to these things. But I hope you’ll at least agree that I’ve given TERA a thorough examination. In the end, En Masse’s game is one of my top recent MMORPG releases. It definitely has its drawbacks (which we’ll cover), but by and large it’s an enjoyable themepark MMO with fantastic combat and gorgeous visuals. Let’s dive in and see how it all breaks down, shall we?
Read more of Bill Murphy's TERA: Our Official Review.
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Comments
That has what to do with Tera's review?
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
He also stated he's liking TERA more than SWTOR in the livestream so, maybe his opinions have swayed since the past.
Anyways, I agree with most of this review and the only real thing I don't think should be a con is the UI functionability, maybe be more specific and complain about the guild UI but overall I think the UI covers just about everything and is customizable to almost any extent, not really warrantng a con as a whole in my opinion.
The real questionable thing is that he is doing a review as a level 30...... Ummm at level 30 you only know half of what you should be knowing. He is right on some things but I felt the review felt more like some newbie crying over things he knows nothing about. Vanarch only for the elite? Yea...that's like saying being president only takes a handful of people to accomplish. But what really pissed me off about this game is calling it an "Asian Grinder". For an official reviewer to say that just makes me want to go on a rampage. First of, I'm going to let go of the fact that this statement is ultimately racist, but to compare TERA to an ASIAN grinder simply because it came from ASIA shows real lack of video game knowledge. If you are looking for a real grindfest, try Perfect World Online or hell, even Ragnarok. Those are grinders. TERA is more like WoW, Age of Conan, and more like EQ2 when it comes to leveling. A real grinder would be if you had to kill the same group of monsters for 30 hours just to gain a level. I never felt that in Tera. In fact, I never seem to run out of quests. They are boring, but at least it makes me not think about the grind because of the exp, item, and gold rewards.
My source, I'm a 60 sorcerer. I'll be writing my own review once I experience end game a bit more as I just hit 60. So I can actually write a THOROUGH review not some half assed one.
Actually that was Mike Bitton, not me. FYI.
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[mod edit]
Also@Bluemagi - Calm down, the review was still overly positive, you don't have to rip him apart for the premature judgement of one thing he may have said.
But I didn't call it one. If you read that paragraph again, you'll see that I said it would be one without its other features and content. And no, the term's not racist either. I don't think I have to explain why.
In fact, you might want to read the review and realize that I LIKE the game you came in to defend before going into a blind rage post.
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And I can tell from your tone that your "review" will be totally objective too.
Stand by opinion that this should've been a B2P game with cosmetic cash shop.
F2P becomes extremely hard for publishers to not wander down the expensive cosmetic items and experience altering items pathway. Box price will at least off set majority of the initial development cost.
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Probably one of the better official reviews I think from the site. I applaud TERA for trying to break the mold in terms of combat, but I just can't help but feel that it's still 1 step forward with 1-2 steps backwards because of their approach to everything else in the game. The game isn't a trainwreck by any means, but I think had they innovated the rest of the game as much as the combat, this game could have really done itself a lot of justice.
The question is that how well is this game going to do with a monthly fee when the competition is making a game without one that while not quite as free in combat, does far better in every other catagory. I think it will be a tough sell, but they have a few months to establish themselves before that happens. I guess we will see.
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Fair review. Covers all the major points well.
Between this and hard mode D3 I really am in gaming nirvana right now, 2012 looks like being one of those good years, like 2004.
Playing: Darkfall New Dawn (and planning to play Fallout 76)
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8.7 would be more appropriate...
Not a bad review, not that I agree entirely. I don't think we can expect a game that's been out as long as TERA to be competing with new and yet to be released titles when it comes to it's questing system. When TERA was 1st in development nothing like GW2 or TOR's questing ideas had even been mentioned.
I'd rate it a little higher myself. Probably an 8 to maybe an 8.5.
Also on a personal note, if you're open to constructive criticism, Bill:
Don't waste MP on special attacks when tanking bosses. Several times in the SM fight you lost aggro on the boss and your challenging shout was red due to low MP (Bad tank. Naughty tank!). Your DPS is for crap anyway so don't bother.
Use Combo to build MP and use Shout EVERY time it's up (this should be easily possible because you won't be out of MP). The rest of your MP should be used for blocking, shield counter and the odd stun. I never once saw your MP bar go over about 1/4 to 1/3. Try this and you'll find you have a much more controlled fight, the DPS can do their job easier, and the fight will go faster.
When you get to the higher dungeons you'll find you need damned near perfect blocking to tank or you'll wind up dead. You won't have time to waste on anything other than blocks and shouts. Get used to it now.
