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How can I not end the week by at least talking about “A” Fatal Frame game besides Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water. But as much as I’d like to talk about that game in more detail, I fear I need to give that game more of a once over to fully see if Maiden of Black Water is truly a game that is worthy of the Fatal Frame name. Or worst case scenario the game was just an excuse to justify having unlockable bikinis in the game, an actual piece of clothing that might actually make some sense in this game. Could never wrap my head around wearing short skirts while hunting ghosts. Not that I’m complaining mind you but if it were me trying to track ghosts with a spirit camera, I’d be better dressed for the haunting elements. At least if I were in Maiden of Black Water I’d bring a rain coat. But I digress.

Seeing as how I touched on the first Fatal Frame game last week, the timing for this blog posting couldn’t have been timed any better. One more week to go for Halloween itself, the latest Fatal Frame game is out and currently sitting on my Wii U’s HDD (and not a DISC, thanks for that Nintendo of America) and it’s the last day before I go into another Octoberween Video Weekend! So why don’t we just explore the second game in the Fatal Frame series while we have the chance. Obviously I’d have much preferred to have played this game on my PS2 or better yet my original Xbox. I still have yet to beat the game on there. But there are some advantages to going all digital in some respects. Despite my copies being buried in heavy totes I’ll just pull this game up on my PS3’s HDD, and since this list is the “digital only” edition it fits the narrative wonderfully. Again I had chosen this game before in my prior Octoberween Gaming lists but once again I feel this game deserves another chance, and another spot, in my Top 11 list. The timing couldn’t be any better. My only regret though is that the PS2 version of this game is only the original game and not the “Director’s Cut” that is on the original Xbox. But what can you do. Also just a forewarning, there might be spoilers ahead. I tried not to so we shall see how this works okay?

 

Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly tells the story of twin sisters Mio and Mayu Amakura as they are visiting their childhood playspot in Minakami forest before a dam is construction project floods the whole area. As they talk about the good times and one sibling recalls a childhood accident which causes her sister to now walk with a limp, Mayu starts to follow a strange “crimson butterfly” deeper into the forest. As Mio gives chase and when she’s about to catch her sister, a strange event occurs that finds Mio and Mayu suddenly in the middle of an unknown part of the forest where it’s night time. As Mio tries to find her way out of the forest, she ends up finding her sister and a strange village that they come to learn is Minakami Village. It’s a village spoken of in the area’s urban legends that mysteriously vanished during some strange ritual and that those who get lost in the forest are doomed to be trapped in this “Lost Village.” It’s up to you to guide the Amakura sisters through this “Lost Village” as they try to unravel the mystery to what happened in this village and to find a means of escape before they too are cursed to stay in this forest of perpetual night….

Fatal Frame II ups the stakes when it comes to the setting of this game. In the first game all you had to contend with was a haunted mansion, this time around you have to deal with a haunted village! Though the village might seem a bit small, the area locations you visit are just as scary as you’d expect. This game does earn its title as being “one of the top 10 scariest games of all time.” Each area just fits the iconic ideas of what one would expect if they were in a haunted area. From a living residence, to an actual graveyard, even an eerie looking tree with a crawl space at its roots, just hits every part of your primeval memory of what would be in a haunted area. Even tranquil places that you’d think wouldn’t harbor ill-intent like a bridge over a water way to the village elder’s house instead houses a drowning ghost that will “swim” thru the air to catch you! From residential homes to the domiciles where the twins of the “Crimson Sacrifice Ritual”, each area is just plain creepy to explore in even if you’re by yourself as Mio or with Mayu when you can catch her. They even have a small graveyard that would make any Resident Evil game jealous in the sheer spook factor you feel when you walk among the grave markers in the foggy night. There is even a “mechanical doll” subplot that doesn’t feel like an excuse just to have a creepy doll section to this game. There was the doll room in the first game then there was the “doll room” in Fatal Frame II. Who would hang dolls like that by their necks!

