Dofus is a very popular flash based MMORPG that originated in France but is now played heavily in Europe and the United States. Before we get started with the review, a word of Caution: though the game offers a large area for non paying players to explore, most of the game is only available to subscribers. Free players are not restricted by a time limit but can only venture into newbie zones and have access to only one of the three main cities of Dofus. Dofus runs completely on flash which means it will run on nearly any system. The cute cartoony graphics and turn based combat give the game an old Japanese RPG feel. New players may be shocked (I was) to learn that Dofus has 12 classes. 

The classes are your typical mix of tank, healer, mage, rogue, Druid, and hybrids. The character models for these classes vary greatly, for example you can be a tall, strong knight or a short, old granny. Dofus let's players customize their characters clothing and skin colors which is as much customization as you can hope for from a 2d game. Players start out in a tutorial area littered with NPCs who explain the game basics. Luckily, chatting with these NPCs is optional. If you get confused, talk to an NPC until you figure out what to do and move on. At the end of this little tutorial place, you'll find your self in a forest area with many other players and quest giving NPCs. The user interface in Dofus is simple and well designed. The only difficulty I had was figuring out how to get to the next screen: you have to step on these small colored circles on the floor near the edges of the map. Combat in Dofus is turn based and takes place on a separate screen than the game world. At the beginning of combat, players choose from several locations on the grid that they can start at. From there on, players move, attack, cast spells on their turn than wait for their opponents to do the same. The combat is Dofus is similar to many 'œtactics' games on consoles and handhelds, for example Final Fantasy Tactics. 

Other players will be able to enter a battle with you in Dofus which can be both helpful and annoying. Unless you're partied with the folks jumping into your battle, they will leach your experience. Players level after only a few battles and your hp bar fills rapidly while sitting but combat it self takes a long time. Leveling up rewards players with stat points which they can allocate between 6 different stats: Vitality, Wisdom, Strength, Intelligence, and Chance. Dofus has plenty of features such as guilds, crafting and gathering professions, and a faction based PvP system but sadly the free to play portion of Dofus does not include any of these. Free players are restricted to several newbie zones and to one major city, Astrub. There is no time restriction to free accounts which means players are free to explore the content that is available to them at their own pace. The content that is available is more than enough to give you an idea of whether or not Dofus is your kind of game.

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