Wakfu

Wakfu
File:Wakfu logo.png
Developer(s)	Ankama Studio
Publisher(s)	Square Enix Ankama Studio
Platform(s)	Linux, Mac OS X, Windows
Release	April 27, 2011 (open beta)
Genre(s)	Fantasy MMORPG
Mode(s)	Multiplayer

Wakfu is a turn-based tactical MMORPG and a television cartoon, under development by Ankama Studio and written in Java. It takes place in the same fantasy world as Dofus, 1000 years later. The game is currently in beta testing, and the open beta was released on April 27, 2011. For the North American region, it is being published by Square Enix, while Ankama Studio retains publishing rights for the rest of the world. Islands of Wakfu, a spinoff of the game, was released on March 30, 2011 for the Xbox Live Arcade.

Story

In the time of Dofus, an ogre named Ogrest managed to get all 6 Dofus eggs for the sake of someone he loved. However, she was interested only in the eggs, and Ogrest killed her in a fit of rage. Later realizing what he'd done, he climbed to a mountaintop and cried for 1000 years. This brings us to the time of Wakfu. Now the "goal" is to defeat Ogrest, but, like Dofus, this is not necessary.

• The fighting system is turn by turn like Dofus and Dofus Arena, inspired by Tactical RPG which will also be present in Wakfu.
• In Wakfu, players walk around with the screen following them scrolling (In Dofus, to move around, each, you walked onto a new screen).
• One of the changes in Wakfu is the interaction with its environment, you have to try to preserve resources and monsters migrate around the map.
• Players will be (at least partially) auto-managed: players will have to maintain the order, like milicians and governors. Some ranks will be accessible thanks to elections.
• Each class has 25 spells: 3 elementary categories of 5 spells each, which change according to the class (fire, air, water or ground) and 10 support spells related to the class that doesn't damage the opponent, such as moving spells or boosts. Each elementary spell will profit from one hundred levels of power. These spells will progress to the wire of their use by the players. Contrary to typical RPGs (which want players to evolve/move by obtaining spells increasingly more powerful) the character will be able to use all the spells available almost as of the beginning. In fact, all of the spells are avalaible when you are level 10. The support spells each have a level from 0 to 4. Their level can be increased by using the point earned when you level up. These same points can also be used to increase other characteristics, so the player needs to use them carefully.

Characteristics

In Wakfu there are many different characteristics , some are the same as in Dofus, while others are completely new.

Main characteristics:

• Strength (earth)
• Agility (air)
• Intelligence (fire)
• Chance (water)
• Vitality (increase health points)

There are also secondary characteristics like:

• Dodge (increases the chance of running away)
• Blocking (block enemy movement from adjacent сells)
• Ferocity (critical strikes)
• Command (can summon more monsters)
• Prospecting (better chance of finding rare objects)
• Will (can control a creature better)

Playable classes

Wakfu features the same classes as Dofus, although many have different appearances or roles.

Professions

As in Dofus, Wakfu features professions which characters may learn. Here a list of the principal professions classified according to various ways and various Thirds:

Collect - Nature	Collect - Science	Collect - Magic
Agriculture	Mining	Mushrooming
Forestry	Gemology	Apothecary
Fishing	Skin Tanning, Repairing	Herbology

Craft - Nature	Craft - Science	Craft - Magic
Baking	Forging	Flowering
Fishmonger	Armory	Fishery
Butchery	Jewellery	Alchemy

Bestiary

The most famous monsters of Dofus, like Tofus, Moskitos and Gobballs will be present in Wakfu too but after being completely re-examined with addition of subclasses. However the graphic designers at Ankama Games developed new creatures, like Phorreurs and the Grave-diggers. Smares (monster in form of samare) also made their appearance!

Official Site - Creatures

Animated series

See also: List of Wakfu episodes

Ankama Animation has been producing a French-language cartoon series by the same name, based on the video game. The first season of 26 episodes began airing on 30 October 2008, and new episodes will continue to air into January 2010 on France 3. Like the video game, the show is animated with Adobe Flash software; all the production is done in France except the episode 22 "Rubilax" and the special episode "Noximilien", both produced in Japan. The series is directed by Anthony "Tot" Roux, and character design is directed by Xavier "Xa" Houssin and Kim "Tcho" Etinoff. During the London MCM Expo, the first two episodes were shown for the first time in English, but it is not known if an English-language version is planned. A spin-off called Mini-Wakfu, which features humorous shorts with characters depicted in super deformed style, has aired since September 2009. The special episode "Noximilien l'Horloger", which tell the origins of the main antagonist, Nox, was produced in Japan, it features a radically different art style made by the same team of animators who worked on Kaiba and Kemonozume, it was directed by Eunyoung Choi with Masaaki Yuasa on character design.