But of course running is not your only means of dealing with the spirits, from broken necked women, to simple villagers to priests, in the village who died under “mysterious circumstances”. You will also have access to a “camera obscura” once Mio and Mayu find it. But unlike the last camera that you might be familiar with in the first game, this one must’ve been a newer model given all the enhancement that unlock as you play. Besides having the usual ability to upgrade certain attributes to your camera like you had in the last game, you also get some extra bell and whistle attachments once you find them in game. Some of it is pretty standard fair like a blinking red light to signal you when it’s the right time to get a Fatal Frame shot or charge elements that can be used to rapidly take special pictures in succession. You even have slots to have multiple special attributes preloaded so if you want to switch up the effects of your photos, you can do such with a push of a button. There is even a handy pushback function if you happen to flash your camera’s flashbulb quick enough you can avoid taking damage from a ghost and startle it enough so you can back away. All these new elements in using this camera obscura do come in handy given how combating the ghosts in this game has changed. Instead of having to wait for your camera to fully change its spirit power and have the ghost manifest, you have to also wait till the ghost FULLY manifests before you can take a damaging shot. It’s an odd concept to have in this game when originally you just have to have the ghost visible to be able to take a shot. Now even if the ghost looks like its manifest, you might not be able to get a damage shot in until the camera’s viewfinder relic lights up and your camera makes a noise to let you know you can do damage. This was mostly done so you had to try to get as close to the ghosts as possible to not only get them to manifest fully but to be able to deal the most damage, that is if your camera can charge fast enough for that attack AND have powerful spirit film loaded.

The film comes back but with a difference that makes the blue colored film the default film that never runs out and introduces “Zero grade” film that is an even better than the red film from the previous game. Good luck find that kind of film though. I recommend you save that for the final bosses, especially if you play on harder difficulties. The only drawback I found in changing the way you fight ghosts in this game is that sometimes the ghosts will be too close to you not fully materialized and you end up taking damage when they appear, despite your best attempts to keep your distance. Also I found it annoying that I wasn’t able to switch out film on the fly but had to keep going into my main menu to swap out powerful film for tough ghosts to weak film for just regular picture taking. Not sure if the game had it but it would’ve been nice if it did or I was able to figure out that ability if it was in the game. Trying to have you “face your fears” more intimately in this game does make playing this game a lot more scary but at times can also be a pain. You’ll run into certain ghosts that only “fully manifest” for a split second before they charge you or vanish, making you waste a perfectly good shot. You can even get multiple ghosts trying to take you on and even worse, ghosts in close quarters. It’s already nerve racking as it is trying to survive but to have that much thrown at you can be daunting at times. It gets even worse when you’ll run into certain levels where your camera has no use and you have to play “keep away” with that particular ghost or else face an instadeath. I found the whole change up to combat in this game a nice change of pace to the original, a natural evolution of how you would combat the supernatural. But I can see how it can become more annoying than scary in the harder levels when you have ghosts throw out ghostly fire at you or are photo sponges. Thankfully you do get more healing items in this game so you don’t run the risk of running out of them. If anything you run a better chance of running out of the powerful exorcising film given all the missed chances you might get due to being too jumpy with ghost encounters. That’s how I wasn’t able to beat the game on my Original Xbox. I had used up all my good film that all I had left to fight some particularly tough ghost priests was my green and blue film!

Fatal Frame II even gets into the supernatural investigation angle by throwing in EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) into the mix by means of the crystal radio. Another device apparently created by the same man who made the camera obscura, this radio is able to read the various crystals found in game that like primitive cassette tapes. The difference being that the crystals carry an imprint of the thoughts of the person that had it with them in close proximity. Mostly it’s used to help fill in the plot of other characters who either died in the village or found themselves lost in the village themselves and died there. Not exactly necessary listening but I still thought it was a nice touch.

The music to the game is what you can expect from the first Fatal Frame game. All ambient and mood setting music that fits the mood perfect as you walk the halls. And thanks to the stereo headphones I recently acquired, you can hear almost every little thing that would make you jump or wonder if there is something up ahead that you don’t want to face. The sound is just as good as the visuals offered in setting the right tone of supernatural horror. Even the cut scenes are quick enough that they almost give you audio whiplash in not knowing what to expect. One particular ghost introduction was enough to make me quit for the night.

