Tera Online News

A brief look at the upcoming next-generation MMORPG by Bluehole Studios, The Exiled Realm of Arborea (TERA) Online.

Bluehole Studios’ next-generation MMO, TERA Online: The Exiled Realm of Arborea is a triple-A title that is already turning heads and gaining a little bit of recognition for its drastic evolutionary step in MMORPG visuals and its dynamic new combat system.

It’s very rare for an MMO to come along with graphics and a gameplay module that far surpasses the current-day MMORPGs and their pseudo real-time active battles. Even newer MMOs like Aion Online or Champions still suffer from the timed back-and-forth combat mechanics that prove to really standardize and bore-up the gameplay experience. Nevertheless, Bluehole’s revolutionary new system isn’t quite active like most console action games, but it’s not quite real-time turn-based like most other MMOs. They’ve yet to fully divulge exactly how it will work but it already appears as if it will be based more-so on character dynamics and interaction than standard hit/miss roll-dice.

Supposedly players will now be in charge of how fights and battles play out, as opposed to everyone standing around exchanging timed blows; waiting for the cool-down on the strongest attack to run out so the process can be repeated until someone drops dead after repetitively jamming down on the right mouse button. The encounters will make use of the surrounding environments to encourage more unique and vibrant fights and get players strategically making use of the battlefield around them. That certainly sounds like the right sort of direction for an MMO considering that often times players get bored using the same old quick-keys standing around until the enemy dies.

Now that the whole battle system has been explored, let’s talk a little bit about the driving force behind TERA Online’s character setup, classes and archetypes. Players will create a character from six archetypes and eight character classes. The team is currently optimizing the game to support all sorts of combinations between each race and each class. The challenge lies in the fact that each character class has its own series of animations, attacks and defensive measures that players actually get to see while playing the character. For example, a female human sorceress will perform a sultry dance to cast a certain spell or a large berserker will wield a large weapon as if its actually weighty, which makes the game depict each character class with its own series of individuality.