Sup everyone! It's that time of the year where everyone starts watching a bunch of horror movies, playing scary video games, and generally try to get into the Halloween spirit. This year as part of my month long "Halloween" festivities I decided to participate in the GAF Plays....31 Nights of Horror 2 thread which I felt was the perfect excuse to finally get me to play my first Fatal Frame game, Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly (the PS2 classics version found on PSN) and I thought to myself why not go further with it and do a "In Progress" LTTP thread (especially since my first one went pretty well....for the most part) while I'm at it.


Background

Let me start this off by saying that when it comes to the Fatal Frame series I'm a complete an utter noob, all I knew going in was that there were 5 main games (not including a remake of 2 for the Wii that only saw release in Japan & Europe), that only the first 3 games in the series had been released in the US (...so far) in fairly limited quantities, that there was also a spin off game for the 3DS, that the first 2 games were well received here in the US (the second game more so than the first game), and that the 3rd game as well as the 3DS game were not as well received. I also knew based on a few screenshots I had seen of the first two games years ago that it looked like most of the games in the series prior to 4 (which I had seen in a brief video of last year) were (again this was what I knew going in, not what I know now after playing Fatal Frame 2 for a couple of hours....and like I said I was/am a complete noob when it came to this series) a first person shooter type game where you had a camera instead of a gun as your only weapon, that your main enemies were ghosts, and that you were trying to escape from a haunted location while also searching for a missing relative/loved one.


Initial thoughts

My initial reactions/feelings towards the game were generally positive as it was very atmospheric and had some creepy moments that had me kind of digging the game's vib even though there really wasn't anything in the very beginning section before you reach the first house that immediately grabbed me like the opening section of Silent Hill 2 did (hearing two sets of footsteps on the gravel path that followed you around) prior to reaching the outskirts of the town. Now one of the big things I was surprised to find out about this game (in a good way) early on was that it was a 3rd person survival horror game and not the first person horror experience that I had thought it would be and that visually it felt like a nice cross between Silent Hill (creepy atmosphere, light effects from the flashlight, some nice use of sound) and Resident Evil (static camera, tank controls) when you weren't using the Camera Obscura. Storywise this game's story has been fairly easy to follow (so far) and the way it tells it's story (so far) felt very familiar to me as someone who has played most of the other major PS1/PS2 survival horror games like Resident Evil or Silent Hill as there were in game cutscenes that told the main story as well as a number of extra story bits that were told through files & notes you find scattered about. Though in this game they went the extra distance (so far at least) to have you encounter some of the poor souls at the heart of a few of these scattered notes/files you find, which I gotta say was a nice touch that I wasn't expecting.

As far as negative thoughts/impressions go, I am (so far) not a big fan of the default first person controls (haven't gotten around to messing with the settings yet so I don't know if it can be changed) that you have to use when you use the Camera Obscura (there were times where moving around first person in NFL 2K5's Crib mode was easier than it was in this game) and I feel it's something that's going to take me a while to get use to. Other than that my only other initial negative thoughts about the game mainly had to do with me getting a little frustrated (which was to be expected cause this is my first time playing the game) while trying to find the other half of a certain item that I needed in order to progress further and (so far) being unable to find it.

All in all I think I made good progress in the 2 hrs I spent playing the game today (I think I'm about halfway through Chapter 2) though I may end up consulting a guide for this game (which is something I'm currently trying to avoid doing) after wasting the last 45 mins (or it at least felt like it to me) or so of my playthrough today wandering back & forth across town trying to .


To be continued...........

Ahah I started the game on Wii recently, and I've been stuck at the exact same place than you.

The game is great, even with a wiimote.

I also like that cover (pal version, I dunno the US one):

xdr said:

Ahah I started the game on Wii recently, and I've been stuck at the exact same place than you.

The game is great, even with a wiimote.

I also like that cover (pal version, I dunno the US one):

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Well it's good to hear that I'm not the only one having trouble at that spot and yeah I agree that Wii cover looks a lot better than the PS2 cover (the Xbox cover also looks pretty cool too...see below) it's just a bummer that they didn't bother to release the Wii remake version of 2 here in the US as I probably would have played that version over the PS2 classics version.

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I've got that Xbox version, as well as the Xbox version of the first Fatal Frame (The only one I've beaten in the series). It's definitely getting played for the GAF Plays 31 Nights of Horror thread.

Fantastically terrifying game. It has a significant leap in polish from the first game. I'm going through the third game right now, which is also very cool. The franchise is great in general.
I know they have no current plans to release the 5th game stateside, but I seriously hope they reconsider.

BTails said:

I've got that Xbox version, as well as the Xbox version of the first Fatal Frame (The only one I've beaten in the series). It's definitely getting played for the GAF Plays 31 Nights of Horror thread.

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I think we're the only ones (so far) who are going to be playing this game in/for that thread

Alcotholic said:

Fantastically terrifying game. It has a significant leap in polish from the first game. I'm going through the third game right now, which is also very cool. The franchise is great in general.
I know they have no current plans to release the 5th game stateside, but I seriously hope they reconsider.

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I've been a little curious about the other games in the series, but wanted to play through 2 before I went out and got them, hopefully by the time I'm done with 2 they will be on sale through PSN....also hoping they'll reconsider releasing 5 stateside as I heard from one of the guys who is playing it as part of the new GAF Plays 31 Nights of Horror thread that it's pretty good so far.

I'm probably going to start with the first game and make my way to the second. Aw man.. I remember the first time I played Fatal Frame, I was scared shitless, even w friends watching. I couldn't even stare at the cover art.

But, OP, don't look at guides. It's better for your experience. FF2 was good too. I've never gotten a chance to play FF3. I'm hoping this month is the month to have that marathon.

tav7623 said:

I've been a little curious about the other games in the series, but wanted to play through 2 before I went out and got them, hopefully by the time I'm done with 2 they will be on sale through PSN....also hoping they'll reconsider releasing 5 stateside as I heard from one of the guys who is playing it as part of the new GAF Plays 31 Nights of Horror thread that it's pretty good so far.

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You can pick up FF1 for $4 and FF3 for $10, both on PSN right now.

tav7623 said:

I think we're the only ones (so far) who are going to be playing this game in/for that thread

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I'll be sure to post my impressions when I jump in.. I'll probably start it this weekend, when I have some time to just dive in for a good 4 hours or so at a time each day.

Alcotholic said:

You can pick up FF1 for $4 and FF3 for $10, both on PSN right now.

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Yeah, I know, I'm just hoping for them to go on sale (especially 3) like they did last year (the first two Fatal Frame games were $2 ea for PS Plus members) when Sony did their Deal of the Dead sale the last two weeks of October.

BTails said:

I'll be sure to post my impressions when I jump in.. I'll probably start it this weekend, when I have some time to just dive in for a good 4 hours or so at a time each day.

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Cool, look forward to reading your thoughts on the game especially since I believe the xbox version (which I'm not a 100% sure about this) had some added features/content that aren't in the PS2/PSN version.

I picked this game up on a whim a while back for the PS2 and was pleased by it. Initially terrifying, but once I got into it, I had to see all the endings.

All of them are pretty damn grim. I also dig how how straight the game plays the Chekov's Gun trope in one of the endings.

I won't spoil this part, but it's kinda obvious what I'm talking about.

While I don't find the game as scary as many, I do find it a very enjoyable horror game, and an excellently designed game with good pacing and fantastic moments. Its one biggest flaw for me may be that I found it too easy (I literally finished the game the first time I played it with a stone mirror, 6 sacred waters, and over 40 herbal medicines).

This said, it has a number of amazing moments. Keep your LTTP updated. I will not spoil a thing, but I think the later parts of FF2 are amazing, and one location in the second half of the game that you're in for a while is up there as one of my all-time favorite horror game locations. So many great, tense, and scary moments happen during it.

Game Update #1

Today I played little over 2 hrs (2 hrs 20 mins to be exact) and to be honest after starting the game back up I felt like a f*(kin moron as I managed to find the item (without looking at a guide) I had soo much trouble finding yesterday within a few minutes ( ) of starting the game back up. After that I managed to zip through the past couple of chapters (I'm now in Ch.5) without too much trouble. Though with me zipping through the last couple of chapters I'm starting to have the feeling that I may have missed/skipped something and it has me wondering if potentially missing any of these things would/will effect the ending.

All in all I am still enjoying the game (I am especially enjoying the story which is so far flying along smoothly and has been fairly easy to follow up to this point) even though nothing has really scared me so far ( ) and while I'm thinking about it I also briefly messed around with the control schemes in the option screen today and found that switching the analog controls (the default was look w/left analog & move w/right analog) to the second setting (move w/ left analog & look w/right analog) made controlling Mio while she is using the Camera Obscura 10 times better, which was awesome. Also there were moments during today's playthrough where I started to notice neat little things I didn't spot yesterday such as the bandage wrapped around one of Mayu's leg (I had noticed yesterday that her character model was walking kind of funny, but I didn't realize it was because she had hurt her leg) or Mio's little hop/skip step animation she has when you have her run down a staircase and I also kinda liked the limited fabric effect where hanging fabrics (mainly noticed this in the Ceremonial Master's where there's a bunch of veils/cloth banners hanging in hallways) react to/interact with the character when you walk into them.

Game Update #2

I played the game for a few hours today (so far I've played the game for 6 hrs total) and I feel like I didn't really make any progress at all because I got (and still am) stuck trying to find the light key so I can .

All in all today's playthrough was a bit frustrating and I honestly feel like I'm missing something or over thinking things, but hopefully when I boot the game back up tomorrow I figure it out very quickly just like I did after getting stuck towards the tail end of Chapter 2. I should also mention that today I also encountered the ghost children enemies for the first time and man where they a pain in the butt, they are also (so far) my least favorite enemy that I've encountered in the game. I also noticed another little thing today that I wasn't really aware of (and was a nice little touch), which was that in areas where you can use the flashlight you can (somewhat) control where the light from the flashlight goes by using one of the analog sticks (in this case the right stick) ala Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare.

Game Update #3

I played another couple of hours today (2 more, bringing my total to 8 hrs spread across 4 days) and like I mentioned in game update #2 I had a feeling I wasn't doing something right. Well it turns out I was right, I was doing the whole run around while repeatedly taping action button to try to pick up/interact with an object within the environment (a habit I picked up years ago while playing the RE and other survival horror games) thing when I needed to do it slowly in order to interact with the object. Anyways I think I made pretty good progress today as I am now in Chapter 7 and am currently exploring the Tachibana (?) house now that .

Overall I am still enjoying the game despite there being a few instances of frustration (getting stuck, going back & forth trying to figure out what I need to do in order to progress,etc.) and at the moment I can definitely see myself replaying this game again.

Best series.

I <3 Fatal Frame.

I literally bought a console just to play this series and FF2 is one of the best.

Game Update #4

Today I played 2 more hours of the game and I feel like I am now getting towards the end of the game as I am currently halfway through chapter 8 (or at least I think I am cause) .

Game Update #5

I was originally gonna wait until tomorrow to try to finish this game, but since I had a feeling I was close to the end of the game I decided to go ahead and play until I finished it. Well it took me about an hour but I did finally beat the game earning the "normal" ending and an abysmal E ranking. All in all I enjoyed the game even though I didn't find it particularly scary and will eventually check out the other games in the series. I also plan on (eventually) messing around with the new Mission mode that I unlocked upon beating the game and I will (again, eventually) attempt a second playthrough (just to see what all I unlocked from my first playthrough and to see if I can improve my score) of this game.

tav7623 said:

Game Update #5

I was originally gonna wait until tomorrow to try to finish this game, but since I had a feeling I was close to the end of the game I decided to go ahead and play until I finished it. Well it took me about an hour but I did finally beat the game earning the "normal"

Spoiler

Crimson Butterfly

ending and an abysmal E ranking. All in all I enjoyed the game even though I didn't find it particularly scary and will eventually check out the other games in the series. I also plan on (eventually) messing around with the new Mission mode that I unlocked upon beating the game and I will (again, eventually) attempt a second playthrough (just to see what all I unlocked from my first playthrough and to see if I can improve my score) of this game.

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You basically have the same opinion that I do, I like the game a lot, and love its moments, gameplay, atmosphere... But I didn't think it was very scary or challenging.

Not to spoil anything, but there's an additional extra chapter in the game if you play the game on Hard difficulty or higher.

Dusk Golem said:

You basically have the same opinion that I do, I like the game a lot, and love its moments, gameplay, atmosphere... But I didn't think it was very scary or challenging.

Not to spoil anything, but there's an additional extra chapter in the game if you play the game on Hard difficulty or higher.

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Hmmmm, thanks for the heads up! I had no idea there was an extra chapter for playing the game on higher difficulties. I'm definitely going to have to check that out when I do my second playthrough.

Thanks for the LTTP and impressions OP!

I recently bought the PSN download code for FF1 and 2 since it was only $8. P.T. got me back into horror games but this was one franchise I've never tried. I'm excited to play it, even if it's not super scary. That was never terribly important to me, more about the atmosphere and immersion, the story telling.

Boguester said:

Thanks for the LTTP and impressions OP!

I recently bought the PSN download code for FF1 and 2 since it was only $8. P.T. got me back into horror games but this was one franchise I've never tried. I'm excited to play it, even if it's not super scary. That was never terribly important to me, more about the atmosphere and immersion, the story telling.

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Been big on horror games once I realized I actually liked them (which took me a while, I always loved things like ghost stories, Halloween, Goosebumps, scary moments in cartoons, but I used to be a big scaredy-cat so I didn't realize I actually really liked it until much later in my life), but more horror things don't actually scare me. Being scared is a bonus, but it's not the only reason I love horror games, and I think over time I have come to realize I value some elements of horror games more than being scared (why I would rather play something like Fatal Frame 2 over, say, a haunted house simulator). Immersion, atmosphere, story telling are all part of that, those elements are more important for a horror game than any other genre and I think have some of the best 'escapist' qualities to other genres because of how much they involve the feeling of immersion most of the time. But other elements appeal to me as well, ranging from some thinking gaming (gameplay not focused om shooting all the enemies dead and having to rely on other strategies, due to strong foes, limited supplies, etc., as well as traditional puzzles to solve), darker and stranger scenes and environments, twisted but interesting monsters, and that sort of thing. All of that has big appeal for me as well.

Dusk Golem said:

Been big on horror games once I realized I actually liked them (which took me a while, I always loved things like ghost stories, Halloween, Goosebumps, scary moments in cartoons, but I used to be a big scaredy-cat so I didn't realize I actually really liked it until much later in my life), but more horror things don't actually scare me. Being scared is a bonus, but it's not the only reason I love horror games, and I think over time I have come to realize I value some elements of horror games more than being scared (why I would rather play something like Fatal Frame 2 over, say, a haunted house simulator). Immersion, atmosphere, story telling are all part of that, those elements are more important for a horror game than any other genre and I think have some of the best 'escapist' qualities to other genres because of how much they involve the feeling of immersion most of the time. But other elements appeal to me as well, ranging from some thinking gaming (gameplay not focused om shooting all the enemies dead and having to rely on other strategies, due to strong foes, limited supplies, etc., as well as traditional puzzles to solve), darker and stranger scenes and environments, twisted but interesting monsters, and that sort of thing. All of that has big appeal for me as well.

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Yep, agree big time with everything here. Also, Goosebumps really brought me back! haha

I played this last October for the first time. Overall I liked it a lot because of the atmosphere and story, but it did get significantly less scary by hour 3 or 4, and some of the ways to advance the plot and complete tasks were pretty obscure. Well worth playing though.

Boguester said:

Yep, agree big time with everything here. Also, Goosebumps really brought me back! haha

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Same here......growing up Goosebumps were the sh!t (along with Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark), watching the Goosebumps TV show not so much.