TERA

 PC
User Score
6.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 799 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 447 out of 799
  2. Mixed: 168 out of 799
  3. Negative: 184 out of 799
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  1. Wweald
    Jun 26, 2020
    7
    One of the best MMORPGS I've played. All thanks to the amazing combat, the graphics are great. Everything is else is pretty average. Race and gender locked stuff is annoying, especially considering how weird some of the races are.
  2. Nicola99
    Nov 10, 2016
    7
    Tera is a vast RPG, starting right from the selection of your character with many races and classes, customizable .Tera has a very wide color with a very good story and able to keep you glued to the computer for hours. The skills for each character in the game are infinite each one different from the other on each of them. like every game there are some flaws, sometimes trips to do fromTera is a vast RPG, starting right from the selection of your character with many races and classes, customizable .Tera has a very wide color with a very good story and able to keep you glued to the computer for hours. The skills for each character in the game are infinite each one different from the other on each of them. like every game there are some flaws, sometimes trips to do from one city to another are too long even when using the fastest method, and some missions are seen too many times looking almost all the same.… Expand
  3. Shubaltz
    Aug 1, 2016
    6
    So sick of this developer. 5 years and anybody playing a male has received pretty much nothing, while the devs continue to add gender locked classes to female only, and then add race restrictions on top of it. The endgame is poor and the devs just continue to focus on cash shop items rather than attempting the fix the absolute horrid balance and the state of the game. If the combat wasn'tSo sick of this developer. 5 years and anybody playing a male has received pretty much nothing, while the devs continue to add gender locked classes to female only, and then add race restrictions on top of it. The endgame is poor and the devs just continue to focus on cash shop items rather than attempting the fix the absolute horrid balance and the state of the game. If the combat wasn't the best in any MMO, I'd probably rate it lower.… Expand
  4. pythag0ras
    May 23, 2016
    7
    all 10 votes are employees or fanboys. either way worthless.
    Its really fun up to level 58. But then you have to deal with wait timers on resetting solo dungeons (hour+ where as ALL the previous dungeons were 1 -3 min wait). This is an attempt to force you to group to level or grind out vanguard quests (kill 10 of x mob) which dont even give close to enough xp to be worth it.
    Basically    all 10 votes are employees or fanboys. either way worthless.
    Its really fun up to level 58. But then you have to deal with wait timers on resetting solo dungeons (hour+ where as ALL the previous dungeons were 1 -3 min wait). This is an attempt to force you to group to level or grind out vanguard quests (kill 10 of x mob) which dont even give close to enough xp to be worth it.

