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TERA: Art Style
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
In his latest TERA column, MMORPG.com Industry Relations Manager Garrett Fuller takes a look at the art style in the game. Garrett talks about the blend between East and West and the creation of unique and interesting monsters. Check out Garrett's column and then weigh in with your thoughts by commenting below.
Let me start by saying that I do like the creatures and designs in TERA. I think they are original and different in a very good way. However, I am not everyone and some players do not like changes from traditional fantasy art styles. It is true as some games can come across as being almost too different and they fail to meet a wide user base. TERA has a lot going for it though with some serious action and plenty of elements that do hit the core of MMO players.
Read more TERA: Art Style.
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Comments
damn this game looks so friken good. i hope they make it also feel just as good.
Overall, I do like the artstyle of the game. Non-traditional fantasy setting, which was something of a hallmark for Asheron's Call as well.
Having said that, there are some of the eastern staples that I could do without, like their penchant for cutesy animal people (panda-people, I'm looking at you), or their apparent fetish for overly sexualized adolescent female models.
But, as I said before, I generally like the look of the game.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
TERA looks amazing in every way. Such original concepts, but unfortunately, as we've learned from games like Call of Duty, people don't like originality.
I'll definetely be playing TERA when it comes out, I just hope many more will realize it's potential so it can get a good start, which means a ton in the MMO market.
I'm with Rohn, the I don't even mind furries, just don't like the cutesy ones and teen sexualization.
"Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga
It was the art that drew me to this game in the first place, and then the rich lore made me stay.
I do too want to know more about the strange creatures that roam the lands, hopefully we'll get some soon...
I'm sure there are strong production standards for this game, but as I really cannot see past the Eastern visuals (spew!) and the Westernization required for the game story, straight off the bat zero interest. For comparision ( fair and for demonstrative) I am a massive fan of the art and style in WAR eg for that universe where creatures proportions, themes felt cohesive and at least not totally against the laws of physics in their movements and very well imagined too. Tera to me looks like a teddy bear fighting a GI Joe anime inspired universe. Each to their own.
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014633/Classic-Game-Postmortem
I agree here the art in this game is just amazing, in every video i watched from the game the art style was so strong, you just couldn't think anything but "waow" when watching them.
The costumes, character and boss monsters movement, the overall feeling of a huge open world, all this create a very nice feeling when watching the video from Tera.
As someone else said i just hope the playability will match the quality of art style, because it really is very good.
Art/Animations for me is the number 1 that will get me to play a MMO WOW, WAR, LOTRO and a certain game that opened its CB today have instantly turned me off with a combination of art style WOW/WAR animation LOTRO/that which cannot be named all could be brilliant games and no doubt are in wow and lotro'scase or they wouldnt have the numbers they do.
If I am going to play a MMO x amoutn of hrs per day then first and foremost it has to be visually appealing without that then I wont even get 10 minutes into it.
Tera is a odd one on one hand i love the asian art style I really do but Panda's hmmmm a stretch too far for my personal taste.
I like were this game is going personally.. Real outside the box thinking with trying to add a few things to an MMO that really hasnt been tried before and I'm all for that then doing the usual grind(just a different way of doing it lol xD).. The Art style/visuals look amazing. the game itself might turn out to be a sleeper hit with everyone hyping other games but im fine with that and ready for something different
PS3 Trophies
Stop with this teenage crap already, you sound like dumb fools.
Over sexualization, yes!
Adolescent, no!
Seriously, if thats all you see, well, it tells something about you more than anything else.
The female models are absolutly grown up... those kind of curves aren t found on teenage girls, get your head out of your behind.
It just the classic BS spewed out by anime haters.
Time to come back to reality & wake up to the fact that teens are far from looking like Tera s female models.
Fantasize much?
Edit: Yup, this game as a great art direction, kudos to the team.
Yeah, I don't understand what's adolescent about the females. Maybe they're trying to say that 'oversexualized' (where is that line, anyway?) females appeal to an adolescent audience, which would make more sense, though it still wouldn't be much of a point.
No?
http://tera-online.cc/uploads/gallery/main/70/popori_f_h00.jpg
http://tera-online.cc/uploads/gallery/main/71/popori_f_r12.jpg
You got me! tbh its the 1st time I see the female Popori. I thought that only the little bear dude was playable... Strange cuz I kinda look it Tera a bit. Not enough it seems. lol
They don't advertize them much then. What we always see is the babes & thats what I thought people were talking about. I was like wtf! How can they say that those ladies look like teens.
