I couldn't confirm if it's similar to lol, the truth is that I haven't played it, but I have friends that do and they assure that they have some similarity. I am a Pokémon lover and the truth is that I loved it, clearly it is something quite far from the usual games, but for me it is very entertaining, so I do recommend it. You can progress without investing, mostly there are different events to get things, but if you are not so interested in clothes for Pokémon I would say that it is not necessary to invest anything, I have not done it and I have a pretty good time.