    Basically at 58 they severely reduce the fun and increase the grind and wait. Also this game has a bad habit of releasing new classes that are severely overpowered compared to the existing classes (which isnt the problem). They then wait for everyone to start complaining , and then nerf the class to oblivion(this is the problem).
    worth a play if you have nothing else to play . not worth spending a dime on(you can buy almost everything from the auction house with gold anyways). and just be prepared for the grind wall and to "hurry up and wait at 58"    … Expand
  5. azmihai
    Jan 25, 2016
    6
    Tera, is a beautiful game where you have great combat, great raids, great world and great customization... So what's wrong about it? The optimization... it's crap... It doesn't matter if you have a i7 quadcore or the best amd with the most powerful videocard, if the game is not made for that,its gonna work like crap...
  6. Darkstylez
    Nov 19, 2015
    5
    Great lore, great combat. Horribly marred by RNG mechanics to stay competitive with end game content and player versus player. If you have expendable income to swipe your credit card to buy a chance at +15 awakened gear than this is for you. Until these mechanics are changed my subscription will be taken elsewhere.
  7. Gormph
    Nov 12, 2015
    5
    Not worth a review its average for MMO's nothing to stand above really not that fun to play late game content is more frustrating then entertaining, combat is ok but it's nothing to write home about, unless your hardcore about testing every single mmo ever just skip it
  8. alleywig
    Sep 15, 2015
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I have a few bones to pick with Tera, since I have played the free version nearly 1,000 hours so far. Tera is a stunningly beautiful (now completely free, actually, a reverse of pay-to-win) MMO that has the best action-aiming-skill system out there. It's worth a play but I'll be honest with everybody: it's a gambling time sink at the end-game gear leveling. Trust me, the end game matters here since questing is terrible. You start out end-game with gear being thrown at you. Tera does a great job of dungeon queuing so you get into a group within 10 minutes (depending). Once in the group your character has a good chance of being mocked since you are in the starter-end-game gear. Say your team wipes (fails) on a boss - you're blamed and harassed. Tera basically made the 2nd level-end-game gear (Wroth - fully enchanted) equal to the 1st-level gear (Idoneal- not enchanted) - meaning you're forced to go from the first step to gearing out to the third, which means you're going to be harassed. Once you are in possession of better gear (after about 20 runs- nay, 20 days- through the same dungeon, being harassed) it is time for you to get all of your gear enchanted. But it takes nearly 60,000 gold to enchant just one piece of armor, so altogether be prepared to spend 240k or about another 20 runs through the same dungeon (only 1 dungeon a day) to knock down the price to something like 190k. Endgame gear is within such a "feasible" reach that you are lured into thinking you could casually play this. You can, but you'll be gambling on boxes in attempts to gain money to enchant, and working up that gear for 3 months playing 3x a week. The "best" part is: enchanting isn't guaranteed. You will most likely fail 1/3 of your attempts, making you infuriated and going back to grinding up more money, spending more on boxes, and playing as a stock broker/ casino gambler.
    This accumulation process covers PvE and PvP. PvP is a slightly different story that basically includes running the same map over and over with players that often can't work together in hopes of gaining a diamond as a reward to cash in for 10k gold. This happens fairly often and just further inflates the hell out of the economy. The wealth of some veterans is just ridiculous: paying a broker 550k to sell an item worth 1g for 11 mill just to show how much they have, raising the price of the entire economy- is just one example. With so many high-rollers at the top this feeds the new player's wallets and creates a rapidly expanding economy where people are actually using in-game currency to buy store-bought (real money here) items. With this being a free game this demand is skyrocketing. Tera is hopefully going to reverse that trend of playing-to-pay-to-play-to-win which it currently resides. Let me explain: users are playing to rack up gold, enough to buy a 30-day elite (4 dungeons instead of one and no vendor cost) which they purchase from farmers in order to get ahead of everybody else. This will slowly decrease as the demand goes higher, but for now its a mad dash to try to get your poor character geared- but certainly not rich. The mounts and costumes will begin to eat away at your wallet as you desperately try to make your character what you really want it to be. If you chose a female character good luck on deals since about 75% of each server plays a female and demand is higher than ever. Sorry I digress,

    To Summarize: End-game gear should be difficult to achieve, but the variety of actual gear in this game is abysmal, instead becoming distracted by costumes and accessories - which is the second best part of the game, next to the action-based fighting style. There are (somewhat unique) boss fights and Big-Ass-Monsters, but it all becomes routine and boring after grinding them for months. The tanking is terrible: having given two other classes the power to tank but not the option to tank in the dungeon queue - as if Tera is purposefully discouraging tanking for more "excitement" and variety to their fights (with a tank its basically just a plant and spank). There is currently only one "official" tanking class, soon to be paired (replaced) by another (repeating the past trend of new female-locked classes) tanking class. It's refreshing to know the developers are still developing the game, but dear god the economy is insane. Right now about 1,200g = 1 US dollar. Each level 65 you have can achieve 1200 a day. So basically its a play-to-win game with gold being traded for in-store purchases. Must I also mention that gambling on opening boxes with contents worth 1,200g is addicting? Even that being said, the PvE and PvP content don't add up to much anything and most players are downright bored, relying on Guild communities and gross conspicuousness to further their drive to become a bad-ass. This game is seriously flawed and their practices are obtuse, but I'll admit that they have made fighting, character customization, and world textures look and feel amazing.    … Expand
  9. mmrventricle
    May 7, 2015
    6
    Whereas the game is solid, when the only thing many ppl know about the game is that you can play as attractive females, the devs have done something wrong.
  10. Lonewulf
    Sep 10, 2014
    5
    Amazing art design. Awesome action combat. The down side? takes forever to download, and questing boring as hell, go there kill 10 come back now go there, once you get there then kill 20 come back, next area Oh the excitement of a new area discovered!! guess what? go there kill 10 come back. rinse and repeat. Good looking non-stop grind fest action combat! that's my definition for Tera.
  11. Tiren
    Aug 21, 2014
    6
    I played this game until level 41 with a warrior and then i got bored. While the graphics may be good and the combat mechanics are better than most other mmorpgs, it is not used properly, the monsters are all approached by the same approach, all the monster die from 2 skills, and the quests are so boring that i wanted this game to end. I struggled to start this game and to keep playing it,I played this game until level 41 with a warrior and then i got bored. While the graphics may be good and the combat mechanics are better than most other mmorpgs, it is not used properly, the monsters are all approached by the same approach, all the monster die from 2 skills, and the quests are so boring that i wanted this game to end. I struggled to start this game and to keep playing it, the quests are overwhelming and don't add anything to the experience, and the supposedly 1 person dungeons are useless, because you need to complete the 5 people dungeons to advance on the quests. While the BAMs and dungeons may be entertaining at the start, they get old quickly and this game was a very bad chore for me that i couldn't complete it.… Expand
  12. aatassi
    Jul 31, 2014
    7
    Good things : graphics, combat system, big boss
    less : quests, scenario, leveling up, enemy infiltration

    Now that is free it is much better.
    It is all about graphics.

