Combat rolls and lush graphics, what more could you want? Well, a little more....
TERA starts with an interesting premise - remove the traditional MMORPG interface action of selecting a target and then selecting a skill. In this regard, Tera operates more like a console Action-RPG such as Zelda. It only takes an hour (at most) to learn how to utilize the hotkeys and mouse for aiming and shooting/stabbing/healing. I suspect this type of MMORPG will find a significant fanbase amongst gamers bored with the traditional modes in the mold of Everquest, World of Warcraft, Rift and even Guild Wars. With that in mind, I must also warn that Tera is currently a very shallow MMO with little of the accessibility, depth of questing or variety which is enjoyed by players of many of TERA's predecessor games. While TERA is not exactly a "one-trick pony," only time will tell if the developers can invigorate the game with a larger pool of character development, endgame questing and raiding, and pvp. As it stands now, the shine may wear off within a couple of months for gamers searching for "something new." I hope they will stay; Tera has a lot of potential. It is up to the developers to help us realize it.
Graphically, TERA is a very vibrant and detailed game world with some flourishes of original architecture. Likely due to its Korean roots, TERA is heavily imbued with a rich palette of striking colors (again, think Zelda - although that is Japanese). The ladies are all extremely buxom and generally wear "armor" designed to flaunt rather than protect their charms. Female players need not be concerned, as their male counterparts are for the most part built like models and/or bodybuilders, and equally under-dressed. It is a definite step in equality that nearly every race likes to wear armor protecting only arms and shins..and sometimes nothing else. One could only wish that the layout of the leveling zones provided more spectacular scenery. Usually due to the artificial terrain walls, one is rarely treated to a majestic vista. The terrain walls are a definite liability to the gamer and really hinder the open world feel of the game as well. Aside from the beautiful scenery, Tera's graphics also benefit from a pretty healthy optimization - at least for me. I experience little graphics lag playing on 5/6 graphics quality with a 2-year old Nvidia 470 GTX. Soundwise, TERA is nothing special. The music is generally bland and forgettable - typical fantasy tripe. Voice-acting is kept to a minimum here and if one has popped over from The Old Republic, the quest-givers will seem downright laconic.What little voice acting exists is very mediocre, save one (kudos if you recognize his voice). At least a variety of voices are provided in the character customization.
The interface for Tera is fairly typical of any MMO. Action bars are on the bottom, party and player health to the left, mini map and quest log to the right. Basically if you have played any recent MMO, this will look very familiar. It is slightly annoying that there is currently no easy way to click on skills due to the way the game handles combat and world interactions. Likewise the basic UI provides little information on other players or monsters. The combat however, is far superior to the typical fare offered by contemporary MMORPGs. Movement and aiming and striking are all very fluid and with a low ping it is virtually seamless. The solidity of each strike is shown by blood spurts from humanoids and correctly timed combos may stagger, knockdown or knockback your opponent. It is a definite dance of death, and lots of fun to play at any level.
The Lore for TERA is quite boring and unoriginal, sad to say. Few players will feel any compelling reason to save the world or even the myriad small towns. It definitely lacks the character arcs of SWTOR or Lord of the Rings Online, and certainly does not benefit from a deep, rich lore such as Everquest, World of Warcraft or even Conan. The quests are likewise extremely dull and repetitive. The quests breakdown essentially into: 80% "kill x critters (for y item)", 10% "go talk to this guy", 5% "escort the realllllly slow NPC", and 5% "portal someplace for a mini-story." For a lot of gamers, this will not matter, as the main draw is the combat and little else. Sadly, there is essentially no PvP currently. Battlegrounds and guild vs guild are planned for the future but as of now the only pvp on a non-pvp server would be duels. On a PvP server, the vast majority of "pvp" are actually merely gankfests with bands of killers running around picking off solo questers. Suffice to say, this is not everyone's cup of tea.
There are minor annoyances that may drive a lot of gamers batty and I expect these issues to be addressed over the next few patches. For starters, there are still some buggy quests, and the chat frames have a habit of displacing recent chat. Furthermore, stamina regenerates far too slowly and slows the progress of any group facing difficulty in an instance. Riding back to the dungeon after a wipe and waiting several minutes for stamina to regenerate is not player- friendly. There are only a handful of lower-level dungeons to peak the interest of newcomers, and the queuing system only recognizes one tank class - making waiting for a group take far too long some nights.
In summary, Tera will stick around for awhile and has room to grow. There is a solid base for success with the combat interface and the graphics. If more content is added, pvp is enhanced, and bugs squashed (such as the disappearing chat frames), this could be a great niche home for a few hundred thousand gamers.