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TERA reveals high elf city of Allemantheia
Normally at this time every week we bring you some new TERA screenshots, and while we're happy to report that is still the case, we're also excited to point out a meaty new lore entry on the official TERA website. Both content updates center around the city of Allemantheia, otherwise known as The Desert Jewel. The majestic home of the high elves is located in the barren wastes of the Southern Shara desert and features soaring spires, water sculptures, and austere stonework that reflects the logic and sensibilities of its makers. You can read more about Allemantheia's history, as well as interesting blurbs about The Mysterium, at the official website. Also, don't forget to check out the new screenshots in our gallery below. %Gallery-96720%
TERA fan video uncovers political system info
TERA's political system has been shrouded in mystery for some time now, despite allusions to it in various producer and community manager interviews that En Masse Entertainment has given out over the past few months. Thanks to a video interview captured at Gamescom by a member of the Glimpse Dog fan website, we now have a bit more of an idea as to how the feature will play out. The video is part four of a five-part series, and features live TERA gameplay interspersed with commentary by the reporter and an unnamed TERA employee who drops several nuggets of information about the political system. Among them are the fact that the system currently features lordships and kingships. TERA's world is divided into regions that will be able to elect a lord via citizen vote and also via an unspecified PvP mechanic. Details on citizenship and voting privileges were sketchy, and it seems the system is still under heavy development. Once a lordship is obtained, players may then apply for kingship, which also features an election mechanic and grants sovereignty over a particular city. Kings also control taxes and have an unspecified level of control over how monsters spawn in their part of the world. Check out the video after the cut or the full series at Glimpse Dog.
See TERA's scenic Ascension Valley
Welcome to the fourteenth installment of TERA's Screenshots of the Week featurette. Today, En Masse Entertainment takes us south of the previously visited city of Castanica to Ascension Valley, a lush locale situated near Ostgarath and a place where you can meet interesting and stimulating mobs of an ancient culture... and kill them. Alternatively, you can explore Azrael's Labyrinth, an ancient dungeon that holds multiple levels and multiple secrets, each of them poised to destroy (or at least severely maim) the heartiest of adventurers. View the new shots in our comprehensive Screenshot of the Week gallery below or at the official TERA website. %Gallery-96720%
Gamescom 2010: En Masse releases new TERA cinematic
Ready for two minutes of new TERA-related goodness? Look no further than the latest trailer from En Masse Entertainment, released today at Gamescom 2010. The video features a fair helping of combat gameplay, as well as a plethora of stylized action setups that are obvious homages to the trailers of big-budget action films. The trailer also highlights TERA's emphasis on fine combat control, concluding with the words "take aim, take control, and take action." We'll be more than happy to take a longer look at the game, and you can too via the video found just behind the cut. Alternatively, check it out over at IGN.
Gameforge buys majority stake in Frogster
MMO business news isn't normally as sexy as the latest press release from BioWare or as divisive as the newest F2P conversion announcement. That said, occasionally an industry-related story comes along that indicates something equally big is in the water. Today's announcement of Gameforge's bid to take control of noted free-to-play publisher Frogster seems destined to turn a few industry heads, including ours. Gameforge, which heretofore has specialized in smallish F2P games like Cabal, has just acquired a 60 percent majority holding in Frogster, the German publisher known primarily for distributing Runes of Magic. The purchase deal went through at $33 US a share, which places Frogster's overall value in the neighborhood of $85 million US. Frogster, and now Gameforge, is looking to grow its portfolio not only with Runes of Magic but also by publishing the forthcoming Mythos dungeon crawler as well as by securing the European publishing rights to the highly anticipated TERA action MMO from Bluehole Studio. The Gameforge folks have been busy little bees this summer, as they earlier announced an agreement with CBS to publish several browser-based games centered around the Star Trek intellectual property.