    Game play 6/10, graphics 8/10, back ground 5/10, lifetime : 7/10, sound : 7/10, combat system : 7/10
  13. goopyGoop
    Jun 17, 2014
    6
    Aside from pretty graphics and once original combat system, this game doesn't really have much to offer. The nonexistent storyline is shallow and boring.
  14. Vayra
    Dec 19, 2013
    7
    Tera. Once an MMO with sub fee, today it has been around for awhile as a F2P. How does it fare?

    - Free to play Tera’s content is entirely free and at first glance there isn’t much Pay2Win to be found. This feeling lasts until you find out about the existence of Tera Club membership in combination with endgame and the immense grind associated with it. To what extent is Tera free to play    Tera. Once an MMO with sub fee, today it has been around for awhile as a F2P. How does it fare?

    - Free to play
    Tera’s content is entirely free and at first glance there isn’t much Pay2Win to be found. This feeling lasts until you find out about the existence of Tera Club membership in combination with endgame and the immense grind associated with it. To what extent is Tera free to play then? To be precise, it is f2p to the extent you feel you want to grind for stuff. The Club membership will easily cut this time in half with daily reputation, gold and XP bonuses, a free means of teleportation and faster mount. Other things in the store are mostly cosmetic, consumable and temporary bonuses. Tera actually does very well keeping the P2W out, and making the cash shop a shortcut to ‘buy time’. So far, all seems well.

    - Gameplay & Mechanics
    The best part of Tera comes to light during combat. Tera’s combat mechanics are interesting, largely skill-based, fast paced and require true aiming and dodging. Especially melee classes are extremely fun to play, while casters feel somewhat slow and sluggish due to cast times and animations. Good players can be separated from the bad by watching their rotations and how they act and move around, which is a great thing. Unfortunately, this mostly shows itself in PvE, as the PvP of Tera is grossly unbalanced and bland because there is no form of matchmaking available; in PvP this results in unbalanced teams where several players possess gear that outclasses everything else, making winning and losing very much the luck of the draw. In PvE, it becomes clear from the first hour playing that you are dealing with a Korean style MMO. Lots of grind, uninteresting narrative, and lots of quests that involve going from A to B and killing X monsters. The good combat mechanics make the grind bearable but levelling is incredibly repetitive. PvE endgame involves dungeons, which is where the nice loot can be found, but there is also a daily event that potentially drops much more loot than can be gained from dungeon runs. There are several tiered sets of gear and weapons, and only by doing the most difficult dungeon can the best ones be obtained. All content before this final dungeon however, is surprisingly easy and not really worth doing as the daily loot event gives better stuff. A missed chance, because this basically means that endgame Tera consists of two or three dungeon runs and a daily event, plus whatever else you would choose to waste time on (because there is no useful reward to it).

    - Community
    Tera’s community is one typical of MMO’s, not surprisingly harsh or surprisingly friendly. There are many established guilds, but the transition to F2P and the changes it has brought, are gradually but surely destroying the community. One major flaw in the game is that essential items to upgrade best-in-slot gear pieces have been phased out of the normal economy and are actually now only scarcely available. This is where Tera has gone horribly wrong. EnMasse, the publisher of Tera in the U.S., is doing a far better job at managing the game’s economy than its European counterpart (GameForge). Customer support from Gameforge is horrible at best, and after playing for a year I can safely say the situation will not ever change. Gameforge is in fact the largest issue Tera EU has, as it is a company with no interest whatsoever in what the community thinks, wants and needs. In the past year, many decisions that have proven detrimental to the game have been pushed through and the effects are still felt to this day. For example, if you are not sinking all of your time (and cash!) into this game, do not ever expect to get to the highest gear tiers. And for a game like Tera with limited end game content, this is deadly.

    Conclusion: Tera is a great pick up to experience and play a few classes, as it has a refreshing take on combat, fun, varied classes and smooth gameplay. Other than that, Tera is an MMO lacking in many aspects for which almost all credit goes to the publisher Gameforge for crippling the endgame economy. With the latest content update (which adds a whole new gear tier), things may change, but given the publishers stance on things in the past, I have little hope. The game world is full of great potential places to explore and grind, but Gameforge has stripped the loot tables to push essential stuff to paid alternatives and most places you visit are a time sink and nothing else. One big piece of advice would be, if you play, don’t sink too much money in it too early, because there is a fair chance you’ll find it was not worth it.

