TERA (short for The Exiled Realm of Arborea) is a massively multiplayer online role—playing game (MMORPG) developed by South Korean company Bluehole Studio. The game was released in South Korea on January 25, 2011, in North America on May 1, 2012, in Europe on May 3, 2012, in Russia on February 26, 2015.
The release of the game was preceded each time by the stages of closed and open beta testing. In these regions, the publishers are NHN Entertainment, En Masse Entertainment, Gameforge and Destiny Games, respectively. During the game’s transition to a free-to-play financial model in February 2013, the game’s name was changed to TERA: Rising. The Russian version was initially launched using the free-to-play system.
TERA developers participated with CCP Games in the development of the highly successful PLEX system for EVE Online, designed to reduce the interest of gold sellers in the game. As a result, there was a Chronoscrolls virtual currency in TERA, which worked in a similar way: a player for Chronoscrolls could buy a subscription to the game or exchange it for the actual game currency — gold. The opportunity to use Chronoscrolls was provided only to those users who bought an electronic or physical edition of the game, while the owners of the trial version (Discovery Edition) did not have access to this virtual currency.
TERA offers typical MMORPG features such as quests, crafting, and PvP. The game uses a real-time combat system with a third-person view. To select a target, the player must continuously point the crosshair sight at it instead of selecting with the mouse or clicking through enemies (this feature is called “non-target” by the developer). The player also needs to actively dodge attacks directed at him. The player can use a keyboard and mouse or a gamepad to control the character.
The game character can be one of the seven races that are part of the “Valkyonian Federation”. Each race has a set of unique “racial skills” that gives them small advantages.
In September 2014, the name of the game was changed to TERA: Fate of Arun at the same time as the release of the update, which raised the maximum character level and introduced new game content. As of May 2017, the game had more than 26 million users on PCs and, as of May 2018, 2 million users on video game consoles. The European server of the game was closed on 30 June 2022
The two beginnings, Arun and Shara, titans of unimaginable power, met in a formless void. For some unknown reason, Arun and Shara have fallen asleep and are dreaming. While they were sleeping, the Strong Kingdom of Arborea began to appear more and more prominently around them. Currently, their bodies form two continents, which make up the Exiled Kingdom of Arborea.
While the Titans continue to sleep, their dreams come true. From their dreams, the first 12 godlike inhabitants of TERA appeared, between whom a terrible war soon took place. Arun and Shara are still in a dream-like state, and the first mortals have incarnated from their dreams. Mortals and gods fought each other in great holy wars, as a result of which most of the gods were
killed, imprisoned, or otherwise destroyed. Some mortals were also destroyed, but others have survived to this day. Most of the races in TERA are members of an alliance that counteracts external threats to the world.
The creation of the game began immediately after the founding of Bluehole Studio in 2007. Officially, “work on a game codenamed Project S1” was announced in 2008. The beginning of the game’s development was fraught with scandal. NCsoft, a prominent player in the MMORPG market, contacted the police in early 2007 with a statement to Bluehole Studio about the theft of the source code of the Lineage 3 game, which was then at an early stage of development. NCsoft estimated its losses at US$ 1 billion. In 2009, the court granted the relevant claim, recognizing the correctness of NCsoft. According to the court decision, a number of senior managers of Bluehole Studio were subject to imprisonment for a period of 8 months to 1.5 years with a 2-year delay, as well as a fine of 10 million Korean won, although the guilt of the company itself was not proven. According to Bluehole Studio, this decision will not affect the TERA development schedule in any way.
Before the launch of TERA in North America in 2012, the American division of NCsoft filed a lawsuit against En Masse Entertainment, the American division of Bluehole Studio, demanding an injunction against the publication of the game in the United States due to “the use of confidential information related to the Lineage 3 project.” However, this did not prevent TERA from entering the American market on time.
Despite the discontent among the players caused by this change, the publisher did not abandon its plans, and the European version of the game received a 12+ rating from the agencies PEGI and USK. The Russian version, according to the publisher, is based on the original Korean version of the game and there are no plans to introduce additional censorship. The rating of the Russian version is 18+.
In September 2013, the game’s financial model in North America and Europe changed to free-to-play, at the same time the name was changed to TERA: Rising. According to the developer, after this update, there will be no restrictions on game time, level or content for free users. Players who have paid for the “elite” status for 30 days will receive increased dungeon rewards, in-game discounts, and meta-game privileges associated with the new financial model. The Chronoscrolls noted earlier were no longer offered for purchase, and subscription payments became impossible with them. The existing Chronoscrolls could be sold to a gaming NPC.
The Japanese and Korean versions of the game switched to the free-to-play model in December 2012 and January 2013, respectively.