It was okay

[Fitzcarraldo]

It's fine if you don't like it, or it didn't work on you. That's not a problem. You're not the sort of person to get really drawn into something like that, and there's nothing wrong with it.

However, it does seem sort of odd when people who had a problem with the game show up and say "Frictional, you need to do x, y, and z to fix your games in the future."

If the vast majority found the game to be excellent, why should Frictional care about the opinion of the very, very few who didn't? It's bad business. Frictional occupies a niche, and they are very good at what they do. There's room for improvement, sure, but that room for improvement should probably mimic the majority opinion. Changing the game to suit the needs of the 10 or 20 people who have complained about it versus the hundreds who haven't would be silly.

Dark Corners of the Earth, for example – I love that game, too, but I sure as hell don't want to see Frictional do that. There are other companies out there that could make a similar game. Frictional's strong suit is games wherein your character is vulnerable and unable to effectively engage in combat. So what if you yourself think that you would kill the monsters in the same situation? Daniel wouldn't – he's frightened to death of them and they fight way better than he does. His reaction is to freak out and be terrified and run away, and you're playing his part, not some imagined badass variant of yourself.

I do see what you're saying, and I would agree with some of it, if I felt that it wouldn't ruin the experience totally for myself and everyone else who was drawn in and immersed in the horror of the game. I never found DCotE scary. I knew I could kill what was bothering me in that game (except for in the lame, scripted chase sequences). Once you can kill something, and it becomes a game mechanic, it's no longer frightening to me.

So, with my opinion carrying as much weight as yours, why should Frictional listen to either of us more than the other? You say make the monsters killable, and I say don't. Frictional already have a niche, and they have a very effective means of filling it. Why should they change? They're good at what they do. Shoehorning it into a more mainstream type of play where the player's vulnerability can always be overcome by killing whatever the threat might be isn't what they're about. There are a million game companies out there that make games like that, some good, some bad. Why is it necessary to ask the one company that consistently wants to do something different to join the herd?