On June 21, 2010, Ankama announced that Wakfu season 2 is in production and is set to be released anytime in February 2011. In France, there were already released 2 new episodes of 2 season Wakfu. Episode 1: "Monsters & chimeras" Episode 2: "Rubilaxia" They both are avaliable to watch online in french on Wakfu Official Website.

Characters

The Brotherhood of Tofu

Yugo (Voiced by Fanny Bloc [French], Barbara Scaff [English])

The main hero of the series. He is a good-natured 12-year-old Eliatrope who only recently discovered his powers, and is on a mission to find his true family. He has lived with his adoptive father Alibert his entire life, working alongside him at his inn, and has no memories of his real family. He has the ability to summon the teleportation portals by rotating his hand in a circular motion and throwing them to where he would like to appear. As the series progresses, he learns other abilities, such as moving at high speeds and creating beams from his portals.

Az

A small "Tofu" (little bird) that is always seen by Yugo's side. Though small, it does not stop him from helping out anyway he can.

Princess Amalia Sheran Sharm (Voiced by Adeline Chetail [French], Sharon Mann [English])

Known as the Adventurer-Princess, she is a 13-year-old being called a Sadida. Because of this, she is able to talk to plants as well as control them. Despite her frequent bouts of sauciness, she is devoted to her friends, and can become extremely angry if they are harmed, and to helping Yugo find his family. She also does not like her brother Armand, being the only person she did not miss while on her travels because of his arrogant and war loving personality. She appears to be close to Yugo, as they will often play together or run to greet each other first.

Sir Sadlygrove Percedal, (Messire Tristepin Percedal) (Voiced by Thomas Guitard [French], David Gasman [English])

A 16-year-old Iop, Sadlygrove is a "Knight of the Order of the Guardians of the Shushus", entrusted with the guardianship of the demon-sword Rubilax. He tends to act brave but foolhardy, and not much is revealed about his past or the reason for his travels. Though despite his goofy personality he has shown on numerous occasions to be a strong fighter. As a Guardian, Sadlygrove is responsible for making sure Rubilax does not escape its sword prison and possess its owner, or others, though when he is possessed by Rubilax he becomes a monster that is incredibly physically strong (similar to that of the Hulk). He is questing with Yugo as repayment for Yugo's rescuing him from Rubilax's possession.

Rubilax (Voiced by Gerard Surugue [French], Matthew Géczy [English])

A Shushu, or a demon trapped in an object, in the form of a gem on the hilt of Sadlygrove's sword. He is obsessed with destruction, and lends intimidating strength to any being he manages to possess. He is usually in the form of a dagger, but can grow to the size of a longsword. His true form is a knee high demon, however is still incredibly strong for his size and he can grow to a large size and mass every time he is hit and summon a small army of strong clay warriors.

Ruel Stroud (Voiced by Patrick Bethune [French], Paul Bandy [English])

Ruel is an old friend of Yugo's adoptive father Alibert, as well as a treasure- and bounty-hunter known as an Enutrof. As a favour to Alibert, Ruel agrees to accompany Yugo on his travels. Ruel is noteworthy for his incredible greed and stinginess, sometimes the only way to wake him up is to mention money or so distracted by money he will completely ignore the danger they are in, but also his skill as a fighter and his commitment to seeing Yugo through trouble. Ruel wields a gold-plated shovel for a weapon.

Junior

A strange pig-like mole creature called a Phorror, which are said to be usual pets of Enutrofs. At first when it started to tag along, Ruel would do everything he could to drive it away, despite it wanting to be with him. It is later revealed it is because after the death of his first Phorror, he did not wish to have another one. It isn't until it saves Ruel from a Saddia prison that Ruel starts to shown a liking to it and now is regularly by his side. Ruel later teaches him how to identify minerals through tasting rocks and tracking.

Evangelyne (Voiced by Geneviève Doang [French], Jodie Forrest [English])

A 17-year-old Cra, Evangelyne is accompanying the Sadida princess Amalia as a bodyguard. She is committed to her job, but also acts as an older sister to the young Amalia. She wields a bow that can fire a variety of magic arrows, making a quiver unnecessary. Though at first she shows no attraction to Tristepin at the beginning and immune to his constant flirting, it is obvious he is starting to grow on her, yet she constantly denies such feelings exist.