With all due respect, you did in fact call it an Asian grinder. I think you may want yo rewrite your review if that was not your intent. And yes I agree, reading comprehension seems to be lacking in this forum, and so do peoples critical reasoning and writing skills.
I'll just let someone else point out what "without them" and "would be" mean. Also, you might want to look up what "with all due respect" means before backhandedly insulting someone. Thanks for reading, regardless.
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I expected this to get a solid 7.9-8.0 and agree that 7.7 seems a little low when you consider SWTOR got an 8.7 and we all know how that turned out once people got to 50 and realised that nice levelling was all the game had to offer.
TERA already has a lot more to do at cap then SWTOR.
great review. my only disagreement would be innovation. The combat alone deserves a 10/10 but i understand that the overall innovation is not 10/10. questing would be a 5 for me. Though it was chained very good all the way to 60. I think maybe you would have thought higher of it overall if you had reached some of the higher level dungeons. The lvl 56 dungeon to me is some of the best boss fights ive done in my life. The last 2 bosses to be precise. So fun. Love Tera. It is truly one i will remember as an old man!
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Bravo, fair review and an appropiate score. This game is worth a 7.5 tops on my book so I think you were generous, fans might give you crap for it right now but wait 6 months or a year and this will be one of most on-spot review.s out there. 7.7 is not a bad score though, it's just what the game is worth tops.
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7.7 is a lot higher than I would have given it. Although I was actually quite unimpressed with the combat/gameplay which was something that most likely bumped it up in the reviewer's impressions.
I played on Dragonfall server and I would definitely give the social/community there a 1/10. As far as innovation goes, I would give it a 5/10 since I don't see that much innovation to be honest. And, I would have to give longevity a 3/10 due to the fact that I don't see the innovation and the bad community.
Tera brings nothing new to the table with the exception of combat...and Raiderz is doing that style of combat too. The community alone was enough to drive me away for good. Imagine, if you will, all of the Barren's chat of 25 WoW servers rolled into one server...that's Tera...for me. And, the Elin race just freaked me out.
I definitely agree with everything else you wrote about.
You do a great job with reviews Bill and I always look forward to reading them.
Whats up with the fixation of the WHOLE FRIGGIN INDUSTRY about these fixed 10 Euros a month thing. I mean, wouldnt 5 euros a month be a good base for a company to work from. Maybe a 5 euro a month sub with paid for large expansions in the 15/20 dollar range. Everywhere you go its 10 euros a month, with maybe 5 euros a month somoen might not even be bothered by the fact that for one month they werent able to log on even once...heck its only 5 euros!
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To be honest I think you're being a little unfair to the community, the island of dawn is no worse than barrens chat in a sense, but because the game is new, you should compare it to what barrens chat would be if there were 300 people in the barrens at all times.
With that being said, this community, is hands down, the best I have had in an MMO. Aside from the elitists and trolls, so outside of 60 hardmode dungeons and the island of dawn, no game compares as of right now.
As I level there's people not talking at all besides asking for groups or looking for leveling buddies, or the odd question about a game feature or if something they are experiencing is a bug.
I am even invited to parties by random people I see questing beside me, they just want to group, and the groups are always good, we always chat and complete several quests together.
It's a real shame that the island of dawn is not only a poor representation of the gameplay, but also the community...I wish they'd just start us at level 20.
It's a pretty fair review.
The quests for the most part don't interest me or many others (some like them) and I feel the "end game" isn't very well thought out.
I still insist that it feels like a proof of concept game. They had an idea and implemented it and then realized there was a "game" part that needed to be added.
Still, I'm having a blast and it's the first game where I will subscribe a few months in advance. I love the dungeons, combat and aesthetic (for the most part).
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A fair review, I think that's just about the score the game deserves.
Wow. I wish I had played the game you reviewed. Gameplay an 8 out of 10. Yikes. I would have given it a 4 out of 10 in gameplay because all you do is quest hub hop and grind mobs over and over. The story, questing, crafting and exploring are extremely shallow if there at all. The only thing the game has going for it is open world PVP, flashy graphics and "different" actiony combat. Guess I play MMORPGs for something else. I can get the above on just about any console game that's come out in the past 5 years.
The community score...yikes. I would have given it a -1/10 it was that bad and I tried 3 different servers. There was maybe one 15 minute span where the conversation in general was actually civil, but before and after that it was all about who could say the nastiest things for shock value or belittling other player's and their opinions. It was atrocious.