Topic: Zero/Project Zero/Fatal Frame Official Thread

@LtSarge it’s unfortunate that the first two games were not backwards compatible on the Xbox one/series systems. Though their controls are the old tank controls, they are still fantastic games.

As far as the second game on the Wii U, if I’m not mistaken, they remade it for the Wii with better graphics and for the ability to use the Wii remotes. It also came with an extra ending or two that the other versions did not have.

I did play Maiden of the Black Water on the Wii U. It was good but I preferred it on Xbox. I like the traditional controller better than the Wii U pad. The pad’s battery died pretty quickly. I liked the concept of using it as the camera, I think technology failed it though.

There are a lot of horror games on Xbox and more coming. It’s a very exciting time. You can play pretty much all the RE games, The Evil Within, Dead Rising, Outlast, Silent Hill… and many more. If you end up liking Madden of the Black Water, I would give part 2 a shot on the Wii U. Though I never played that version, part 2 is truly creepy and has maybe the best story out of all of them. The stories in these games are deep and intertwine timelines within each other, but you don’t have to play the previous ones first.

@EvilSilentFrame The thing is that I've been mostly gaming on PlayStation the past generation so I already own most of the good horror games on my PS4. However, now that the Series X is my "main" console, I'll be getting most of my games on it from now on. That includes upcoming horror titles like The Callisto Protocol, Resident Evil 4 Remake and Dead Space Remake, all of which I'm very excited for.

But yeah, playing Maiden of Black Water on Xbox first and then Project Zero 2 on Wii U afterwards sounds like a good plan!

@LtSarge maybe if PlayStation gets some of those older games on their new subscription service, that might be another option for you to get to play them. Plus PlayStation also had access to the third game which Xbox never had. The 4th is probably the hardest to get as it was Wii exclusive and never released outside of Japan.

Very good news. After Maiden of Black Water (V), Mask of the Lunar Eclipse (IV) is being remastered for the current generation. Early 2023 is the announced release date.

@Banjo- thank you for putting in the trailer. When I read the article on here, I was still at work. I was super excited and had a hard time focusing as this was truly a surprise to me. I wasn’t expecting to ever get the chance to play the 4th game. I’m glad it’s coming out early 2023 as I want it as soon as possible. Too bad they couldn’t get it out this October , but as you and I talked before about getting 1, 2, and 3 on current platforms, maybe 4 will be early 2023 and then October 2023 we can get another!

@EvilSilentFrame It was a wonderful surprise! I would really love to see the first three games re-released and do a series marathon. Last year's remaster didn't change the graphics very much as it's a Wii U game that still holds up, but next year's remaster looks like a big improvement technically. I think that they're using a modified version of the Wii U engine that they might have used for the first remaster. The fact that they bothered to remaster (remake?) a Wii game that was glitchy at retail makes me think that they're serious about the series now 😊. If the fourth game required a bit of extra work because the original version wasn't properly tested and polished, the third game might come in October 2023!

@EvilSilentFrame @Banjo- Given that it seems to be taking about a year and a half to remake these games October 2024 for the next one seems more likely. They seem to have learnt it’s better to release polished and sell well than release buggy and flop.

Definitely looking forward to Mask of the Lunar Eclipse although Crimson Butterflies is the one I most wanted to play.

@Ryall The first remaster (V) must have been easy to make. The original is a very good-looking 720p game and they updated the graphics a little bit and added a fair number of extras. I guess that the second remaster is taking over a year because it's more of a remake compared to the original version, that is SD and was released prematurely because of a disagreement between the developer and Nintendo. I'm conjecturing but I bet that they're remaking the Wii game on the modified Wii U engine used for Maiden of Black Water (2021). The rest of the games are PS2/Xbox games. They'd need a similar treatment to Mask of the Lunar Eclipse but some of the work is done already and they weren't released before they were ready so less time checking bugs and fixing the code. Around a year might be the time required for each of the remaining remasters/remakes, I hope.

@Ryall I can settle for a October 2024 release for the next rerelease if they were to keep going. I’m just such a fan of them, I want them ASAP lol. But yes they are taking their time and making sure they are not released as a buggy mess.

