Celestial Destroyer: Upcoming MMORPG

Published on: 29th January, 2009

Celestial Destroyer

cubizone
Genre: mmorpg
MSRP: free to play


Celestial Destoryer is a free to play persistant world online multiplayer role playing game. Destiny is in your hand, join the battle to save this enchanting, mythical world!

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I am sure that a bunch of you have seen me mentioning the mmorpg Celestial Destroyer (ZhuXian in Chinese). Apparently there are a number of people from Perfect World who are over there sampling it- I have seen people from Perfect World International talking in Celestial Destroyer world chat. My character is still a lowly level 9, so so there are a few things I am not familiar with yet. I did, though, spend a good bit of time reading the information on the game’s website (http://zx.cubizone.com/eng/) while waiting for the client to download- so here goes!

The game is designed much like Perfect World International (a standard formula for most MMORPGs, I am sure), in that a character follows quests from NPCs (non-playable characters) and gathers experience from mob kills and quest turn-ins to level, and certain equipment and other goods become available when the player levels to a certain extent. Skills can also be hotkeyed in two shortcut bars, much like Perfect World International. The graphics of Celestial Destroyer seem, on my PC, at least, to be a little nicer than that of Perfect World International. The details of the game, too, are a tad different. Most notably, there is no version of spirit points over in Celestial Destroyer. Instead, each time a player levels, they gain one point that they can apply to one skill- either to level a current one, or to learn a new one, provided the requisite for the new skill is met. This method means that, at first, new skills come slowly, but I think those of you who are accustomed to forking over millions in spirit for Perfect World International skills will appreciate this system in the long run! There also is an item called a “kozo” that a player will acquire through questing early in the game and will keep, as far as I can tell, in some upgraded form throughout the whole game. It is much like a Venomancer’s pet in that you get a skill bar for the kozo, but because it is actually just a magical inventory item, it doesn’t eat or, as far as I know, die. The kozos have skills that you can utilize to help you in your fights.

Another difference it is important to note is that currently Celestial Destroyer operates on an almost entirely Player vs. Player server- as soon as your character hits level 30, other players who have also reached that level or higher will be able to attack you, just like the City of the Lost server for Perfect World International. Although the game website offers a good assortment of tips on everything from how to distribute the skill points you get upon leveling to how to choose the right quests- even providing players with a walk through for the early levels of the game- there is not a whole lot on the matter of the PvP on the server. For those who are seeking just a little bit more help on how this whole Player Killing thing works, I know there are some excellent guides posted on the Perfect World International forum that may make your life easier while PKing in either game.

There also is the matter of channels. When logging into the game, a player can choose the server one wishes to use, much like PWI has several servers (at the moment, there is only one server option). After one logs in, however, one has an option of 20-some channels one can join. Basically this divides the players into groups that can interact with each other. E.g., if I am on channel 1 and someone else is on channel 14, we may not squad together or, I think, join the same family. I am not positive about the family thing, though. Each time you log you choose what channel you want to join, so your choice is not permanent. I can only assume this is a method the game creators have devised to avoid lag, kind of like having a bunch of mini-servers on each server, but I don’t really know.

The guild system is a little different, too. Instead of joining a guild, a player first joins a family (families are join-able after level 25). Each family is limited to 15 members. Being part of a family gives a player access to new family skills, which is very cool, and family members share exp at all times, as though they were squadded. Then families can join together to make guilds. If a family wishes to join a guild, the family head (the person who started the family at the appropriate NPC) has to be asked to join, and then all the members will become a part of that guild. There are special quests that family members can obtain. There also is a rank system within families, but I am not positive how this works. Families themselves can also be ranked as stronger or weaker than other families, which is determined by the amount of family-oriented quests the members have completed.

After a certain amount of quests have been completed and the character is of a high enough level (15, I believe), players can become disciples of clans- the Celestial Destroyer equivalent of different races. The clans are GhostLord, Joyous, GreenCloud (which I am planning to join), SkyTone, and GhostTrail.

~Ghostlord is like a combination of the PWI Blademaster and Venomancer. They have excellent individual short-distance attack and strong physical attack, and are weak against ranged/grouped monsters, like a Blademaster. But they also have the abilitiy to control monsters. I really don’t know, however, if they just have a skill that can command any mob for a certain period of time, or if they take one in particular as an actual pet.

~Joyous is not easily paralleled with any PWI class as far as I can tell- their main attribute is having outstanding Critical Attacks; they tend to have poor defense.

~GreenCloud is a little bit like the Archer or Wizard Class, in that they have high stability for ranged attack and have good group attack skills. They have non-continuous individual attack, according to the main site, so I assumed they are spell-based, like a Wizard, than weapon-based, like a Blade Master or Barb which you could just run on auto-pilot. Weak against melee attackers.

~SkyTone is the healing class, with good group attacks but poor individual damage.

~GhostTrail has the transformation ability, which is not something found in PWI. They have parasitic skills/curses they can use against mobs, but they must exchange their own blood (health) for their powers.

In my opinion, by far the absolute best difference between the games I have encountered so far is the ability to travel anywhere on the map just by clicking on it- minimap included. Also, from the quest screen, which looks just like the one that pops up when you press Q in PWI, you can click the name of the quest NPC to travel there- you can even click the name of the mob or drop you need, and you will be set a path to travel to where you need to be! It’s awesome!

I should also point out that anyone wishing to create an account for the game does not sign up actually on the game’s main page, at http://zx.cubizone.com/eng/index.php. Instead, upon hitting the sign-up button, one will be directed to a page on cubizone.com, to create an account with them. It’s just like making an account for PWI, but it was a little misleading for me at first, because I thought that I was being directed to sign up for something else entirely. I think that cubizone has other games you use the same user information for, in addition to CD.

If anyone is interested in knowing more about the game mechanics or gameplay, I would be happy to talk more about what I have seen of Celestial Destroyer so far ^^ Feel free to PM me in PWI or in Celestial Destroyer (my CD character is called Callista, but I spend far more time on Rivkah on PWI’s Heaven’s Tear server). Happy hunting!

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