Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist : Link Evolution

I respect this game for the sole merit of not being free to play, and thus having a little more respect for my time and money than other recent YuGiOh offerings. You get 1-2 packs for losing (including surrendering at the start of the match which is nice) and 4-5 for winning. The AI in the duelist campaigns is incompetant. If you have a big attack monster that the AI can't get rid of immediately, it will give up and only set cards for the rest of the game. It can have a full extra deck and not use it even if it feels like it should be doing so. It is not fun; just boring. The finale of the VRAINS campaign (the sole campaign without the visual novel element, mind. Although the other VN elements are so truncated that the story can't be enjoyed) is just weak. I was hoping that I could find a difficult opponent with the online scene being mostly gone. The AI just doesn't cut it. Opening boosters is a chore, the animation is slow, can't be sped up, and only one pack of eight cards can be opened at a time. The card pool is not manipulated apart from the eighth slot being one of the "rare cards" for the booster. It's just a matter of probability that you pull all the cards but you do get diminishing returns as a result, which is still not all that respectful of your time. The excavate animation is far too slow and so playing cards like "World Legacy Survivor/" feels like a punishment more than the significant advantage it gives you. The "Story Decks" are very weak, and the AI will win by virtue of having more playable cards than the player. The finale of VRAINS is a cyberse mirror match, but you win if you go first, your (functional) deck allows you to make the one or two big ATK numbers you need to make the AI cower, the game is one sided in either direction, just not in a way that feels like you win with good play. Also the controls are retrofitted, the plan for the game is for it to be played with a controller, and the mouse being able to click the buttons does feel like something of an afterthought. It's just a shame.