But the real enjoyment of this game is the alternate endings you can get depending on the difficulty level and even in deciding which path you will chose near the end. I only got the “official series” ending but I do wonder what it would be like if I chose a different route than what I originally went for. The only odd issue I had with Fatal Frame II was in how the plot was able to move forward. It’s usually having you trying to track down Mayu after she’s gotten away from you. She finds herself behind doors that mysteriously unlock behind her. How did Mayu get behind that door to begin with! It’s not some mysterious spiritual power that is keep the door locked. It’s a special kind of lock with a special kind of key needed to unlock it! How did Mayu get thru the door if I need a special key to get thru it myself? I don’t buy that the door was already open to begin with.

The story this time around does get a bit more confusing than the first one. This game does deal with a temporal flux between the time periods set within the game’s franchise. The “Lost Village” segment takes place BEFORE the events of the first game but Mio and Mayu’s themselves come from a time after the events in the first Fatal Frame. You might not catch it at first but you might remember a familiar names/faces in this game who carried over into the first game. Remember the name Yae from my Fatal Frame write up? If you’re able to “connect the dots” you’ll be amazed how they were able to work the story of the second game into the first game. It helps add the connectivity of the game’s lore in future titles. It kind of keeps you on edge in trying to find clues and notes that could possibly connect back to the previous game, or what might become relevant in future titles.

The “Camera Obsucra” isn’t the only thing that connects these games.

I ended up wussing out and played the game on easy mode, thus why the low rank. But I’m not sure if I’ll go back to it anytime soon. I have a lot more games to enjoy during this Octoberween but who’s to say that I might go back to unlock some different modes of play or better yet, different costumes. Perhaps there is a bikini mode offered in this game. Though I don’t see how running around the forest in one of those would be practical. Not to mention I think they are under aged…

I can see why this game ranks as one of the top 10 scariest games of all time. It’s all the more fitting it would be on my list this year. I will admit though that it should be lower down on this list if we were grading these games on their sheer scare factor. But what can I do? It wouldn’t be right if I mentioned a completely different game right now when Fatal Frame is in the limelight right now. No way am I going to let another game take its place during this week.

So if you don’t have a Wii U or can’t download Fatal Frame: Maiden of Back Water, why not try give this game a try? It is a bit pricy to buy physically for the PS2, and worse on the original Xbox, but you can eastly get this game on the PSN store for $9.99. I was lucky enough to buy my digital copy some years back when it was on sale for $5.99. Either price is a steal when compared to the price of a physical copy. I’m sure it’ll go on sale again before Halloween is upon us. So far I’ve found it to be these past few years mixed in with other Octoberween gaming goodness that one can find during this time of year. If you haven’t played the game, you deserve to give it a try. If you have the game but haven’t worked up the courage to play I strongly suggest you find whatever steels your nerves, turn off the lights, close the curtains and turn up the volume as you play this game. It is indeed a frightfully playthrough that is worthy of any Octoberween night.

But if you can’t do that you can at least play it in broad daylight with the lights on and the brightness turned up high so you can see everything that is visual in game. I won’t tell.

My Top 11 Octoberween Game Titles for 2015:

11) Zombie Panic in Wonderland – 1000 Wii Points

10) Trouble Witches NEO - $9.99 + $1.99 DLC character

09) Slender: The Arrival – on sale $7.49

08) Costume Quest 1 & 2 – on sale $7.49 each + $4.99 DLC “Grubbins on Ice”

07) Fatal Frame - on sale $5.99

06) Metro 2033 – Free thanks to Microsoft’s “Games with Gold” program.

05) Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly – on sale $5.99

Ta-ta

“N”

 

Did you take my advice? Will you play this game? Or will you wuss out like a noob playing Five Night’s at Freddy’s for the first time? Let me know in the comments below! Have fun….

BONUS VIDEO!

In this episode of “Camera Obscura”, Clara and Jason face off against Mr. Hurt. Will they survive? Enjoy!

 

 

Sleep well tonight…..