Saturday, June 5, 2010

Tera: Gameplay, Localization & More FAQs Answered

TERA_Screen_Shot_05

Over the past week, En Masse staff members have asked you to pose your most burning questions to the team. Yesterday, they answered many of them, and here’s the first batch!

Gameplay

Q: How long will in take to reach the level cap?
A: It will no doubt take players of different skills different amounts of time, and we’re still soliciting feedback from focus groups and beta tests, so it’s too early to give any definitive length of time.

Q: Has there been any thought about a sub-classing system once a character reaches the level cap?
A: Not specifically, no. There will be other things for players to do once they reach the level cap.

Q: What end-game content is planned?
A: Players will find that at higher levels they’ll have the potential to affect both events and the world itself. We’ll have more to announce about this soon, so stay tuned!

Q; How does PVP work?
A: PVP will be on a sever-by-server basis, meaning that players who chose to participate in PVP may do so but those who do not, will not be required to play on severs that allow PVP. There are no predetermined factions in TERA, but we expect guilds to come into conflict with each other and PVP will be one way that conflict is expressed. Since we’re still making adjustments based on feedback from the FGTs and Beta tests, we’ll share further details on PVP in the future.

Localization

Q: Will the localization process affect voiceovers, NPC names, and the overall difficulty of the game?
A: Localization will include more than just translation; we’re going to be fleshing out many of the game’s story elements, including NPC names, and taking the feedback from the focus groups into account for the game’s playability as well.

Q: Do you plan on localizing the music of TERA as well?
A: At this time, it is unlikely that the soundtrack will be affected by localization efforts.

Q: If the NPC voices are changed, is there any chance that we’ll be able to choose between the Western and Korean voices?
A: No, as some of the content may be fundamentally different between the two versions.

Q: Will the western version of TERA include everything that the Korean version has?
A: Although there may be some differences, the western version will have content and story that is specifically designed for the North American and European audience.

Q: What kind of changes will be made to the western version of TERA and how much influence does the community have?
A: The localization process will include fleshing out the game’s lore, storyline, quests, and dialogue. Community feedback is extremely important to us; we will be continuing to run focus groups and to take community suggestions and feedback into account.

Q: In Korea, TERA is rated for adults. Can we expect the western version of the game to receive an M rating? Will any content be cut to get a T-rating?
A: Although it’s premature to speculate on which rating it will receive at this time, we do not anticipate cutting content for rating purposes.

Q: Is there any chance the female Popori will be redesigned as part of TERA’s localization?
A: The Popori females take offense at such a question!

Security

Q: How aggressively are you planning to combat botting?
A: Any method of cheating will not be tolerated, and we plan to work both proactively and reactively to ensure everyone has an enjoyable gaming experience and environment.

Q: Will Gameguard be included in the western version of the game?
A: We’ve seen quite a bit of player feedback about GameGuard in the last couple of weeks and will definitely take it into consideration. Please know that our goal is to provide players a seamless, safe, and fair gameplay experience and not to create barriers to entry.

Q: Will there be an in-game system for users to report spamming?
A: We are aware of the potential for such a system and will be considering it as TERA moves forward in development.

Publishing

Q: Will TERA be released in Spanish or Portuguese?
A: Our evaluation of which languages to release TERA in is still underway.

Q: When will the western version of TERA be released?
A: We will be announcing estimated release windows at a later time.

Q: Will players be able to play on any TERA server regardless of geographic location?
A: Region filtering will depend on server architecture and location and is not yet decided.

There will be a lot more news and updates the closer we get to the game’s release so stay tuned for updates via our RSS feed or email subscriptions!