Survival mode was a mixed bag. It was a fun and challenging mental puzzle, but ultimately the demands of playing multiple games with a single pool of hit points forced me to be more conservative than I normally like. Also, it was on a timer for some inexplicable reason, and I couldn't pause it when I got interrupted at the hotel. That was unnecessarily frustrating.
Overall, though, I liked Yomi. It may well be impossible to make a card game I won't enjoy. Possibly poker. . . because it relies too much on chance and on reading the opponent, which just so happen to be my least favorite parts of Yomi. However, Yomi has the advantage of creating a cool fighting game narrative with a bunch of interesting and distinct characters, so the element of chance is much more tolerable.
It's likely that I will play Yomi again, but I think it will definitely take second place to cooperative card games like Sentinels of the Multiverse or elaborate deck-building games like Magic: the Gathering or Ascension. The main weakness of Yomi, as far as I'm concerned, is that it's mainly focused on tactical play and there aren't enough fiddly widgets to make me enjoy the competition.
That being said, variety is the spice of life, and there may be times when I'm feeling the urge to brawl (card-game-style). I'll also be keeping an eye out for the tabletop version, because heaven knows I need more of those in my life.
Glad you had fun! You might be interested to know that there's a deckbuilder called Puzzle Strike by the same designer, using the same characters as Yomi!
ReplyDelete(He's also made a Magic-style card game called Codex, although online play options are a bit limited.)