Spent maybe an hour in Wizard 101, due to the influences of Ysh and through her, Tipa. Well, honestly I’m not *quite* that easily swayed…it’s a game I’ve heard some low-level but positive buzz about for a while. These blogs just pushed me over the edge.

So far its pretty much what I expected in tone, but the combat system is actually more interesting than I thought it’d be in one particular way. Combat is turn-based (card based, really) but it takes place in the world. For some reason I assumed I’d be whisked off to a private battlefield when it got time to fight, but no. And other people can jump into your battle if they happen to be running past. That’s pretty neat. No need to form a party or anything…just stand on a caster’s circle and start fighting. In the same way, additional mobs can jump in.

Anyway, I’ve barely scratched the surface. But checking it out is easy enough…no need to pay for anything until you’ve learned about the basics of the game, and the client is quite lightweight, so no need for an hour of downloading, either. So if you’re curious, check it out.

I’m actually most confused about how to pay for it, if I choose to stick with it. I can pay $10/month, or I can buy crowns and pay for access in crowns, but how many crowns that’s going to cost me is pretty unclear. But I think I’ll just play for free for a bit longer before I fret too much about that.