I get the point being made here now. Ty
Bah... just don't make one. hehe ><;
Waow this discussion is really is turning badly for no reason, but just conservative reactions.
Some people don't like toy like character, fine, but other might like them it doesn't mean they are childs, they just like to have toy looking characters. It is a question of choice that have nothing to do with their reality. Its like saying people play dark elves in this game woooow all the gamers must be murderers or bad people, jeeez, this is so stupid, and believe me that argument was used about the all pvping, and pking with the few first pvp mmo. You like to pking, you must be, or will be a murderer... LOL You like ellin you must be a child?!? I guess the people using that kind of arguments are the childs here.
Both in asian and western fantasy setting you have liitle pixies and soft toy looking character, look at the childs costumed in small animals of Peter pan, it is just that those are a lot more important in Eastern visuals, where they are really everywhere, than in west where they exist just in few stories.
I personally find this popori/ellin race very nice, and i'm 100% european, i have no relation whatesoever with asian people but the fact i like their culture and eat/cook chinese food. Yet i do like this race. It doesn't mean my main char will be from that race, but i most definitly enjoy seeing them ingame. As i said those character remind me the cute little pixies and the custumed boy in peter pan, and i have no problem with that.
After having played this game in the FGT, I can tell you that no other game interests me combat-wise anymore. I just can't stand those standard tab-target systems.
I'm just not sure if that's fortunate or not...
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This, the era of TAB-spamskills/spells will be over soon with all the next-gen 2011 mmorpgs to be released. At least for the east market.
The only game with a innovative and different gameplay made in the west are for now Darkfall and MO, good attempt but bad gameplay and boredom after while. Hope Tera and next gen mmorpg will deliver, expecially for asian mmo fans.
What hole have you been hiding your head in lately? You need to get out more. I work in a middle school and even 8th grade teens are quite grown up.
The scantily clad female outfits and the ridiculous lance being swung by the tank class make the art style very hard to swallow for many of us. Don't even have to discuss the creature designs to question the art style. I still think it is going to be difficult to westernize a Korean game enough to make it popular here, but I hope they prove me wrong.
I will still try TERA, but they will need great game play to surpass the negatives of the art style for many of us.
This is an interesting observation. Would you say that Eastern aesthetics for this game might preclude some from playing it? I like a lot of Eastern things, anime can be very high quality for example but I find the aesthetic of this game very unappealing personally and I think as you rightly point out it must be a cultural thing. For me the world building does not seem coherent but more a jumble of images also detracts from the visuals to me also. I don't like the female gratuitous sexualization either already referred to previously, again this may just be a cultural thing... even though that sounds all wrong, unintentionally. At least this one does not have the panty fetish that was on exhibit in Blade and Soul. I guess the game is trying to be high-octane, actiony and flashy hence the designs used in these games, is part of the reason behind them?
Usually I am not so judgemental about a game before knowing more about it's features, the full package so to speak, but these designs are too Eastern for my preferences. I wonder how applicable that is to Western gamers, also?
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014633/Classic-Game-Postmortem
MumboJumbo did you really not understand a word of what i said or is it purposely that you put the opposite meaning in my words?
The cultural reason is a bad reason given over a concervative reaction, thats all it is here. They are pixies with little girls visuals in western mmo, and little animal looking races all you want in western mmo too, so this bashing is just ridiculous.
The only cultural aspect here is the fact the toy like figurines are all over the asian visuals, in web site, propaganda, tv, everywhere, and is not that much present in the western visuals. But thats it, both culture have toys like fantasy characters, it is just the frequency of that visual that change. The cultural gap is just about this, nothing else.
I bet this one would be better than rift cause it has a unique combat style
I bet its going to be alot like Aion without wings thats why I'm going to be playing Rift instead.
If this is coming anywhere close to Rift then I will be picking this one. No reason to go the same old same old way again recycled in 2011. Rift seems just too old, I'll just play TERA and probably pick GW2 when it releases. Rift definitely can't compete with either.
Just do some research on rift and check out the classes heres a vid that was released
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/enter-the-rift-planes/708105
That video feels like 2004-ish with better graphics attached and way older than that animations.
I think the graphics and art style are good enough for me I do thinkt Teras graphics is better though but you have a very few classes just like Aion theres somany classes for rift and you can mix things around another concern I have about Tera is that I've seen alot of vids of people soloing goup mobs makes me wonder if thats one of the main features in Tera also the screens of the hero type boss mobs are all in the same style rooms.