TERA Revisited: Another Hands-On Preview

After playing Tera as an assassin during E3, I was dubious of the fun you can have without target locking in an FPS. As a squashy DPS character going up against a dragon, I found that I spent more time being stomped on by the close-range AoE attacks than actually doing any damage. Sure, you can use the double-tap button to dodge but that just meant that I spend the whole battle running to and from the mob with very little opportunity to chain my attacks.

Happily, playing with other classes feels very different. I ran a dungeon with a sorceress during gamescom – a ranged magic-based damage dealer. This class very much showcases the player skill needed to do well. Many of the ranged spells take a few seconds to reach your moving target so you don’t just point, shoot and run – you need to pay close attention to what your enemy is doing.

The boss we fought would occasionally barrel across the map, after a couple of seconds standing frozen in position to charge up the attack. Once you learn to recognise the difference between a standing skill-charge and simple lack of movement, you can exploit this accordingly. The sorcerer class is extremely versatile. You could choose to lead the target and hit him with an intercepting shot as he flies across the map instead. Equally, you could hit his landing point with an AoE attack that takes time to cast or just run up behind and belt him with as many fast attacks as possible while he travels in a straight line.

I found that some of my own skills also had long casting times, forcing me to stand in a vulnerable position, while others could be cast instantly on the run. You really do need to be much more aware of your surroundings and choose your skills carefully in this game. Every attack option has a defensive trade-off, which will make multiplayer battles very interesting. For those who have the time to invest in getting good at a class, I think TERA could be extremely rewarding.

Early in September, the Frogster team posted this video of the dungeon run that we did during Gamescom, talking through each of the classes on show. Take a look.