OK. I’m going to flat out say it: I like swords.
They are sharp. They are pointy. They kill things to death. And this is awesome. But before you start jumping to conclusions about me from those four previous sentences, let me get one thing straight: I’m hardly a bloodthirsty monster whose only idea of what’s best in life is to crush his enemies, see them driven to before him, and hear the lamentation of their women. At least, I
think so.
But, that aside, when I’m in the mindset of a fantasy setting where
anything can happen? I throw caution to the wind and say
“Screw the rules; this is awesome.”
The game world is designed as such to allow everything
from humans, to
pretty-boy and
succubus-esque demons,
rock giant loremasters,
bishounen and (arguably)
sexy elves,
musclebound draconic humanoids, to the collective fuzzies whose genders are almost-but-not-quite-entirely-unlike
different races, ALL of which in a setting to co-exist not only in a persistent environment, but also mesh in a cohesive art style. If
this doesn’t say that this game has at least some form of cool factor at least in art direction, I don’t know what does.
When I was researching deep into the classes of TERA after seeing how much this game ran on the Rule of Cool, I was immediately sold by the promise of utilizing this awesome with an action combat system (a fact many of you are also aware of, I’m sure). This left me with the process of going through class after class to find the one which “clicked” the best. Obviously, everyone has their favorites, and I’m certainly no exception. Surprisingly though, the decision came fairly quickly.
I didn’t care for magic. I didn’t care for super heavy armor. I didn’t care for pew pew. And I didn’t care to be supremely agile and fast. And I decided upon that after seeing only the first class I clicked on, which incidentally happened to be the Slayer.
When I compare a gigantic blade of steel or unobtanium slicing into several mobs in a single, overpowering arc of immeasurable strength to throwing pretty lights, shooting wedges on sticks, guarding with a shield or poleaxe, or have to resort to using poisons on blades, this is hardly a fair contest.
This is how I see it: You have a big sword. You are actually able to swing it. You don’t have to prepare your spells or anything. You charge in. You swing the sword several times and time a whirlwind to deal massive area of effect damage to the mobs. They get flung back or stunned. You finish them off. All of this caused with brute force and (essentially) a giant hunk of finely edged metal.
For me,
this is the epitome of what this game is to me: over-the-top epic going against all natural laws of physics and everything else for the sake of the Rule of Cool. If you stick around for the coming weeks, I’ll highlight some of what makes the Slayer and the rest of TERA have this uncanny quality. For those concerned about me neglecting the news about the class: don’t worry. I will be writing up on more detail on the class, especially the theory-crafting bit, as we get some more definite (and revealable) information.
For now, let’s all sit back and relax and twiddle our thumbs impatiently while I crack some hopefully entertaining articles for you all every Wednesday, especially for all of the Slayer fans who happen to come across this.
I’m Sorxaro, and this is “Slay On!”