Frictional Games Forum (read-only)

Just met the Tesla Pig. So that's what everyone was talking about.

In a new article written by Jess herself she says:

Jessica Wrote:The writing, music, sound, levels of immersion and psychological depth were all praised to the hilt but then in lots of the reviews we were heavily penalised for the removal of the mechanics that featured in the original game. Why was that a problem? Well…it just was because, games, y’know, should have, like, mechanics. Duh!

Jessica Wrote:I don’t care if you don’t like it, (patently not true but you know what I mean), but what I genuinely do care about, and this goes for fans and critics alike, is that the reason you don’t like it is better than “it’s different to what came before.” It’s weak, insubstantive and if I’m honest pretty bloody dull as a rationale.

Dan has come off with the same kind of swinging, pendulous, strawman's bollocks on his Twitter account as of late, feigning bafflement (I assume he's feigning, for dramatic effect) at why people would say "I'd have liked the game more had it not been called Amnesia", with an almost wilful ignorance of the point.

Reducing these criticisms down to a white noise of negativity with no rhyme or reason behind them is childish and defensive. Lamenting the removal of core game mechanics isn't necessarily evidence that the reviewer has stubborn, immovable notions of what a game "should" be, or that they're too "threatened" by diversity and breadth to see the bigger picture.

And let's be clear, they're not directing this at the wankers who spew hatred and bile in YouTube comments and forum posts; they're talking about professional, "respectable" reviewers, too.

I "get it", in that I'm 100% on-board with TCR and what they did with AAMFP. I get it and I love it. However, I have no difficulty empathising with those who feel differently, which is something I can't say for Dan and Jess if their recent comments are anything to go by. And I have no need to pretend that the negativity is little more than "don't change our games!" insecurity or general narrow-mindedness in order to for me debate the critics. At the same time, you can "get it" and still disagree with it. Which I don't, because I love it

This might just be my frustration talking, but they've earned this reaction. Not the death threats or any of that crap, but the wide range of criticisms from every quarter. They've earned it because they led everyone to believe that the game was going to be something it was never intended to be, through their pre-release descriptions of the game and their stated goals ("needs to be scarier than TDD in order to be successful", etc.). I don't agree with all of the criticisms myself, but they're completely valid and really shouldn't be causing so much eye-rolling over at TCR HQ.

Imagine how it feels to read this kind of response from Dan and Jess if you're one of those who criticised the game (in a rational, reasonable way). How condescending can you get?? I expect these kind of responses from hit 'n' run FG forum members, not from the devs themselves.

Criticising AAMFP isn't the same as denying TCR the right to make something new and different. Saying it's a sequel to Amnesia and then removing everything which was most identifiable as "Amnesia" is another matter. I have no issue with it, but I totally understand why people do and it's the height of arrogance to criticise the critics on that basis.