Disappointed with AAMFP

[Sanji202]

... why... how... how could they fail so hard with this game. All they had to do was keep all the mechanics from "The dark descent" and implement the new story and new environment. Apparently that was to much to ask.


This game had so much potential, but the following points ruined it all:

-The lantern now has infinite oil.

-Not that it makes much of a difference, since they removed the darkness mechanic. Your character no longer starts to shiver in fear after long periods in the dark.

-In addition, the enemies are pathetic. You can take several hits without dying. You will also regenerate health... YES... REGENERATE... this is not F#%&ING CALL OF DUTY.


This is a gigantic disappointment. Massive fail!

The lantern has an infinite light source and from memory some of the letters in the game allude to how that is.

As for the rest of your extraneous complaints it seems you have completely missed the point. Rather than complain about what has been removed why don't you see what this game is doing? It's purely story driven, it puts you in a position of complete exposure and uncertainty, it has a thought provoking story and as for the enemies I fail to see how it matters how many hits it takes for the player to die because once again, that's not the point. Your health can regenerate in TDD too by the way.

I was expecting a video game, not Dear Esther 2.

Do you even know that The Chinese Room made this, not FG?

Yes in fact I do. And I would have accepted the game as it is if they had not lied, saying it was supposed to be a scary game. Its not even a game now.

---

I was expecting a video game, not Dear Esther 2.

Dear Esther and AMFP are not the same thing from what I recall, though both games are quite poetic and thought provoking. I still think you have missed the point.

Yes I have. What I was looking for was not in the game. I looked for scary gameplay, there were none. If I had not been lied to, I would not have bitched about this. But they have previously said this would be scarier than TDD.

[bobbo]

I've seldomly been so disappointed of a game. It's mainly because the trailers promised a second A:TDD experience. Which made me pre-order this instantly. Twice - for a good friend as well. Realizing I have just spent 24 Euros on an unscary walkable audio book was just painful.

I do understand the whole idea of using this medium to tell a story in a more "touching" way than say a movie since the recipient is acually moving within it. But it doesn't work for me, these stories always are too shallow in my opinion - I'd much rather read a book instead.

I'm really curious if and what went wrong here.

Given all their blog posts about good game development - especially the most recent one about interactivity - was Frictional okay with how the game turned out?

If so, why did the Marketing suggest another A:TDD? Was it a deceitful exploitation of the established image to definitely sell this game?

Or was there a time when this in fact was a game with gameplay like A:TDD - but in the end technical difficulties or a shortage of time prevented them from realizing the game this way?

I don't expect an official answer though as this is touching rather intimate matters.

Now I'm just hoping for Custom Story support and some scary stuff from the talented people out there that made me enjoy A:TDD countless hours longer than the vanilla game took.

[PutraenusAlivius]

Where did TCR said that AAMFP will be scarier than ATDD?

TCR and FG also lied about the Release Date, but at least we can keep our heads up and patiently wait.
Usually, it's the Junior members that kept bitching about it.

Look, maybe this game is a bit less than Scares, but this is because it's made to lean towards Storytelling more. ATDD was leaned towards Scares than Story.

Also, they're different developers and every developer can't have the same technique right?

[Tesseract]

Yes I have. What I was looking for was not in the game. I looked for scary gameplay, there were none. If I had not been lied to, I would not have bitched about this. But they have previously said this would be scarier than TDD.

Scary game play? The game was utterly disturbing, the imagery and the events were highly unsettling, I said that I think you missed the point and you respond with: 'Yes I have.'

You weren't lied to, you were too busy judging the game based off the things you're used to rather than immersing yourself into the story and environment, they said the game would be more disturbing and unsettling than TDD and I have to say it was, TDD was a fabulous game and it was indeed terrifying but AMFP is focused on a completely different aspect of horror.

[slo64]

Story story story story story story... ok, I get it.

But "story" doesn't equal "game".
And the game is surely ruined because there's no game in AAMFP. Never once did it let decide me something for myself. Never once it let me participate. Never once let me make an error. One room, one exit one object to use, repeat. Might as well watched a LP.

And I feel bad about all this. I want this game, I truly do. The idea, the setting they are fascinating. But it never lasts beyond the introductory sequence. Like half life but you cannot get off the train cabin.

And no, I don't care about artsy-pantsy TCR "nature". It is called "Amnesia". It should have been a game.

[Diango12]

Yup, its nice that TCR wanted to showoff their prowess with prose but I have little regard for pretension. A:amfp was marketing off the success of the Amnesia title. When you do that you carry the burden of delivering an experience that you communicate to the public.

[Tiger]

...The pigs and the children. They kinda get into you, y'know?

Dude... No... Please.

[Dune Jumper]

When will The Chinese Room learn that for you to sell something as a game, YOU NEED TO IMPLEMENT GAMEPLAY?
I have an idea, why don't people market something as a movie, but when you buy the $10 ticket to see it, you get a slideshow! They don't because it's stupid.

[Tiger]

When will The Chinese Room learn that for you to sell something as a game, YOU NEED TO IMPLEMENT GAMEPLAY?
I have an idea, why don't people market something as a movie, but when you buy the $10 ticket to see it, you get a slideshow! They don't because it's stupid.

Except amfp actually has gameplay.

[Streetboat]

It's really frustrating to hear everyone spout the same thing: "There was no gameplay!"

You controlled the movement and look direction of your guy, right? You had a lantern that you could willingly bring out and put away, right? It was completely up to you to understand and solve the puzzles, right? Boom, there you have it; gameplay.

Now, for you to say it was more bare-bones would be better, but I hate it when people say there is no gameplay.

It kind of saddens me that TCR took a more intellectual approach to horror and the vast majority (at least, the vocal majority) is raving and screaming like rabid hyenas. Are you all so jaded on horror games like TDD, Slender and its many clone children, jump-scare custom stories, and Outlast that you need to have some gross monster beating you down for you to feel "scared"? You can't possibly comprehend the horror that comes with the thought that an entire complex exists and was built with the sole purpose of snatching innocent people, feeding them to a meatgrinder, and being fed to a race of genetically mutated man-pigs actually doesn't scare you? Does the immediate scare have to happen to YOU for a game to be considered scary? Are you simply incapable of thinking outside your own little bubble, of thinking about the lives your character impacts and the horrors wrought upon them? Of the unspeakable things human nature allows us to do when all social norms and constructs are cast aside? Of how a little touch of mental instability in one man can spell the potential death of an entire city?

Actually try thinking about a game and what it's trying to accomplish next time before you grab your torches and pitchforks. TCR tried something different, and you all hated it because it wasn't exactly the same as its predecessor, made by a different company entirely. How pathetic is that?