Check Out PoxNora

There's been some good previews of Pox Nora, as well as an interview with the development team. I've been playing PoxNora a bit recently, and have greatly enjoyed. The description most people have given is part collectable card game, part RPG, and part strategy game -- and roll them all together. The game itself is available for both PC and Mac with the main focus being the collection of runes to summon your champions on the battlefield. I also like that the entry level is free, whereas adding more runes in, trading with others and such is basically a la carte service. At launch, the online store will have nearly 200 Runes. Starter packs ($8.49) include 30 random Runes and boosters ($2.99) contain 10 random Runes. Players can play PoxNora with pre-constructed starter decks for free. There some more information that I've pasted below, but I'd be interested to hear about other folks playing -- or you haven't, try out and lemme know what you think. Plus, the notion of crushing my friends via online cards a la MTG is one that brings a smile to my face.

A better break down of the basic information:

In PoxNora, players collect Runes that allow them to summon champions, equipment, relics and spells to the battlefield. The game is played out across a variety of maps where champions do battle to collect Nora, a vital resource used to summon additional Runes into play. The construction of your battlegroup and careful use of powers and attacks are vital to success. Runes also gain experience during play that can be used to upgrade or learn new attributes and abilities, meaning that as your play style evolves, so do your Runes.

Runes gain experience during play that can be used to upgrade or learn new attributes and abilities, meaning that as your play style evolves, so do your Runes. PoxNora also allows players to compete against bots if they want to play alone so they can experiment tactically in a more controlled environment.

At launch, the online store will have nearly 200 Runes. Starter packs ($8.49) include 30 random Runes and boosters ($2.99) contain 10 random Runes. Players can play PoxNora with pre-constructed starter decks for free.

An expansion will be released in late October with an additional 70 Runes and many other abilities.

Comments

Wish They Had Physical Cards

[eldavojohn]

Starter packs ($8.49) include 30 random Runes and boosters ($2.99) contain 10 random Runes.

There's also the option of buying 100 runes for $25 which breaks the price down to a quarter per rune.

Something that I wish they would have done is send me the cards. Yeah, I know it sounds nerdy but I still enjoy the physical ownership that comes with card games. I like putting cards in binders and looking at them--and I really don't know why. I like to appreciate the art of Magic The Gathering and used to enjoy reading the lore of the now discontinued Star Wars Collectable Card Game (Decipher).

It is neat that this is kind of treating an online game as having 'starter decks' and 'booster packs' but where's the physical cards? I think it would be neat if they sold physical packs of cards in stores with UIDs on them that you could register and play with. They could cost 10 cents more per rune and I'd still be more likely to buy them. I could have a sentimental attachment to these while the graphics & gameplay might change online with the evolution of the game. It would also be nice if there was also a non-digital game to play with the same cards--call me old fashion.

This game looks very neat and I plan on giving it a try. I like the history view of users on the forums so you can see the stats on the recent games they've played. Their forums look active which is always a good sign.

Bribing the judge

[Anonymous Coward]

What I've always hated about these types of games, is that the central idea is that you win by paying more money to the 'judge' in the game. Sure, there's skill and tactics involved, but these games are designed to get people to plunk out ever more money for better cards/runes than the people who have spent less money have. I can only think this is a fairly uniquely American idea of what makes a good game. Life isn't fair, but I expect games to be, more or less.

Count me out.

Re:Bribing the judge

[FesterDaFelcher]

I can only think this is a fairly uniquely American idea of what makes a good game.

Yeah, because Pokemon, YuGiOh, Hanafuda, Shichi Narabe, and the 978 others with asian sounding names were started here in the US.

My assessment of PoxNora

[El Gigante de Justic]

I've been playing it off and on for the last couple of weeks, and I agree it's pretty good. Like most collectable card games, there are certain runes which can become a bit unbalancing or just seem a little too powerful, but overall its fairly well balanced. There's a decent mix of strategy and luck invovled. And unlike most collectable games, investing more time into the game probably reaps better results than spending more money.
        The biggest difficulty is getting your Champion runes built up. You typically only get a decent amount of rune points if you win the match, and if you end up in a game with someone who already has theirs built up (especially players that were in the beta), you will have a tough time getting anywhere. There is a bit of a trade off to built up units, as they cost more to bring into play, but you can barely even get an attack in with your low cost/low level units, it's not going to matter much.

      I think what will help the game most is if they get enough players in the game, and then they can split up game lobbies in a way that maybe you can't use a battlegroup with any Champions over level X in for games in a given room. This will make it easier for new players, or players with new units, to get them built up. The new practice feature they're putting in will be nice too, especially if they let you gain any experience that way (at least to level 2, I hope).

The evolution of /.

[IsoRashi]

Runes also gain experience during play that can be used to upgrade or learn new attributes and abilities, meaning that as your play style evolves, so do your Runes.

Runes gain experience during play that can be used to upgrade or learn new attributes and abilities, meaning that as your play style evolves, so do your Runes.

Now we can get dupes in the summaries!

Re:Nice

[Red Flayer]

I know, I know, don't feed the troll. But:

There are only two groups who fall for this sort of scam: kids (think Pokemon) and geeks.

This is slashdot. I don't understand your objection to geek-centered material, and I don't understand why you think it is a scam. People are willing to pay for things that have value to them; so what if that value is constructed by the company selling the product? By your reasoning, any game at all is a scam.

Also, you don't think loss-leading teaser + profitable extras happens outside of geekdom? Maybe you need to rethink the business models of Gevalia Coffee, for example, or Columbia House & BMG prior to the mp3 revolution. How about collectible series, like the figurines you see in Hallmark stores, or the Christmas Village models that pop up every fall?

Someone must be giddy right now that they pulled off the free slashvertisement.

Sometimes I get annoyed by what seem to be slashvertisements. But then I think to myself, "Self, is it possible that this article is something that might be of interest to some subset of the slashdot community, people who might be happy it was brought to their attention?" And you know what? Most of the time, the answer is yes, so I quit my grumbling and move on to another article that I'm more interested in.

Online Trading Card Games

[rk]

for those who find the level of social interaction in cardboard trading games too taxing.