    Graphics: 7/10 Good visuals, nice art, but very poorly optimized
    Sound: 6/10 Nothing special
    Gameplay: 9/10 Great combat mechanics, almost make you forget the endlessness of the grind
    Community/Publisher: 5/10 Gameforge needs to do a much better job satisfying the community, EnMasse (NA) is doing a far better job. If you play this, consider NA servers    … Expand
  15. Dnice504
    Sep 24, 2013
    7
    Boob women galore. WoW clone. Free. Nice graphics. Action combat it's ok. Craft system terrible. Everything else status quo. I need 150 characters but there isnt much else to say. Did I mention boob women?
  16. Old_Skewl_Gamer
    Sep 18, 2013
    6
    Good combat, 0 depth, dying community and low population, terrible class balance. This is a language port from Korea. I played for awhile before it went F2P. Not worth a 2nd look.
  17. JudgmentJay
    Jul 23, 2013
    5
    My review is probably going to sound like many others. Here's the tl;dr version: Combat is great, but the rest of the game is mediocre.

    I played as a sorcerer in the Korean/Japanese beta tests, and I was slightly underwhelmed by the combat system that everyone seemed to love. For the North American release of the game I decided to go with Warrior, and it was a night and day difference.    My review is probably going to sound like many others. Here's the tl;dr version: Combat is great, but the rest of the game is mediocre.

    I played as a sorcerer in the Korean/Japanese beta tests, and I was slightly underwhelmed by the combat system that everyone seemed to love. For the North American release of the game I decided to go with Warrior, and it was a night and day difference. Combat was much more involved and skill-based, especially where BAMs are concerned. Tanking was especially fun and fulfilling.

    Another praise-worthy aspect of this game is the graphics. It's easily the best-looking MMO out there. Some of the environments are jaw-droppingly awesome. There was a small issue with view distance and object pop-in, but I can overlook that. Music is good, but no tracks stand out in particular. The English voice acting on the other hand is terrible. Super terrible. Cringe-worthy even.

    So we have awesome combat and superb graphics... what else is there? Not much unfortunately. Questing is as generic as it gets, from level 1 all the way to level 60. Do a few kill/collection quests at one hub, move to the next, rinse and repeat infinitely. Soloing BAM quests was fun at first, but the novelty wore off quickly and they just became tedious. Dungeons are decent, especially toward the end-game. Some of the bosses are pretty challenging. I didn't do any hard mode dungeons, but I imagine they're VERY challenging. That's a good thing.

    As for end-game... there isn't a whole lot. A number of 5-man dungeons and their hardmode counterparts as well as a completely broken world raid component called the Nexus. I say broken for a couple reasons. One reason is that you barely have to do anything to get credit. You hit a monster once and then you can literally just stand there doing nothing. The other reason is that due to the sheer number of players participating FPS rarely goes above 10... even with graphical settings on the lowest preset.

    The last thing I'll talk about is Enchanting. Enchanting is the reason I'm through with this game. It's the most frustrating mechanic I've seen in an MMO. I don't mind long, hard grinds. I don't mind ridiculous gold sinks. Enchanting is both of these, but what makes it unfun is the fact that your time and money can result in absolutely nothing due to the chance of failure. Each time you upgrade your armor/weapon, the chance for failure for the next level increases. Toward the max level of your item, the chance for failure is ridiculously high. If they removed the chance of failure and just increased the time/money needed for each level I'd be fine with it. There's nothing more frustrating than grinding for hours for the gold/items needed for enchanting only to have 10 failures in a row. I'd probably be more willing to endure it if there was something greater than 5-mans to work toward.

    In conclusion, this game was a fun distraction, but the end-game just isn't there.    … Expand
  18. Enik
    Jul 22, 2013
    7
    I've played Tera off and on since before its release. Overall I think it's an enjoyable, well done MMO. The graphics are great and the dungeons are generally fun. Leveling is difficult because the vast majority of the quests are repetitive, but doing it with a friend or two can mitigate some of the boredom. The game is F2P, very unintrusive, and you can literally get all the way throughI've played Tera off and on since before its release. Overall I think it's an enjoyable, well done MMO. The graphics are great and the dungeons are generally fun. Leveling is difficult because the vast majority of the quests are repetitive, but doing it with a friend or two can mitigate some of the boredom. The game is F2P, very unintrusive, and you can literally get all the way through without spending a penny.

