Columns: PlayStation 4 Review In Progress #1 - First Steps Onto The Island Of DawnBy Scott Jeslis on April 03, 2018Studio and published by En Masse, hit our Windows PCs. Last week En Masse unleashed their console “7-day jump” program onto any players who purchased considered one of four Founder’s Packs or members of Twitch Prime. As being a frequent player with the Windows version initially my knee jerk response any time a console variant hits is “would it offer anything differently for the PC user” and “how would it play on console in general”. In this multi-part review, I’ll attempt to dig deeper into those questions while hopefully drawing in new Tera players who will often have originally shunned it due to being strictly a PC release. This is our Tera PS4 review happening #1.For Those New To TeraThe whole world of Tera began a protracted, long time ago when two titans of unimaginable power, Arun and Shara, met in the formless void. For unknown reasons they dozed off. And as they slept, they dreamt, in addition to their dreams become reality. Their dreams triggered the formation of twelve gods and associated “mortals” (i.e races). The gods eventually went along to war considering scheming, rivalries, etc. The gods also brought the mortals in to the war’s battles. These wars left most from the gods dead, imprisoned, or elsewhere diminished. The god wars also impacted the mortals as some races were damaged. Others, such as the Baraka along with the Castanics, emerged in the conflict itself. And as Tera begins, the Humans, High elves, Amani, Castanics, Baraka, and Poporis have banded together to battle a menace from beyond their world referred to as Argons, a metallic race from your Underworld.Tera can be an action combat MMO that you aim your attacks and dodge telegraphed attacks out of your foes. The telegraphs are visible red zones, that show up in different sizes and shapes, on the floor for the current mob you’re engaged with. There are thirteen classes within the Windows PC version while using Reaper class unlocking when you have a toon at level 40. Another original feature of Tera was the very fact you’ll encounter BAMs (a.k.a. “Big-Ass Monsters”) in dungeons and open-world content. Tera is often a free-to-play experience, without artificial cap on classes, zones, you skill, etc. All the content within the game might be experienced without buying anything. There is naturally an in-game store that gives cosmetic items and services for making your journey to separate game a lttle bit quicker, and also, their paid subscription option, elite status.First Contact ImpressionsThis review experience will be based upon the PS4 version played upon a PS4 Pro. Upon initial login the PS4 crowd can select from four servers, three PvE servers and something PvP server. Also, worth noting, if you decide to play Tera on XBox One then this Gold subscription is necessary to play. PS4 owners do not require a PlayStation Plus subscription to experience Tera on PS4. I chose to begin with on a PvE server.Coming on the PC servers, my preferred class associated with preference would have been your brawler as I much like the brawler’s block ability which normally saves me from needing to dodge several extra times. Sadly, the PS4 version of Tera isn't going to include the Gunner, Valkyrie, or a man Brawler, “yet” presumably. Eventually, I chosen class I had not tried yet, the Warrior, which is usually a DPS based tank wearing leather armor. The character creation experience is just straight out in the Windows PC version. You have many investment to choose from or a good amount of customizations to roll your individual look.One annoyance I still suffer, you do on additional logins to your game, is always that Tera goes for the character select screen with the server on top on the server list. The annoyance being, the server on top from the list isn’t always the main one you were last on, therefore you need to go back to your server select screen, meaning you are free to experience that “boom tube” animation twice. Hopefully, a known bug they'll address soon.It’s All About Control, Control, ControlTera’s action combat always felt such as an obvious choice for just a controller plus theory for consoles. Upon logging into sites and starting within the same “Island Of Dawn” zone (tutorial) you might have two skill bars, the second reason is accessible by holding along the PS4’s L1 button. The initial controller configuration seemed a little odd. For example, the “jump” skill, which might appear to be a popular move is setup being a combination on the PS4’s L1 + X button versus just being the “X” button. Initially, the X button is set up to the “Interact” skill (i.e. pick-up loot, talk with NPC, etc.). Thankfully, this might be reconfigured, but skills reconfiguration may not be as straightforward as you may have expected and required some YouTube assistance. For example, the “jump” skill may be known as a priority skill out of the box the “Interact” skill. For some reason you can’t drop one priority skill over another, it complains, with this example, that you just can’t make it happen with “Interact”. You must first overwrite the “Interact” button which has a non-priority skill, e.g. “Combative Strike” then you can definitely drop the priority skill “Jump” on top with the “Combative Strike” button. Cumbersome but a small annoyance knowing the work around.One useful priority skill added towards the console version is often a button/skill