Zero Week: A Review of the Fatal Frame Series Part 2

Under the wing of both Tecmo and Grasshopper Studio, known for games such as No More Heroes and Killer 7, Tsukihami no Kamen changed the formula of Zero, starting with the setting. Gone are the oppressive and ancient japanese style manors, with their ground-level detail. Most of the game takes place in a western style sanitarium, as well as a hospital. According to the creators, changing the setting was a necessity because the camera angles also changed drastically. Instead of fixed cameras as sometimes jarring angles, now the camera was situated behind the player character, or behind the back. This meant that not only could traditional japanese settings be difficult with a camera higher up constantly (as these original settings are made for sitting-down eye level), but it added a new kind of approach to anticipating fear. Now, you're forced to advance away, never knowing what could be sneaking up behind you. This puts one into the character's shoes more sublimely than it ever could before. A behind the back perspective isn't new, in fact when Resident Evil 4 came out, it made controls easier for some. A behind the back perspective always gave you lingering doubts as to whether or not you're being followed, as well as forcing you to be more attentive to your setting; in addition, its a perspective that's more similar to Finder Mode, which makes the control switch from 3rd to 1st person less jarring. Normally.

The theme of the game includes keywords like "memory", "moon", and "melody". A disease called "Getsuyuu Syndrome", which causes people to lose their memories, thus identity, and cause them to wander about, looking for the moon. Such a thing is disastrous; people have drowned or defenestrated in the search for the moon. The fear of losing one's identity is something everyone can resonate with. Memories, then, also figure into that, for without memories, we have no reference for our own identity. Our souls do not live in a vacuum, and as such, we need the connection between ourselves and others to truly know who we are.

Many characters wrestle with the void of these memories gone; Ruka, who doesn't remember her beloved father; Misaki, for this mysterious girl in black; even Kirishima, who knows he's forgetting something important on this island as he searches for Ruka. Madoka, on the other hand, refuses to try to remember, because she can feel with her whole body that remembering will destroy her and her friends. The recovery of memories is essential to the game, though it also makes the case for forgetting. Sometimes, forgetting is the one thing that can allow you to be free from the past to make a future.

Like most AR games in the 3DS family, it requires an AR marker, which is the titular diary. You're given a copy in the game box, in which each page is a marker that advances the story as you solve puzzles connected to the diary. Some of the puzzles are actually amazingly thorough, such as page 9's puzzle that leads directly into an insane battle (this battle was a part of the demo during the live event I attended before the game was out).

For many, the use of the AR marker book (which meant it HAD to be played in the light and bright light for proper reading), as well as the gyroscope controls and 3DS cameras to project the ghosts directly into your own room/space, this was the deal breaker.

To that, I argue they're not true fans of the series. True, these games normally are made to be played in spooky atmospheres, like dark rooms (and as the creator insists, with headphones), but the goal of this game (and the next installment on the Wii) was "everybody scared together". So you can't play this game in the dark. You play it with your friends to navigate and learn Maya's sad story, maybe passing the 3DS off to marathon the game (its not long; your first time through story mode can take as little as 3 hours if you're a vet of the series and know the patterns). True, you can't play the game on the bus, but why would you want to? If you want a little fun on the go, and stationary, the game has a mode for taking pictures in which ghosts can show up. So if you wanted to really get the experience Miku's mother Miyuki was getting but without the associated insanity or eating up chunks of film, this game is for you.

And seriously…have you paid attention when you actually PLAY the game, people? Your character is moving around and spinning just as you are IRL. In fact, I argue that Spirit Camera is the truest and closest experience to having an actual Camera Obscura outside the games. And if you can't understand that, then maybe you're better off playing other games that don't upset your complacent view of ghost hunting.

Sorry, I just get emotional, since this game is so perfect for its medium that it really ought to have sold better. Perhaps is low selling was what prevented Shinku no Chou from reaching North America, perhaps not, we'll never know. But you are cheating yourself out of a great game by avoiding it.

Since your 3Ds is your camera, you spend the entire game in Finder mode. Your charge meter is normal, with circles that film as it goes around the aperture. Your film is unlimited (YAY), and limited to a single type (whose parameters appear to be around Type-14). Your huge damage comes down to charging and attacking 1) when its full, or 2) when your circle turns red, which is the only time which can prevent you from taking damage. Damage is shown with a cracked glass effect in your lens.