    My only major complaint is that the random enchanting system is sadistic. You can spend many times more than you make on materials (which are destroyed whether successful or not) in the process of enchanting your gear. If you're completely devoid of social life and can grind out lots of high level gear to use as fodder then you can save some gold. But if you're a normal person, well, the thousandth time you've seen your valuable gear go up in smoke trying to move one enchant level is rage inducing. And, of course, if your gear isn't masterworked and enchanted to the highest level, your ability to compete is restricted.

    Overall very fun. But when you hit end game, if you're like my friends and I, you're wondering what there is left to do unless you're willing to dedicate your life to perfecting the gear you own.    … Expand
  19. Quorina
    Apr 29, 2013
    5
    Combat is excellent and is the defining feature of this game, the F2P is also great and doesn't nickle and dime you, but the questing will simply bore you to death. 95% of the quests consist of "kill x" with maybe 4.5% of the remainder "collect x" quests. Got bored of it pretty quickly after getting an archer to 28. However, the game does offer a challenge via dungeons and BAMs (Big A$$Combat is excellent and is the defining feature of this game, the F2P is also great and doesn't nickle and dime you, but the questing will simply bore you to death. 95% of the quests consist of "kill x" with maybe 4.5% of the remainder "collect x" quests. Got bored of it pretty quickly after getting an archer to 28. However, the game does offer a challenge via dungeons and BAMs (Big A$$ Monsters) so for the price of 0, it is worth a try.… Expand
  20. BK201
    Apr 10, 2013
    7
    For a FTP MMORPG The game is very beautiful and has alot too do, Given like most it has it's grind but that is just a mmo in general, anyone trying to decide if they should try it or not, go for it you got nothing too lose anyways it is a very fun game with a nice refreshing combat system and much more to offer.
  21. Jaz
    Feb 23, 2013
    6
    Decent game which now is free to play. Graphics are good -GW2 has better tho-, combat is ok but gets repetitive and thats it. Main problems No depth and no character. Nothing more to offer than lots of games out there today and lacks a lot of what those games offer. Still, i d play it since its f2p and if you dont expect too much you ll have a good time.
  22. joemama57
    Jan 23, 2013
    5
    Innovative, Safe, and Mundane.... all at the same time

    I know its hard to lump all 3 of those words into the same category but with Tera, you can. I'll tell you what's innovative about it and I am sure this comes as no surprise, the combat . I am sure you have heard all about the combat in Tera and it is definitely lived up to its reputation. It's fun, engaging, fast and furious! It's    Innovative, Safe, and Mundane.... all at the same time

    I know its hard to lump all 3 of those words into the same category but with Tera, you can. I'll tell you what's innovative about it and I am sure this comes as no surprise, the combat . I am sure you have heard all about the combat in Tera and it is definitely lived up to its reputation. It's fun, engaging, fast and furious! It's nice to play an MMO where the combat is measured with skill, and not just... who has the better skill bar. The combat is one of Tera's biggest draws for sure. The other big draw... is its graphics. Everything from the world, character models, animations, and effects have been truly realized in this fantasy setting. From the moment you step onto the island of dawn, you will be blown away by the colourful world that lay before you. The artists did an excellent job putting detail in just about everything you look at.

    But how does the game play out? Well...it plays out like a great 3rd person action game would. So far, I haven't really found any flaws in how the game feels. It seems the developers put a lot of time into ironing out any game play bugs and flaws. It's a very fluent, quick, responsive game and plays surprisingly well with an xbox 360 or PS3 controller. It almost feels like this game would have been the perfect match for a console MMO (and it almost feels like they had that in mind during development).

    Also its worth noting that the character creation and class selection is a very exciting process. The amount of choices for character creation and class selection is exceptional. They include just about every major class from the fantasy realm and include a few fresh ideas. Every class has its defined role... i.e. the Warrior is a fast, agile class that deals damage at a higher rate of attack, thus making it a front line DPS fighter...but, your not "limited" per say to that role. If you do want to venture out and play a different role with your character, you can, its just might be more challenging then sticking to the pre-defined role. It comes down to how you control your character during combat that defines your role. Once again, its actual player skills that counts.

    So I got the positives out of the way, now for some of the negatives...and when I say negatives, I mean major flaws. I am just going to come out and say it...the questing is absolutely TERRIBLE!!! (or Terable..hehe..I just had to do it). It's like the game directors gave the story and quest department some time off. The quests are the most unimaginative, boring, and mundane quests I've ever encountered in any MMO. They are the generic "kill X amount of this monster and come back to me", or "talk to so and so, then come back to me"...but done in the most boring fashion ever! There's not even voice over dialogue to keep you entertained (not even with the main story quest givers!!). IMO, the whole fetch quest system (in any game now a days) is in a desperate need of a face lift...or elimated from MMO's all together.

