what is the point of this game?

[```skunk3```]

I bought this game a long time ago and never got around to playing it. I just installed it tonight because I saw someone on my friends list was playing it. I installed and joined his game and we played a round. As far as I can tell, there's really no gameplay to this at all. It's just rolling virtual dice and hoping you get get lucky rolls. The cards do offer modifiers but overall the cards don't really matter nearly as much as your dice roll RNG. I gotta ask myself: "What is the point of playing this?" Am I missing something?

[Sheeple]

Isnt the whole point of any game to just have fun

[```skunk3```]

Originally posted by RandomSheep7:

Isnt the whole point of any game to just have fun

Of course, but there's not really any fun to be had in this. There's no gameplay. No strategy. All you do is occasionally use a card and roll dice. This is a RNG simulator, not a game.

[Daxy]

The strategy behind the cards goes far deeper beyond what it seems to be at first.

[```skunk3```]

It's not THAT deep, come on. I know I've barely scratched the surface of the game but ultimately this game comes down to dice rolls. There's not really any skill involved at all, and as far as strategy goes, it's very limited and completely comes down to dice luck in the end.

[neemoos]

That's a pretty black-and-white view on the game. While yes, luck plays a huge factor in the outcome of matches (RNG is quite literally on the game's name), you can often times tilt the balance in your favor with your cards and characters' abilities, deciding which paths to take on the map/where to land, whether to battle someone, stop or not at your home and such, etc. You can even do some things that might seem unintuitive at first (like tactical suicides) that can reward you later on. With that said, this is for the most part not a competitive game (though I've seen plenty of people who take the game a bit too seriously); while technically the "objetive" of the game is to win, I and many others enjoy it just by messing around and interacting with others. If that's not your cup of tea, that's completely fine as well (not every game will appease everyone), it just means that the game is not for you.

[Sordid Heap]

Originally posted by ```skunk3```:

It's not THAT deep, come on. I know I've barely scratched the surface of the game but ultimately this game comes down to dice rolls. There's not really any skill involved at all, and as far as strategy goes, it's very limited and completely comes down to dice luck in the end.

that's a bit reductive - the fact that the game comes down to dice rolls doesn't inherently make it any less strategic. you know full well there are plenty of games (both digital and physical) that incorporate random chance as a core mechanic, and not only do they not lose any strategic value, but they actually gain strategic value from that random chance being an additional factor to plan and play around

[『UPRPRC』Serene♪]

There are lots of things to think during one game once you gain some game sense in OJ. And on top of that, mind games are involved a lot in OJ.

[sora's 青かった星]

If you're familiar with statistics at all you know that optimal play is usually is to play according to what you think you're likely to roll on average. But you can take chances on occasion, especially if there's more to gain like if someone has a lot of stars and is about to win the game it's better to take a risk and attack them even if they have more hp.

There's actually a surprising amount of strategy in the game that you realize as you keep playing it. Different characters have different abilities and have power spikes at different levels. Some characters can snowball easier early on, others can't even use their special abilities until they've cleared multiple norma but have stronger specials to compensate. Some characters are better at fighting, others are better at collecting stars or gathering cards. Eventually as you learn the game you start playing against other characters, attacking weaker characters or characters with more stars when you're stronger, and running away when you're not.

You will become mindful of the specific capabilities of your opponents, and fearful when they have multiple cards that they might be holding a hyper card that could kill you and take the lead if you play a certain way. When you look at a character that is near you you'll be evaluating what cards they're likely to hold, their hp, their defense, attack, and guessing at their intentions.

Once you learn the rules you should play online and you'll like it more, because the AI cheats on the dice rolls. If you're starting out the general idea should be to avoid fighting and to just gather stars in the early rounds. Once you've cleared a few normas then you can start strategizing to pick off good targets by changing which way you move along the board. Fighting everyone you see before you understand the game is a bit of a noob trap. You should read some guides to get a better handle on the game.

[```skunk3```]

Originally posted by MeatMan:

Originally posted by ```skunk3```:

It's not THAT deep, come on. I know I've barely scratched the surface of the game but ultimately this game comes down to dice rolls. There's not really any skill involved at all, and as far as strategy goes, it's very limited and completely comes down to dice luck in the end.

that's a bit reductive - the fact that the game comes down to dice rolls doesn't inherently make it any less strategic. you know full well there are plenty of games (both digital and physical) that incorporate random chance as a core mechanic, and not only do they not lose any strategic value, but they actually gain strategic value from that random chance being an additional factor to plan and play around

A degree of random chance is fine if there's more depth to the game otherwise. For instance, I've played Dungeons and Dragons for many, many years. D&D combat has a lot to do with dice rolls but there's also SO MUCH other stuff you can do to up your odds of victory in a given situation. (In 3.5, the version I play, there's a mind-boggling amount.)

This game reminds me of Mario Party, only without the minigames that require some degree of player skill. There's no skill involved in this game whatsoever, and that's fine. I love lots of strategy games. and most strategy games don't really involve 'skill.' However, there's BARELY any strategy present in this game compared to *actual* strategy games.

