A Week with TERA: Day 3

Good news, I got over my cold! I've never had a one-day-long cold before, but I couldn't possibly be happier. I hate being sick.
Anyway, onto the real reason I'm typing... THE GAME!

I logged in to Chumley, and realized that I'm level 8. I hadn't been paying any attention to my level since I started the game, so I was surprised to see that I had gained that many so far. And hey, I guess it's a good thing that I haven't even noticed my level... I'm having too much fun to care, and that might be a sign that this game isn't going to be an endless grindfest. Keeping my eyes glued on my EXP bar has been something all too familiar to me in past MMOs.
I only had one quest in my quest log, so I went to go complete it. I had to find Leander, Elleon's brother, and talk to him at a shrine. As I approached the area I got a short cutscene, which was a welcome surprise.

Leander is FABULOUS.

He found a giant and "familiar" sword at the shrine, but says there is an unnatural energy tainting it. I'm to take it to somebody else to try and figure out what kind of power is running through it. Is this Elleon's sword? Who knows, but I'm glad to see the plot line is actually going somewhere.

After running back with the sword, my suspicions were confirmed... it is Elleon's sword, Demonbane. Interestingly enough, it's been tainted with strong demonic power. A demon-killing blade now turned into a vessel for demonic energy? And why would Elleon ever abandon his beloved sword? Something isn't right, and of course I'm the one to do more research on this. Time to go KILL MORE THINGS! (to see if they have the same magic coursing through their body parts... it's for SCIENCE!)

After returning with the evidence, it turns out the power is too strong to interpret. Something is resisting the NPC's attempts to analyze it, something that "feels... ugly." She tells me to go speak to Leander, and that the power's source may be coming from that area I killed the monsters in. Leander is concerned, but says the only "evil" thing around are the orcans. (Think orcs. Just... orcs.) Do they have allies? I'm to check this out, but I already know the answer is YES.

You seriously expect me to forget about THESE awesome guys?

Well, time to go kill one. 

I'm sorry that it's had to come to this...

Upon killing one, I found a scroll with illegible writing. Who knows weird languages? Why, Mr. Scholar, Leander of course.

Before I did that, however, I ran into my first glitch.

Looks like someone has mastered levitation.

Honestly, I found it more funny than annoying. After I moved he rotated and his legs went back to normal. I'm surprised that this is the first glitch I've seen... The game has only been out for 15 days, and hell, WoW still has glitches 6 years after release.

Back to the plot.

After running all the way back to Leander, he says that these aren't just squiggles... It's demonic script, and it says the leader of these marauders is located to the east. Before I inspect anything there, I have to clear out an area where some kind of enemy has holed up with his minions. Alright, then.

This sure looks foreboding.

The orcan at the top of the hill ends up screaming about how I "won't get the feather" whatever the hell that means, and attacks immediately. He is not an easy kill. I left the battle with only 1/3rd of my health remaining.

Here is the part that pissed me off, though. As soon as he died, I took a second to pick up my loot, and started to go along my merry way. The game wouldn't have that, and the orcan suddenly respawned along with his little idiots. Next thing I know, I'm running for my life. Unfortunately I see a nice ore node, and mistakenly think I'm in the clear... Nope. The second I try mining it, I'm battered to death by those little dwarf orcans. Not cool TERA, not cool. My first death (if you don't count the prologue) and it's not because of lack of skill... rather, due to ungodly quick respawn times.

I guess one good thing about dying and respawning back at Tower Point was spotting my first set of twins.

The "feather" isn't an orcan talisman, but has been imbued with... guess... DEMONIC POWER! Remind me why aren't we going into the dark, evil-looking part of the island yet? You know, because all evidence points towards that place as being the source of everything we may be seeking.
After some more running from NPC to NPC, they all come to the consensus that yes, it's finally time to move into the demon-tainted area of the island... but first I have to recover cargo from a crashed airship, because the pilot didn't notice the COUNTLESS MONSTERS ON BOARD.

Just needs a little duct tape.

Once that was over with, I finally entered the Tainted Gorge. It was cool to see the island in a different light, after everything being so bright and cheery.

The Island of Dawn, now with 50% less happy!

I'm going to be completely blunt... The change of scenery has made me giddy as a schoolgirl. Not only did it make me want to explore, but it also made me excited for the next batch of quests. I take this as a really good sign.

I finally reached the next outpost, and continued the quest line. Turns out that the demons infesting the area are not only controlling some monsters, but are also "chummy" with some cultists and each other. They're also looking for something, and as usual, it's up to me to find out what.

I was tasked with killing demons, and I gladly obliged. The demon models are impressive, and I say this mostly because they aren't generic, uncreepy demonic entities. In fact, they're quite evil looking.

As if these zombie-like things aren't creepy enough, they can actually flip.

  This guy really isn't too friendly either... okay, very unfriendly.

