I want to get out but they keep pulling me back in!
scream So, that news like a week and a half ago about Japanime Games shipping my stuff finally? Yeah. It turns out the company they hired to fill and ship the orders of their products to the backers wasn't entirely truthful about having shipped all 500 or so of the packages left. See, they neglected to tell JAG that they had run out of the buttons that caused this whole problem to begin with. So about 100 of those 500 didn't get shipped because they were looking for where the 100 sets of zodiac buttons went. 100 full boxed sets of a dozen large buttons, each button in its own separate compartment combined into one decently sized box. This ruse was uncovered about a week later and they were forced to UPS the orders to everyone remaining... yours truly included. Instead we got notification of the delay, the ups shipping, the missing buttons, and a comment that they had shipped them with the limited edition card play mats instead.
Yes, the mats (and technically the buttons, to be honest) are limited edition (and worth about twice what the buttons were by MSRP), but the entire pledge level affected was the one that pledged more than the basic game, adding ONLY the buttons, and opting neither to up their pledge to the level which came with the game, the mat, and the buttons (or more, like two games, card sleeves, other games by the same company, etc)... which kinda says to me (and I was attempting to say by pledging that amount) that these people really would like those buttons more than any other add-on. When we asked for some degree of clarification as to whether the buttons were forthcoming and the mats were just a peace offering or if the mats were intended as a fiat replacement and regarded as fulfilling their obligation to us. This question was asked by multiple parties immediately after the update was issued early Friday morning... and we still have yet to get an answer. Questions emailed to the person handling us get only emailed responses saying that they don't want to say anything to us until they have a definite answer. In the meantime, my package arrived and I can't open it.
Why? One simple reason. I could have had the current contents one and a half months ago. I wanted those buttons to begin with, and now that I've had to put up with the ridiculous level of bullshit to reach this point, I want them almost as much as the card game itself. I'm not amazingly interested in the mat, as I tend to play on clean, flat surfaces devoid of the greasy, nasty, razor-sharp things that one uses a mat to protect them from. I would also be more prone to just putting my cards in sleeves if damage was an issue.
So now I'm staring at the still-sealed shipping box, waiting for their final answer as to whether they've managed to find those 100 boxes of buttons, getting more from somewhere, offering a satisfactory replacement (and I am indeed factoring in the time needed to solve this entire problem into what I expect), or just saying ******** it and tanking an already poorly-run project. If the last option happens, I'm shiping their unopened box back and requesting my refund.
Long story short? Don't have any dealings with this company and their products until they've demonstrated several times that they and their contracted agents aren't utterly incompetent and are capable of satisfying customers.
On an infinitely more positive note, and one that I expect to devote myself utterly to thoughts of in an attempt to purge this, I give you
Golden Sky Stories, a simple, diceless, feel-good rpg based around being friendly Henge (Japanese animals capable of changing their form to human) in a small town in rural Japan, and having adventures based around fun and helping people with their problems. Supernatural slice-of-life soothing rpg game with adorable animal kids? Ysplzkthx. And the dude translating it is (or was) known here on Gaia as NekoEwen, one of the two gents who brought over the Maid RPG I told some of you about a few years back. Andy's currently busy shipping the main stuff for his new localization, Tenra Bansho Zero too. Ewen's currently doing the kickstarter for GSS, and not only have we gotten all the legit expansions cleared for translation and release as pdfs (and eventually maybe a softcover supplement), but we've made him fast track the sister game about the creepier cousins of the Henge... namely Oni, various ghosts, spirits of old objects come to life, and other bits of myth.
We've even gotten him to the point where he's going to poll us to find out which of four possible hacks of the game we want him to produce. One is a brown-label MLPish thing, another is kinda Adventure Time-y, another is basically the same game set in a small European village with fae characters, and the last is something in a more fantasy setting, if I understand correctly.
I suggest checking it out not only for the excellent game (which he has links to a free download of a demo adventure and quickstart simplified rules), but for the artwork, which is quite cute.
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