Different lenses are used more for exploration of the diary, like dispelling seals, or looking into dark places, rather than damage, which makes it easier to juggle. Your camera also has aspects of Dr. Asou's radio technology, as it can pick up on the voices of spirits you vanquish or are searching for. This makes this camera a little more advanced than its sibling cameras, in addition to its sleeker design (it doesn't have a bellows, like the others do).

What also was unique to this installment was the mini-dramas that accompanied it. One in Japanese and one in English. They have very different stories (the japanese mini-drama concerns 3 high school girls who wake the curse by playing the game, which is cursed in the story, whereas the english one concerns a couple who find the diary and are cursed and beset by the spirits haunting it), but both are very interesting to watch. In addition, the japanese site also has a mini-novel dedicated to the diary, and concerns one of the characters in the game, Shiori, whom is a student teacher to students that discuss the diary's rumors. A translation can be found here. All of these different threads all feed into the game's story, which is a sort of precursor to the 零 Media Mix, which premiered earlier this year with news of the film, the novel, the new game and the manga.

Kureha herself was also Itsuki's prototype, and was even written to have a different role, [highlight spoiler] where she would have been Mio in the future and tried to guide herself along a different destiny. Kureha was only one of many things that needed to be retooled in the Wii version of the game, from graphics and up. Following the direction of Tsukihami no Kamen, the behind the back viewpoint returns, and thus, with its traditional japanese architecture, the entire floor plan of the game had to be changed. Objects needed to be moved, as well as footpaths needing to be cleared (remember 1st person mode in the X-Box release of the game, where it was very easy to get caught on debris on the ground or corners of objects jutting out). A lot of care went into making sure the game not only flowed well, but also kept the same feelings its sister game had.

The camera was adjusted to have the same controls as the previous installment, with that handle Lock-On feature, as well as forgoing the proximity charge for time charging as in previous games. Its also improved the Touch System to the Touch More System, that not only included the item reaching but also allowed you to peek under clothes or into windows for added scares and ghost opportunities. Also as well, you can stack lens effect up to 3, which makes dealing damage much easier as well as also enabling you to add debuffs or buffs along with them. By far it makes the camera system a vast improvement to previous games.

Another was in Chapter 8, the addition of 4 new scenes that would be 1) a requirement for new endings, and 2) meant to expand on the hidden feelings within Mayu and the more obvious possession of Yae in Mio. Once you saw these scenes, it was possible to unlock the Hellish Abyss Ending, the Shadow Festival Ending, and the Frozen Butterfly Ending, and those will depend on the conditions of both defeating the Rope Man, and Sae. Structured and arranged in such a way that those conditions being met will trigger certain endings, the 5 endings all together actually make each other stronger, in addition to strengthening the Mayoiga/Lingering Scent/The Long Road Home ending (the game over ending in which you abandon Mayu without fighting the last bosses).

The Promise Ending, which debuted in the X-Box ending, was always considered the "best happy ending", and while the canonical Crimson Butterfly Ending was sometimes thought of "ultimate bad ending" it is considered the only ending that most satisfies the story, a true Zero ending. Hellish Abyss was "worst happy ending", in that [highlight spoiler] they both survive but at the cost of Mio's eyesight. With that thinking, a "worst bad ending" was born, the Frozen Butterfly ending, and the Shadow Festival ending, which is also a bad ending too. But both of these also fit within that tightly knit universe of Akai Chou.

The feelings locked in Mayu, the misunderstanding of Mio's feelings, Mio accepting or not accepting Mayu, all of those play into those new endings as well as the old ones more clearly. The Frozen Butterfly ending is particularly hard to watch, but at the same time shows you more clearly Mayu's and Sae's syncronization: [highlight for spoiler] Sae's laughing while crying as she massacred the villagers was the result of her hatred and bitterness that Yae abandoned her, as well as her desperation of wanting her to return. Its mirrored in Mayu's laughing while crying as she clutched her injured leg; Mayu crying from the pain, laughing that her despair of losing Mio one day has disappeared, and that Mio will be with her together. Forever. And maybe, a part of that is rooted in that small part of her that loves Mio for not wanting to kill her, for refusing her feelings. Mio doesn't understand Mayu, or understands far too late, but that doesn't matter anymore. Because Mayu can have Mio forever in the hell of Minakami Village.

It also bookends with a scene from earlier, a horrifying look at behind that screen….