A lot of demon-killing ensued, and I got to level 11. A quest was added to my log, and I grinned giddily as I realized it was a quest to get my first mount... then I was pissed when I realized the quest NPC was in an entirely different area, and I had no idea how to get there. I guess the mount will have to wait.

After a bunch of demon-slaying quests, I had to return a codex that I had found to Leander. He said there was no mention of Elleon in it, but something about Karascha or something like that. He then blabbed about somebody named Lok. A little background information on who the hell these two characters were would of been nice, but unfortunately none was really given. The next quest told me that "Lok died during the Divine War" which would help if I knew what the heck the Divine War even was...

Ah well, guess that will have to wait, because it's BAM TIME!

Karascha is actually the demon that wiped out the First Expedition... looks like I should of paid more attention. Leander, being the scholar that he is and not a man of action, sends me to go talk to an NPC, who in turn tells me to go kick this demon's butt.

You want me to go in there?

Though everyone and their mother in area chat was looking for other players to do this quest, I decided to be daring and go for it solo. When I entered the instance it turned out that I wasn't actually alone... a healer NPC was with me as well, so that was some comfort.

And then this guy crashed into view, and all feelings of comfort were lost.

The fight itself was challenging, yet surprisingly it was the NPC that almost ended up dying, and not me. Upon being defeated he yelled something about being tasked with guarding the area until a shield was put up, and that he did manage to do that task... and then something about Lok. Apparently Lok is a demon god... Once again, wish I had more background information on this.

I teleported out of the lair, and was met by Leander. I had picked up some kind of missive, and it apparently reveals that Elleon is alive, and the demons are hot on his trail. For finding this information I've been commended on my valor, and told to go to the big city... Finally, a way off this island!

And I'm leaving in STYLE.

Taking the Pegasus was quite the treat. After a lot of demon-smashing and the like, I kind of neglected to admire the scenery. This gave me a chance to sit back, relax, and take in the show.

Goodbye, Island of Dawn...

And hellooooo new city!

I was going to call it a night once I landed, but the itch to get my first mount was too strong to resist. I sped through the city, found the NPCs, and bam, got my horse!

Whoa there horsey, I'm just a dog... sitting on your back... Dang, is this considered inter-species courtship?

With that thought to ponder, I logged off.

Current Impressions

Graphics: Thrilling, chilling, and just overall incredible.

Plot: I am still completely lost in terms of plot. I now have some scrappy background information to work with, but I still have nowhere near the whole story. I'm really hoping things will become more clear over time.

Combat: Still fresh, fun, and engrossing.

Questing: If there were less walk-and-talk quests, I'd be a very happy fatty puppy. I did really enjoy kicking that demon's rear though. More BAM quests, please?

Crafting and Gathering: Will there ever be a crafting tutorial? My inventory is getting clogged with... well, crap. I don't know what on earth to do with all these items. I sure do love gathering though. Exp, buffs, and items!

Until tomorrow...

A Week with TERA - Day 2

Well, it turns out I have finally gotten the cold that has been making the rounds throughout my family this past month. I'm not too happy about it since I'm on vacation, but I guess it's as they say... Shit happens.

At least I'm in good company, and have this little project here to work on while I recover.

We start where we left off yesterday.

Chumley has just landed on the Isle of Dawn as one of the many recruits brought to search for Elleon. (If only I got to keep the flying stallion I flew in on...)

And the graphics just continue to please.

The next few quests are just like the previous ones... talk to this guy, who blabs about Elleon, your bravery for returning to the Isle, go talk to this other guy about Elleon.

Chumley talks with his hands... a lot.

As I was walking from NPC to NPC and checking out my surroundings, my attention was drawn to the chat box. Area-wide chat was blowing up with chatter... and unfortunately not the kind of chatter I like to see.

Lower case, horrible misspellings, and people correcting each other's misspellings with more misspellings. (They were literally correcting the spelling of "eletest" with "elitest" rather than "elitist"... I hate to be an elitist and complain about spelling, but my gawd.) Not to mention abundant use of this face: ^.^

Then somebody brought up how happy they were that this game had a different combat system from other MMOs, and all the intelligent people crawled out from under the rocks and joined in the discussion. Phew, for a moment there I thought the whole game world was inhabited by kids and adults who still think that anime smileys are "cute"...

Anyway, onto the game itself.

Hominahominahomina

Is there really any more I can say about the incredible environment here? There are trees, flowers, a goddarn rainbow, waterfalls, towers, rocks, birds, everything you'd expect in a realistic environment. I remember finding many games devoid of such simple little things. Everything seems meticulously placed, and I really can't help but be floored by the beauty of it all.

After admiring the landscape, I finally got my first combat quest. I had to kill some tree-thingies, and a handy little tutorial bubble popped up to tell me how to track enemies on my mini-map. After following the demonstration it gave, I started to track them. The mobs show up as little orange dots on the mini-map. This will be quite useful.

