Dofus is not the prettiest game but does have all of the features you expected
In a way I feel woefully disappointed that I'm not more familiar with the Dofus series of titles by Ankama Games, but I'm pleasantly surprised to find that despite the rich background it has, Dofus: Battles for the App Store is not only approachable, but a great introduction to this fascinating world. This visual customisation combines well with the more than a dozen character classes, some of which are extremely unique and difficult to master which gives players plenty of room to grow as they create new characters that belong to the tougher character classes. Classes include the likes of ranged attackers, warriors, summoners, healers, treasure hunters, thieves and more.
The game itself operates similar to Plants vs. Zombies, but the added RPG layer and the manner of unit variety means there is a different kind of strategy at play here. Instead of having a system where each unit counters the enemy evenly, you have a collection of twelve different heroes, half of which are support, the other offensive and you can choose any of them any time you want. Each has their own strengths and weaknesses, level up over time, can be fully armored and outfitted, have gender options and varying areas of effect.
Once Jeff gets the creatures on his side, they can be summoned into battle to help him defeat the various enemies who are trying to stop him. The combat stages are played on tiles, with each monster Jeff calls costing him a portion of his magic pool. Since Jeff has no offensive powers of his own and is pretty fragile, your job is to send the friendly monsters to clear the way for Jeff to walk safely to the end of the level. Like the mini-game, combat is also more a matter of brains than brawn, because your monsters can’t just bash their way through. Some monsters are better at causing damage, while others can cause various effects like slowing enemies. Your best bet is finding combinations of monsters that work together effectively to defeat their foes.
Dofus are the six sacred dragon eggs in the world. It’s up to you to find them and bring chaos to an end. You start out in the clouds above the island Incarnam. This is kind of a tutorial, so you’ll know what is going on and what you have to do to find the Dofus. The World of Twelve takes you into the icons you can see on the floor. Each one is either a quest or an offer you can’t refuse. You have to complete each task to level up to the next level.
Stats are gained after awhile of fighting and the player leveling up. Each level will give the player 5 stat points to align into the stats of the character to further boost its power or survival skills. Each class gets its own skill tree even though some skills are shared. The stats that the points can be distributed to are Strength, Vitality, Wisdom, Intelligence, Chance, and Agility, all of which are common terms for many MMO’s. But if the player needs an explanation of what each does in Dofus, they can simply hover over each stat for a nicely detailed explanation of how it affects their character. This adds some form of customization for the players to make their own unique character despite it looking like many other players.
The character designs add to that willfully different style. Up close they pay due diligence to fantasy archetypes, but from the game's normal,lofty perspective, the large community littering the fields and ridges resembles not the medieval fayre try-hards you may have come to expect, but the crowd left behind in the wake of Woodstock. They're a distinctly hippyish sight, clustered around NPCs in loon pants and beaded jackets, or kneeling (to regain HP) mid-dungeon as if recovering not from a hit from the nearest beer bong. The effect is only emphasised by their long-legged Jackson Five cartoon running as they sprint eagerly towards the next spawn point.
There are three main professions to choose from which include harvesting, crafting, and smithmagic. Each category has a large number of sub-classes to focus on like farming, shoe making, and jewelmagus. Players will have to explore the world and gather the materials necessary to gain more experience for certain professions, and goods can be sold and traded amongst the community. Combined with the high level cap, there is no shortage of things to do, bordering on overwhelming with the immense amount of options available. In the end, Dofus is not the prettiest game, nor is it the most advanced, but it does have all of the features that you would expect in an MMORPG, including an extensive spell system. It’s a game that has been around since 2004 and even survived a worldwide release(it was originally only in France), so we have plenty of reason to believe that it will be around for many more years to come.
