Bargain Quest Review - with Tom Vasel 

I'd rather have that than a box that's too big with tons of empty space.

I think a box that’s a bit too bug is preferable actually. That is, if and only if they want to release expansions

Or the other way around, because BQ came out before Moonlighter. They're both based on Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale anyway

I thought this too at first but the size of the decks and the positioning you can have on the table does address this but you're not wrong.

And cheaper to ship, specially buying online.

I don't hate it but on top of the luck, it seems a little unsatisfying to resolve combat that way. I think I would prefer something a pair of D6 with custom faces to replicate the game's chance to adjust final stats. It doesn't remove the luck element, but at least it would feel a bit like RPG combat.

M1st3rB3nn are there any ways in-game to change your fate? Card/helpers?

@@BMVfilms (I should say I've only watched the game on RU-vid and done some dry runs in Tabletop Sim to get familiar with the rules as of now.) There aren't any direct ways to affect or react to the fate card because it's the last thing that affects your hero's stats when the combat breaks out. It does feed into the other game mechanics though, i.e. you can over-equip your hero to provide insurance versus a bad card, take a risk with a low stat and hope for some help, and so on. Also if not everyone lands a hit in combat, in the following round you might only need to score 2 hits between 4 players, so people might get tempted to minmax their scoring and let other people score the hits, and so on. So even though the mechanic is quite light, some game theory can kick in sometimes all the same. Overall the way the mechanic is designed does lead to some random swings of luck... but it just makes that part of the game have an 'enjoy the ride' feel where a few heroes getting slaughtered is part of the fun. It's just a bit mechanically light, where after the indepth drafting and shopping phase, the combat is a relatively quick comparison of numbers.

The rules I have (think they were updated on a second reprinting) say using the adventure (fate) deck is completely optional, so if you don't like luck/randomness, there is an option to play without it.

Just don't use it. If it makes the game less for you, just don't use those cards. It doesn't unbalance the game at all. The rules even say they are optional. So why are you complaining about it?