Regular discussion #1

[secretstaircase]

Slightly later than expected (sorry!), here's the first discussion topic. A nice easy one to break the ice.

Which Fatal Frame game is your favourite, and why?

Comments

[secretstaircase]

Probably obvious to anyone who knows me: my favourite is the third. The initial reason was that I loved the Manor of Sleep, with all its dark open spaces and hidden rooms, and anything with snow is good in my book.

Then as I got more into Fatal Frame as a whole, I really liked that FF3 had characters who really belonged somewhere. In FF2 particularly, we knew very little about the main characters. Where did they go once the game was over? Where do they call home? What do they do when they're not ploughing through unspeakable horror? That's one reason that up until FF3, I preferred the ghosts and had very little interest in the main characters. I like having a bit of background, knowing about characters' everyday lives and families, and FF3 delved into that more. I was a little disappointed when FF4 went back to the old way of doing it.

I also like all the rituals in FF3. They're confusing and not very well planned-out, admittedly, but when I reached a certain level of involvement in the fandom, I saw it more like a puzzle to be pieced together by really paying attention to everything.

And it comes back to the fact that I just frickin' love the Manor, as well. The setting is just gorgeous, in that creepy way. In the early chapters, I really felt for Yoshino, trapped in all those empty, shadowy rooms arranged in strange patterns. Later I was really drawn to the idea of the last surviving members of the Kuze family living out the remainder of their lives in isolation, with the rest of the manor spreading out in darkness behind locked doors. And the family just slowly dying away - no massacre, no insane rampages or violent curse swamping the place like a tidal wave, just... waiting to die. The idea of them waiting for days or weeks, not just a couple of hours - and the fact that they knew they were doomed and they kept trying anyway.

/waxing lyrical XD

Also, I think the soundtrack to FF3 is beautiful, and the importance of a good soundtrack cannot be downplayed.

[inarticulate]

In terms of gameplay, my favorite is probably II-- it just feels the most streamlined and polished to me. In general, though, my favorite is III. I love Rei and Miku, I love Reika and Kyouka, and I love playing the game.

[secretstaircase]

I'd agree that FF2 is probably the most polished - it's interesting they chose to remake that one when the other two could have benefited from it more, but I guess they picked the one with the broadest appeal in the hope that it would sell well.

I'm glad somebody else likes Rei! For some reason she seems really unpopular; I guess people are more impatient with grief when it's coming from the main character.

[tanamy]

I liked the first one quite a bit.

It's not as polished as the later games, but exploring the Himuro mansion & taking pictures of the ghosts was something new and cool.

Up until then, I had mostly played Resident Evil, and it was much scarier to have a camera instead of a shotgun.

[kallah]

Hm. It's a tossup between the first and the second, I think.

Takamine's group adds an interesting layer to the first game - they're painfully aware of what's happening to them and desperately trying to solve it, just the way Miku is. It's also the only game where some of the ghosts seem to have some degree of self-awareness - Takamine showing Miku where an item is hidden, and Munakata trying to tell Miku not to be afraid during that boss fight.

The second game is the most emotionally involving, though, with the excellent flashbacks and the Spirit Stone Radio, and the way it demonstrates just how damaging the ritual was to the survivors.

[secretstaircase]

Oh, I totally forgot to mention the Spirit Stone Radio in FF2 - probably my favourite thing in any of the games. I wish they'd bring that back.

FF1-3 all have the element of the people who came to the haunted place and died shortly before the main characters arrive (Takamine's group, Masumi/Miyako and Yoshino), but I think FF1 justifies it best, having them be the reason that the main characters go there at all. And Takamine's group definitely seemed more involved in the plot than the abovementioned. Overall I think FF1 has the neatest storyline, without any weird coincidences or trailing ends.