I bought FT for many of the same reasons as you: Compact, not too complex, different. I enjoy the game so far (after a few plays), but my wife hates it. She feels the drafting is just a lot of nonsense without adding any fun. And I probably didn't explain the scoring well, although she tends to prefer more straightforward scoring in general. And she is increasingly unhappy with pure card games in general.
My biggest complaint is the font, which makes it far more difficult to identify the *3 helper cards than it should be. I'm not yet convinced whether the drafting implementation creates too much randomness.
But overall I'm happy I have the game, and I think it will get quite a bit of use as a filler on game nights.
I just got this game, too, and am in the process of figuring it out before I introduce it to my husband. When things didn't fall together for me right away, I knew I had to do more research before I try to play a game with him or it will be a fail. Thanks for the review.
Yeah, if I had game nights, it might be useful as a short filler game, and I think it'll be an okay game for certain groups, but it's not my favorite filler, so I won't be disappointed if it doesn't get played much. Everybody I have played with had some confusion over the symbols and scoring at first. I think the learning curve is a little steeper than it should be for this sort of game. There really isn't that much to the game as far as what players do, but the interactions between the cards can be a little tricky.
I am also not fond of the art, and I am looking forward to whenever the new version makes it to the USA...but I bought a copy of it anyways cause I like the anime illustrations....
I think you're underselling this game. I just got it a couple of weeks ago and have played a dozen times, and I'm loving it! I currently rate it a !
Yeah maybe it is not super easy for a non-gamer to pick up, but the gamers I play with have had no problem. The rules are perfectly clear. Although it certainly helps if you have played 7 Wonders. By the second game it really rocks! It is so quick and involving and subtle. You just want to play again and again.
I agree that some of the cards look a bit similar, and the white curvy font is rather hard to read, but these are the only negatives for me. (Well I'd also prefer if it didn't use religious symbolism like "Dark Angel", "Demon" and "Almighty", as this has put some of my friends off.)
I compare this with 7 Wonders, which I have had for a year and played a lot. Fairy Tale is faster to set up and play, more interactive, and basically a pared-down version of 7W (even though I know it came first).
The separation of drafting and card play allows a lot more interaction, including some clever hate drafting and similar tricks, and some card timing and second-guessing tactics. It also doesn't have the problem in 7 Wonders where the Guild cards don't come out till the end - in Fairy Tale the "Story" cards come out right through the game, so you can play them at the start and use them to refine your strategy.
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