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Dofus: MMORPG.com Review

Staff Writer James Pittiglio took the time to give Dofus a try and files this MMORPG.com Exclusive Review. Dofus is an anime-styled isometric title that promotes itself as a "tactical MMORPG"; a reference to its turn-based combat.

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Following the tutorial, players are dumped into the world with very little direction as to what to do or where to go next. There are a few minor quests they can accomplish at the start, but they feel very shallow for the most part, and often involve a simple delivery or kill quest.

That is not to say that the world players enter is not a pretty one. The Dofus world is undoubtedly beautiful in its own way. If you are looking for a game with cutting edge graphics, stay far away from this game. Everything is done with simple 2-dimensional sprites, which are animated well enough. The environments have a beautiful, hand-drawn look to them, and the game certainly has an anime theme and inspiration behind it. Some may enjoy this simplicity, while others may be put off by it, but there is no denying it all looks great. 

You can read the full review here.

Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios

Comments

  • FazelFazel Member Posts: 6

    I played Dofus back during beta but iirc there was an option to make the 2d sprites transparent or something like that, which will allow you to see them through a building or tree.

  • VelgarVelgar Member Posts: 39

    Yes, I remember I was able to see through hard struture in combat after some tweak in the option... It was either in the normal option of the game or by right clicking on the background... Otherwise, good review, I really enjoyed it.

  • HawkwindeHawkwinde Member UncommonPosts: 19

    I also Beta'd this, and there was a lot to enjoy. The ONE thing I absolutely hated you did not happen to mention in your review: Dofus came down with the player vendor shop plague that has so corrupted many recent Malaysian and Korean games. Every single square of the mostly sparse looking landscape is further trashed by these abominations that clutter the scenery. Buying something you need is an insane nightmare. There is no centralized selling system or Auction House, so a player has to wander, sometimes for hours, all over every square of the map and access each player shop (set on remote control while the player is offline) to find the resource or item they need! This is totally insane. I feel it has become a ruinous trend due to lack of programming skills on the part of young development teams that are needed to do a global selling system.

    I and a large group of my friends chose not to continue playing Dofus after the Beta due to this one factor alone.

  • tylerwicktylerwick Member Posts: 446

    I liked this game for a while, graphics arent too horrible.

    One of the ONLY reason I really dont like this game is the community.  The community generally consists of a gang of young very immature kids.  I was killed for no reason 2-3 times a sitting.  After much frustration and deaths (due to immaturity) I quit Dofus for good.  I played for roughly a week everyday.

    If they decide to implement a way to turn off PvP I will consider returning to Dofus.

    But not likely

  • FazelFazel Member Posts: 6

    Dofus was a great game but the thing that annoyed me the most was the fact that some players would join a game and just afk there to get the loot afterwards, this is only made worse by having a class who's sole purpose in the game is to increase chance of good loot drops.

    As for PvP, it wasnt too bad in my experience, tho they are comming out with a pure PvP Dofus where you lvl up and such from PvPing or something to that effect. It does look interesting.

    And yea great review :)

  • VenQWishVenQWish Member Posts: 51

    Looks mighty sweet, but with some serious issues to it (mentioned above). I will wait till the next version comes, then try it out. 7.1 for a 2D sprite MMO, not bad at all so it seems :D.

  • haz-fahaz-fa Member Posts: 23
    no offense but how u give this game an 8 for graphics, the backgrounds look quite nice but the characters dont even look as if they belong on them, looks like there skating around ;p
  • DofusFanDofusFan Member Posts: 1

    here is my review of his review:


    With that said, there are definitely some problems with the world's visuals and gameplay. For instance, during battles, it is not uncommon for an enemy to wander behind a tree, bush, house, or some other inanimate object in the environment, making it nearly impossible to target them. If the game could recognize such instances, and render portions of the environment transparent, the game would score even more points in this department. As it stands, minor issues such as this really detract from the gameplay.