I never got to play 4 so I’m not going to pretend I understood the control mechanics of the Wii version or how to port/remaster/remake a game as I’m also not a developer. They create magic I will never understand. I would just think with 4, maybe it needed some extra time as since it was for the Wii, I’m guessing it had motion controls. They may have also needed to wait to see how V did before getting to start on VI and the rest (again more assumptions that they are working on more than just VI). I personally don’t need them to improve graphics or anything on 1-3 but I know a lot of people especially the younger generation that didn’t play these back in the day complain about the graphics. So if we get those, I’m guessing they will make them look better like they are doing with the fourth one.

I’m also hopeful that these sell well and they work on a new one. Who knows, it might already be in development. I liked 5, but I liked some of the older ones better. Maybe they can come up with another good story and the new one could be up there with the first two which were my favorites.

@EvilSilentFrame Controls are similar to Project Zero 2 Wii Edition (not released in US) but also the fourth game (released in Japan only) was not properly tested and there were glitches that made impossible to complete the ghosts list. Of course, Western players didn't have many issues because we played using a fan-made patch that translated the game and fixed the main glitches.

As you said, they needed time to check the first remaster's commercial performance so, hopefully, the third remake is not too far away. Honestly, I want to see the same level of graphical quality that I'm seeing in the second remaster (remake?) so, if I have to wait, I'll wait. We're going to be playing the remasters in reverse order but who wants to wait until 2026 or later to start playing the remasters? 🤣

I really appreciate that they kept their promise when the first remaster was released, that depending on reception they would like to bring more games. Thanks fans for supporting the IP 😊.

@Banjo- people were playing the 4th one here in the states too with the same patch. I’m not that tech savvy so I didn’t bother with that one. I think part of me thought eventually it would make its way out of Japan. I just didn’t realize it would be this many years later and not on the Wii or exclusively on a Nintendo system.

I was surprised when Koei Tecmo made the deal with Nintendo with this franchise. It made more sense when they did it with Capcom and Resident Evil as it sells more units. Project Zero/Fatal Frame wasn’t going to sell as many units and then the two companies were fighting over who's job it was to ship it out globally. I thought they would finally get their act together and figure it out. It might not a big seller, but it still would have sold something.

@EvilSilentFrame The trailer shows a massively improved game so I can't wait to play IV again. I'm sure that you will love it. I find it interesting that the title is the same that fans chose for the translation patch, because Japanese titles are a bit ambiguous outside Japan. I don't speak Japanese at all so I would never dare to translate anything but there were several translations for V before the title "Maiden of Black Water" was chosen for the game release outside Japan one year later.

Didn't you feel such relief when the first remaster was announced? The franchise seemed to be dead and in limbo until then.

@Banjo- yes, I felt a huge relief after the first remaster was announced. I thought now that it’s not strictly on a Nintendo console, maybe they can finally get some better numbers for the franchise. I’m not trying to put Nintendo down in anyway. I have a Switch and I think Nintendo makes incredible games. I enjoy them very much and I’m looking forward to a few of the games recently announced as well. I just think now that PZ/FF is on everything else, it widens their potential audience and might put up numbers that would allow future installments. Companies are here to make money. They are not going to make these games at a loss just for us fans, so the more systems it’s on, the better for us in the end.

I’m sure I will love IV as well. I know it wasn’t a fan favorite, but I can still appreciate what it was that they are trying to accomplish with this game. Do you have a favorite in the franchise?

@EvilSilentFrame I'll be sticking with the Switch versions (mostly because they look really good on the OLED screen!), but I'm super happy people across all platforms will finally be able to enjoy this classic horror franchise. Never, ever thought we'd be seeing a proper localized release of Fatal Frame 4.

Hopefully the PS2 trilogy is next if this does well.

@EvilSilentFrame I absolutely agree. Becoming multiplatform is the best thing that could happen. Last year's remaster was a commercial success. At least, 340,000 copies were sold which is the series' record. Also, Nintendo and Tecmo Koei disagreed about the fourth game. The budget was small, Nintendo didn't want to pay more and the game was released with serious glitches. Besides, Nintendo's hardware is weak since Wii so I'm happy to be able to choose what platform I want to play games on. Imagine only being able to play the Switch cloud version of games like Resident Evil...

