It is simply wrong to say that this game is free. Just consider, for example that even if the payments are currently suspended, a lot of people have given money to support the development in the past.
Are you among those persons ?
I bet that the answer is no, therefore for you the game is free and all your argumentation is pure bullshit. But anyway, even if you had spent half a buck on the game, your argumentation would still be flawed.
Like anyone who never pledged for a game before, you imagine Patreon as a subscription platform that it isn't and never was. It's a patronage/sponsorship platform. You like what someone is doing, and give her/him few bucks to help her/him be able to continue. The vast majority, if not all, Patreon accounts have a low tier where all you do is giving money. You give the money, and still you only have access to the public release, that is never the last update.
How does this fit in your narrative ? Those people willingly spare a buck or two monthly, knowing that they'll get the game at the exact same time than everyone who don't give a cent and just come to the Patreon page time to time. And they are doing it because they want to. It's shocking I know, but Notty don't pay hitmen to run across the world, putting a gun on your head to force you to pledge for her game.
Well, to be honest and fair, they get the game before those who just check the Patreon page, because they all come from here. This low tier is for people who don't really have spare money, but still appreciate the game they are pirating, and want to make a symbolic gesture. But since they already get the game, they could perfectly not pledge, it would change absolutely nothing for them.
Of course, they also have access to what Notty is saying but, well, globally what she's saying end here anyway. So yeah, they pay for nothing, and they are doing it willingly... And unlike you, who don't spent a single buck on the game, they aren't complaining about the delay, strange, isn't it ? I mean, if someone have the right to complain, it's them more than anyone else. They are giving money against nothing, and get even less than nothing... Yet apparently they are more fine with this, than you who don't spend money at all...
Also, And no matter whether you have given money or not, criticism in itself is not bound to being a customer.
Of course, you don't need to be a customer to critic something. But when you complain while not being a customer, don't be surprised when people see what you say as nothing more than an angry rant made by a barely pubescent spoiled brat.
I can complain that Sephora is over pricing, but what would be my legitimacy ? How could I be credible while I don't even need what they are selling ? I'm not some expert or authority in cosmetic and perfume price and quality. I know shit about all this and my complaint would just be as ridiculous as your constant rants.
It doesn't matter on which level, whether it's AAA criticized by a game magazine that often gets the game copy for free but still has to write something honest, [...]
Oh, so you are the authority in terms of game development and cost. My excuses, the mail warning me about this must have been put in the spam folder by error. Or perhaps are you telling us that you are payed to give your opinion on a piracy internet forum ? If it's the case, do they hire ? Asking for a friend.
Seriously, do you think before you write ? Do you read what you write ? How can you dare to compare you, a nobody on an internet forum, to a journalist giving his opinion on a game because it's his job ? Unlike you, who hide behind a pseudonym and held no responsibility for what you say, a journalist write on his name and his responsible for every word he write. Every time he write a critic, he engage his credibility and his future. You, you just waste your time trying to feel important, and yet you believe that the two can be compared, that the two are the same thing ? Pathetic...