TERA Westernization: Nowhere near Our Final Goal

Last week, we began posting a series of postmortem articles from TERA's second Focus Group Test. We received a lot of valuable feedback from the FGT2, and we want to share some of it — and our thoughts and responses — with you. The first installment covered the testers’ gameplay experience, while this second installment focuses on the Westernization of TERA, the comprehensive localization effort being applied to the game. The third and final article, which will be posted next week, will touch on the technology of the game.

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Westernization

Perhaps the hottest topic of the FGT2 forum, the Westernization feedback category covered the gamut of story, dialogue, naming, game flow, and quests. Overall, testers commented positively on TERA’s Westernization and felt it was a strong indication of our goal for the final product. It's important to note that our Westernization efforts are nowhere near complete; as TERA proceeds through development, its Westernization will continue to be improved upon.

Testers found the core story intriguing and were excited to enter the world presented at the start of the game. Feeling involved in advancing the narrative through interaction with NPCs and engaging dialogue was important to the majority of participants: they wanted to feel that their character was pivotal to the game’s plot. Additionally, players wanted to experience more immersion through the exotic naming of items, skills, and other in-game elements to more closely match the colorful fantasy world of TERA. 

We agree with our testers that the best way to convey the tale of TERA is through the quests and denizens of the world. An improved ratio of pertinent story quests to side missions will be introduced in future builds of the game. Also, we intend to polish the names of the equipment, NPCs, and monsters of the land to provide a more immersive experience.

Feedback on the game's flow was clear: playing through the Island of Dawn was a finely crafted experience, while adventuring beyond level 11 and the first major city required self-propelled exploration. Quests during the first 11 levels were easy to find and rewarding to complete. The feedback on later quest chains, however, showed that our testers sought better flow and rewards that scaled to match the increased difficulty levels. Participants agreed that quests were a viable method of leveling, and they would like even more dynamic and exciting quests. Some testers also reported that they were able to level well simply by killing monsters instead of accepting quests. 

We want to make questing the optimal method of leveling. To that end, we're developing more than 1,000 quests and four times as many quest archetypes as were in FGT2. Additionally, we are evaluating and improving the geographic distribution of quests to ensure that the rewards scale to match the required level.

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We welcome your questions and comments on the official TERA Forums. We ask that our Focus Group Testers be mindful of the non-disclosure agreement as it is still in effect.