Adamaï (Voiced by Dorothee Pousseo)

A shape shifting dragon who comes into contact with Yugo during their visit to the island of Ora and is revealed to be Yugo's brother. After separating from his friends, Yugo trains alongside Adamaï in order to control his wakfu and stop Nox from his sinister plans.

Grufon

The group's talking map.

Side characters

Sadida

They are a human species who are close to all things Mother Nature, and are most noticeable for being barefoot all the time, green hair, dark skin, and wearing clothes out of leaves. The males have their hair covering their entire heads. They are all connected to the Tree of Life.

Oakheart (Voiced by Phillipe Dumond)

Amalia's father and king of the Sadida people. He is a jolly man as well as not familiar with formalities despite his king status, always questioning why Eva would always bow before him. He temporarily left his post to Armand as the Tree of Life was sick, trying to cure it. He later regains his throne after being informed of Nox's plan by Amalia and Eva.

Amalia's Mother

Yet unnamed. She appears to have been a kind woman that Eva deeply respected. She has died before the start of the story for reasons yet to be explained. It is stated by the king that Amalia is the spitting image of her, both stubborn and adventurous.

Armand (Voiced by Cedric Dumond)

Amalia's Brother and acting ruler of the Sadida while the king is away. He is a very arrogant man, clearly seen when he called his people's requests "whining" and believed the warning about Nox from his sister was nothing but her own imagination and discarded it without a thought, causing Amalia to run out crying. He believes his sister to be a flake as she deserted her people and duty as a princess for her adventurous lifestyle. He has an obvious attraction to Evangelyne, something that creeps her out and causes Tristepin to become jealous. Armand also appears to have a racist view towards Iops, often insulting them. He is known to have very bad breath, a subject he is very touchy about, though is well known to the Sadida. Despite all this however, it is shown he truly does care for his little sister, and was the one who calmed their father to allow Amelia to start her adventure, as well as became depressed when they lost her trail.

Other

Alibert (Voiced by Thierry Mercier [French], Matthew Géczy [English])

Yugo's adoptive father, who found him as a baby when Grougaloragran left him at the beginning of the series. He is also the town mayor and a chef, who runs an inn (though he often burns the food, leaving Yugo in charge of the cooking). After taking the young boy under his care, Alibert is also engrained a magical message through his eyes regarding Yugo's past. He raises Yugo for 12 years, training him as an assistant chef at the inn's restaurant, until the day their hometown comes under attack by a mysterious enemy and Yugo's past must be revealed.

Grougaloragran (Voiced by Benoit Allemane)

A mysterious old man who cares for the infantile Yugo and later must hide him from the dangerous Nox. He is incredibly strong with the ability to breathe fire. Nox on their first battle stated he was a dragon, where in episode 17 it is revealed he is a powerful dragon in human form. He also has the powers to see into people's souls, which is why he picked Alibert for Yugo's father, as he saw he would be the perfect father.

Kabrok & Miranda (Voiced by Richard Darbois & Claire Buyot)

Kabrok is an Osamoda adventurer from days long past, who eventually found his true love in the form of an Ecaflip named Miranda. Soonafter, the couple settled down and began running an underground item shop for weary travellers. However, Kabrok began to grow bored of his new life while Miranda forbids him adventuring, so he donned the guise of a villain called "The Black Raven" and has a ball of a time torturing a nearby village and destroying his competitors' shops in the process. He also dislikes Ruel as he often hits on his wife. Miranda is a strict saleswoman who will even put customers through a test so as to not deal with looky-loos. She sees everything has a price, despite her husband claiming it being priceless. She also has a strange habit of yelling for her husband, even if he is standing next to her. Despite this, she does show she loves him, as she forbid him from adventuring because she sees herself as his ultimate adventure, but in the end allows him to so as to at least restock their rare supply. They later return as the only supporters during the Brotherhood of Tofu's game.

The Puddlings & The Bullies

Two races of creatures, the Puddlings being tiny gelatonous beings that lack courage, while the Bullies are bovine-like monsters that plague the Puddlings by stealing their food with brute force. Yugo and company come across both races on their visit to Puddling village and Sadlygrove feels a sense of responsibility in teaching them how to defend themselves against the Bullies. Eventually, Yugo takes on the Bully leader and defeats him, sending the whole stampede packing.