The first game I played was 2 Wii Edition. That might be my favourite. Hard to beat one of the best when it's also the first you played. The series is criminally overlooked as someone else said. Maiden of Black Water is underrated. In spite of that, it sold very well. Thankfully! What's your favourite?

@Ralizah I thought about getting them for the Switch as well. I don’t have the OLED screen Switch but I do have an OLED TV. I too never thought we would see a proper localized release of Fatal Frame 4 either. I’m super excited for it and it was such a highlight for me from Nintendo’s showcase along with Pikmin 4 and Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. Kind of an odd combo of games I guess but I’m looking forward to them all. Hope you’re right and the PS2 trilogy is next!

@Banjo- I would say 2 is my favorite as well followed closely by 1. They are some of the few games that after I beat them, I continued to think of the story and elements that happened in the game. The way the stories were written and how the rituals connected to the stories I thought was so brilliantly done.

Slight possible spoilers for those who are wishing to play Crimson Butterfly and the original PZ/FF. I really liked the lost village. It truly felt like I was in this tiny village that once had life and now was totally abandoned and lost. The village itself was a bit of a mystery and had almost a mystical supernatural element to it as the village would disappear.

Then there was the twin aspect which they had a ritual that dealt with that issue of making the two into one. The past twins of Sae and Yae and current day twins of Mio and Mayu and the similarities of the two pairs. Makes you wonder if they were just coincidences or reincarnation of the twins. Then reading about the other twins of the village that also went through the ritual. Finding out how the ritual failed and what happened to the people of the village. It was deep and still makes me think and question things about the game.

The first game is right behind it for me. The characters were interesting but I did wonder why they kept coming to the mansion as nobody was seen again after going near it. The level design was good and very claustrophobic at times setting up panic as the ghosts were going through the walls. Learning the mystery of the mansion, your characters connection to the mansion, and then the slight connection of Yae being in both first two games despite not being the major character of either game.

Where the first game really shines I believe is the rituals. Having the blind maiden play a game of demon tag in order to chose the next order of maidens. The fact the first one caught becomes the next blind maiden to symbolize the fact she was blind to be caught so early and the last one being the new rope maiden to symbolize she was the strongest of the bunch so she can keep the gate closed. The blew me away back when first played it. Then before walking into the corridor to the gate, they would use the mask to hopefully blind any ghosts that might have escaped. When they finally get to the gate and they perform the rope ritual, to soak the ropes in the blood and use that to keep the gate closed. There was a lot of symbolism in all of this and I just wanted to know more about the mansion and the rituals as the cover mentioned “true story” which was very loosely based. I can go on and on but those are my favorites in the franchise.

@EvilSilentFrame Excellent comment. That's what I mean about the stories and that all the documents are worth reading. Everything is carefully crafted to make sense in its context. The stories are well-built and intense.

@EvilSilentFrame Tack on the new Fire Emblem and that's the exact list of games I'm excited for as well.

I'd say Fatal Frame 1 is probably still my favorite to date. Even if its a little derivative of RE1's setting, I still feel like Himuro Mansion was a magnificently realized location, and the game does a great job of slowly fleshing out the game's thoroughly disturbing backstory.

I just want an HD version without the english voiceovers. Maybe someday!

Now that all five mainline games will be accessible on real hardware soon, I'm going to replay through the series, and see how my feelings on them have changed over time (sans 4, which I've not touched to date).

@Banjo- I’ve tried getting other to play these games and they didn’t see the point in the story, but a lot of people don’t read all the documents. I mean I understand that sometimes you just want to play, but these games are the kind of games where reading is going to heighten your sense of the story and the game even more. The way the stories are written, I sit there and wish they would decide to do a book because I think some of their ideas are absolutely brilliantly written.

@Ralizah sounds like we like a lot of the same games. I never played Fire Emblem before. Might have to give that one a go.

The Himuro Mansion really was a magnificently realized location. I too want an HD version of the game without the English voiceovers. I wouldn’t mind if they had the English option for those who would prefer it, but as long as I have the option to have the Japanese voices.

After having these discussions on the series, it makes me want to pull out the old Xbox and play these games again. I too never played 4 and I want to replay them and see what I think all these years later. Hopefully it’s not one of those where I remember them being better than what they really are.