    Next would be the tedious grind through levels...It can get really old really fast. Do boring fetch quest, gain XP. Kill several mobs, gain XP. Repeat that over and over again. Now some people may say that you can never get away from that in MMO's. I say, not true. Lets take SWTOR for example. I know the game was a big let down but the questing, story, and voice over dialogue definitely kept me engaged for some time. Even GW2 adopted voice over dialogue with cut scenes for the main story quests. SOMETHING MORE!! is my point. To put absolutely no effort into keeping your players engaged in the story and questing is probably why they lost so many subscribers in a couple of months following release. It's like they thought the combat would suffice and they left it at that.

    Final Thought: It's a great game for new players to the MMO genre. It's fast and furious combat will keep gamers engaged for a bit. Unfortunately, this game took the most basic cookie cutter MMO mechanics and slapped a new coat of paint on it. It's a tedious and boring grind through levels. The game does has a saving grace (well 2 actually), Graphics and Combat. That's it. The other draw I guess is the fact its going F2P in less then a month. You can play now up to level 28 to get a head start. That should be enough time to decide for yourself. Is the innovative combat enough to keep you engaged? or does it feel...lifeless?    … Expand
  23. Flash_Over
    Jan 21, 2013
    6
    I am late writing this review, but since I played this game extensively I will give it a score.
    I will first begin with the Pros:
    - The combat in with game is really a big plus part in this game. Live action, blocking, dodging in a way that lets you kill high level and really powerful monster if you have enough skill. I can't really describe how great this approach is the mmo-combat.    I am late writing this review, but since I played this game extensively I will give it a score.
    I will first begin with the Pros:

    - The combat in with game is really a big plus part in this game. Live action, blocking, dodging in a way that lets you kill high level and really powerful monster if you have enough skill. I can't really describe how great this approach is the mmo-combat.

    1-The graphics, TERA offers a beautiful world with smooth and incredible animations. Lighting, particles and everything visual that is taken for granted should be appreciated. A few times I stopped just to take a look around, and when you let the scenery sink in, you realize the developers did a great job.
    2-The games user interface is really user friendly and easy to get into. This makes veterans from other games get a familiar feel that is easy to pick up.

    3-Character creator and selection screen. A big thing for me in any RPG is character creation. I love creating a very unique character down to every detail. TERA offers this and it spent hours having fun playing with the options.
    These 3 points are what really stood out to me and I actually really had fun playing this game. it is in my opinion the best MMO to me released next to Guild Wars 2. Why did I stop playing you ask? We will discuss this in the Cons.

    Cons:
    1-The combat, the combat... though refreshing, fun and innovative is also part of the flaw in this game. Timing is 100% critical in this game and what really is terrible is the developers decided that your character, but finish up his/her attack/spell animation before you can do anything else. For example, if you are swinging your axe and you need to block because the boss is charging up a spell... well... 1-2 seconds can feel like forever as you cannot use your dodge or block till your character finishes the swing/cast. This will lead to frustrating mayhem. So add to this issue; the developers made it where you can only move in one direction in the game. Which is forward; so if you need to black up, your character will turn its back to the enemy to back up.(There is no walk backwards animation)In this game you must always face your enemy, specially if you are a tank. So turning your back to move out of a AOE spot will lead to your death. Taunting is a 1-2 second cast spell to taunt enemies, this is really difficult since the battlefield is always moving. All spells/attack anchor your character until the animation is complete, and this is what flaws the live action combat as it is not fluid like it should be.

    2-Instances Ques... oh the Instance/Dungeon Ques... If you are not a tank(Since tanking is really difficult because of con#1. Tanks are rare. With this being said instances Ques are incredible long for even Healers and especially DPS. As a Lancer I got instant Que's but that it not fair to the other players who need quests to wait 30-40+ minutes or longer for a brave soul who rolled a tank to Que up.

    3- Group Quests and special monsters... Most MMORPG have group quests, they are either optional to do, or they only require... 2-3 players(Since these are non-dungeon quests). TERA decided ALL group quests are 5 mans. Same thing with Elites, most games have lesser elites and powerful/boss elites. TERA has ALL 5play+elites that require a tank-DPS-Healer. As mentioned in Con#2 getting a group for a dungeon is almost impossible, so getting a group to till 1 elite for a zone quest is even more impossible. This leads you to skip good XP and good loot. However, with enough skill you can kill these monster on your own, BUT it will take you 30 minutes of constant battle to bring it down(With average quest gear.) So spending 1+ hour for 1 quest leads many player to skip these as you can do a dozen normal ones within that time for more XP.