Xav the Baker (Voiced by William Coryn)

A baker from Chtibrout Town who is famous for his incredible-tasting golden wheat bread. His storage is ruined by a monster called Breadnought, not long before the deadline of a baking contest where the winner can present their bread to the King of Bonta. To help Xav win the contest, Yugo becomes his assistant and trains underneath him, so Xav teaches Yugo how to mold bread as if he were training with a weapon. After the Baker's Tournament, Yugo and company stay at Xav's home before heading out for their next adventure.

Master Goultard (Voiced by Bruno Choel)

Tristepin's "dead" master who trained him. Though he commented he was dead, he states "death was overrated" when he is shown to be alive. He refers to Tristepin as "Pipoun". He is a very powerful Iop, able to take down Rubilax's possessed form with a single strike of his sword, as well as he is the only being Rubilax has been shown to be afraid of. He gets Tristepin back on his path after he was depressed over breaking Evangelyen's bow.

Joris

A small mysterious man who's face is hidden by his hood. He is a representative of the King of Bonta who came to discuss matters with Armand, who simply brushed him off. He is also very strong, wielding a hammer almost as tall as him and taking out a team of Sadida guards all on his own, as well as defeating (a damaged) Razortime very quickly. Judging by his appearance, he appears to be of the Masquerade class as seen in both Dofus and Wakfu games.

Antagonist

Main

Nox (Voiced by Benjamin Pascal)

The main villain of the series. A Xelor with twisted and obsessive motives, constantly pursuing Grougaloragran on his travels, as well as constantly searching for sources of Wakfu to absorb. Nox proves to be a dangerous enemy and often speaks with an insane-sounding giggle at the end of each sentence. He needs a large source of Wakfu to control an item known as the Eliacube, which in his insanity, he believes is alive, and that it speaks to him, and to do so he needed Grougaloragran's large source of Wakfu and now has his eye set on the Tree of Life. However, by killing the Tree of Life, will wipe out the entire Sadida race. He plans to use the Wakfu to go back in time and undo a wrong that he has done, where because of this he sees everything he does at this present time as reversible and doesn't hesitate to kill anyone in his way. He also appears to have had a family at one time. At the end, despite absorbing Wakfu for 200 years he managed to go back in time only 20 minutes, where he falls to his knees and cries at the fact he will never be able to save his family. His last words are a farewell to Yugo before teleporting away. His past was revealed in an anime special, where he used to be a kind well muscular father figure named Noximilien Coxen with a flair for inventing and worked as a Horologist. He was a good father and loved his wife and kids more than anything, but was depressed at the fact he could not provide financially for his family, often having to negotiate with a man over his debt. While playing with his family on the beach, Igole got away and found a cave that held the Elicube. He takes it to his workshop and tinkers with it, amazed at the possibilities it can grant, but later becomes obsessed with researching the cube to the point he forsakes everything else. His health deteriorates and he hints that he no longer sleeps; these serve to degrade his body to a skeletal state. His family also leaves him; by the time he leaves his workshop to present his work to his wife, his home is shown to be barren and dilapidated, and a note shows that his wife has moved with her sister. Distraught at the news that his landlord brought him (his wife and children were unable to survive a storm in their new home), he furthered his research and grew increasingly insane, becoming the villain in the Wakfu series. With his past revealed, becomes more of a sympathetic villain.

I, II, and III

Three of Nox's minions, first seen during his fight with Grougaloragran. Their exact nature is unknown, but they appear to be a mummified Cra, Feca, and Sacrier, and possess most of those classes' respective powers.

Weedkilios

Nox's minion, and a Sadida analog to I, II, and III. His appearance is very different, being that of a dead and decayed Sadida. His eyes are sunken and lifeless, his limbs are emaciated, and his upper body appears to be supported only by a black, spine-like structure. Much of his apparent bulk seems to come from his wood armor.

XII Razortime

Appears to be a large, boxy clockwork robot created by Nox, and one of his most powerful weapons. Before being confronted by the main characters, it devastated a large section of the Sadidas' forest with it's "stasis blasts."

Igole

A hyena-like Bow Wow (species of dog in that world) that served Nox. Igole can travel at extremely fast speeds (most likely given to him by his control collar) and has the ability to run on water to get from island to island when traveling over-sea. He can also inhale so deeply that he creates a vacuum. It is revealed Igole was previously a pet owned by a little girl who is later revealed to have been Nox's daughter, but what happened to that girl is not revealed. A little girl named Lotie that resembled her caused Igole to change his ways, and soon he was freed from Nox's control and now lives with her. She also calls him CrazyEyes. In the anime rendering of the prequel he was drawn as a dog. This is because Igole is a Bow Wow by species, a type of dog analogue in the Wakfu universe.

