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This year at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, both En Masse Entertainment and Frogster Interactive were showing TERA to the European public. In addition to featuring TERA's action combat, the main focus was on a few details surrounding the nature of the Argons and the cross-server invasion system.
During the press demo, Stefan Ramirez and Chris Hager described the cross-server invasion system as an end-game activity allowing players from separate servers to come together and fight amongst each other in a unique way. They stated that there will be both a PvE and PvP component and that more details will be announced later.
The press demo itself was an attack on an Argon stronghold called the "Necromancer's Cell". Prior to the demo, Argons were characterized as chaotic and mysterious "metallic monstrosities" who use a mixture of magic and technology. They reanimate fallen Valkyon Federation heroes, turning them into undead soldiers. In the scenario for the demo, a group of Argons under the leader Kaidu were plotting to attack Allemantheia and had to be stopped before damage could be done.
Image of the creation of a Gamescom TERA play station, from Frogster's FrogCast facebook page.
Following the demo, a Curse colleague asked both Stefan and Chager a few questions on TERA Fan's behalf. Check out the interview below.
Curse: What's new and exciting at Gamescom?
Stefan Ramirez: We revealed the Argon race in some more detail. They will effect players in the end game. We also touched on future development, things like server invasions, that are coming and are on the road map for TERA's future.
Curse: During the E3 press presentation, the possibility of a jailing system as part of the political system was announced. Can you talk in more detail about that?
Chris Hager: This is a cool feature the dev team had always worked on, kind of like the extension of the power of influence of the Vanarch. They worked on it a lot and as of yet they have not been able to make a solution that is rewarding to both the jailer and the jailee. As a Vanarch I have the power to put someone in jail but as someone put in jail it needs to be engaging in some way as well. We can't let players punish other players without some form of retribution. As of yet the development team has not been able to find that balance. It is not in the game as of right now.
Curse: Is this a feature you're still confident is going to make it in and you just want to make sure it's right before implementing it?
Chris Hager: It's one of those things where we would like to put it in but we can't put it in until it's balanced correctly. If it hits the chopping block because we can't find a way to balance it then I would rather take the feature out than put an unbalanced feature in.
Curse: For both the North American and European regions there's a lot of Westernization being done. Aside from language, how do the regions differ in terms of localization?
Stefan Ramirez: It's hard to speak to the European side of things. Our [En Masse's] focus has been on North America so as far as North America goes we have a renowned team of writers who are working on the game and developing this story line with the BHS writers. It's a very Western story, it's deep, and rich, and fulfilling. From there, Europe gets the same story. The over-arching story doesn't change between NA and EU.
Curse: The Elin changes are a popular topic in the community. How are they coming along?
Chris Hager: The Elin race is made up essentially of timeless goddesses in the likeness of the goddess Elinu. When we looked at the models we didn't feel like they were timeless. It didn't feel like they were beings who had been around for thousands of years. We had a bunch of internal discussions and the resulting change is very small.
I will say it has been developed, we're just waiting to sign off on it. I think everybody will be really pleased with the changes, or lack of changes, I guess. I've seen them myself both in the client and in screenshots and if you had not known about the Elin before versus after, you would never be able to tell there was a change. I think even players who know about the Elin would be hard pressed to find the changes. I think overall everyone will be pretty happy with these minimal changes.
Curse: The TERA Gamescom trailer features some massive dragons and a vengeful Mystic. What was the inspiration for this trailer?
Stefan Ramirez: It's basically the second part of a trilogy of videos, the first one being the one seen at E3 and it's kind of carried on with this heroine. The first one gives you the story of desperation. The second video adds hope as well. It's an emotional piece that was kind of showing you how big that threat is and the reason for banding together to form this federation.
Chris Hager: It also kind of beckons to our presentation on depth in terms of the story. Every player plays a game A) because it seems cool, but you play all the way through a game because it has a compelling story line that kind of sucks you in. It makes you feel like you're part of the action and part of the story and that you relate to the characters in the story. That's what we've tried to make here: an emotional piece where you can kind of put yourself in those shoes and where you can understand what it would feel like to face this field of enemies but then to have your crew and your friends at your back, knowing that you're fighting for the right cause. Getting that perspective we think helps tell a really good story of what TERA is.
Stefan Ramirez: We're very proud of the video itself. It's not CG, it's all made with the in-game engine. This is what you would see in the game.
Curse: Just a final question that Amira didn't ask, but in relation to the cross-server PvP: are there going to be any limitations to entry on that? Is it something that I can initiate myself and go do or do you have to have a guild or a certain number of people?
Chris Hager: Players should look at it as another element of TERA's end-game. The closer we get to launch the more we're going to start revealing details. We gotta hold a couple things back! But in revealing cross-server invasions we wanted to get players to see we're thinking of other things as well. It's still in the early developmental stages so there are still details we need to work out within the game as far as how this is going to function, what it is going to look like. We're going to release more details later.
Let's hope they keep this up throughout the next SEVERAL(!) months. I was kind of hoping they're reveal the Elin. Maybe for PAX.
