[Game website] So, this weekend was spent primarily on TERA Europe and RaiderZ. The latter is currently in its Alpha test phase, but I shall be just giving a brief first impression since my character is now stuck at sea and I have no mood to start all over again. Yes, you heard it right, my character is currently glitched, which you can see in the video below .___. Was advised to start a new character, but nuh… All online games should really give all players a Recall skill to either shorten the travel time or get out of glitched areas…
From what I remember, RaiderZ was once touted as have “no classes” in foreign media. There are really no classes, but you still have to choose your weapon of choice when creating your character. These are call “styles”, for example a 2-handed melee will be called the “Berserker style”. It is possible to learn skills from all the styles available, given you know how to spend the limited amount of skill points.
While I am quite pissed by TERA’s combat, RaiderZ has exactly the same style. But why am I not raging? Well, RaiderZ did not tout it self as a “True” action MMORPG and boast about all the other accolades related to this function. I really like the crafting system in RaiderZ, as it is all really about collecting drops from monsters to make better equipments without having to worry about the lack of in-game gold to buy new ones.
At the crafters, they even show you which mobs drop the required item. Some may see it as simple, but I see it as convenient. Not having played Monster Hunter, I wonder if this is the same system in the franchise. While most of the items are really easy to acquire in the beginning, I wonder if subsequent materials will require drops from open world bosses, which will no doubt create conflicts.
There are a couple of reasons why RaiderZ is a better play for me compared with my experience in TERA. There are little bits of gameplay which delighted me, including the cannon adventure seen in the video below. Although there is no combo meter, my character goes into berserk mode after some time to increase my attack. What’s more, RaiderZ boast similar BAMs (big ass monsters) in the game, with open world combat as well to boot. Minus that ridiculous crosshair. And if you see some of the videos, certain mobs actually drop their weapons for players to use temporarily. And the weather plus time of the day will affect when certain monsters spawn. Did you know there is no weather system in TERA, which is due to the game’s lore? Hmn…
I am not really sure why, but earlier games like Dragon Nest at least have a couple of different starting zones and quests before players eventually meet in the same big town. While I understand TERA has a different city for each race, I wonder why don’t players start off there instead of the same newbie island. The same goes for RaiderZ, where everyone starts off at the same stone portal. Hmn…
Graphics wise, RaiderZ is still a notch below TERA’s stunning visuals. But what about the long term prospects? While games like WoW and RIFT are giving out the first 20 or so levels free, Guild Wars 2 having no monthly fee after the initial purchase and RaiderZ being Free to Play, I have always foreseen a slow death for TERA. Well, we shall see. I will be back again after RaiderZ hits the next phase after bugs and translation errors are fixed, hopefully.