    shift+2 (look in hte little wrench/ ask peopole)


    After some time with my initial character, I realized I had made some 'bad' choices when raising him, resulting in a decision to delete and re-create him a number of times. Like other games that allow players the freedom to develop particular skills as they level up, there are clearly 'better' choices than others, resulting in what some refer to as 'cookie-cutter builds.' This means that when playing a particular class, there are only certain skills and attributes you should invest in, or else you will be weaker than others of the same level who chose the 'right' skills. For those players looking to succeed in the game, it is often important to refer to the community and the forums to see what other players did and what skills work 'best'. This is a shame, because every skill has a unique use and gives each class a distinct feel, but picking the wrong skills leads to a weaker and less enjoyable character.

    well sure... but there are a few builds for each character. especially cra. and once you start a few characters, and get some money for wisdome gear (wisdome increases the exp you get) you can get to level 30 or 40 in an hour or so


    The game also features something called the job system. As money is extremely difficult to come across, and with an established player-base who charges enormous amounts of money for items, it will be necessary for players to pick one or more jobs. A job is essentially a non-combat profession, such as lumberjacking, mining, farming or another profession that refines the raw items into something useful, such as a baker or tailor. Unlike leveling in combat, the grind in jobs is immediately apparent. Walking around for several hours to chop down literally hundreds of trees to advance a single level is not very entertaining. Sadly, the only benefit of doing this is reducing the amount of time it takes to harvest (by a tenth of a second every few levels), being able to harvest different types of raw materials, and to refine the materials into different items. Of course, some of the most sought-after items in the game are player-crafted, but the time needed to reach those levels seems to be on the exceptional side.

    if everyone was level 100 easy, everything would be pretty worthless.


    When trying to decide on a new MMORPG to spend my ever-valuable time, energy and money on, there are typically several factors that heavily sway my decision. The most important of these factors include graphics, developer name and track record, cost and press around the game. Thus, when deciding to review a little MMORPG known as Dofus, developed by Ankama Studios, I did not know what I was getting myself into. I had never heard of the game, the developer, and you could play it for free (which from my experience is typically a bad sign).

    the LAST thing most people look at is graphicss, developer name, and track record. they are not very impotsnt. my favorite game of all time, earthbound, had shit graphics and was made by a company that never made another half decent game. and as for the free thing, if there wasnt a f2p option, no one would get a taste and want to pay

    as for the merchanting system, it is pretty bad. it is getting fixed constantly, with rules and time limits being implemented. also, i purchase 99% of my goods from the official irc chat, or fansite forums.

    if i were to review it, i would give it a 8.5, as it needs improvement, but improvement is constantly being made.

    also, you say there is little roleplaying involved, no story, and the quests are horrible. well... thats true. but the true roleplaying comes when you choose an alignment, and have to group with people. there are tons of strategies for conquering, monsters are really only there for items and experience. people are there for the fun.

    and as for the rude people, they are easily stopped at a certain point. it is very difficult to get to a high level if you are rude, because people will kick you out of battles, and aggress you until you spen all your money getting your life back. his keeps the amount of morons in check very well. i give my review of your review a 5. you were terribly misinformed on many things, and you seemed to play for a day then review it. as for the graphics, they have greatly improved since beta, are excellent for a flash game, and are the best ive seen on a game that rarely if ever lags.

  • AbeliusAbelius Member Posts: 19

    One of the better MMORPGs out there.

    I have read that MMORPGs are usually played be either or the four typical types of players, or a combination of the four: killers, socializers, achievers and explorers. 

    Killers are on the acting end towards players, socializers are on the interacting end towards players, achievers are on the acting end towards the world (within the game) while explorers are on the interacting end towards that world. If you want to see what I am talking about follow this link:

    http://www.mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm

    Dofus is one of the FEW games out there that has all four types, and that is an enourmous achievement!

    Cordially,
    Abel Kay

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