Hit and miss
"Oh, crap. Now I'm stuck with it", I uttered as soon as I saw the Kickstarter email that notified me Senjutsu has successfully funded and collected my pledge. What happened in this case is I snatched an Early Bird Deluxe pledge on the first day it launched, then watched a playthrough, was filled with doubt, decided to un-back, and then forgot to. Now I can only hope my doubts were unfounded and it's a great solo game. Which it won't be. Because too random. Argh!
So, Senjutsu. This one came out of nowhere, none of us here at ST was aware of its existence until it popped up on KS. It was warmly received by reviewers but anyone with eyes and a questioning mind can see that the solo mode relies heavily on luck of the draw for the AI. To the point that wins and losses will most likely not feel satisfying. It won't come down to you outsmarting your opponent on the battlefield, but to you drawing a blind for the AI when a human opponent would have sliced you like salmon sashimi.
That said, Senjutsu is a beauty. Charming samurai minis, a variety of scenery, a solo campaign booklet with narrative, what's not to like. It even has a dog companion if you buy the add-on. All this will, of course, be useless fluff if the gameplay isn't fun. I had backed Way of the Samurai in the past, hoping it would be a good solo fighting card game but it ended up being frustrating due to the lack of luck mitigation. Now I'm afraid Senjutsu is a glorified Way of the Samurai and I won't be able to easily get rid of it if I hate it.
I guess I can always cancel the pledge and ask for a refund. But... what if the game is actually not bad? There are several games I enjoy despite or even thanks to their luck element. Luck makes games replayable and tense. One could argue luck also determines the outcome of fights. A skillful swish of the sword won't hurt the opponent if they dodge. A human opponent may not necessarily play better than the AI. Timing is key in Senjutsu: selecting the best moment to strike, the best moment to move away. You can perhaps read the enemy if you play against them a lot and get familiar with their deck. You can also customize your deck with cards you think will give you more advantage.
It remains to be seen. I'll be keeping my pledge and crossing my fingers I did the right thing. Made the right move. No need for ceremonial disembowelment-for now.
Ah, crap, it happened to me again. (Again, because of Questeros, but that wasn't my fault, it was a KS bug I'm now very aware of.)
Now it's Wild Realms. Not too expensive ($35), but not the game I wanted to back right now. It's not even soloable and the only reviews on BGG are bogus.
I was pretty sure I had cancelled my pledge. But I'm very bad with Gamefound. I don't think their UI is of any improvement compared to KS. Especially when your backed projects get buried somewhere in a list that conflate all your past projects and the games that you "backed" only through the pledge manager.
“I guess I can always cancel the pledge and ask for a refund. But... what if the game is actually not bad?” Haha the eternal question. Maybe you can sit on it a while and think it through whether you want to cancel or not. At least you can get most of your money back which would be better then selling it for cheap down the road. Let’s pretend you never heard of this game, would it really matter whether you owned it or not? No one knows you better than you. I always try to ask myself this.
Kind of the same thing happened to me last month. I had backed Solar Sphere while having some doubts, being sure I'd check it more thoroughly before the end of the campaign. Then I got a message it was successfully funded and thanks for the money.
At least they made me some nice custom ship meeples to remind me of my cock-up.
I'm quite happy it happened to you: surely fate wanted it and you'll end up having a special relationship with this game!
Also, the game is fairly obscure (even though the number of backers is certainly impressive) so it will make your collection even more unique!
And this Early Bird Deluxe seemed such a good deal. I also backed it (but cancelled a few hours later, my impulse already satisfied).
Hopefully, good luck will swing your way, and you'll really like it. 🙂