A Week With TERA: Prologue

As I'm typing this blog post, I am downloading the newest MMO to hit North American markets... TERA, also known as The Exiled Realm of Arborea.
The release date for TERA was May 1st, 2012, meaning that it has only been out for 13 days.
I've been following the development of this game for over a year, so when it came out I was dying to get my hands on it. Now I finally do have the game... but will it be worth it?

Reading reviews is usually how I judge whether or not to get a game. I see what the big gaming websites think, I see what the average players think. If the game intrigues me enough and the reviews seem to be favorable, you know what, I'll bite.
Despite reading lots of rave reviews, however, I do feel like my purchase was a bit impulsive. Maybe I watched way too many snazzy trailers.

Honestly, it's near impossible to resist a trailer like this.

Problem is, every review I've read has been written by somebody who has been paid to write a review. I know that being paid doesn't mean that your review will be biased, but it very well could be.

So, I have decided, for the good of every person squirming in their seats, trying to decide whether or not to purchase TERA... I will write up a review of my own.

A whole week with TERA, with all of my first impressions, experiences, and frustrations.

I'm not being paid to do this. I have no affiliation with any companies. I'm just a PC gamer with nothing better to do.

Before I begin this journey, I will let you know a bit about my MMO history.

I am an MMO veteran, you could say... I've played them to death.

I've played:

Ragnarok Online on and off since 2002.

Final Fantasy XI on and off since 2004.

World of Warcraft on and off since 2006.

Other games I have played were:

ROSE Online

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes (I played at launch, it was horrible.)

FlyFF: Fly For Fun

Toontown Online (I played this for a while, but haven't touched it since around 2008)
Guild Wars (I played for about a week before I decided I just didn't like the game.)
RIFT Free Trial (Got to level 7 before I decided I wasn't interested.)

As you can see, I've played various styles of MMOs. I've pretty much seen it all.

To begin my week with TERA, I'll outline my current impressions of the game, and see if they evolve while I actually play the game.

Current Impressions

Graphics: From screenshots, videos, and reviews, the graphics seem to be the best of any current day MMO. I've been really impressed by the graphical style. I hope the graphics will live up to what I've seen.

Plot: As far as I know, the whole plotline is focused around two slumbering titans, which form the two continents. Some force is trying to wake them up or something, which would be horrible because all of life as the inhabitants of TERA know it is one big dream of the titans. Sounds like trouble.

Combat: From what I've read, combat is fun and kind of like Skyrim's hack and slash gameplay. There's a lot of dodging and strategy, which I'm excited about. I'm sick of auto attacking.

Questing: Reviews have stated that the quests are no different that what you'd see in WoW... Ah well, you can't have your cake and eat it too. Though not eating a cake seems like a waste...

Crafting and Gathering: Crafting and gathering is supposed to be a lot more useful in TERA than in other games. Crossing my fingers that this is true.

And so, my adventure in TERA begins...