DavidGil: I understand, Rising. I've never played the game before and as I said, I'm not even past the first chapter or close I think. So, I really don't know what to expect later. But I just know so far, the atmosphere is pretty good. For me, anyway. (I can imagine it not being as good on later playthroughs though, unless it's possible to see different scenes and such)
I think everything's pretty much a love and hate thing though? Take some of the most loved television series or movies etc. and I'm sure someone will dislike them. Take The Wire for example, I think that's some of the best television one can watch, yet a family member just won't give it a try because he can't get past the street talk.
Though sure, I guess the people who dislike the game could outnumber the ones that do. Still applies though in my opinion.
Maybe because people at these boards use to praise nostalgia over everything else. You know, the same that happens with ZX Spectrum games, that nowadays you talk to people and it seems that all of them were masterpieces without exception.
Play it, though. Amityville all around with z-movie shock value that is valuable for people like me :D
Daventry: No other game up that point had production values that were quite as high.
Are you sure of that? There had been lots of FMV games already, like ICOM games...
EDIT3: and anyway, this one and Myst are personal choices for being the BAD examples that brough a dark era to adventure games...