Choose My Adventure: TERA and the argument in favor of ‘just OK’ gaming

When TERA was voted as the choice for this past month’s Choose My Adventure subject, I pretty much went in to the game with tempered expectations. Not low, mind you, just tempered; I was looking forward to a few fun romps in an entertaining enough video game with a new class. That mindset actually had me fully prepared to enjoy myself in TERA, and it also made me ponder why people are so averse to MMOs or games in general being “just OK.”

[AL:TERA]I guess I can’t be too terribly surprised, if I’m honest. Gaming equating a 5 out of 10 as the starting line for crap has been a thing in the minds of many since the days of EGM or Nintendo Power. Mediocrity, as a rule, is something to be reviled at best or avoided at least. Why shouldn’t we demand more out of our entertainment if everything else in our lives is just drudgery? Because sometimes, you just gotta turn off your brain, sit on your ass, and just let it flow, man.

Here’s the thing: TERA by no means is a barnburner of a game for me. It’s not even going to remain on my drive once I’m done with this column. But that doesn’t mean I hated my time with the game or that I’m upset that I had to play it this month. I had a lot of fun (once I got rid of the Gunner) and will certainly be feeling the itch to climb in to the game and fire it up from time to time. That’s more than enough to be a successful game in my eyes.

I look at most MMOs like I look at most movies: with a cocktail of interest and indifference. I don’t tend to put too much stock in either form of media to affirm my life or blow my mind. That’s not how I operate, no matter how many times game ads would like us to believe we all act that way. So perhaps my expectations for TERA were low, but it also means I wasn’t disappointed.

It’s not only about avoiding disappointment that I find games being “just OK” a boon. I also like to enjoy the ride. TERA as a world holds no interest even if it does have a great deal of beauty. The story beats were so routine that I ignored them entirely. Even so, the combat in the game is just so tightly wound and refreshing that it’s more than enough to carry things from utterly boring to extremely fun.

Obviously, what’s fun is intensely subjective for a lot of people, but just the simple joy of TERA’s rewarding form of action combat is all I could ever want out of the game. Every once in a while, I just want to hit things with extremely flashy skills using an impossible weapon, and TERA scratches that itch unlike any other MMO I’ve played before or since. When this game doesn’t have that, it falls utterly apart in my mind, which is why I was hoping to be able to drop the Gunner class. Just having that sense of fun is all I needed to have TERA endear itself to me. It fed a basic need for me: to provide a fun and rewarding combat experience in nearly every engagement I would have. That’s good enough, and I’ll take that over not having anything else.

I also tend to be all right with “just OK” because I don’t really care about the effect of what I like on the grander scale of this industry. There’s been more than enough arguments about whether MMORPGs are dying, diluted, or otherwise headed for ruin or whether we’ve all finally woken up from the long, awful nightmare of the WoW-like into a new Age of Aquarius. Perhaps I’ve just been exposed to the noise long enough to have finally had it with worrying about it.

Here’s the thing: TERA was entertaining to me and me alone. Granted, I was sharing my experiences with all of you in the hopes of getting our community involved and inciting discussion, but in the end my enjoyment was the only thing that mattered. It’d be extremely difficult for me to write about a game if I didn’t like what I was doing, and it would also likely end up being just the most depressing thing to read. And besides, I tend to like spreading joy over bile anyway. The internet has enough angry video game nerds. I don’t want to be a drop in that cesspool.

So I like what I like and damn the consequences of the genre entire. If liking TERA is somehow the butterfly effect that topples this genre, then so be it. Count me among the senators stabbing Caesar. I’ve gotten to a mental age when I can’t hold on to hate any more. I’d rather have fun with others, and if those others are just rushing around TERA and facerolling a dungeon, then let’s go and have that good time.

Enough pontificating, though. It’s time for the superheroic! We’re heading for a Homecoming with the City of Heroes rogue server and I am extremely ready to get it on. According to last week’s polling, we’re on our way to Praetoria and will be rocking a Mastermind along the way. First, though, we must answer the most important CoH question of all: What powersets do I use?

First, the primary. Choose My Pet-venture!

Next is the secondary powerset. Admittedly, this one holds perhaps less impact and possibly interest, but all things being fair, we’ve got to get this step complete. There are a LOT of options here, so I’ve pared them down to the ones that intrigue me the most.

This week’s polls will close at 1:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, July 5th, as usual. I have a feeling I know what primary powerset we’re going with, but I’ll be watching the polls with a great deal of interest regardless. In the meantime, remember: There’s nothing wrong with liking things, no matter what the comments sections have to say.