for appearing a radial dial. Here place the things like potions, pets, mounts, etc. It’s initially mapped to your D-Pad’s left button plus it was great for doing login recalls of pets, by way of example.You may enable quest indicators on NPCs and/or world/zone map with the Options tab. Also, alas, you’ll see on the watch's screen messages of other players finding products in “Elite Loot Boxes”, yes, this F2P game has loot boxes. It would be nice if Elite players could disable these broadcasts.One glaring omission is the fact there doesn’t appear to be a way to scale the UI and Chat text to some smaller font. With a larger quest tracker font, you merely see the top two quests with your list, additionally getting for the others is often a bit cumbersome. It requires selecting touchpad Tera Items. Accessing the chat window and world map (currently bugged as it’s labeled “undefined”) uses a similar touchpad mechanic.Retooled For ConsoleA “Retooled” interface for consoles as Tera’s website states, let’s discuss inventory management, skills menus, etc. Bluehole did a good job of putting all you need under a compilation of tabs of menus. Using the PS4’s L1 / L2 and R1 / R2 buttons you will get around pretty quickly. The game also does a pleasant job of tagging tabs with changes which has a tiny red “N”. On item selection, while using triangle button arises relevant sub-menus. All of this is accessed initially over the Options button.Crafting can also be accessible through the same said menu system, that is worth noting, if you choose crafting, say inside your early twenties, as it’s the right way to get around a known bug. The bug keeps you from while using “Interact” skill using a crafting station. In this mode for some reason once the crafting menus are increase controller remains to be controlling your avatar. This, as well as the undefined world map key, were essentially the only “real bugs” I encountered in week one.The Tera store is usually accessible here. The store offers cosmetics, mounts, pets, and several convenience items (e.g. extra bank slots). Expansion of inventory slots is done via in-game gold which I gave the impression to have lots of even with needing to pay to acquire and upgrade skills.PlayabilityFor one of the most part the sport played well for a high frame rate during PvE encounters, general travel (i.e. over a mount), etc. I haven’t noticed any skills lag or like which could be a death knell for the game like Tera. Some stutter / frame-rate issues did turn up in some areas like from the first major city, Velika even in this little PS4 Pro. I manage to remember though this becoming an issue about the Windows version so I’m not sure if it’s a standard performance issue or maybe a game engine (still Unreal) limitation. I also saw some “rubber-banding” while using Pegasus flight system getting from major area to an alternative, e.g. from starter island to mainland. These served as minor annoyances and didn’t impact overall gameplay.The occasional skippable, in-game cutscenes played relatively well. I was initially worried that certainly one of the opening scenes seemed a little grainy but further in I will no longer saw that characteristic. Playing over a 24” monitor, quest dialogue was sufficient that I could envision playing a good distance away, e.g. on the couch, lacking issue.The Twitch Prime package was included with “Violette”, a creature dragonette using the ability to auto-loot. This was a welcome addition, as I don’t recall having these for the PC version. Handy for individuals like me they enjoy to grab everything. Though at higher levels, perhaps where I out leveled a region, the pet appeared to stop auto-looting. My assumption is your dog considered the drops inconsequential based on my small level.Granted these Founder’s Packs you’re given a 15-day Elite Status subscription which increases your XP gain rate slightly. Even so, I’m finding going from the story quests from guided zone to zone I’m three levels across the story content. Most mobs from the areas I’ve experienced are conning grey which, ultimately, makes it easier to complete “Vanguard Quests” (Tera’s daily quest system) in those areas. Also, still present may be the relatively high “re-pop rate” for mobs, averaging from two secs to almost instantaneous. If you’re a novice to Tera you’ll locate that a lot with the PvE mobs within this game that travel in packs that has a stronger mob flanked by a group of minion mobs. Essential point, cruise using your menus somewhere safe.Into General ReleaseToday the overall game heads into General Release where the action is ready to accept anyone. It’ll be interesting to discover how many a lot more people login and what effect that can have on server performance. I’ve yet to queue up for Buy Tera Items the dungeon instance yet, the initial being “Bastion of Lok”. This will be necessary since it’s part on the story. I’ll even be over leveled because of it, but we’ll see how the experience handles that situation.Overall, the very first day of jump had its share of typical the beginning hiccups (e.g. missing Founder’s Pack items, etc.). As usual you will discover others about the forums that suggest they've got “performance issues” but I’ve not seen these, I do play inside States using a 150 MBPs internet wire so maybe that’s a consideration. Overall, I’ve not had any issues signing in, server disconnects, etc. Hopefully, that trend continues into week two because population increases!