If we break it down purely to game elements, both function like this: I have a thing written on my character sheet which may allow me to make the current obstacle easier.
We’re just spinning wheels here. I don’t think everyone agrees with me. I am well aware some people don’t.
I think this is a huge part of it. People will often hold their first exposure to something as some kind of ideal. This is actually reasonable… until exposed to an alternate take, in their mind, that is “the way it’s done”.
As I posted upthread, I know people who had this reaction. We discussed it quite a bit when my group started playing Blades in the Dark. We worked through it all, and now we’re wrapping up a lengthy Spire campaign, and that game has a crazy amount of player authority to deal with, and they don’t flinch from it at all.
Honestly, the Blades system just seems more plausible to me. Not the chronology of what the player does, but what is happening in the fiction.
In the fiction, it’s clear if a Blades character is loaded for bear or not. They can only carry a reasonably limited number of things. The gear that they have is suited to what they’re doing.
With a lot of more standard inventory rules, I find there to be so many absurdities. Need a potion of healing mid-combat? Here it is right on my belt! No, of course it didn’t break when that ogre hit me with a tree! What’s that? You need an oil flask? I have one in my backpack, give me just a second I can always find everything in there immediately! Then I’ll sling my backpack on again because it won’t hinder my movement in any way! Anyone whose been on a subway with a backpack can tell you how easy it is to get around and never bump anyone or get caught on anything!
It’s why I can’t take appeals to realism very seriously.