You are here: At last year's GDC I got my first look at Tera, an interesting massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) being brought to the west from South Korea. It looked like many similar such high-fantasy themed games, until I was handed an Xbox controller to play it. Unlike the games it resembles, Tera approaches combat differently, with players moving around, attacking, blocking, and dodging like they would in an action game. Back then the controller got that point across, but it was too early to see much beyond hacking and slashing a few monsters.
This year I got to play Tera again, this time with a mouse and keyboard to illustrate that it's an equally viable control setup. When the game launches, the choice between the two probably comes down to deciding between moving with the WASD keys or a thumbstick. Everything else is customizeable to fit the character being played and their Tera Gold skills.
For instance, in the demo I played as a berserker--one of Tera's heavy fighters designed to be up front, engaged with the enemy, inflicting as much damage as possible. They wield enormous axes--the most powerful weapon in the game as a matter of fact--that strike hard and cut a broad swath. It can be swung in a standard strike that does considerable base damage, or used in a number of special skill attacks. In this I demo I had available a flattening ground smash that would stun an enemy, a big whirling attack that could hit a number of enemies around me, and a vampiric strike that stole some health from the target when Tera online Gold hit.
