To understand esteem or cultivation better, let me elaborate further. Esteem is simply another way of saying that your character cannot get new skills until he or she has reached a certain level of understanding. In other words, it’s a general mastery of a group of skills. At present, there are 10 esteem or cultivation levels that your avatar can access every time he or she hits Level x9 (no, not “multiplied by” 9, but [any number from 0 to 9]9).

The levels of esteem or cultivation are: Cunning (Level 9), Attuned (19), Lucid (29), Enigmatic (39), Forbidding (49), Sinister (59), Nirvana (69), Mahayana (79), Sublime or Diabolic (89), and Enlightened or Infernal (99).

When your character hits Level 89, he or she is required to choose between Heaven or Hell, or the cultivation Sublime or Diabolic. Choosing a side will determine your avatar’s fairy (the Tinkerbelle-ish Sublime fairy or the impish Diabolic [some call it a hamburger because it looks like, well, a hamburger] fairy), the skills he or she can master beyond their maximum levels (most skills have a max level of 10), and the quests you can go on.

I chose the Diabolic esteem for Malystryx when she turned 89 because my wife Joyce’s character, Cesky, walked the same path. This enabled us to continue our journey in the Perfect World of Pangu together. That was way back in March 2008.

Malystryx, named after a popular figure in the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Dragonlance series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, turned 99 a few days ago, almost a year since she breached Level 89. Sigh. Talk about slow leveling.

The Infernal Esteem in a nutshell (this assumes you have already finished the first few esteem quests during your Level 89-98 days) after the jump:

1. Talk to the Ghost Warden of Wolf Village inside Devildom (yes, it’s behind that red door in the middle of Universal City). The Ghost Warden will then set you down the path of Infernal.

2. Travel to Broken Phoenix Village either by running, by mount, by flight or by teleportation and look for the Envoy of Greedy Wolf, who will tell you to retrieve an item called the Samsara Shuttle from the miniboss monster Demon Mauler.

3. Of course, you can’t retrieve an item unless you kill the brute holding it. So travel to the Ancient Wasteland at coordinates 387, 481 inside Devildom, locate the Demon Mauler and eliminate it. Being a miniboss, he’s stronger than your average enhanced damage or berserk mob. Take a priest with you, or better yet, an entire party.

4. Return to the Envoy of Greedy Wolf to submit the Samsara Shuttle. The envoy will then use the power of the item to send you back in time to talk to Shen Tulie, the Elite Metal Sentry. If you’ve been around Perfect World, you’ll remember the Elite Metal Sentry as the NPC on Unknown Island.

5. After talking to the Elite Metal Sentry, you’ll be teleported back to Universal Village. When you report to the Ghost Warden in Wolf Village, he’ll tell you to kill the Elite Metal Sentry, who is apparently working up a rage in the Shura Forest at coordinates 444, 613.

6. Go back to the Ghost Warden. Your next task will be to eliminate four boss monsters—the Unearthly Demon, Banished Ox, Forsaken Demon, and Peach Tree Goddess—in the instance dungeon Hell’s Arcadia.

7. Once the nightmare is over, return to the Ghost Warden and receive your reward—some yuan, a few thousand experience points, and a shiny new fairy.

Many thanks to MarieJoy, master of Perfect World Tiger Server clan Intensity, Jaiden, War_Payne, LordLloyd, JheYc and seventeen for helping me in my Infernal quest. Incidentally, MarieJoy and Jaiden also completed their Enlightened and Infernal esteem quests. Congratulations!

Post from: MMOtaku

By the gaming gods! Is it true? Have five days already passed since I last posted? Apparently, yes. Whew! Time flies so fast when you’re having fun. Unfortunately, my five-day hiatus had not been even remotely fun.

Yes, you guessed it. The flu—at least I think it’s the flu—hit me right after New Year’s Eve, right in the middle of writing a Top Ten Asian MMORPGs of 2008 post. Don’t worry, I’ll finish the story … soon.

Right now, I’m just starting to recover. Of course, as a fanatic of massively multiplayer online role-playing games, there’s only one way for me to get back to tip-top shape—that’s by playing my favorite games.

At the moment, I’m playing two MMORPGs more than I’m supposed to (meaning game time is eating up some of my spending-quality-time-with-the-family time and my need-to-post-something-on-MMOtaku time). These two MMORPGs are Perfect World (yeah, it’s still great despite the rise and fall of great Philippine Tiger server clans Guardians and Legacy) and Granado Espada.

What? You mean to say, Joel, that you’ve taken a liking to Granado Espada? Yes … and no. I’m giving the game a chance to redeem itself in my eyes (notice that I said “my eyes,” meaning “in my humble opinion,” etc.). Perhaps PJ Punla of Granado Espada: Dispatches from the New World fame is right. Yes, playing on a new server and reaching new heights with the family and characters I’ve made are great.

My Granado Espada highlights, at least for the moment, include defeating Grace Bernelli in a match (although I did lose about nine times before I figured out how to beat her), taking her character card and creating her in my family barracks, and beating the crap out of Claude Baudez and Andre Janzur. Yes, Granado Espada veterans, I’m a noob when it comes to these events, but I’m happy to be experiencing what you’ve experienced in the past year.

As for Perfect World, I’ve encountered virtual life-changing events, too. First, my character Calumet’s current clan, Intensity, managed to take over Biting-Cold Land from Heroes clan in a great territorial battle. A week later, we also successfully blocked the bid of new clan Hyperion for the right to attack our territory. Why block the attack? Well, it’s like this: Hyperion is composed mostly of characters Level 90 to 101, while Intensity is made up of characters with levels between 75 and 99, with more than 50 percent of the members falling within the 75 to 88 bracket. See the discrepancy? So here’s a word of advice to Hyperion from me: Go find some other clan to screw if you value your integrity. Bullies!

Well, that’s it for now. It’s time to get the juices flowing again.

Screenshot taken by Joel from the online game Perfect World, developed by Beijing-based Perfect World Co. Ltd. and operated in the Philippines by Level Up! Games.

Post from: MMOtaku