ShuShus

Rushu

The king of all Shushus. A fiery demon, he is in another world, one that has mostly been destroyed down to rock and ash. He is looking for a way to enter the world of light and life so that he and his demons can keep destroying things.

Anathar

A Shushu with the power to absorb attacks used on him. Originally a bound shushu, he was released by his guardian and refused to be unsummoned. After being freed by the Brotherhood of Tofu, Remington releases him to distract the heroes; he quickly realizes this is a bad idea. Yugo uses his portal magic to attack Anathar, which he is then able to use much more powerfully than Yugo, such as generating a hundred portals at once. He is so powerful, he even opened up a portal into the Shushu realm.

Ombrage

A Shushu imprisoned in a ring, she has the power to steal a person's shadow, which turns them into a ghoul. However, she is unable to do this if the target lacks any darkness in their heart. She is first met in a ruined town, where she has taken over her guardian's spirit, who goes by the name Vampyro. After being defeated, her guardian swears never to fall for her tricks again.

She returns in season 2 as an ally of Rubilax. Once Sadlygrove is returned to his body, though, she is left behind, ignored by her guardian. However, someone else has picked her up...

Other

Vampyro

Formerly a Shushu Guardian named Wagnar, he fell in love with a demon named Ombrage, who was sealed in a magic ring. Wagnar wore the ring that Ombrage was trapped in and her demonic powers transformed the guardian into "Vampyro", causing him to steal the souls of the townspeople to form an army of ghouls. When Yugo's team visits Katrepat town, Vampyro ambushes them with this army of ghouls and kidnaps Evangelyne in order to give Ombrage a body to inhabit. When transformed into Vampyro, he has an unfortunate allergy to Tofus, which eventually becomes his undoing. Afterwards he realized she was merely using him, and swore to never fall for her trickery again.

Ombrage returns in Season 2, now wielded by Rubilax in Sadlygrove's body.

Breadnought (Voiced by Elisabeth Fargeot)

A mysterious old Enutrof who seeks to ruin Xav the Baker's chances at winning the Chtibrout Baker's Tournament by destroying his golden wheat storage. She wreaks havoc on the village while riding atop a golem made of giant pieces of bread. Yugo takes on Breadnought and nearly wins, but she escapes before he claims victory. At the climax of the Baker's tournament, the Breadnought is revealed to be Xav's father's assistant, also known as Chouquette, who wanted her master to win the contest as she was in love with him.

Gonnard the Great (Voiced by Serge Faliu)

A supposed herald who visits Yugo and his friends during their stay at Xav the Baker's home, informing them of a gold-robbery crime wave. Gonnard displays a herald's knowledge, seeming to know much about their adventures up to the point that he makes contact with them, but turns out to be an absorbent genie, whose body's substance becomes whatever he eats, and was responsible for the crimes. He is defeated when Ruel tricks him into eating chocolate coins.

Remington (Voiced by David Kruger)

The first villain of Season 2, he is a collector of Shushu and is able to wield many of them without losing control over them. He is extremely sly and cunning, always trying to gain the upper hand through deceptive means and likes to play dirty. His deceptiveness sometimes becomes his own undoing; during a fight with Evangelyne over the possession of Grovy -- who was trapped in Rubilax's sword body -- he falls off the edge of a building, hanging upside down at the end of a rope. He promises Eva that he won't trick her if she saves him, however, when he gets to the ledge, he tries to kill her with a sword Shushu. Eva dodges the attack, and Remington ends up destroying the ledge he was hanging onto and plummets to his apparent death. However, it is revealed that he did survive the fall in Episode 8 of Season 2. He meets Eva again in a prison where he releases an extremely powerful Shushu named Anathar. Later on, he, Sadlygrove and Yugo are taken to the Shushu world. He is left behind while the others escape so he could save his brother, Grany.

Grany

A talking Beowmeow (similar to a cat) that Remington calls his brother, despite Ruel finds odd. He is as sly and cunning as his brother, and like him not above using a double cross to get their way. Despite this however, both brothers are shown to care about one another, as Remington chose to stay behind in the Shushu world to save him.

External links

Official

• Wakfu Official website
• Wakfu TV cartoon website

Wikis

• Index to Wakfu wikis on Wikia

Other

• 2009 MIPTV Animation Spotlight at AnimationInsider.net