    In conclusion: Since TERA has failed to address these HUGE issues mentioned above, this has caused a lot of the player population slowly dwindle away. (Can't do quests, can't do dungeons, combat is flawed.) Which are the heart and soul of any MMORPG. These things in my opinion is why I quit and I am sure many others. To address the problem NCsoft instead of fixing these problem instead convert the game to Free 2 Play. Might as well stabbed themselves in the chest. TERA is a great game, I liked, I really did. If the problems were fixed, I would have stayed, but NCsoft failed to heed our cries. With that in mind TERA will slowly die like the rest. :(    … Expand
  24. Daveman
    Dec 16, 2012
    6
    Had Tera been released in 2004 instead of WoW, it would've rewritten the MMO landscape, and today's MMO market would've been a drastically different place. Unfortunately, 2012 marks the release date of a game that, in the greater scheme of things, is far behind the competition. Despite Tera's landmark action combat system - which I truly believe is the prototype for great MMOs to come - itHad Tera been released in 2004 instead of WoW, it would've rewritten the MMO landscape, and today's MMO market would've been a drastically different place. Unfortunately, 2012 marks the release date of a game that, in the greater scheme of things, is far behind the competition. Despite Tera's landmark action combat system - which I truly believe is the prototype for great MMOs to come - it is unfortunately plagued by sheer, overwhelming mediocrity in the departments of questing, storyline, and interactivity with the environment. (those that try to climb ladders and vines will know part of what I'm talking about) The PvP is even a little off - what I expected to be an even playing field where skills matter than levels or gear, I was shocked that this game, which I had expected to pioneer normalized PvP, still rewarded grind time over actual skills such as reaction speed and hand-eye coordination (though it still does this far better than any MMO to date, it's not saying too much). I gave this a 9 in my first review, but after playing it for a while, I'm disappointed to say the least that this game, which I had VERY high expectations for, didn't fully deliver like I expected. I still have half a year of my subscription to go and hopefully things turn out a lot better, but if not then Tera has lost a very hopeful customer - someone that truly believed in the greatness it could've achieved.… Expand
  25. Sg6152620
    Sep 26, 2012
    6
    Well i only want to say one thing and i think most people that quit the game would've agree with me. Tera has the classic leveling system, you will eventually be at the level cap if you just grind the quest. Combat system is fine, UI is fine. but all these aint important. the reason this game failed, at least i think its going to fail is that the developer kept NERF the end game contentWell i only want to say one thing and i think most people that quit the game would've agree with me. Tera has the classic leveling system, you will eventually be at the level cap if you just grind the quest. Combat system is fine, UI is fine. but all these aint important. the reason this game failed, at least i think its going to fail is that the developer kept NERF the end game content and whats really bad about that unlike WOW is that WOW has more endgame content than this game. And yet this game Nerf things faster and heavier compare to even wow. For those have attempted hard-mode dungeons before the Queen patch probably know that before what i consider the biggest nerf, you get one Tier 13 item per average five runs. and after the patch you get one per run. and this just fluctuate the market makes ruining hard-mode pointless. whats even worse is the new dungeon normal mode for the queen patch drops the same Tier level items. For me I just dont see why bother running the new dungeon anymore.… Expand
  26. Protonova
    Sep 19, 2012
    5
    Tera as much have said have amazing gfx, but only when you're in a low pop location. The controls vary from excellent to worst(usual melee which sometimes are unresponsive). There are soo many bugs in this game for example constant memory leaks, low ~7 fps during events, glitchy bosses, attacks going through mobs. Not to mention how shady the business practice is with EME.Tera as much have said have amazing gfx, but only when you're in a low pop location. The controls vary from excellent to worst(usual melee which sometimes are unresponsive). There are soo many bugs in this game for example constant memory leaks, low ~7 fps during events, glitchy bosses, attacks going through mobs. Not to mention how shady the business practice is with EME. Micro-transactions are suppose to be micro... Not to mention how they censored loads of armor models and then decided to sell an expensive uncensored armor model, clearly against their philosophy at release and their reasoning for making all armor somewhat ugly. (imo it was to sell better looking ones for really high prices). The only thing it has going is the combat, best freaking combat in any MMO (if it worked 100% of the time). Also not grindy at all except for the dailies which is understandable... All in all Tera had lots of potential, just never delivered on it... Too many glitches and when you complain, they close down the thread... Ignoring these problems just compound them more and more. Sorry 1 more thing look at the Slayer class, it's main/major attack is so bugged that it only lands 50% of the time. I'm talking about heart thrust, a well known bug and no statements of fixes have been announced since release 4 months ago.