And so, I set off with no abilities except for my standard attack and dodge, and attacked my first... tree thing!

BAM, POW, HACK N' SLASH! LEVEL UP!

I gotta say, I am loving this combat system. Even without any abilities, I was having a blast. Facing the enemy is crucial. You can attack facing the completely wrong way, but you won't hit the enemy. You also have to be paying attention to the enemy itself. They give off certain cues that they are about to attack, such as raising their arms for a huge smash attack, or preparing to charge. That's when the dodge comes in handy... Chumley, for instance, uses his badass sword as pole to literally vault over the enemy. Learning these cues was easy, and soon I was killing things without taking any damage. I leveled twice, which is celebrated with a burst of white wings and a crown.

I'm surprised that he can pull off these kind of acrobatics with a tummy like that...

Items were dropped frequently. Rather than coming up in a menu, they are dropped directly onto the ground and can be picked up with the F key. 

Another cool thing about the enemies is they can get enraged. If something on an enemy flashes red (in the deer-thing's case, it's his forehead) they gain increased attack and speed, but also are more vulnerable to counter-attacks and knockdowns. This looks like it will really add to the depth of later fights.
I soon got my first ability, Whirlwind. Abilities are actually very useful, and once again, need to be aimed and timed. Each hit of Whirlwind does about 4 times my average hit, so it's a very satisfying ability. I think me and the combat system will get along just fine.
As I was questing and gathering evidence that the monsters in the area are being controlled by something and being made hostile, I got a quest that actually gave me a cutscene.

OH NOES! This tree is killing PIGLINGS!

Even though he wasn't a BAM, he was one tough cookie. One body slam from him took a third of my hitpoints, so dodging was crucial. I was glad that even this early on, challenges were being thrown in my direction.

I HATE... BEES!

After a string of go-and-kill-this type quests, I was relieved to be given a different mission... To go to Tower Base, which really isn't a tower at all. It's more like a giant, fragmented tree.

See what I mean?

It was there that I went through a short gathering tutorial, which involved... pressing F! Gathering in TERA is extremely rewarding, even if you aren't into crafting. Every time you gather up a resource, you get a useful combat or gathering buff. Best of all, these buffs can stack!

I won't bore you with the details of every quest that I did past this point, but basically I killed a lot more monsters for many more NPCs. Quests certainly aren't the strong point of this game thusfar, but I'm hoping that once I get off of this island I'll be moving on to more exciting ventures...

I did some gathering as well, though I still have no idea what I'm supposed to do with these materials. All in due time, I assume.

Gathering some crystals... they're pretty, but other than that, I have NO IDEA WHAT THEY DO!

The monsters in the game continue to impress me. My favorite so far have been these two:

A big-beaked, helmeted bird-thing...

...and this double-headed wolf-thing. Less cuddly than Chumley, that's for sure.

After a lot of exploration and killing, I finally met up with Elleon's brother, and well... he's looking for Elleon. Go figure. Yada yada, more quests, more people not believing that Elleon is still alive, so on so forth. Plotline still isn't grabbing my attention.

I did find this guy though. Scratch what I said earlier, THIS monster is my favorite.

Looks like things are going to get ugly at some point, because I found an area that was dead and surrounded by a dark aura. I'm excited to see some new environments, especially some dark ones... I've been in happy land for so long.

And what is this? EVIL? IN THIS PARADISE?

Guess I'll have to find out tomorrow!

Current Impressions

Graphics: They continue to amaze me. I really am enjoying the environments, and the monsters are animated superbly. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing another zone.

Plot: I still haven't seen the light, so to speak. The only new aspects of the plotline that have been uncovered  in my questing is that Elleon's brother is a scholar, this new island might be the "child" of the titans, and that most people think Elleon is dead as dead can be. I still have no idea why Elleon is so important anyway...

Combat: I have to say, I'm thoroughly enjoying the combat system. Now that I'm learning skills one at a time, I can adjust my combat strategies as I learn each one. I love the dodging, the aiming, everything. You really have to pay attention to what's going on rather than just button mash.

Questing: Still not anything new or innovative, and a bit disappointing. With all of the amazing visuals and the action-packed combat system, you think they would try to make the quests just as appealing. The only thing that truly stood out to me was the narrated cutscene I got when I was told to go defeat the pig-stomping tree-man. If I get more of those, I could forgive the staleness of the other quests.

Crafting and Gathering: Still no idea on crafting, but gathering is fun and useful. I'm a lot more motivated to stop killing things and go pick up a plant that I was in World of Warcraft, for instance. In WoW you know you'll be able to make something or make some coin... but here I get BUFFS. Yes, beautiful stacking BUFFS! I feel so pampered.

And so the adventure halts for sleep...