TERA's Jason Mical teases politics, group balancing
TERA's political system continues to be shrouded in mystery, and whether it's a proper MacGuffin or some sort of public-relations red herring designed to simultaneously titillate and obfuscate is unclear. One thing that is clear is the fact that En Masse Entertainment representatives are reluctant to do much beyond tease the fact that the system exists. The latest example comes via an interview with community director Jason "BrotherMagneto" Mical over at World of TERA. Mical talks briefly about the level of player freedom inherent in the system. "I suppose the level of freedom will in some part depend on who gets elected. Some leaders might be benevolent, while others might become outright tyrants. Some who start with the best of intentions will probably end up tyrants. In other words, it's going to be a bit like real politics," he says. He goes on to state that PvP will influence TERA's political system quite a bit, referencing Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton "on a much larger and more common scale."
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.
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.
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.
Everything you ever wanted to know about TERA's testing but were afraid to ask
So your interest has been piqued in TERA. That's really understandable, considering the impression it left on us at the GDC and the jaw-dropping graphics it's put on display thus far. Based on that, it's quite possible that you signed up for the focus group testing when it was first offered. But simply signing up doesn't provide you with all of the answers to questions you need. Fear not, for if you were one of the many who signed up to test, an official sheet of information has now been posted. For those of us not taking part by choice or by poor luck, two of the most important pieces of meta-information are the fact that there will be an NDA in effect and there will not be enough spots for everyone who wanted in. One can also infer from the information about what's been added that the game is progressing nicely and still has a ways to go before launch -- yet it's still shaping up quite impressively. Those interested in finding out more can take a look at the full information sheet on the official TERA site, and keep your eyes open for more news here.
TERA Online zone screenshots revealed
TERA, the upcoming MMO from Bluehole Studio, kind of snuck up on us out of nowhere last month but quickly turned into one to watch. Our own Sera and Shawn got a look at the game last week at GDC and liked what they saw, and fans of the game are looking forward to it as well. As with any MMO in the works, any images and information are welcome to waiting fans, so screenshots of thirteen different zones were met with quite a bit of excitement. The screenshots were separated by location and showed quite a variety of design, offering gorgeous views of TERA and certainly not making the wait any easier. Looking through the screenshots, you'll see grasslands, desert, caves, forests...the zones give such variety that just exploring the game will take up quite a bit of time. Interested in seeing for yourself? We've gathered them all in a handy little gallery, so follow along and take a look! [via jkwengert] %Gallery-88481%
GDC10: Hands-on with TERA Online
New MMOs are becoming a dime a dozen. We here at Massively are constantly flooded with press releases claiming that Company A's new game is not only an MMO, but it's the best darn MMO you've ever seen. Despite this, we try to hold back the cynicism and keep a sharp eye open for the true diamonds in the rough. At GDC 2010, we saw what could be considered at least an emerald in the rough. TERA had a huge presence at the conference, with fliers everywhere you looked and an impressive demo booth with four playable stations. Since Seraphina and I both spent some quality time with the game, including a developer demo, we decided to pool our thoughts for one big article on what we saw. Follow along for our impressions of TERA.
Hey, look, another Korean developer licenses Unreal Engine 3
Epic Games is apparently doing a good job selling and supporting its Unreal Engine 3 in the Korean market. Yet another developer has licensed the engine for an MMO project. This time it's T-Entertainment, which is working on a "space opera" MMO called L2. Wow, that sounds like the name of another Korean MMO!Welcome to the club, T-Entertainment! Meet AcroGames and Bluehole; they're also Korean developers using Unreal Engine 3. Oh, and of course you know about Webzen's Huxley, which is built on Unreal Engine 3. Yes, also Korean. Let's not forget the illustrious NCsoft, which already used the previous version of Unreal for Lineage II, and plans to use version 3 for not one but two new projects.There was an interview with Epic Games' Mark Rein at Gamasutra several months back. He said that Epic is working hard to propagate Unreal Engine 3 in Korea, but described serious challenges -- particularly with customer support. It looks like Epic is finding ways to deal with those challenges after all.[Via Worlds in Motion]