    My game experience covers, 5 classes: Mystic, Sorc, Priest, Slayer, and Lancer. Time played... I'd say pretty much 24/7 lol since release. All hard modes accomplished except QoA aka MC.    … Expand
  27. Xramirez
    Aug 31, 2012
    7
    Critics will rave about the combat, and so they should. But what of the rest of the game? I leveled to 38 in the free month that I got for buying TERA Online. The initial price isn't bad considering everything else out there is 60$. In my first experience with the game I felt like I was reinvigorated to play MMOs again. The combat is fun, skill-based, and satisfying when coming up withCritics will rave about the combat, and so they should. But what of the rest of the game? I leveled to 38 in the free month that I got for buying TERA Online. The initial price isn't bad considering everything else out there is 60$. In my first experience with the game I felt like I was reinvigorated to play MMOs again. The combat is fun, skill-based, and satisfying when coming up with your own combos. However, that's where my excitement stopped. You see, TERA is no different than your standard MMO. PvE has a story that you can follow. However, that story is drowned out by mundane errand quests that are copy and pasted into new areas. You literally go back and kill a re skinned, renamed version of the monster you killed 10 minutes ago. I QUICKLY found myself clicking through the quest text and gluing my eyes to the mini map to see what I needed to kill, how many, and where they were located. Then I realized I wasn't having any fun anymore. I was doing the exact same thing I was doing in other MMOs that I lost interest in. Then I realized I would have to pay 15$ monthly to do this mindless routine over and over again and I decided enough is enough. I have done all of this before only without the fun combat and it still wasn't enough to redeem this game. I got to level 38 out of principle. The lore isn't the most intriguing but it's there. The graphics on this game are great but only due to the fantastical sci-fi setting and aesthetics. It's actually just the Unreal 3 engine used in a great way and that's not a bad thing.

    In the end I didn't pay 15$ to continue this game. It's a shame because the combat was very fun but not enough to keep me interested. You'll see many reviews based on the combat alone and I think this is atrocious. MMO's should start being rated by their PvE content including story and questing mechanics as well. So many have accepted the mindless grind that they've developed stockholm syndrome with MMO's. We need to demand more.    … Expand
  28. effataigus
    Aug 28, 2012
    6
    Great game in many respects. Combat is fun and the whole game is beautiful. There are legitimate challenges to be found solo, and group content was fun. The non-tab targeting is a breath of fresh air. This is what I wanted Diablo III to be. I haven't made it t the endgame, so no comment there.

    Downsides: Very limited character power customization. Character customization is    Great game in many respects. Combat is fun and the whole game is beautiful. There are legitimate challenges to be found solo, and group content was fun. The non-tab targeting is a breath of fresh air. This is what I wanted Diablo III to be. I haven't made it t the endgame, so no comment there.

    Downsides: Very limited character power customization.

    Character customization is pretty good, but your look will be dominated by the chestpiece you're wearing.

    Too many powers cause you to lose control of your character for a length of time, and it is never clear exactly when that time is over. I understand that this is an integral part of the combat system, but I feels very clunky even if it makes the animations prettier.

    Tiny text and the wide variety of items makes inventory management a bit of a drag (though not much worse than most MMOs, I suppose).

    The stamina system is a little baffling and completely unfun for me (arbitrary mechanic that rewards standing by a fire and not doing anything).    … Expand
  29. aazru
    Aug 26, 2012
    7
    Interesting take on combat. Bland everything else. Visuals might make or brake it for some, this is mostly a matter of taste. Special mention to the horrid questing.
  30. diablo4randy
    Aug 13, 2012
    7
    Seeking new game? Wanna try something new? Get Tera online 7/10 star. Game was great for me for about 1 month but thats only because I wanted to play it for a month until gw2 came out and I can try that bad game. Tera was alot fun. New and decent graphics
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Awards & Rankings

77
#77 Best PC Game of 2012
25
#25 Most Discussed PC Game of 2012
12
#12 Most Shared PC Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 41 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 41
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 41
  3. Negative: 0 out of 41
  1. DarkZero
    Aug 23, 2012
    70
    Tera sure makes promise on the "true action combat" that it so advertises, but that change alone to the MMORPG formula isn't enough to flip the genre on its head, especially when you've forgotten about other aspects of it.
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  2. GameCritics
    Aug 22, 2012
    75
    That being said, Tera is in surprisingly good shape for a game so early in its life cycle. The journey to level cap is mostly entertaining, endgame content is available, and the core gameplay elements are solid.
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  3. Gamers' Temple
    Aug 13, 2012
    68
    Action-oriented combat and interesting graphics aren't enough to overcome what is overall a rather bland experience.
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