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TERA male Castanic renders unveiled
There's been a fair amount of oohing, ahhing, and eye-rolling when it comes to the armor designs in En Masse Entertainment and Bluehole Studio's forthcoming TERA action MMORPG. Much of it has to do with the fact that some fans feel the skimpy female armor is unrealistic and/or sexist. Happily though, that hasn't stopped TERAfans' Radacci from churning out the attractive renders, and today he delivers the male counterpart to yesterday's female Castanic set. As always, the "armors are from a pre-Beta version of TERA and they represent unfinished artwork that is subject to change at any time," according to the teaser post. Visit the gallery below for a few of our favorites, or head to TERAfans for the full set of renders. %Gallery-97020%
TERA castanic armor renders revealed
TERAfans has unveiled yet another set of gorgeous armor renders for En Masse Entertainment and Bluehole Studio's highly anticipated TERA action MMORPG. This time around, the renders focus on the cloth, leather, and plate armor choices available for female Castanic characters. The renders, in which in-game avatars are shown against a recurring background image, were created by TERAfans community member Radacci, and incorporate pre-beta TERA assets that may change during the course of game development. Visit the gallery below for a few of our favorites, or head to TERAfans for the full set of renders. %Gallery-96854%
TERA shows off southern Arun screens
En Masse Entertainment is back with their weekly tease of new TERA screenshots. The eighth installment of the Screenshots of the Week featurette takes us to southern Arun, a dry, arid stretch of land on TERA's large eastern continent. "The fields of flora end in dunes of sand stretching to the horizon. Adventurers exiting the walled caravan stop of Tulufan will find themselves on Aurum Road leading into the vast expanse of golden desert," writes En Masse community manager Evan "Scapes" Berman. You can view the Arun screenshots on TERA's official website, or check them out in our gallery below. %Gallery-96720%
TERA E3 video walkthrough with Evan Berman
Thegamer.vg has an interesting video interview with En Masse Entertainment senior community manager Evan "Scapes" Berman recorded live at last week's E3 convention in Los Angeles. The three-part interview, which features over twenty minutes of footage from En Masse's upcoming TERA action MMORPG, touches on everything from character creation, to class skills, to equipment customization. "With the focus group [testing this past March], we saw the Crystal Socketing System, which will allow your armor and weapons to be a little more customized toward what you want to focus on. If you want to have healing per second, or mana per second, or additional damage when somebody's knocked down...these are all crystals that you'll socket into your armor and weapons and you'll have a combination of them," Berman says. The walkthrough focuses on character creation, and also shows a bit of PvE in the form of quests and starter area gameplay. View the first portion of the video at Thegamer.vg.
TERA collates Elleon's day three journal entries
It's no secret that TERA, the upcoming action-fantasy MMORPG from Bluehole Studio and En Masse Entertainment, is filled with interesting lore. En Masse has devoted much virtual ink to the dissemination of the game's unique take on the fantasy genre, and has also hired a team of professional writers, lead by David Noonan, to flesh it out. To that end, Noonan has been tweeting the journal entries of an in-game character called Elleon over the past several months, and the official TERA website has been updated with a comprehensive collection of all of Elleon's "day three" journal entries. "More gut-emptying pegasus rides. Kyrisha the botanist turned me down (teaching commitment), but Belevrus the anatomist said yes. Mysterium teleporters sent me to Allemantheia, where I recruited Jehan as our botanist. He's no Kyrisha, but his academics look solid," Elleon says. You can view the full summary here, as well as check out the day one and day two collations that you may have missed. Finally, don't forget to check out the recently launched day four on Elleon's Twitter page.
TERA's Brian Knox talks hit boxes
En Masse Entertainment's Brian Knox continues his assault on the PR circuit, this time checking in on the official TERA forums to chat about the game's hit box mechanics. The forthcoming action MMORPG from En Masse and Bluehole Studio has generated a lot of interest due to its new take on combat, and we're always glad to see further details emerge. "Hitbox size is one way we can make classes feel unique but still offer a balanced gameplay experience. We spoke to the Bluehole developers in Korea, and they shared their philosophy on hitbox sizes and game balance," Knox writes. In a nutshell, the developers have adjusted the hit boxes ever so slightly based on the model sizes for each race. How this plays out when the game goes live is anyone's guess, but to read about the theory behind it all, check out the original post over on the TERA boards.
En Masse shows off TERA's Fey Forest
It's that time again, time for your weekly dose of new TERA screenshots, courtesy of the folks at En Masse Entertainment. The fifth installment of the Screenshots of the Week featurette takes us into the Fey Forest near the Lumbertown logging outpost for a look at some of the faeries players are likely to encounter during their woodland hikes. "Feisty, flighty faeries swarm under towering evergreen trees and corrupted unicorns gallop along overgrown roads, trampling any in their path," writes Scapes, En Masse community manager, in a teaser post on the game's official forums. You can view the three new screens on TERA's official website, or check out the Flickr photostream for larger versions.
