AMFP Member Review Thread

[Ghieri]

Ok, so I played a bit of TDD again and somethings that I will say MFP did better:

-In the first game, the inventory was barely noticeable when I first played it because that's how I thought these games worked, now that I've played an amnesia game that doesn't use an inventory, it actually gets in my way.

-Lighting management: I noticed that I actually got a lot more paranoid about how my lantern was working in TDD than MFP, so that was my main focus in the game. So this was a big thing that MFP got right that I guess I just took for granted.

So I guess it's important to note that TCR had a good idea with MFP, but didn't quite meet the ends in the execution. So hopefully FG takes this to heart and combines the horrific atmosphere of TDD with the new streamlined mechanics of MFP and creates something amazing.

[Damascus Rose]

The level design in MFP was also superior, they did environmental storytelling very well. The environments were far more rich and meaningful and looked better. The sounds were also probably better, at least implemented better because of the volume levels. The part where you hear the monster as you're filling the tank with oil was terrifying. The sounds the monsters made in first amnesia were probably scarier though. This is why I think the game had so much more potential than it showed, they had a lot of opportunity to create scary as f*ck environments with threatening ambiance and scary parts but because of a design choice they didn't. The only parts that showed this for me was beneath the church and beneath the pistons. Especially beneath the pistons, my experience there rivaled the fear I felt in TDD. I was scared as hell in those parts, and I thought damn if this game really wanted to scare me it could, but they chose not to.

[Froge]

Another thing that TCR missed in terms of creating a scary game was isolating a lot of their horror in unforgettably terrifying areas. This is very different from making an overall horror setting. Unless you've experienced it yourself, there is no dread comparable to the feeling that you've got to go back down to the storage because you missed something the first time you went there (I had to explore for quite a while to make the explosive). By using a non-linear progression structure, players will be urged to:

a) Explore every minute detail in each area so that they don't miss anything, thus forcing them to go to places where they know monsters are lurking;

b) Fear the thought of returning to places they really hate because they might've missed something (storage / choir).

[Lazoriss]

Another thing that TCR missed in terms of creating a scary game was isolating a lot of their horror in unforgettably terrifying areas. This is very different from making an overall horror setting. Unless you've experienced it yourself, there is no dread comparable to the feeling that you've got to go back down to the storage because you missed something the first time you went there (I had to explore for quite a while to make the explosive). By using a non-linear progression structure, players will be urged to:

a) Explore every minute detail in each area so that they don't miss anything, thus forcing them to go to places where they know monsters are lurking;

b) Fear the thought of returning to places they really hate because they might've missed something (storage / choir).

That's a very good point. I never really noticed that before, but now that you've mentioned it, it explains a lot of why there's such an absence of sheer terror in Pigs (and how it is actually directly related to the layout of the game's world). AMFP builds up to a point in horror and then hangs at that point for the remainder of the game. It also makes it rather easy to cope with the scares since you can essentially bowl your way through the game if you'd like. TDD has these nice safe hubs connected to wide, nonlinear danger zones. You enter an area with a list of tasks to do, but the layout of the area calls for lots of exploring. You can't just piledrive your way through TDD. The inventory means you have to collect items from around the area (which you can usually go about in any order you want). You're also right about how scary it is to have to go back into an area because you missed something, especially when in the comfort of the safety room. :c There's none of that in Pigs as all the puzzles are contained and you never have to backtrack or re-traverse a zone...

I've played through TDD three times and am still terrified of it. The worst would be the Choir, and I can attribute that to its ingenious design. A huge, mostly open area... easy to get lost in... low visibility... and so many encounters. o____o;;; I've memorized all the other area spawns, but I still get lost in the Choir and have at least one very tense encounter with a monster I wasn't expecting. There's also that one that won't despawn until you've gotten some distance away from it, so you can't just hide until it goes away.

AMFP has a good story, but your post made me actually realize why removing mechanics and the open exploring would hinder the game as a real horror experience.

[VaeVictis]

I wasn't sure where to throw this, but I love this game despite the flaws. I'm not great with words, so I had some time on my hands and taught myself to make crappy .gifs. This is my first one, ever:


Pretty much sums up my feelings about it. Delicious.

[Alex Ros]

At least 50% of the posts here aren't reviews at all, not even a short opinions, but an absolutely off-topic monologues and dialogs, flood and flame. If there were an option to clean up threads I'd surely use such an opportunity. It's no good, objectively.

IMO.

[Slanderous]

Anyone has info about "the_pigline.ogg" ? I just won't sleep 'till someone tell me why it has been cut from the game. It would be so messed up, brutal scene. Just imagine it, a huge room with a lot of manpigs, eating, raping, killing, ripping flesh from innocent people bodies. That could be one of the most disturbing scenes in video games.

Also I thought that AMFP will have many outdoor locations, but hell no. Oswald's backyard, the Factory Entrance, and The Streets. Seriously?

And the puzzles, they were the easiest puzzles ever. I think TCR wanted to give players something like Dear Esther, but god, Frictional Games products are focusing on exploration, interactivity, and puzzles, not only on going towards you and sometimes listening to monologues of Oswald. The first 30 minutes of the game are amazing, but then it just gets worser, and worser, and worser. There are not many encounters, and most of the monsters are just poofers.

I won't bitch up about the cut trailer encounters, especially the Halloween one because it is obvious that creators didn't wanted to spoil players too much.

The game had potential, but it is not even used in 25 %. It's not scary, but disturbing, yes. I must agree with that the Piggies are disturbing. The Burning London, The Pigline, or even the story made me really freaked out. As I said the first 30 minutes are the best, in the mansion you feel like in old'n'good Dark Descent. Lost and without memories.

Positives:

- Story,
- Beautiful designed locations,
- Disturbing as hell,
- The theme with searching dead children is touching.

Negatives:

- Short gameplay (took me 3 hours to complete, for the puck sake),
- No interactivity,
- Easiest puzzles ever,
- It's not that scary as The Dark Descent,
- You are just going towards you, no exploration,
- The most disturbing sound that i've heard in my goddamn life didn't appeared in the final game. ("the_pigline.ogg")

6/10 - Decent