What if Monopoly were turned into an RPG? That's right, you build houses, pass Go, and strategically attack your opponents... Not that you don't do that whenever you play the real game by angrily throwing the thimble whenever you land on someone else's hotel. (Or is that just me?) Norapoly, created recently for Mini Ludum Dare #19 by Nora Games' Nora Shishi, is a speedy miniaturization of Monopoly with some extra strategy and survival tactics thrown in for good measure.
Rather than making your opponents go bankrupt, the goal of Norapoly is to make your opponents lose all of their lives. Each board is randomly littered with special squares to purchase that give you attack power, defensive power, extra lives, extra steps, and what we're assuming is a boosted income when you pass go. If you pass over a square and you have enough money to purchase the square, it's automatically yours (no choices, sorry). All squares initially start out at a cost of $500, but an opponent can buy the square from its owner (and its power) for a price that increases $100 each time it is bought.
To raise more money, you've got to make your way around the board. You play as the blue player and start on the blue base (let's call it "Go"). Once you touch the other three bases (even if it's only a two-player round), you can return home to collect your salary. Be quick about it though, because once you've hit each base once, your base becomes a monopoly, and gets a bonus for every other player who stops by your base before you cash in. (At least, we think that's what happens. There are no in-game rules, so we're speculating here.) If you try to move a square already occupied by an opponent, you'll always get bounced back, but if your attack is higher than their defense, you can knock one life out of them. Conquer all of the enemies, and you win the round!
The random layout of each board means that rounds may take some time to finish off (such as one layout I had where there was only one attack powerup and many more defenses), but with a little strategy and planning, each round is conquerable. The clean 8-bit-esque graphics fit nicely with the speedy gameplay, and give the five levels of this game a comfy, old-school feel. So forget the dice, your sword is now your weapon. Go ahead and tackle Norapoly (and possibly win second prize in that beauty contest).
I can already tell this will be an awesome game. I love RPGs, and I love Monopoly, so what can POSSIBLY go wrong when you combine the two?...Well, I guess its time to find out.
"Stealing" other peoples bases I thought was a bit misleading. Or at least I got the impression that they got nothing out of it. Later on I realized that when you land on someone's property you actually pay them for it. That made a big difference xD
It was very fun. Great review.
[Thanks for spotting that, I'll change that in the review. --art]
Very enjoyable, and quite addicting when you get the hang of it. Some in game instructions would be nice however.
Anyone know what the normal buildings do?
In any case, I figured out a strategy that made me wipe the floor with them
Speed.
If it all possible, grab 2 boots firs thing, at least 1 if possible. quickly run the bases and grab a sword. you can easily overrun and kill anyone without a shield, clearing out some of the enemies. Continue to quickly run circles around everyone and collect however many upgrades you need to kill them.
Stealing their sheilds/weapons is better than the cheaper unowned ones because you weaken them at the same time.
Try not to let them get boots. Steal the boots/kill the person. A 3 to 1 speed advantage is a lot, and should be maintained.
I've had a 4 player game with no swords. And in the end red was dead. No idea how that happened.
After a while I had everything but I still couldn't kill another player.
This is a really fun game. I only wish the AI presented some sort of a challenge, because a simple strategy can easily overwhelm them.
I... Beat it? I wasn't exactly expecting a "Thanks for playing!" Message for a game that seemed randomly generated. Very fun, nonetheless!
This is a game that painfully needs a little "How To Play" page.
Can someone please explain the icons to me? I must be dense, as I "jumped in" and just started playing, but I honestly can't tell what's going on!
I tried again, and I still don't get it, I must be an imbecile. I can't tell if my character is "buying" the property or paying it off, and whenever I try to go over the swords/hearts/boots boxes, nothing happens but when the computer does it, they get it.
I also can't tell what the meaning of the suits is.
Sigh!
The game was great until it suddenly ended. It's too short.
Still it was enjoyable and I would recommend it.
The normal buildings dictate the rate of increase of your "salary" that you get every time you get back to your base after touching all the other bases. With none, it increases by 300 every time you get it, but with X of them, then it increases by X00 every time, and yes, it will decrease to 100 or 200 if you have 1 or 2, respectively. You'll want to avoid them unless there are more than three on the board.
Took me a few minutes to realize there's no penalty to stepping on a square controlled by another player.
Very fun game... way too short, though. Wish I could keep playing at the harder level without going back to the first few rounds.
You start with an attack power of 0, defense power of zero, and movements per turn of 1, and 3 life points. (sword, shield, boot, heart) You also start with $1000.
When two players collide, whoever moved is on attack, the other is on defense. Attack Points of attacker - shield points of defender = number of hearts lost by defender. (This costs one movement for the attacker)
When your character moves to a tile that is unoccupied (grey) or occupied by another team, it is purchased from the other team, for the amount listed. That money is payed to the other player if owned. If there is not enough money to purchase it, then ignore. If the building purchased has an emblem on it, then it boosts the matching stat. If your building is purchased by another team, then you lose that stat point, but get the cash they paid to buy it.
You get more money by travelling around the board. Touch each of the three other suit tiles, and then touch your own (which is now flashing) to get more cash.
After you complete a level, press space to go to the next one.
I'm sure I missed something, but I think I got enough of the basics.
Normal buildings definitely do not change your income as far as I can tell; that is affected by how many times you have collected your salary, as it increases incrementally. My theory is that they are simply obstructions that, in some situations, force the opponents to give you their money
The game is difficult if all of the speed-powerups are right beside each other... the opponent gets three speed spaces (Stolen from me) and a defence powerup..
A fun game, but it needs multiplayer.....
This is one of those games that has potential.
But it is very confusing.
Was playing a 4 on 4 match... down to two people. I controlled 90&% of the board. He had like 5 hearts, zero shields zero swords. I owned 3 swords, 2 shields... but every time I bashed him, he recieved zero dammage.
Was severely confusing, and I gave up.
I get the game just fine, but I can't figure out how to get more than one opponent! 1 vs 1 is too easy, but multi looks kinda fun. Also, does everyone agree that this needs a multiple human player option?
I'm pretty sure your income each time around is 500, plus 100 for every property you own currently, regardless of type.
Also interesting bit of strategy (or bug, depending on how you look at it):
You start with one boot, so you only need to control two to be at 3 moves per turn. If you buy another it doesn't gain you anything... but if you lose that third boot, you DO lose a move, even though you still control two.
So in general, once you've maxed out a trait, you shouldn't buy anymore of that same trait, or else your vulnerable to losing them more easily.
Fun little game, though too easy once you've figured it out (boots, it's all about boots).
A better AI or PvP would greatly benefit this game, as well as a tutorial level.
This game is a prime example why bonus movement in a turn based strategy game is severely overpowered.
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