The Shadow Festival also is an ending where Mio's understanding may come far too late to save them. [highlight spoiler] As Mayu sits at the Abyss, the Repentance just inches away from erupting, she chides Mio for not running away (an action that can be taken in the game over ending). But as Mio reaches her before that last step into hell, she confesses that she can't, that her promise to her sister is more important to her safety. And as the darkness engulfs them, they both have a vision of that festival, and this time, Mio holds her sister's hand, and doesn't let go (echoing her promise in the Promise ending). As they watch the sky fill with lanterns, both girls have a single, shared moment where they were one in mind: marveling at the beauty of the lanterns. This is the moment where Mio and Mayu, disconnected from that accident years ago, disconnected over and over through the village, finally reconnect. What clearly shows this, with Mayu accepting Mio's apology of misunderstanding her for so long, is Mayu cradling her sister as they are engulfed in the darkness. The symbol of them beneath that haori, naked and pure, clasping hands for all eternity. They couldn't escape the village, but they finally were able to become one.

They're both hard endings to watch, even harder without crying, and that's the beauty of the series, all wrapped up under a haori. Its what makes you understand the girls so much better, and hopefully makes you think about the connections between people, those ties that bind, and sometimes, can kill.

零~Zero~Nuregarasu no Miko (Fatal Frame: Raven-Haired/Raven-Slicked Shrine Maiden)

Mount Mikami is long known by the locals as a place where one can properly return to the source of life, water, and if you want your suicide to deliver you to the afterlife properly, you head to the mysterious mountain, where it can change in the blink of an eye, in that moment between breaths, between heartbeats, the golden moment between sunset and night.

Announced during the 零 Media Mix earlier this year, this game had a lot of siblings to enter into the grand family of Zero. It was joined by a novel, which had a movie adaptation, along with a spin-off manga. In what could easily be called the Year of Zero, the fifth game is, at time of writing, not quite a month old. And while its release in Japan has generally seemed to be positive, it hasn't gotten an international release date, which means it too could be stuck in the land of the rising sun with its 2 somewhat unreleased sisters, Tsukihgami no Kamen and Shinku no Chou (the latter, as stated above, missed North America in the west, the former missed by all western regions).

Nuregarasu no Miko has a tricky translation, with the term "nuregarasu" meaning that beautiful, alluring color of black hair that often has highlights of blue or green, like the feathers of a wet crow, from which the term gets its name. " Nuregarasu" is roughly "wet crow's black". Roughly. The term has been fan translated as "raven-haired" and "raven-slick" (the latter in the manga), which could change when the game (when/if) is localized outside of Japan, like the 3rd game's subtitle, which was Shisei no Koe or "voice of the tattoo" and was subtitled "The Tormented" later.

Also returning is everyone's favorite weapon outside the camera (of which in this game, like in Tsukihami no Kamen, has 2): the Spirit Stone Flashlight. More shockingly, its in the hands of a Tecmo familiar not part of the series originally: Ayane from Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden. Placed there by another new staff member (of course who worked on those series), she's part of a side-story, and is armed with the flashlight. Her drawback is that she's not Kirishima. While that's partially said in jest, it should also be known that she cannot seal or defeat enemies with it like he could, but can only use it when cornered. Her play style is mostly conserved to stealth and sneaking, rather than combat. Again, this can be a huge turn off for vets, but I again implore you to look past this as at the least something optional you can ignore, or at the most, a novel way of playing the game. Her style is akin to some who play the games, using valor as the better part of discretion and combating ghosts only as necessity (it evokes the play style difference between say Resident Evil and Silent Hill).

This is where I bring Miku up once more. Yes, she's in the game; as seen from the official site's character page. Many fans on forums complain that Miku has been through enough; she lost her brother, and narrowly avoided 2 separate curses. Shouldn't she be left alone? Hasn't she been through enough?

These answers lie both in the creator's explanations in guidebooks as well as knowing some of the traditions of Japanese horror (and part of the culture). In Shibata-san's words, all of these curses are continuous. They never stop. They may be solved or set right by the heroines, but time will pass, and those hell mouths will need sealing again. This may be tragic, as someone else could stumble upon Himuro Mansion once again and be sucked into the curse. In the case of Minakami Village, there's the extra added difficulty of an entire lake on top of the ritual place. What the future holds for the area remains to be seen.