Opinions on how TCR & FG are dealing with AAMFP criticism

[JohnDoe]

This here was one of the biggest problems of the game. To me there's a pretty simple division: If you pick up a note on the ground, great. Read it right then, put it in your inventory, whatever. It fits into the game and you can read it at your leisure. Have notes magically appear in your inventory detailing your character's current thoughts and emotions? It's pointless and brings you out of the game.

This is one of the most basic storytelling rules. Show, don't tell. Instead of making me afraid, the game told me how afraid Mandus was. Instead of making me worry about his kids, the game told me how much Mandus was worried. It also violates one of frictional's big tenants, something that they harp on about on the dev blog all the time - agency. MFP actually violates that one all over the place, not just in the journal entries.

An example. People complain about the lack of interactive items, then are told that all it's good for is stacking chairs. This misses the point, though. Being able to move objects gives you a sense of agency. It makes you feel that you are the one doing these things. This is critical for horror, though I guess TCR has decided retroactively that they weren't actually making a horror game.

Do you remember the sobbing in the cistern in TDD? THAT told a story, and that was horror. Did you drown somebody? Probably, though you cannot be 100% sure. And you did it, not Daniel.