Also, what is up with the insane amount of paid DLC for this game? I am sure that if I spent a bunch of money I could probably get characters and cards that make the game a bit more strategic, but ultimately it's still a very simple board game and the dice are going to fall your way or not. Unless I've been playing some weird, special modes, the game basically consist of:

-using a character that has particular minor strengths and weaknesses
-using randomly distributed cards from a deck when most effective (by far the most 'strategic' element of the game)
-rolling for movement
-deciding which direction to move
-rolling to attack
-rolling to defend/evade
-opting to attack or not

I might be missing a couple of things but I think that's pretty much it. I don't see the appeal. Anyway, if you don't agree, that is fine. I'll play a couple more rounds of this but unless some aspect of the game presents itself that I was unaware of, there's nothing in the game that leaves me wanting to play, even if I were to play with good friends. Heck, I think Monopoly has more strategy than this game.
-rolling to defend/evade

[Daxy]

Originally posted by ```skunk3```:

It's not THAT deep, come on. I know I've barely scratched the surface of the game but ultimately this game comes down to dice rolls. There's not really any skill involved at all, and as far as strategy goes, it's very limited and completely comes down to dice luck in the end.

That's a bit like saying that backgammon has no skill/strategy to it since it all boils down to dice rolls.
Just like in Backgammon you start each turn by rolling a dice, but there are definitely strategies & tactics you develop as you dive deeper into it.

[sora's 青かった星]

You don't need the DLC when you're starting out, the existing core characters and cards are fairly easy to understand for a beginner. For now just take a look at Suguri's hyper. She can roll double dice to race up to a player that is in the lead, and then roll double dice to reliably assassinate them. There is another character, Sham, from the DLC with a nearly opposite ability who can force everyone else to roll a 1 on the next turn, so you can get them to jump onto boss squares and die, or assassinate them, but she has weaker stats and is harder to use. That's a pretty good example of the kinds of difference between the DLC and the core game. Regarding the shared deck, the idea is to put in cards that will benefit the traits of your character if you land on a green square.

If you decide you don't like the game there aren't any lawyers holding a gun to your head to force you to play it. But there is objectively more complexity than in Monopoly, (which is actually a dumbed down version of an older game that was originally supposed to teach kids why Monopolies are bad btw.) There are too many tedious variables to track if you were to try and play this game with an actual board IRL and counting the stars of all the enemies with a calculator would get tiring fast, though some fanatics have done it.

As for why there is so much DLC, it's because the game is already 12 years old and still keeps getting constant updates. The core game sat mostly as it was for several years while Orangejuice made action orientated games, but when Fruitbat translated it into English for Steam they decided to start adding more DLC into the game from the later games that Orangejuice had made since Orangejuice was released. Originally nearly all of the characters were crossovers from other games by OrangeJuice, though since most of the popular ones are already in the game they're now more likely to come from a fantasy themed game that OrangeJuice wanted to make called "Alician Rone." Which seems to be stuck in developer hell because Hono and his old programmer are busy with real life in Japan. About 3 years ago they finally added voice acting for most of the characters in the game for the first time (DLC only.) I don't really consider most of the patches as a cash grab since they've added things that never would have been in the base game and which weren't withheld to make money. If you're interested in scooping it up you should probably wait for a Steam sale.

[F IAaP n]

The only skill you need in this game is luck.

[CarThief]

I mean, if you're referring to what the goal is, mechanically, just Level Up 5 times (and be the first one to do so), and you win. Or if it's Co-op, beat the boss.

As for why to play this...
I guess it's mainly a social game. You and some blokes ♥♥♥♥ around on the board, roll dice, and try to win. Crazy stuff happens, everyone laughs, tables are angrily flipped, good memories.
The RNG is where the fun starts, would you believe it. As you said, high similarities to Mario Party, but probably with more options for strategy.

As for the strategy part... One shouldn't dismiss it, although RNG is master here (if it wants you to lose, you WILL lose), you can improve your odds to win considerably. Ironically, the best ways to win involve avoiding or manipulating RNG in your favour.
Honestly, I'd say one can have a 50-75% chance of winning depending on how far they take it.

-Avoiding battles, and especially Bosses (as they're huge RNG factors).
-Decking cards that work greatly (or perhaps exclusively) in your favour, enhance your abilities, or cover up your weaknesses.
-Picking characters less reliant on RNG. ("HP Tanks", "Bullies" (with +2 ATK), most Non-DLC Characters, Poppo, etc.)
-Calculating when it's time to make certain moves. (Going home when you calculate you'll have enough by the time you get there, if it's worth risking battle, etc.)
-Minimizing Stars spent, trying to spend Stars only when you'd get more back, or to protect the ones you already own.

As for DLC, the only one that legitimately improves your odds to win are the Card Pack ones. Cards are strong ways to boost a character's abilities, or cover up for their weaknesses.

DLC units on the other hand, 95% of them tend to be worse then the existing Non-DLC units. So people mainly buy and play them because they're fun, with their varied and exotic gameplay styles.

[『Mr.Lucky』]

No point explaining it here, you need to try it yourself to experience the real "gameplay" and "strategy" of this game, just keep playing, or maybe try playing with high lvl players

[Aphotic Amaranth]

If you want objective evidence that there is a lot more strategy and depth to the game than what it first seems, you need only look at the strategy section[100orangejuice.fandom.com] of various characters in the wiki, which generally explains things in detail.