TERA berserker interview, part two
TERA, the upcoming action fantasy MMORPG from En Masse Entertainment and Bluehole Studio, is looking to put a fresh spin on both genre combat and the traditional healer/tank/damage dynamic. One way the designers are attempting to do this is through individual classes that play a bit differently from what you might expect. Take the berserker for instance. Rather than opting for your standard meat shield, Bluehole has given the class significant DPS capabilities as well. En Masse's Brian Knox and and Scott James Magner recently chatted about the berserker's unique features in part two of a lengthy interview with ZAM.com. "You want to be a target as a Berserker, but you also want to be targeting. And that's not a word we use a lot for this game. We talk about action and the way we play, but you are a destination for damage, just as you are an output of damage going the other direction," Magner says. Check out the new interview segment, as well as the previous installment, at ZAM.com.
TERAblah teases more armor sets
TERAblah is at it again, this time courtesy of the second installment in their series of galleries featuring armor sets from the TERA action fantasy MMORPG. This set focuses on leather armor, which is used primarily by archers, slayers, and warriors, and features both protection and maneuverability. "Once again our model of choice is a lovely female Castanic, purely a coincidence of course," writes TERAblah's ExiledRealm. "As before the look of the armor is usually shared amongst two or three other items, so in this case we just listed them based on their rare crafted names (yes, all these can be crafted)," Head on over to the post on TERAblah's forums, or jump directly to the gallery.
TERA releases more Screenshots of the Week
En Masse Entertainment, North American publisher for the Bluehole Studio action fantasy MMORPG TERA, has released the third edition of their Screenshots of the Week feature. The latest entry in the series showcases the city of Velika and the neighboring villages of Crecentia and Lumbertown. "These villages border Fey Forest and Oblivion Woods respectively, two different wooded lands each home to different creatures," writes Community Manager Evan "Scapes" Berman on the game's official boards. You can view the new images on the official TERA website, or for larger versions, check out the game's Flickr photostream. TERA fans can also vote to decide the focus of the next installment of Screenshots of the Week on the official forums.
TERA class trailer available on YouTube
We here at Massively are unabashedly looking forward to TERA, the forthcoming fantasy action MMORPG from Bluehole Studio and En Masse Entertainment. For those of you who were unable to attend this year's GDC10, En Masse has helpfully released the teaser trailer (that originally debuted at the conference way back in March) on YouTube. The two-minute video focuses on the game's eight classes, and was created using in-game footage. Taking center stage are the Slayer, the Archer, the Lancer, the Warrior, the Sorcerer, the Berserker, the Priest and the Mystic, each featuring a few moments of gameplay footage interspersed with some brief concept art shots. Check out the trailer embedded after the cut or over on YouTube.
New TERA character creation video debuts
En Masse Entertainment's Evan "Scapes" Berman has called our attention to a new TERA-centric video over on the game's official forums. The short, produced by the development team at Bluehole Studio in Korea, shows various changes made in the character creation process as a result of player feedback. "One of the key pieces of feedback we received was the desire for more character customization and this video shows one of the upcoming enhancements to TERA that allows players to customize the unique look of their character: more facial feature options and feature sliders to allow for custom modification," Berman writes. Jump directly to the video on the Hangame website, or access it via the official TERA forums.
TERA devs talk grind, player choice
TERA devs and community staff have been out in force as of late, making the rounds with interviews, podcast appearances, and forum posts at fan sites around the world. Roger over at For the Lore writes in to let us know about his podcast interview with En Masse producer Brian Knox and creative writer Robin MacPherson, which you can check out here. Also, En Masse community director Jason "BrotherMagneto" Mical stopped by Russian fan site GoHa.ru to answer a lengthy series of questions including bits on the PvP flagging system, grind, and player choice. "Our goal is to make multiple ways to reach any goal with no one way 'better' or more 'profitable' than others, and to give players the choice of achieving mastery based on their specific style of gameplay," Mical says. "This is another example of the range of choices players have in TERA – you can play either way. There's a rich story-driven experience in TERA, and our intent is to create questlines that will take you from the first to the final level without having to repeat a single one or grind for experience in the interim," he continues. Check out the full interview over at GoHa.ru. Please note that the forum post is in Russian. To view the interview in English, scroll to the bottom of the first post and click the green plus icon.
En Masse devs interviewed on TERACast
Caelixian, creator and host of TERACast, has managed to score a couple of impressive interviews recently. This week, he talks to TERA community director Jason "BrotherMagneto" Mical, and delves into topics ranging from Focus Group Test 2, to En Masse Entertainment's interaction with Bluehole Studio, to TERA's westernization. "Fleshing out lore, tweaking game mechanics, you know, westernization is all of those things. It's fleshing out the story, looking at what works with the Western audience and taking it forward to make the game successful," Mical says. Mical goes on to discuss En Masse's approach to building community and how it differs from the industry norm. "I want to take that experience that you get in the game and translate it outside the game. How can we take that TERA experience and make it something that you want to interact with all the time," he says. Check out the podcast for the full interview.
