The Medium Impressions - Xbox X's first exclusive....turd

[TheMysteriousGX]

I mean if the big sites genuinely like these games but the audience doesnt, shouldnt there be some questions? I feel like that is a big part of why people are more likely to trust independent youtube reviewers than big companies. The same for movies. Are you more likely to see a movie recommended by Jsremy Johnns and Chris Stuckman, or The New York Times?

Now is it possible these gamespot and ign people genuinely liked these games? Yeah, but there is too much shadiness for me. Trust whatever review you want.

Look, plenty of games get reviews higher/lower than I think they deserve, critic reviews *and* user reviews.

That doesn't make them shady. Plenty of "normal" people liked this game to. The distribution of reviews match up, it's not like it's lopsided. What's the conspiracy here?

For the record, The New York Times (the gestalt entity you're using them as an analogy for, not necessarily the specific organization) has literally never sold me on a movie.

 

[BrawlMan]

Are you more likely to see a movie recommended by Jeremy Johnns and Chris Stuckman, or The New York Times?

Jeremy Johnns I never liked. Chris Stuckman up until now, I've had a dislike. Stuckman at least bothered to get a huge additude adjustment and became way less vindictive, caustic, and "angry" in his recent reviews. I still do not subscribe to him, but I am happy and proud he changed and improved for himself. The NYT I don't even remember reading movie reviews. If I did, I would not even remember what movie(s) they were reviewing.

 

[tippy2k2]

Let me know what you end up thinking of it.

I couldn't pet the cat

0/10; wouldn't recommend

...OK, I suppose I should play more than two minutes before making a judgement

 

[tippy2k2]

OK game, that was creepy was fuck.

I'm approx 3 hours into it

Spoiler

The Skin Suit Demon at the Niwa Hotel

I'm officially very much on board with this game so far...

 

[Drathnoxis]

Just watched SGF play the first hour, not super impressed but I'm not the biggest horror fan either. A little strange for a horror game to have a Monty Python reference in the first 10 minutes, though...

 

[Mister Mumbler]

Just watched SGF play the first hour, not super impressed but I'm not the biggest horror fan either. A little strange for a horror game to have a Monty Python reference in the first 10 minutes, though...

Nobody expects a Monty Python reference.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Nobody expects a Monty Python reference.

I see what you did there

 

[tippy2k2]

Just watched SGF play the first hour, not super impressed but I'm not the biggest horror fan either. A little strange for a horror game to have a Monty Python reference in the first 10 minutes, though...

A lot of nothing happens for the first few hours. It's mostly just explaining who the MC is, what she can do, and developing her character so that hopefully you care about her a lil bit when shit starts to hit the fan.

 

[BrawlMan]

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[CriticalGaming]

A lot of nothing happens for the first few hours. It's mostly just explaining who the MC is, what she can do, and developing her character so that hopefully you care about her a lil bit when shit starts to hit the fan.

I'm happy you enjoy the game. So at least it wasn't a waste of your time and money

 

[tippy2k2]

I'm happy you enjoy the game. So at least it wasn't a waste of your time and money

To be fair, it was free

I'm also probably....five hours or so into it

Spoiler

I just got to actually travel into the mirror and specifically I just got done helping Bernard cross over and am working on helping the ballerina lady cross over. Demon jerkface who wants to wear me like a coat has also crossed over into "The Real World"

but so far, I am really enjoying this game.

It 1000% has problems so I can understand why someone wouldn't like the game. But for whatever reason, the game is scratching an itch I have enough that I'm fine with the warts the game has. At least so far...

 

[tippy2k2]

Man...I don't know if this is a "me" problem or what but I'm struggling badly to play this game now.

Now in the games defense, I've been tired and having trouble concentrating on anything this entire week but I basically got to the part I talked about in my last post and have barely continued ever since then. I'm not sure if this is the game finally getting to me (there's really no combat or anything to do other than "Pick Up Item A, Walk to Item B, Smush them together to create Item C, and use Item C to open the door") or if it's a me problem at this point.

I still plan on continuing through the game at some point. Hopefully once the weekend comes and I can recharge my own batteries for a bit, I'll get a bit more of the game played. According to The Internet Dot Com, the game is 8-10 hours long so I imagine I'm at about the halfway point give or take right now...

 

[CriticalGaming]

Man...I don't know if this is a "me" problem or what but I'm struggling badly to play this game now.

Now in the games defense, I've been tired and having trouble concentrating on anything this entire week but I basically got to the part I talked about in my last post and have barely continued ever since then. I'm not sure if this is the game finally getting to me (there's really no combat or anything to do other than "Pick Up Item A, Walk to Item B, Smush them together to create Item C, and use Item C to open the door") or if it's a me problem at this point.

I still plan on continuing through the game at some point. Hopefully once the weekend comes and I can recharge my own batteries for a bit, I'll get a bit more of the game played. According to The Internet Dot Com, the game is 8-10 hours long so I imagine I'm at about the halfway point give or take right now...

Maybe, but honestly IMO, there is only so far a game's concept can take you if there is nothing else in the game to engage you. And I think The Medium's slow burn and length may burn a lot of people out before seeing the ending simply because it's such a flat game and runs too long for what it is. It feels bloated as if they felt they had to slow the pace and stretch out the game's length in order to make the price justifiable, but in so doing they actually did more harm to the game than good.

