TERA is a unique action MMORPG that lets you become a legendary hero. Instead of the traditional target and auto-attack featured in most MMOs, TERA requires your own skill in positioning, aiming, and timing your attacks to take down your foes. With seven races and eight classes to choose from, and a variety of skills, you can customize to suit your style, there will always be a variety of ways to conquer your foes!
OverviewTERA Overview
With immaculate scenery, solid combat, and visually appealing characters, TERA is an all-around unique MMO that is setting a new standard for MMOs. Focusing on creating a satisfying combat system based on skill, players can experience combat rarely seen on other MMOs.
Races:
Baraka - Cousins of the feared giants, Baraka are much kinder and meditative than their barbaric cousins. Their incredible size and durability makes them ideal for long battles.
Popori/Elin - Natural protectors of nature, these creatures take on animalistic forms and excel at harvesting herbs and out-swimming their fellow races.
Castanic - Tricksters by nature, never let one get behind you as their excel at landing critical hits from your blind spot. They’re armor crafting is also top notch.
Human - Leaders and wanderers, humans have faced many hardships and know how to handle situations when the pressure is on. They excel at facing off against other players.
Aman - Hearty blacksmiths hardened from years of slavery under the Giants Empire, The aman can take a beating, break through heavy CC, and prove that they will never be slaves again.
High Elf - Once the mightiest conquerors on Arborea, they’ve banded together with the Federation to use their superior knowledge of the arcane arts to bring down the Argon threat.
Classes:
Warrior - Agility tanks, capable of constantly dodging out of range of killing blows while maintaining agro on large bosses. Their light armor doesn’t allow for many errors, so expect a high skill cap for this class.
Slayer - Masters of 1 on 1 combat. Slayers dodge, CC, and out dps nearly any opponent so long as they stay in range. As their HP gets lower their adrenaline surges, allowing them to unleash their full potential.
Berserker - Close Range AoE kill shot masters. Though slow and lacking utility, with proper support they can bring down entire armies of enemies in seconds.
Archer - Mobile fast-paced ranged units. With multiple jump backs, heavy hitting skills, and fast AoE attacks, the archer is one of the most well rounded solo classes in the game.
Priest - The generic healing class, all but with some teeth added. Priests are squishy but pump out massive healing and long duration party buffs, as well as a couple devastating close range magic attacks to keep foes away.
Mystic - An out of the ordinary support class, the mystic is a must for any major party. They offer AoE auras that can bolster allies crits, defense, mobility, and mana regen just to name a few, while offering master level revive skills and even supportive summonable pets.
Lancer - The heavy armor clad tank class, what they lack in damage they make up for in pure staying power and chain CC. However they aren’t invincible, as you’ll quickly learn if you miss a couple well timed shield blocks.
TERA Screenshots
TERA Featured Video
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Full ReviewTERA Review
By Mae Hwa Hauschel
Fire Away!
TERA has a strong grasp on exciting action for players. Battles are based on the skill of the player, rather than how well they can button mash. All attacks have to be positioned, aimed, and executed correctly in order to take down monsters, giving players an outlet to show off their well-planned attack strategies. During battles each shot and swing you dole out has substance rather than just a minor enemy flinch along with some colorful bolded damage numbers. The action sequences and sound effects give each action more weight, and leaves the player feeling satisfied. When you tie in the factor that you can dodge and block attacks, a complete package begins to form where players can exercise their creative tactics in an environment where each blow carries real consequences. The downside of the battle system is that your character cannot attack and move at the same time. During attacks your character is essentially locked in place until the action sequence ends.
The questing system within TERA is generic and lacks ingenuity. Be prepared to run around a lot to collect x amount of y. While the game is extremely polished, the quest system is its weak point.
Make Me Up!
TERA is a game targeted to the 18+ crowd; from the first step of creating a character it becomes very apparent why the Mature rating exists. There are seven races to choose from:
Aman: If turtles and demons could have babies, Aman would be their tanky child. Amani are tough, and can stiffen themselves against knockdowns or knockouts. When their health is low, damage resistance kicks in. All Amani have increased resistance to damage-over-time effects.
High Elf: The Elf race is magic heavy; one of their perks is Elven mental focus, meaning they regenerate some mana whenever they resurrect. Being a magic heavy race class, their appearance reflects this aspect. There is less amour and overall clothes on both the male and female classes.
Human: It's a human race and solid one. They’re very hard to knock down or paralyze. When fighting other players, humans take less damage when they’re low on health. When resurrected, they regenerate health. While the male classes are abundantly covered in amour, the female classes are scantily clad.
Elin: Elin look like a mix between animals and 10-year-old girls. They are an adorable class with an awkward splash of sex appeal (Think panty shots of pre-pubescent looking girls.). Their small stature brings along perks; if they move slowly and carefully, elins can sneak by monsters. They have the ability to speed up their movement out of combat. Their tight connection to nature helps elins to gather plant resources faster than other races
Castantic: Think of the sexiest thing in your mind. Do you have it? Now times that by a million and you get the Castantic race. This is an extremely sexualized race, both male and female. Some of their outfits might make you blush, and possibly remind you of a sleezy strip joint (Snakeskin and animal prints galore!). But don't let their appearance fool you; there's power behind that sexy exterior. When attacking from behind, they have a greater chance to critically hit. When crafting metal weapons, castanic passion cuts the work time significantly. The graceful nature of the Castanics allows them to take much less damage from falls than other races.
Popori: The popori race is an adorable class of small animal-like creatures. They appearance takes after raccoons, rabbits, puppies, etc. If they move slowly and carefully, poporis (Like Elin) can sneak by monsters. Much like elins, poporis can gather plant resources faster than other races. Poporis also have the ability to swim faster in water than other races.
Baraka: Baraka are built tanky. Their stamina never falls below 20%, even if they die. They have a 10% bonus to resist binding or paralyzing effects. Baraka also have the ability to craft magic weapons 10% faster.
Restrictions May Apply
Being a free trial, there are a series of restrictions on players. Firstly, there is the 7-day period players have to abide by. (Although timed trials are almost unheard of these days.) Most of any interaction with other players is restricted. As so, players cannot participate in area chat, and PvP duels. While you can accept friend invitations, players cannot send any. The same goes with the mail system in the game. You will be able to receive mail, but you will not be able to send any. The trade broker and bank system is also off –limits for players on the free trial as well.
Final Verdict: Good
While this may not be a F2P game, the trial gives players a good feel of what to expect from TERA. This is an extremely polished environment that constantly appeases your senses. With solid combat, unique characters and monsters, and an interesting lore, TERA will satisfy your MMORPG needs. Keep in mind; this is a subscription-based game ($14.99/month).
VideosTERA Videos
JamesBl0nde Impressions Video
Click here to view the embedded video.
System RequirementsTERA System Requirements
Minimum Requirements:
OS:Windows XP (32 Bit Only)*, Vista, or 7(Latest Service Pack)
CPU:AMD Athlon64 3200+ or, INTEL Pentium4 3.20GHZ
RAM: 2 GB
HDD: 50GB
Graphics Card:ATI Radeon X1600XT or, NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT