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Which is why I'm surprised we haven't had them rereleased on the Switch. Like we got 4 and 5 released and the Spyro and Crash trilogies. You'd figure Nintendo would want to stake claim on the original trilogy to confirm "Fatal Frame" as a Nintendo IP. Doesn't really need anything more than a port. A graphics upscale at most.
I just hope that they remaster these trilogies. They already brought Fatal Frame 4 and Maiden In Black Water, on modern consoles. It should go the same as these three as well.
Yeah. You'd figure Nintendo, at least, would have been more aggressive with a base trilogy port with how prevalent the "Fatal Frame" franchise has been in their wheelhouse.
Regarding the reincarnation theory in Fatal Frame 1, I think you underestimate exactly how prevalent reincarnation is in Japanese Shinto and Buddhist mythology. I'm pretty certain that for the intended audience, there's no doubt that Mafuyu is the reincarnation of the maiden's lover. For comparison, notice how we never need to have an exposition dump in The Matrix trilogy to understand the concept that Neo is an allegory for Jesus. It's part of the expected cultural framework.
I find it amazing when you consider that theme as just a cultural expectation when consuming Japanese media in general. Not just on itself, but how having that internalized colours certain executions of other things.
I'm glad someone brought this up. It's a very common complaint with people that play these games but don't understand the religious symbolism. These games are SO influenced by Shinto and Buddhism. There's no reason to say he's a reincarnation because for the Japanese, it's so obvious.
I hope you get to cover the 4th and 5th games as well! I absolutely adore this franchise and it always makes me happy when more and more people get to appreciate these gems of survival horror.
I agree this series is beautiful and I love that the games actually tackle actual issues I enjoyed my time playing 4 and 5 and I too hope you’ll cover them especially how the 5th Game answers a lot of the questions left over from the first 4 games you might’ve asked and never got answered. I love that it seems the series concludes at the end of 5.
I also greatly enjoyed 4 and 5. They might not hold up 100% to the first three, but they're still pretty good. Enjoyed the stories, the fights, and the ghosts even though they're not very scary in 5. I LOVE the 'touch' mechanic from 5, and miss it any time I play an older game.
Nice review as always. Just gonna point this out about double voweled words (ae, ao, oo, ii, ie, etc) in Japanese. With the exception of ai, ei, oi, uu, the vowels are pronounced separately, especially if the words are just vowels. Eg. "Ai" is one sound (aye), "Ie" is two (ee-eh). So "Yae" (an actual Japanese name) is pronounced Yah-eh. Double ii, uu, oo is also verbalised with a longer vowel, or in some instances, with a distinct double vowel sound (Eg. "ii" = Ee-ee). Words with -yu (Ryu, like in Street Fighter) is also a single sound, in this case the same way you would say "view" (so, Riew). Kyushu = Kiew-shoe. Hope that helps.
I have been waiting for you to review this series for the longest time. Everybody is scared of something and nothing has scared me more than the brushing women in fatal frame 3. Also, i'm surprised not a lot have people haven't reviewed this series.
Agree that the twin ghost encounter was peak ff2 experience. Sad part was that when Sae, the weaker twin paralleling Mayu, tripped, it wasn't an accident but was intentional. Feeling that if both of them escaped they would drift apart, she would rather go through the ritual with Yae so that their souls could be one but sadly, Yae didn't hear her fall so she ran and left her behind. It's also quite sad that, despite Sae having the resolve to die, was for her death to in the end, be meaningless since their village got cursed anyway.
Fatal Frame 3 is such a mood man, and the perfect closer to the trilogy of ps 2 games. Something about it just felt real personal to me with the way it explored survivors guilt. The way your real life and the dream start to bleed together and just generally the quiet melancholic feel of it all. Even before your home starts getting haunted everything about it feels so sterile and cold, so still. Like its frozen in time. Its perfect for a set of protagonists stuck in their trauma.
3 is my favorite, I played the game when I was 16 or 17 and didn't have problems following the story. I found Reika to be scary, but very tragic as a character, I really liked her story and the ritual was very interesting. Sae on the other hand only terrified me and always wanted to do nothing with her but run haha. I hope they release the first 3 games on newer systems so I can replay them...
@@billforson3143 The state they released the MGS games for newer systems a few days ago, might be a hint in just stopping to hope for a good remaster and just keep emulating our favorite games if they won't do it properly...
@@PouresMaggie The problem is the company, idk, i just don't have much faith in KoTec nowadays lol. But they did remaster and port not only Fatal Frame 5 but also 4, in very good quality too, especially 4, the entry that was Nintendo exclusive and had many problems with some kind of ownership. So I hope I was wrong about them. As a big fan of the franchise I even hope they continue this series.
@@plipplop728 Imo, the only thing they did well with PZ4's port is the new models, lighting and control configurations. Notice how all the textures are just upscaled and look.... pixelated and bad. They did put work in it, just not as much as they should have. That's why I say emulation is the best, fan emulations nowadays can put 3A companies in their place. I do appreciate the fact I get to play PZ4 after 14 years don't get me wrong, it could've looked better is what I'm saying.
Sae is no joke. That laugh still sends chills down my back, especially during the one chapter where you had to explore without your camera 😭 I agree that Reika has such a sad story once you learn her role and what happened leading up to her ritual. It reminded me of what happened to Kirie and her lover with a couple of other elements thrown in.
I remember i first played Fatal Frame 1 through emulation. A while after playing the other 2 games at a friends house. Apparently theres a slight bug that causes the ghosts to appear invisible. You can kind of see a distortion effect around them but the models would only intermittently actually be visible I didn't know this. My whole playthrough I thought you just weren't supposed to clearly see the ghosts, cause ghosts. I played the whole game not actually being physically able to see the ghosts. It unironically made fatal frame one of the tensest gaming experiences of my life.
Sale thing happened to me emulating 1. Until I got stuck with a puzzle and checked a video where ghosts were visible, and I was able to fix it through the emulator options. It was stressing me so much haha
I like that Fatal Frame's niche gameplay inspired unique indies or experimental titles that made their own little splash here and there like Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir, style wise in Ju-On: The Grudge , Madison and my personal favorite of the lot that has more similarities than most. DreadOut 1 and its sequel DreadOut 2
I still think its very smart that the combat revolves around a camera, most people want to look away from the scary ghosts but being forced to look at them is just great
Omg thanks for this,I love this series as a teen.i was such a anime dweeb and this was perfect for me.i played crimson butterfly 1st and then the 1st.i still never fully played 3 but look love a reboot or a remake of a full more cohesive story line
I so happy cdromance has all 3 with Japanese audio, allow me to get a proper experience without the awful dub getting in the way of the experience and for fatal frame 1 thanks to the ones who added subtitles to first game with the Japanese audio
Technically her distant relative got into V. I mean either way unlike Miku, she has no more conflict to resolve, she already accepted Yu's passing and made peace with it, that's why Miku was in V albeit in the most fucked up way the writer on heavy influence wrote. If anything it's Mio that we need more, girliepop can't even take a break after getting gaslighted into doing the ritual, and then getting dragged left and right in her sleep to basically her personal 9/11 as well.
Awesome coverage of the original trilogy. FF1 was my first horror game that I finished and made me such a huge fan ever since. I absolutely lost it when they announced the remaster for 4 because it hadn't been localized in years and never thought I'd see the day of it being playable on PS. With 5 being remastered first, it felt awesome being able to play all the mainline games on PS after so long. FF2 had been my favorite for the longest time because it felt like they found the right mixture of atmosphere, lore, and combat to make it memorable. Also, the ending songs by Tsuki Amano were always amazing.
The first one has an undub now. I actually never minded the dubs because they're what I like from translations; very dry, literal transfers of the meaning of the Japanese scripts without adding anything that would obfuscate understanding or omitting anything that is difficult for Westerners. The first game is probably my favorite horror game.
Loved the FF series since the first one. Remember hearing the recorder the first time playing slow like demons talking. Friend of mine said "Lights go on, lights STAY ON!". Game freaked him out. Love the series though. Wish they'd do more. Thanks so much for the great video. Brought back some great memories. I worked at a game store and a Marine brought in FF 2. Game freaked him out so much he couldn't finish it. I bought it and so the rest is history. A+ video.
LOVE this trilogy!! Even though the next-gen games are good, the originals will always be my personal canon and very special. Fatal Frame III: The Tormented had, hands down, some of the best graphics the PS2 could offer. I can't really think of a game that looked better than that, Haunting Ground and maybe Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
When my oldest sister told me she was having twins (18 or so years ago) I suggested the names Mio and Mayu... I wasn't holding out a great deal of hope for this though seeing as they already had an older sister called Maia. Then again when my next eldest sister had her second daughter she named her Sofia Eleanor and I took it as a win for Bioshock 2...
I remember my uncle playing the Fatal Frame 2 when I was 7. I never dared to play but I was curious to watch him playing it. Also since my uncle had an undubbed version and all of the dialogues were in Japanese. I was so freaked out of the game that I was even scared to watch animes at that time
This was one of those franchises that by all logic, should not have been as successful as it was in Europe and North America. It's unapologetically Japanese look and concepts to its horror should have flopped. Yet, it succeeded due to good timing and well-executed gameplay and environments. First off, it came out during the golden era of survival horror. This was when we pretty much figured the basics of how to do a 3D game and use dual analog controllers and could focus on other things like aesthetics and voice acting. And we had a good library of successful titles during the Playstation/N64 era of which to draw inspiration on how to make a scary game. Yet, there was still a tolerance for experimentation and creativity, so a unique concept like this was far more accepted. But more importantly, it also came out during the time when Japanese Horror was really taking off in the west. Successful films like The Ring and the Grudge would teach Western audiences to be actually be scared of, as opposed to being confused by, the woman dressed in white with long black hair over her face. Even with all this going for it, there was still a lack of confidence in its success. The fact they changed up Miku's design for the US release. And while it did achieve cult classic status, it wasn't as a heavy of a hitter as Resident Evil and Silent Hill, which were actually made for Western Audiences. But if you went to any top ten list of that time, you would see this one on the top for scariest games.
I've only played the Wii Remake of 2, over 5 years ago and that gamer MARKED me. I still have nightmares related to it. I hope all of the games are actually released on Steam in the future.
I dont agree from fatal frame 3, from me is the best from the series, i know is much more difficult than the other two games and you can lost in the map and the main objectives, but is so dinamic and dark too.
I have only played three fatal frame games. I have one and two on the xbox and five on the playstation 4. I'm excited to play four on the playstation because many people praise four.
EDIT: If you cover the rest of the games, I do hope you at least mention the TV Drama. @2:16 Not completely sure about the missing subtitles, but this is what I heard : - ずっとあなたの夢をみっていたきのする (zutto anata no yume wo mitte ita kino suru) : "I've always been dreaming of you". - Not sure about the next part being "繰り返し" (kurikaishi, which translates to "repetition"). Could be something else, or could have a meaning that went over my head. - でも。。もあなたの夢は見られない (demo.. mo anata no yume ha mirarenai) : "But I also can't see your dreams".. or something along those lines.
14:09 I've been a paranormal investigator for almost a decade now but even I lean more towards the belief that those stories are just marketing 101 hype
FF3 is my favorite in the series and probably my favorite horror game, period. The criticisms here are very fair and valid, but after 2 I really liked the improvements in scariness, gameplay and difficulty, and on top of that the game's a master class in playing with your expectations. It's so, so good. 4 is a bit of a step down, it is still very scary at times and the gameplay is the tensest and most fast paced it's been... but on motion controls. I have played through 2, 3 and 4 and they all suffer from some padding which generally makes the last fifth a bit weaker.
Just recently someone made a new undub patch for Fatal Frame 3, based on the PAL version (Project Zero 3) since that had full subtitles for the entire game to account for multiple languages. It's got a 60hz mode so you don't even need to put up with 25fps.
I prefer English dubs, it allows me to follow the plot better and not worry about subs going too fast, the immersion aspect of not having Japanese voices doesn't bother me, I just pretend they're speaking Japanese and that I understand it, simple, how else would you explain documents written in English?
I use subs on everything I watch (even with English audio) so I tend to prefer them in vidya too, but especially so when the setting ties into it. It's extremely rare for the original VA work to match in dubs.
Man, the gameplay on the original trilogy made it difficult to catch all of it without english dubs. That said, it's not about the language, but the voice acting was bad, not as bad as most of older games VA, but still bad.
@plipplop728 Whether VAs are good or bad isn't something I've really cared about, probably because even the terrible ones do a better job than I ever could. I wish Mask of The Lunar Eclipse had an English dub, even if I had buy it separately for £10.
back when google didnt own the internet, there was website that had actual pictures of supposed himuro mansion,idk the story of the place but it was very haunted supposedly
I never noticed this until now, but the names "Yuu" and "Rei", when combined, create the Japanese word for "ghost" (Yuurei), possibly the most on-the-nose pun that Western gamers would never have a clue about. I haven't checked the Kanji to see if they ACTUALLY used the words for ghost or if it's just a homonym, but still.
Fatal frame 2 has been my fav and best still to this day, 4 is close but issues with gameplay stuff because Nintendo wii. I own the original Xbox ver with the extra features like first person mode. Wonderful video
Thank you for your great video. Maybe it will bring some new fans to this franchise😊 I absolutely love these games. But also there is no other franchise that made me work that hard just to be able to play all the games. 1 and 2 i played on my OG Xbox. Part 3 never got a port so i emulated it a few years later. I remember it ran quite clunky on PCSX2 back then. For Part4 i had my Wii modded to be able to play a fan translation (which was amazing) And Part 5 was pretty much the only game i played on my WiiU... Of course it's great that you can play Part 4 and 5 easily on PS5/XBOX these days. Still hope for remasters for the original trilogy and maybe even a completely new game.
We need the trilogy remade I prob will never be able to play the first 3 games unless I get them emulated…I had a best friend who LOVED this franchise 😢
20:25 Not everything. The camera being proximity based this time was trash, and since they changed it back for FF3 I can't be the only one who thought that.
Excellent trilogy with my favourite survival horror combat. Though to me the first game is without a doubt the best one (despite some minor gripes with the controls). It has the best structure, pacing, environments, enemies and the most challenging and fun combat. Second game feels extremely easy (and hence boring and tedious), that's my main issue, and while it has some cool locations, some feel like a chore to go through (and you can spend an hour at a location which you actually have to go later and can't advance anything now, so you essentially wasted an hour doing nothing). Third game is alright but I find the Manor of Sleep relatively boring compared to what was in the previous games (home sections are dope though). I've played through the fourth game as well, its mediocre at best imo, and fifth one seems even worse. We have a cool fan project to look forward to as well - a group of people are making an open source engine re-implementation of the second game for PC, that will open the door for the other PS2 games later too, and easier undubbing, more foreign language translations, and maybe even modding/new content down the line.
This game series has been a big part of my friend groups life I picked up "Project Zero" in a Tesco in the mid 00s on a whim... Half hour in I put down the controller, got in touch with the guys and suddenly we were all gathered together in a dark room enjoying the ass off of it! Same for when the second and third game came out, it was a real staple of our upbringing When the franchise went japanese WII only and then to the Wii-U we had all grown older, some emigrated, some started families ... But when the re-releases came to steam we all gathered in a discord call and streamed the game together 🥲
I remember playing Fatal Frame as a kid. One of my first horror games I got to play on my own without my parents having to play it for me. I wasn't that good at survival horror games... Hell I'm still not lol. It holds a special spot along with Silent Hill The Room.
Holy shit how was FF2 showing children killing not controversial for the time? All the people performing sodoku? This game sure goes into some dark places
Just to clarify: the ending where Rei, Miku and Kei are alive is the canon ending. This was confirmed by both Keisuke Kikuchi in a guidebook and Makoto Shibata in a tweet from 2011 .
40:16 There are some people who would disagree with this advice, I'm sure. Also, something I noticed you never mentioned. The addition of quick-switching between films in FF3 is great, but they _removed_ the infinite film that FF2 had. Type-07 film is still in the game, but it's a finite resource like any other film, which is a huge disappointment. There may be an abundance of Type-07 film to be found throughout the Manner of Sleep, but it _is_ finite regardless. If you're too overexuberant (or just a bad shot and miss too frequently), it's hypothetically possible to run out.
nah project zero 3 didn't have padding issues towards the end. Ghost entries were excellent as they weren't all linked to aspects of the ritual. needs a port to pc!
"Ugh, I don't feel like doing anything today, just want to watch horror game youtube and not talk to people" > Boulder Punch uploads "Oh shit, for real?"
I love the first one, it's up there with 'Silent Hill 2', but the second one was forgettable (I played it and can't remember anything about it) and every subsequent sequel was boring and I don't think I even bothered finishing the third one. But that first game is a masterpiece!
48:05 bruh, did that hand just teleport there????? 😂 or is that because of some like widescreen mod thing going on which coincidentally made it look funny that way and the og had it cut off there so it didn't look like it was teleporting there?
This was the series that partly got me into filmmaking, during the golden age of Asian horror. Glad to see you cover this. The series deserves better. Shame what happened to fatal frame 5.
Hey, man! Hoping you can review Alan Wake II. I'm a bit skeptical when it comes to the praise it's getting. Hoping you could break it down whether or not it's actually a good survival horror game and a worthy successor to Alan Wake. I'm worried that it's only getting high praise for being a show/film rather than a game. I think GmanLives makes some good arguments, but I'm also unsure if he's being too critical since he specializes in FPS games that are action-heavy. I'm fine with games having a narrative focus, and, at the same time, I'm not a fan of games that have bad pacing when it comes to combat encounters and actual gameplay when tied together with cutscenes. Lastly, I'm afraid the game might be a bait-and-switch wherein Saga is the actual protagonist and not Alan.
in fatal frame 1 mafuyu died in the end and that's why he didn't go with miku. it's never fully clarified by who (kirie or the malice from the mansion and it's ghosts) but he was spirited away. he says he can't go with her because he physically cannot (also why the ending where he does go with her isn't cannon) and he's going to stay behind with kirie and support her rather than go to heaven with the rest of the ghosts. also i really hope the whole miku/mafuyu situation is handled with care when it's talked about because it's so much more than just "ew incest" (which never actually even happens....) there's a lot of traditional japanese folklore that ties into that whole situation which is super interesting actually and tends to not be brought into the conversation!
@@MixerRenegade95 I did not know that so thank you. Tecmo were the producers too so I wonder if Team Ninja will finish the series as they are remastering at least the first two as I think we have Fatal Frame 1 and the second is a prologue iirc?
If they felt like they needed a dude character in Fatal Frame 3, then why not just swap the roles of Yuu and Rei? It is quite odd they add a new character instead of having you play as Mio.
To be honest, thanks for making this video! It brings back my long lost memories about Fatal Frame series. Used to grind 2, 3 and 4 for a long long time - quite obsess ones. But where are the notable mention of Tsuki Amano songs? 🥲🥲
What I don't like is how Fatal Frame often treats the victims as the villains. I'd much rather capture ghosts of the evil Shinto priests and psychotic villagers and make them suffer.
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Honestly, this trilogy is still one of the few horror video games that still legitimately creeps me out. Holds up surprisingly well for the most part.
Which is why I'm surprised we haven't had them rereleased on the Switch. Like we got 4 and 5 released and the Spyro and Crash trilogies.
You'd figure Nintendo would want to stake claim on the original trilogy to confirm "Fatal Frame" as a Nintendo IP.
Doesn't really need anything more than a port. A graphics upscale at most.
I just hope that they remaster these trilogies. They already brought Fatal Frame 4 and Maiden In Black Water, on modern consoles. It should go the same as these three as well.
Yeah. You'd figure Nintendo, at least, would have been more aggressive with a base trilogy port with how prevalent the "Fatal Frame" franchise has been in their wheelhouse.
This and Rumble Roses would be remakes I'd buy instantly. Just give it to my veins straight through Steam.
It always makes me so happy to see Fatal Frame being talked about.
One of the underrated if not the most underrated survival horror game of all time
Regarding the reincarnation theory in Fatal Frame 1, I think you underestimate exactly how prevalent reincarnation is in Japanese Shinto and Buddhist mythology. I'm pretty certain that for the intended audience, there's no doubt that Mafuyu is the reincarnation of the maiden's lover.
For comparison, notice how we never need to have an exposition dump in The Matrix trilogy to understand the concept that Neo is an allegory for Jesus. It's part of the expected cultural framework.
I find it amazing when you consider that theme as just a cultural expectation when consuming Japanese media in general. Not just on itself, but how having that internalized colours certain executions of other things.
Wow thank you for this
still shitty of him to abandon his little sister like that tho.. lol
@@Pastadudde Oh, absolutely. It's just a shitty choice now, rather than totally incomprehensible.
I'm glad someone brought this up. It's a very common complaint with people that play these games but don't understand the religious symbolism. These games are SO influenced by Shinto and Buddhism. There's no reason to say he's a reincarnation because for the Japanese, it's so obvious.
I hope you get to cover the 4th and 5th games as well! I absolutely adore this franchise and it always makes me happy when more and more people get to appreciate these gems of survival horror.
I do plan on it.
don't forget that 3ds spinoff as well 😂
I agree this series is beautiful and I love that the games actually tackle actual issues I enjoyed my time playing 4 and 5 and I too hope you’ll cover them especially how the 5th Game answers a lot of the questions left over from the first 4 games you might’ve asked and never got answered. I love that it seems the series concludes at the end of 5.
I also greatly enjoyed 4 and 5. They might not hold up 100% to the first three, but they're still pretty good. Enjoyed the stories, the fights, and the ghosts even though they're not very scary in 5.
I LOVE the 'touch' mechanic from 5, and miss it any time I play an older game.
I was just thinking about covering this series!
Do it.
Please do it! We need more fatal frame reviews! If we all bring the hype maybe they'll finally give us remasters!
Nice review as always. Just gonna point this out about double voweled words (ae, ao, oo, ii, ie, etc) in Japanese. With the exception of ai, ei, oi, uu, the vowels are pronounced separately, especially if the words are just vowels.
Eg. "Ai" is one sound (aye), "Ie" is two (ee-eh). So "Yae" (an actual Japanese name) is pronounced Yah-eh. Double ii, uu, oo is also verbalised with a longer vowel, or in some instances, with a distinct double vowel sound (Eg. "ii" = Ee-ee).
Words with -yu (Ryu, like in Street Fighter) is also a single sound, in this case the same way you would say "view" (so, Riew). Kyushu = Kiew-shoe. Hope that helps.
Don't forget names like Akane, which is definitely not "a cane".
@@arsia. Omg that grates my jimmies
The undub versions are so much better. Feels more authentic to the folklore of the setting. I wish they had these for the Siren series
If I am remembering correctly you can change language in the options
The Japanese voice actors came across as amateurish. The English VAs did a much better job projecting the correct level of emotion without overacting.
dub is better
@@Halovex wahahhahahhaha no
@@Dead_Hitori wahahhahahahha no
I have been waiting for you to review this series for the longest time. Everybody is scared of something and nothing has scared me more than the brushing women in fatal frame 3.
Also, i'm surprised not a lot have people haven't reviewed this series.
Just thinking about that weird whistling from her music creeps me out.
Agree that the twin ghost encounter was peak ff2 experience. Sad part was that when Sae, the weaker twin paralleling Mayu, tripped, it wasn't an accident but was intentional. Feeling that if both of them escaped they would drift apart, she would rather go through the ritual with Yae so that their souls could be one but sadly, Yae didn't hear her fall so she ran and left her behind. It's also quite sad that, despite Sae having the resolve to die, was for her death to in the end, be meaningless since their village got cursed anyway.
Fatal Frame 3 is such a mood man, and the perfect closer to the trilogy of ps 2 games. Something about it just felt real personal to me with the way it explored survivors guilt. The way your real life and the dream start to bleed together and just generally the quiet melancholic feel of it all.
Even before your home starts getting haunted everything about it feels so sterile and cold, so still. Like its frozen in time. Its perfect for a set of protagonists stuck in their trauma.
Personally the third game connected with me in ways i didnt know a game could. I love it and the story and the characters so much
3 is my favorite, I played the game when I was 16 or 17 and didn't have problems following the story. I found Reika to be scary, but very tragic as a character, I really liked her story and the ritual was very interesting. Sae on the other hand only terrified me and always wanted to do nothing with her but run haha. I hope they release the first 3 games on newer systems so I can replay them...
Sadly if they aren't remade emulation may be our only hope at playing these.
@@billforson3143 The state they released the MGS games for newer systems a few days ago, might be a hint in just stopping to hope for a good remaster and just keep emulating our favorite games if they won't do it properly...
@@PouresMaggie The problem is the company, idk, i just don't have much faith in KoTec nowadays lol. But they did remaster and port not only Fatal Frame 5 but also 4, in very good quality too, especially 4, the entry that was Nintendo exclusive and had many problems with some kind of ownership. So I hope I was wrong about them. As a big fan of the franchise I even hope they continue this series.
@@plipplop728 Imo, the only thing they did well with PZ4's port is the new models, lighting and control configurations. Notice how all the textures are just upscaled and look.... pixelated and bad. They did put work in it, just not as much as they should have. That's why I say emulation is the best, fan emulations nowadays can put 3A companies in their place. I do appreciate the fact I get to play PZ4 after 14 years don't get me wrong, it could've looked better is what I'm saying.
Sae is no joke. That laugh still sends chills down my back, especially during the one chapter where you had to explore without your camera 😭
I agree that Reika has such a sad story once you learn her role and what happened leading up to her ritual. It reminded me of what happened to Kirie and her lover with a couple of other elements thrown in.
I remember i first played Fatal Frame 1 through emulation. A while after playing the other 2 games at a friends house. Apparently theres a slight bug that causes the ghosts to appear invisible. You can kind of see a distortion effect around them but the models would only intermittently actually be visible
I didn't know this. My whole playthrough I thought you just weren't supposed to clearly see the ghosts, cause ghosts. I played the whole game not actually being physically able to see the ghosts.
It unironically made fatal frame one of the tensest gaming experiences of my life.
Sale thing happened to me emulating 1. Until I got stuck with a puzzle and checked a video where ghosts were visible, and I was able to fix it through the emulator options. It was stressing me so much haha
That's like a great idea for some sort of hard mode, lol
I like that Fatal Frame's niche gameplay inspired unique indies or experimental titles that made their own little splash here and there like Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir, style wise in Ju-On: The Grudge , Madison and my personal favorite of the lot that has more similarities than most. DreadOut 1 and its sequel DreadOut 2
you know that spirit camera is an actual FF spin-off and not an inspired indie title, yeah?
@@Conner3326 I do even if it's not obvious by first glance on the title
I still think its very smart that the combat revolves around a camera, most people want to look away from the scary ghosts but being forced to look at them is just great
Omg thanks for this,I love this series as a teen.i was such a anime dweeb and this was perfect for me.i played crimson butterfly 1st and then the 1st.i still never fully played 3 but look love a reboot or a remake of a full more cohesive story line
I so happy cdromance has all 3 with Japanese audio, allow me to get a proper experience without the awful dub getting in the way of the experience and for fatal frame 1 thanks to the ones who added subtitles to first game with the Japanese audio
The dub wasn't THAT bad, granted dubbing has improved a lot since
@@chrisdiokno5600truth, felt like they really tried in the 2nd and 3rd game
@@chrisdiokno5600 Not as bad as the original Resident Evil at least, but i recently revisited Fatal Frame 1, and I can't deny it was baaad lol.
Hope they bring back Rei Kurosawa for a future game
Letz just hope she doesnt get the Miku treatment
@@namanh8439god that was such a stupid fucking thing to do
Technically her distant relative got into V. I mean either way unlike Miku, she has no more conflict to resolve, she already accepted Yu's passing and made peace with it, that's why Miku was in V albeit in the most fucked up way the writer on heavy influence wrote.
If anything it's Mio that we need more, girliepop can't even take a break after getting gaslighted into doing the ritual, and then getting dragged left and right in her sleep to basically her personal 9/11 as well.
"A Guide to Japan and their Isolated Mountain Villages with Gateways to Hell and The Rituals to close them."
Awesome coverage of the original trilogy. FF1 was my first horror game that I finished and made me such a huge fan ever since. I absolutely lost it when they announced the remaster for 4 because it hadn't been localized in years and never thought I'd see the day of it being playable on PS. With 5 being remastered first, it felt awesome being able to play all the mainline games on PS after so long.
FF2 had been my favorite for the longest time because it felt like they found the right mixture of atmosphere, lore, and combat to make it memorable.
Also, the ending songs by Tsuki Amano were always amazing.
The first one has an undub now. I actually never minded the dubs because they're what I like from translations; very dry, literal transfers of the meaning of the Japanese scripts without adding anything that would obfuscate understanding or omitting anything that is difficult for Westerners.
The first game is probably my favorite horror game.
41:34 The most relatable cat in gaming
Loved the FF series since the first one. Remember hearing the recorder the first time playing slow like demons talking. Friend of mine said "Lights go on, lights STAY ON!". Game freaked him out. Love the series though. Wish they'd do more. Thanks so much for the great video. Brought back some great memories. I worked at a game store and a Marine brought in FF 2. Game freaked him out so much he couldn't finish it. I bought it and so the rest is history. A+ video.
LOVE this trilogy!! Even though the next-gen games are good, the originals will always be my personal canon and very special.
Fatal Frame III: The Tormented had, hands down, some of the best graphics the PS2 could offer. I can't really think of a game that looked better than that, Haunting Ground and maybe Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
Always a treat to see a Boulder Punch upload
When my oldest sister told me she was having twins (18 or so years ago) I suggested the names Mio and Mayu... I wasn't holding out a great deal of hope for this though seeing as they already had an older sister called Maia. Then again when my next eldest sister had her second daughter she named her Sofia Eleanor and I took it as a win for Bioshock 2...
Wtf is this word salad. No one cares.
I remember my uncle playing the Fatal Frame 2 when I was 7. I never dared to play but I was curious to watch him playing it. Also since my uncle had an undubbed version and all of the dialogues were in Japanese. I was so freaked out of the game that I was even scared to watch animes at that time
This was one of those franchises that by all logic, should not have been as successful as it was in Europe and North America. It's unapologetically Japanese look and concepts to its horror should have flopped. Yet, it succeeded due to good timing and well-executed gameplay and environments.
First off, it came out during the golden era of survival horror. This was when we pretty much figured the basics of how to do a 3D game and use dual analog controllers and could focus on other things like aesthetics and voice acting. And we had a good library of successful titles during the Playstation/N64 era of which to draw inspiration on how to make a scary game. Yet, there was still a tolerance for experimentation and creativity, so a unique concept like this was far more accepted.
But more importantly, it also came out during the time when Japanese Horror was really taking off in the west. Successful films like The Ring and the Grudge would teach Western audiences to be actually be scared of, as opposed to being confused by, the woman dressed in white with long black hair over her face.
Even with all this going for it, there was still a lack of confidence in its success. The fact they changed up Miku's design for the US release. And while it did achieve cult classic status, it wasn't as a heavy of a hitter as Resident Evil and Silent Hill, which were actually made for Western Audiences. But if you went to any top ten list of that time, you would see this one on the top for scariest games.
I've only played the Wii Remake of 2, over 5 years ago and that gamer MARKED me. I still have nightmares related to it.
I hope all of the games are actually released on Steam in the future.
The fact you mentioned the factors of earning more points in combat resemble how both bioshock and dead risings camera systems would work!
I dont agree from fatal frame 3, from me is the best from the series, i know is much more difficult than the other two games and you can lost in the map and the main objectives, but is so dinamic and dark too.
I have only played three fatal frame games. I have one and two on the xbox and five on the playstation 4. I'm excited to play four on the playstation because many people praise four.
EDIT: If you cover the rest of the games, I do hope you at least mention the TV Drama.
@2:16 Not completely sure about the missing subtitles, but this is what I heard :
- ずっとあなたの夢をみっていたきのする (zutto anata no yume wo mitte ita kino suru) : "I've always been dreaming of you".
- Not sure about the next part being "繰り返し" (kurikaishi, which translates to "repetition"). Could be something else, or could have a meaning that went over my head.
- でも。。もあなたの夢は見られない (demo.. mo anata no yume ha mirarenai) : "But I also can't see your dreams".. or something along those lines.
In this case, I think kurikaeshi is implying a cyclical repeated event, so roughly in English "over and over" or "again and again."
14:09 I've been a paranormal investigator for almost a decade now but even I lean more towards the belief that those stories are just marketing 101 hype
A classic series
FF3 is my favorite in the series and probably my favorite horror game, period. The criticisms here are very fair and valid, but after 2 I really liked the improvements in scariness, gameplay and difficulty, and on top of that the game's a master class in playing with your expectations. It's so, so good. 4 is a bit of a step down, it is still very scary at times and the gameplay is the tensest and most fast paced it's been... but on motion controls. I have played through 2, 3 and 4 and they all suffer from some padding which generally makes the last fifth a bit weaker.
Rei’s cat is the MVF of the series.
Most Valuable Feline
just in time for halloween, my favorite horror franchise
Just recently someone made a new undub patch for Fatal Frame 3, based on the PAL version (Project Zero 3) since that had full subtitles for the entire game to account for multiple languages. It's got a 60hz mode so you don't even need to put up with 25fps.
These games are still awesome.
I prefer English dubs, it allows me to follow the plot better and not worry about subs going too fast, the immersion aspect of not having Japanese voices doesn't bother me, I just pretend they're speaking Japanese and that I understand it, simple, how else would you explain documents written in English?
I use subs on everything I watch (even with English audio) so I tend to prefer them in vidya too, but especially so when the setting ties into it. It's extremely rare for the original VA work to match in dubs.
Man, the gameplay on the original trilogy made it difficult to catch all of it without english dubs. That said, it's not about the language, but the voice acting was bad, not as bad as most of older games VA, but still bad.
@plipplop728 Whether VAs are good or bad isn't something I've really cared about, probably because even the terrible ones do a better job than I ever could.
I wish Mask of The Lunar Eclipse had an English dub, even if I had buy it separately for £10.
More boulder punching madness. It's gonna be a good day
this will always be one of the scariest game series of all time such a cool unique game
back when google didnt own the internet, there was website that had actual pictures of supposed himuro mansion,idk the story of the place but it was very haunted supposedly
I never noticed this until now, but the names "Yuu" and "Rei", when combined, create the Japanese word for "ghost" (Yuurei), possibly the most on-the-nose pun that Western gamers would never have a clue about. I haven't checked the Kanji to see if they ACTUALLY used the words for ghost or if it's just a homonym, but still.
I rented the first FF when I was a young lad, back when Blockbuster existed. It scared me too much, I couldn't play thru it!
Been begging for 20 years for a physical remaster
Thinking about it now its crazy they haven't released a Fatal Frame game for VR
THANK YOU! Why don't we have this, even as an off shoot like the 3ds one
Oh boy, i’ve been waiting for this day to come since his RE clones video! 😮
Love seeing new fatal frame content! :D 🎉
Still hoping for an og trilogy remaster!
i played this when I was like 14 on psx2, all of it. Loved it.
also holy fk that was 8 years ago im old aware
Fatal frame 2 has been my fav and best still to this day, 4 is close but issues with gameplay stuff because Nintendo wii. I own the original Xbox ver with the extra features like first person mode. Wonderful video
THIS👏SERIES👏NEED👏MORE👏ATTENTION!👏
I love the Fatal Frame serie. I still remember the layout of Himuro Mansion by heart even now
Yay! I love your videos and this game franchise! I’m so happy! Thank you!
Thank you for your great video. Maybe it will bring some new fans to this franchise😊
I absolutely love these games. But also there is no other franchise that made me work that hard just to be able to play all the games.
1 and 2 i played on my OG Xbox. Part 3 never got a port so i emulated it a few years later. I remember it ran quite clunky on PCSX2 back then. For Part4 i had my Wii modded to be able to play a fan translation (which was amazing) And Part 5 was pretty much the only game i played on my WiiU...
Of course it's great that you can play Part 4 and 5 easily on PS5/XBOX these days.
Still hope for remasters for the original trilogy and maybe even a completely new game.
We need the trilogy remade I prob will never be able to play the first 3 games unless I get them emulated…I had a best friend who LOVED this franchise 😢
It's not hard to emulate them if you have a PC, just get PCSX2 and get an iso file from Vimm's Lair, they likely have the entire trilogy.
A yes, the spirit of a cane!
I love the fashion on display in these games
Fatal Frame is a great series and Happy Halloween!
The fact that a lot of people out there still doesn't know about this series frustates me to no end.
20:25 Not everything. The camera being proximity based this time was trash, and since they changed it back for FF3 I can't be the only one who thought that.
Excellent trilogy with my favourite survival horror combat. Though to me the first game is without a doubt the best one (despite some minor gripes with the controls). It has the best structure, pacing, environments, enemies and the most challenging and fun combat. Second game feels extremely easy (and hence boring and tedious), that's my main issue, and while it has some cool locations, some feel like a chore to go through (and you can spend an hour at a location which you actually have to go later and can't advance anything now, so you essentially wasted an hour doing nothing). Third game is alright but I find the Manor of Sleep relatively boring compared to what was in the previous games (home sections are dope though).
I've played through the fourth game as well, its mediocre at best imo, and fifth one seems even worse.
We have a cool fan project to look forward to as well - a group of people are making an open source engine re-implementation of the second game for PC, that will open the door for the other PS2 games later too, and easier undubbing, more foreign language translations, and maybe even modding/new content down the line.
This game series has been a big part of my friend groups life
I picked up "Project Zero" in a Tesco in the mid 00s on a whim... Half hour in I put down the controller, got in touch with the guys and suddenly we were all gathered together in a dark room enjoying the ass off of it! Same for when the second and third game came out, it was a real staple of our upbringing
When the franchise went japanese WII only and then to the Wii-U we had all grown older, some emigrated, some started families ... But when the re-releases came to steam we all gathered in a discord call and streamed the game together 🥲
I remember playing Fatal Frame as a kid. One of my first horror games I got to play on my own without my parents having to play it for me. I wasn't that good at survival horror games... Hell I'm still not lol. It holds a special spot along with Silent Hill The Room.
FF2 has its issues but it's still may favorite among all FF games.
Holy shit how was FF2 showing children killing not controversial for the time? All the people performing sodoku? This game sure goes into some dark places
Just to clarify: the ending where Rei, Miku and Kei are alive is the canon ending. This was confirmed by both Keisuke Kikuchi in a guidebook and Makoto Shibata in a tweet from 2011 .
this needs a remastered version on current & last gen consoles as well..havent got a chance to play it before on ps2
This is some ace Halloween content 🖤🧡 great focus
40:16 There are some people who would disagree with this advice, I'm sure.
Also, something I noticed you never mentioned. The addition of quick-switching between films in FF3 is great, but they _removed_ the infinite film that FF2 had. Type-07 film is still in the game, but it's a finite resource like any other film, which is a huge disappointment. There may be an abundance of Type-07 film to be found throughout the Manner of Sleep, but it _is_ finite regardless. If you're too overexuberant (or just a bad shot and miss too frequently), it's hypothetically possible to run out.
2 hits different when you really have a twin as well
nah project zero 3 didn't have padding issues towards the end. Ghost entries were excellent as they weren't all linked to aspects of the ritual.
needs a port to pc!
This one and silent hill 2 are my favorites , they are the scariest ones
SH2 is fantastic, but SH3 is leaps and bounds scarier.
"Ugh, I don't feel like doing anything today, just want to watch horror game youtube and not talk to people"
> Boulder Punch uploads
"Oh shit, for real?"
These games always remind me of 4PlayerPodcast
The way Yae, Sae, and Akane are pronounced are such an earsore despite the gargantuan effort poured into this documentary project
I love the first one, it's up there with 'Silent Hill 2', but the second one was forgettable (I played it and can't remember anything about it) and every subsequent sequel was boring and I don't think I even bothered finishing the third one. But that first game is a masterpiece!
48:05 bruh, did that hand just teleport there????? 😂
or is that because of some like widescreen mod thing going on which coincidentally made it look funny that way and the og had it cut off there so it didn't look like it was teleporting there?
The movie shutter is going to be the closest thing that we will get to a live action Fatal Frame movie
What about Ju on?
Ever heard Lusty Brown Butterfly?
This was the series that partly got me into filmmaking, during the golden age of Asian horror. Glad to see you cover this. The series deserves better. Shame what happened to fatal frame 5.
god hates weebs
Great work!
Hey, man! Hoping you can review Alan Wake II. I'm a bit skeptical when it comes to the praise it's getting. Hoping you could break it down whether or not it's actually a good survival horror game and a worthy successor to Alan Wake. I'm worried that it's only getting high praise for being a show/film rather than a game. I think GmanLives makes some good arguments, but I'm also unsure if he's being too critical since he specializes in FPS games that are action-heavy. I'm fine with games having a narrative focus, and, at the same time, I'm not a fan of games that have bad pacing when it comes to combat encounters and actual gameplay when tied together with cutscenes. Lastly, I'm afraid the game might be a bait-and-switch wherein Saga is the actual protagonist and not Alan.
Are the XBOX ports better?
Thanks man!!!!
POGGERU! Fatal frame 🥲
in fatal frame 1 mafuyu died in the end and that's why he didn't go with miku. it's never fully clarified by who (kirie or the malice from the mansion and it's ghosts) but he was spirited away. he says he can't go with her because he physically cannot (also why the ending where he does go with her isn't cannon) and he's going to stay behind with kirie and support her rather than go to heaven with the rest of the ghosts. also i really hope the whole miku/mafuyu situation is handled with care when it's talked about because it's so much more than just "ew incest" (which never actually even happens....) there's a lot of traditional japanese folklore that ties into that whole situation which is super interesting actually and tends to not be brought into the conversation!
First time i played this game a ghost strangled me and i turned my ps2 off and ran iutside and ddint play it for another year 😂
It’s the year of our lord 2023 and we’re still stretching our 4:3 footage to 16:9.
Great video otherwise!
2:02 CZcamsr openly admits to using pirated ROMs to capture his video, then tells you where to get them 😂
isn't Project Zero the same concept though?
Project Zero/Fatal Frame is the same but keep in mind that Project Zero is also the name of the Dev Team.
@@MixerRenegade95 I did not know that so thank you. Tecmo were the producers too so I wonder if Team Ninja will finish the series as they are remastering at least the first two as I think we have Fatal Frame 1 and the second is a prologue iirc?
If they felt like they needed a dude character in Fatal Frame 3, then why not just swap the roles of Yuu and Rei?
It is quite odd they add a new character instead of having you play as Mio.
Made sense to me as i feel mio is way too damaged to control and save herself and at least one other person in another camera obscura adventure
It really sucks that Fatal Frame series went from being available for PlayStation and Xbox. To being a exclusive Nintendo series.
There's hope, now that they remastered 4th and 5th for other platforms.
To be honest, thanks for making this video! It brings back my long lost memories about Fatal Frame series. Used to grind 2, 3 and 4 for a long long time - quite obsess ones. But where are the notable mention of Tsuki Amano songs? 🥲🥲
What I don't like is how Fatal Frame often treats the victims as the villains. I'd much rather capture ghosts of the evil Shinto priests and psychotic villagers and make them suffer.
The english dub is hilarious
The way you butchered Yae and Akanes names ist killing me.
Still can't accept how they ruined Miku in FF5.