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En Masse unveils more TERA screens
The kind folks over at En Masse Entertainment continue to feed our TERA habit, this time in the form of their second Screenshots of the Week offering. As with last week, the shots focus on some of the big nasties that populate the Isle of Dawn. Community manager Evan "Scapes" Berman has all the details on the official forums. "This darkened corner is infested with fearsome monsters and evil manifestations who threaten the local populace with their presence. Heroes are needed to rise to the challenge and send these foes back to the darkness," he writes. You can view the images on the official TERA website, or for larger versions, check out the official Flickr photostream. Can't get enough of Massively's TERA coverage? Be sure and check out our exclusive Lore Dev Diary as well as the associated screen shots.
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 showcases screenshots of the week
Scapes, Senior Community Manager for En Masse Entertainment's forthcoming TERA fantasy action MMORPG, has been a busy bee this week. In addition to the The Velika Guardian newsletter announcement and publication of Issue One, he's also treated anxious fans to a new Screenshots of the Week featurette. The weekly unveiling, also found on the official TERA boards, will highlight specific areas of the map as well as showcase the many mobs and assorted creatures that look to dine on unwary adventurers. For this week's debut, we're treated to three shots from the Island of Dawn. Check them out on the official site and as part of the game's official Flickr photostream.
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.
TERA unleashes trailer on the masses
The upcoming action RPG fantasy MMO TERA from Bluehole Studio and En Masse Entertainment definitely caught our eyes at GDC 2010. While our fearless leader Shawn got a chance for (several) hands-on sessions with this intriguing new title, the trailer from GDC has come out today for the rest of us who weren't so fortunate as to make it to the conference. What is most impressive about this trailer to us (beyond the fact that nobody seems to fall out of those skimpy metal bikinis) is that the footage was created using all in-game resources. If that's the case, the in-game graphics -- including facial emotes -- are quite impressive. Of course, considering how deep the game's various systems appear to go based on that hands-on at the convention, we're not surprised to find the graphics are equally as impressive. So if you haven't had a chance to see TERA in action, be sure to check out the trailer behind the break. Between all the details we keep hearing about and luscious visuals like this, we think this is definitely going to be a game to watch.
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.
