Now, I have played TERA before, and it isn’t a game I have returned to with regularity, though I do still return and dabble. Interestingly enough, after this experience, I learned that things might have been different had I been playing the game on console.
As much as I didn’t really like and wasn’t used to movement (I didn’t get the hang of looking the direction I wanted to), I really enjoyed the combat with the controller during my demo. I discovered actually preferred TERA’s combat on the controller than on the keyboard, so I agree the dev’s words: “It’s TERA’s true action combat that makes it such a great fit for consoles and game pad controls.”
So how could I like combat better when combat requires facing a target and I was having trouble looking the direction I wanted to? Because of a special feature added for console play: If you are in range, you can lock your camera on to the mob by clicking the right joystick when you are targeting the mob. This kept the enemy centered in my view and helped me immensely; I was able to maintain the target while still moving and dodging throughout the fight. If I had been left to swing the camera around in order to fire my Sorcerer’s spells accurately, I would have never hit anything, even that massive dragon! I did have to lock back on a few times when the massive BAM flew up and jumped out of range.
On top of the lock-on feature, having all the controls in such easy reach for my small hands actually benefited me as I used more skills than I often did on keyboard (though I’d need more time to re-learn all the skills and their console commands regardless). These helped make combat feel more fluid to me and combos more intuitive.
If I was surprised to find that I enjoyed TERA more on the console, I can only imagine that console players who have been hoping for the game to reach them will be pretty elated to finally get the game in their hands. Closed beta for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 is targeted for the coming months with a simultaneous release on both platforms early next year.