TERA compiles Elleon's Journal, starts Day 2
Lore and storytelling often seem like lost arts in the majority of today's MMORPGs, as the games (and the players) tend to focus heavily on advancement and item collecting. TERA, the upcoming action fantasy title from Bluehole Studio and En Masse Entertainment, looks to change that equation with compelling world and character lore designed to flesh out the game's unique setting. Lead writer David Noonan has been delivering story updates via Twitter for some time, effectively using the microblogging service to disseminate the journal entries of a TERA NPC known as Elleon. "I want to make something absolutely clear at the outset: Elleon isn't tweeting. That would be wrong, wrong, wrong. But we are using Twitter to distribute Elleon's journal entries, which will tell a story (and give you a peek at game content) over the coming weeks and months. Twitter is just the distribution technique; Elleon isn't going to retweet, reply, or anything like that," Noonan said in a forum post last month. Fast forward four weeks and the official TERA website has released a compilation of the Day 1 journal entries. Check it out, and don't forget to get your lore fix with Elleon's Journal: Day 2 on the official Twitter feed.
TERA's Sam Kim talks PvP Battlefield, questing
German fansite TeraGamers.de features a new interview with TERA developer Sam Kim. While the majority of the web site is, naturally, auf Deutsch, the interview has been helpfully translated to English and is available on the site's forums. Kim discusses everything from quest innovation, to character customization improvements, to PvP options. "I'm sure you know that there will be PvP servers, with world PvP, and PvE servers with consensual PvP. One thing you might not know too much about yet is the Battlefield system. This system has been designed to be scalable -- everything from pickup skirmishes to guild-on-guild frays," Kim says. He also touches on the subject of item quality tiers, and acknowledges the fan demand for more armor and weapon variety. Check out the full interview over at TeraGamers.de.
TERA welcomes you to the northeast
There are a lot of things about TERA that have helped push it to the forefront of people's minds without having seen much of the game, but the lore is certainly a big part of it. Aside from being a fine way to wave away fantasy inconsistencies, there's something infinitely unique about a world being dreamed into existence. But life in Northern Shara (with Shara being the eastern continent) is anything but a peaceful dream, as it's the site where the unnatural Argon first burst into the world. A new lore entry on the official site goes into detail about just what is happening in the besieged environment. Argon forces are both the core threat of TERA and the biggest danger to the region, but they're not after simple conquest. They've imported vast machinery to help them terraform the world into a more fitting environment, crawling across the landscape and distorting it. Still, within the city of Kaiator, the Valkyon Federation (presumably including the player characters) works to stem the flow of invaders and disrupt their efforts. Take a look at the full description for a better picture of the world's first battlefield against what seems to be utter annihilation.
Bluehole CM addresses TERA player feedback
Bluehole Studio Community Manager Mr. Blue has responded to tester feedback regarding the Korean beta version of the upcoming TERA MMORPG. The question and answer session, translated by Meiellink and Locien of TeraFans, touches on a lengthy list of player concerns including a lack of character and skill differentiation, a reliance on repeatable quests, difficult solo play, and a lack of unique hunting zones. "A complete renewal of the hunting zones, including the ones in Arun continent which players have visited is already planned. This doesn't just encompass the variety of monsters, placement, paths, topography and buildings, but also things such as quest types, quest lines and the placement of solo and party quests. We're going to take these factors and others into account as we measure the level of completion of the renewed zones one at a time," Mr. Blue says. Check out the full article over at TeraFans.
TERA FGT2 recap features new screens
TERA Fans does it again, this time with some nifty screen shots and a wee bit of commentary on the second Focus Group Test. Judging by the images, the action fantasy MMORPG from Bluehole Studio and En Masse Entertainment is going to be one of the prettiest on the market. From shots of character creation and armor choices to vast panoramas and even a brief look at the Homunculus pet system interface, this update delivers the visual goods. "This weekend, many TERA fans got a chance to test our favorite game! From what was available for us to test, the TERA Fans staff is able to discuss a few exciting features. Over the next few weeks, we'll be featuring wiki articles and guides with some exclusive information on the topics found below! Keep a look out," writes Amira, TERA Fans administrator.
Zur and Abernethy making TERA music
Bluehole Studio and En Masse Entertainment continue to impress with their ability to put together a top notch roster of talent for TERA. The forthcoming fantasy MMORPG will feature a musical score by Inon Zur and Rod Abernethy as well as the Northwest Sinfonia Orchestra. The soundtrack makes use of traditional acoustic guitar, various ethnic instrumentation and vocal performances. Zur is a prolific composer responsible for the Dragon Age, Fallout 3, and Prince of Persia scores, while Abernethy's extensive body of work includes music for The Hobbit, Alpha Protocol, and Dead Space. "The general direction for the music for TERA was to have an original score that sounded grand and to match the large-scale in-game world, mixed with some warm sounding music," said Mr. An Yong Jin, Bluehole's Audio Director. "Inon has created world-class quality, epic orchestral music, which is his best attribute; his sweeping symphonic music is outstanding. Rod's beautiful compositions for TERA span a wide scope of musical styles. His expertly crafted blend of acoustic guitar and orchestral compositions is incredible for enhancing the musical atmosphere and their popular music appeal." [Thanks Greg!]