You might just be feeling that, because you know that getting back into the game wont exactly scratch that gamer itch so to speak.

Then again you could go back in a couple of days and enjoy the rest without a problem.

 

[Kwak]

Sure a walking sim done right can be good. The Stanley Parable was great, Firewatch was enjoyable, and Journey was incredible.

None of those games were 50 dollars though. Topped of with the Medium's story being formulaic and the technical issues, you have a Game here that had ambitions WAY over its own head.

Oh okay, I just got the impression that was your main criticism of it.

 

[tippy2k2]

Maybe, but honestly IMO, there is only so far a game's concept can take you if there is nothing else in the game to engage you. And I think The Medium's slow burn and length may burn a lot of people out before seeing the ending simply because it's such a flat game and runs too long for what it is. It feels bloated as if they felt they had to slow the pace and stretch out the game's length in order to make the price justifiable, but in so doing they actually did more harm to the game than good.

You might just be feeling that, because you know that getting back into the game wont exactly scratch that gamer itch so to speak.

Then again you could go back in a couple of days and enjoy the rest without a problem.

We'll see soon enough!

I'm kind of in your camp though that I think the game itself might be part of the issue. If you don't care about the story and the characters, the game suffers greatly as it's all it really has. But I'll be sure to let everyone know because I'm sure everyone is at the edge of their seat wondering if I'm going to ultimately like the game or not

 

[CriticalGaming]

Oh okay, I just got the impression that was your main criticism of it.

Yeah that's fair. I kind of write these impressions from the hip. So whatever flies out of my fingers at first thought of the game is what I put down. That's why it's an "impressions" and why you'll noticed that my replies in the thread tend to be more nuanced.

When I've finished a game fully, I'll put "review" in the title, but to be fair I don't do that very often because I want to get first impressions on the forum ASAP and completing games tends to take me too much time.

 

[CriticalGaming]

We'll see soon enough!

I'm kind of in your camp though that I think the game itself might be part of the issue. If you don't care about the story and the characters, the game suffers greatly as it's all it really has. But I'll be sure to let everyone know because I'm sure everyone is at the edge of their seat wondering if I'm going to ultimately like the game or not

I mean personally I'm very interested, because you were almost completely the opposite of my opinion when you first started the game. So I'm kind of invested to see if you are on my side by the end of it

 

[tippy2k2]

I mean personally I'm very interested, because you were almost completely the opposite of my opinion when you first started the game. So I'm kind of invested to see if you are on my side by the end of it

OK, I have to ask because I eventually just gave up and I'm curious if you organically figured it out because that felt like the most convoluted logic in the world...

Spoiler

Did you figure out the access code to the basement door or did you Google it like I did? Because after Googling it, I now understand what they were doing but I don't think I'd have EVER thought to try that out by myself

Am I the dumb one here or is the game the dumb one?

 

[CriticalGaming]

OK, I have to ask because I eventually just gave up and I'm curious if you organically figured it out because that felt like the most convoluted logic in the world...

Spoiler

Did you figure out the access code to the basement door or did you Google it like I did? Because after Googling it, I now understand what they were doing but I don't think I'd have EVER thought to try that out by myself

Am I the dumb one here or is the game the dumb one?

I didn't even get that far, I couldn't get into the game for what it was and I just bailed out. I played maybe 4 or 5 hours total. But if i had been stuck i would have instantly googled it, because I don't try in games I am not enjoying.

 

[tippy2k2]

I finished the game

Maybe I shouldn't write this now as that ending has royally pissed me off (and not in a good way). What an absolute fucking cop-out bullshit of an ending...

Anyway, the game is good if you can get into the story. The gameplay is OK to bad. So it's kind of like a Telltale Game where if the story doesn't sink it's claws into you, it's going to be awful.

But man...fuck that ending

Spoiler

For a game where story is so important, having it end on a fucking bullshit cliffhanger takes some fucking balls. At the end of the game, Marianne finds out that Lillianne (Sadness) is also a Medium and her sister. Lillianne is the one that released The Demon because she wanted to save herself and Marianne from a fire. At the end, Lillianne says that she needs Maryanne to kill her because while she is alive, The Demon can't be stopped and she doesn't have the strength to do it herself. The game ends with The Demon confronting Maryanne on the pier you see in the beginning of the game (Lillianne was sending those visions to Maryanne because she wanted to be killed) and Maryanne doesn't want to kill her newly reunited with sister. As The Demon approaches, Maryanne realizes The Demon needs her to truly escape because he needs a stronger Medium to work through so she puts the gun to her own head to get him to back off. The screen fades to black, a gunshot is heard, and then roll credits.

Fuck off Medium. This absolute cop-out of an ending has left such a sour taste in my mouth that I've gone from recommending it to people with the warning above about gameplay and story to just deleting you and forgetting your existence. Have the guts to finish your story because it's the only thing you had going for you

Had you asked me pre-ending, I'd have said it was worth a playthrough if you want a creepy game with an interesting story and premise and can handle some OK to bad gameplay. Now not so much.