Earlier today, I had a chance to get some hands-on time with Atari’s upcoming MMO Tera. Tera was originally developed for the South Korean market, and the developers are making a push for the Western world.
Tera is new IP, and features a zone-less world spanning several continents and nations. While there is no launch date locally, the game is live in Korea, where the current level cap is 58. Tera’s developers made an effort to keep the user-interface simple and small to engross the player with the world.
Combat is a click-to-slash system requiring 100% of a player’s focus to defeat enemies. Dungeons are instanced, with sets appearing every eight levels or so, starting with level twenty.
What sets Tera apart from other MMOs is that the high end game is very political, and not in the internal-catty way MMO guilds can sometimes be. No, the Tera developers gave high end players the ability to RULE their respective nations. Rulers can impose taxes, hold events, and even “silence” players who annoy them. The office of ruler is obtained following either a popular vote, or trial by combat.
I asked my contact if one nation had the ability to invade another and the response I received was a wink, followed by “We’re not announcing anything about that yet.”
I take that as a yes!
