(ominous music, wind rustling) There's probably no horror game
series that has been the subject of more UN-deserved disrespect
than Fatal Frame. Actually, forget “horror game series”
and just make that “video game series,” full stop. These are games that have been hailed
by critics and fans alike as definitive, must-play horror titles that
rank alongside the all-time greats. And yet, publishers and
marketers never seem to know exactly what to DO
with the Fatal Frame games. No entry in the series has ever sold
blockbuster numbers, and in its now twenty years of existence, the
franchise has been bounded and shuffled between no less than SIX
different publishers worldwide, like the world’s worst
game of haunted hot potato. This is, pardon my
French, a DAMN shame. (eerie, ghostly moans) The Fatal Frame series absolutely
lives up to the title of “cult classic.” This is because of how well it manages the most
essential part of the horror-gaming experience: The dialectical synthesis-of-opposites. *sniffs* The player spends plenty of time sifting through
the metaphoric murk of a haunted house or village, (thunk) only for this slow-boiling tension
to be suddenly punctuated by moments of sheer,
pants-soiling run-for-the-hills terror, as you’re set upon by
wailing armies of ghastly and ghostly undead. (shocked outcry, thunk) And then, you face your
fears, overcome them, and earn the key to surpass
whatever obstacle is blocking your way. (camera flash, ghostly screams) This expert balance of exploration and combat
highlights how the Fatal Frame games are- -at their core- -a perfect symbiosis of
excellent action-gaming, intriguing backstory and
folklore, and gripping horror thrills. (intense horror percussion and gasping) All this, combined with the
signature Fatal Frame ghost design, making you face not vile,
aggressive monsters, but tragic entities,
locked between life and death within an emotional spectrum ranging from
eternally sad to mortally angry not at you personally, but at the tragic circumstances
of their lives and deaths; while you, the player, are the one who bears the
brunt of it. It’s truly unmatched,
and Mask of the Lunar Eclipse is no exception to the series’
iconic handwriting in this. Longtime series developer
Tecmo-Koei is perhaps most famous for mechanically dense fighting
games like Dead or Alive, or for the joyously hyper-kinetic
action of Ninja Gaiden. And that same game design pedigree
is easily evident in Fatal Frame as well. These games are so frightening in large part
because of how mechanically compelling they are. As in, they’re just a ton of fun to play. (camera flash, ghostly moans) And wouldn’t you know it: Right on time for
Spooky Season this year, the previously Wii-U-only
title Maiden of the Black Water is getting a proper port on modern
hardware at the end of October. Maiden of the Black
Water is a very solid game. I won’t go so far as saying
you should pre-order it- -because you should really NEVER
pre-order digital-only games- -never ever ever because
it reinforces the horrible business practices by publishers
that we all loathe so much- -but...this is absolutely the sort
of release that is worth supporting. If only to signal to Nintendo that yes,
the Fatal Frame fandom is alive and well. - "There are dozens of us. Dozens!!" - But today, we’re going to explore
a DIFFERENT game in the series: The mythical lost chapter
of the Fatal Frame saga, and the only entry to never be
released outside of Japan. The absence of an international
release means that this is THE most overlooked
game in the series by far, and easily one of the most overlooked
modern horror games in existence. And that’s, again,
a DAMN shame, because not only is this
game an absolute joy to play, it’s a serious contender for the
crown of “best game in the series,”- -I'm not joking here- -up there with
Crimson Butterfly. And the fact that, TO THIS DAY, the game
remains locked to the Wii hardware, with no official translation, or
re-release, or anything else. This is the very definition of an
UNPUNISHED CAPITAL CRIME. (Law and Order siren blaring) Luckily, there exists a phenomenally
implemented fan-translation that runs marvellously on emulators, about which
I’ll certainly go into in more detail and, at the same time ensure that the group
of admirable buccaneers of video game preservation responsible for it receive the
standing ovations they deserve for their work. But more on that later. I’ve covered the first three games
in this series on my channel before, so the time has come to tell the tale of
the legendary lost entry in the series. And not only that, but it’s FAR
past time for a full accounting of the many heroes and villains who
operated behind the scenes of this tale. This is Zero:
Tsukihami no Kamen. Or, as we call it
UN-officially in the west, Fatal Frame 4: Mask
of the Lunar Eclipse. This game totally re-invents many
key elements of the series formula, and yet it nevertheless plays and FEELS
just like a bonafide Fatal Frame title. (cacophony of ghoastly moans,
noise and camera flashes) And, as with every Fatal
Frame game that came before, it shows just how terrifying
video games can be. (screaming, noise, music fading in) (Monsters of the Week theme playing) (noise getting increasingly louder)
"What is this place?" (bell chiming) - Though Fatal Frame has never
been a top-selling series, or even a top-selling
Survival Horror series, each title served as its own worthwhile
entry in the horror-gaming canon. And each game greatly expanded upon
or improved what that came before it: Fatal Frame 1 set a compelling
template for the whole series, while also helping to inspire a new
generation of survival horror games. Fatal Frame 2 was a damn near
perfect horror experience that elevated the established formula to new
heights of mechanical excellence. And Fatal Frame 3 would give the
series a truly epic sense of scope, with its multiple playable characters
and intersecting narratives. But by the mid-to-late 2000s, the
Survival Horror genre was in new territory. This was the age of the OMNIPRESENT RESIDENT
EVIL 4 OVER-THE-SHOULDER VIEWPOINT. From the early days of Survival
Horror through the mid-2000s, the fixed-camera or fixed-perspective viewpoints
were considered essential elements of the “classic survival horror experience.” But with the revolution of Resi 4, the
third- person over-the-shoulder perspective became the new gold standard
not just for horror games, but also for pretty much all action
and adventure games going forward. Fatal Frame 4 saw the series adapting
not only to this change of perspective, but also to one of the most intriguing new
developments to happen in gaming at the time: The widespread adoption
of motion controls, thanks to the explosive and world-
devouring popularity of the Nintendo Wii. To give you some perspective of just
what a cultural juggernaut the Wii was, Wii Sports is still the fourth-
best-selling game of all time, weighing in at nearly
83 million copies sold. And that was purely on the strength
of it being a pack-in game for the Wii- -just like the old Mario/Duck
Hunt combo back in the NES days. By way of comparison, Todd
Howard’s Perpetual Motion Machine, AKA Skyrim, has sold an estimated 30 million copies across
its many, many, many releases and remasters. The Wii’s massive popularity
meant that motion controls had very suddenly become a Big
Thing in the gaming space. And with Nintendo having acquired the exclusive
publishing rights to the Fatal Frame series, Koei-Tecmo began work on a next-generation horror
title that would make the most of this new tech. But for a big-league
project like this, they couldn’t have just let any
old auteur fill the director’s role. This required someone with a
legendary sense of aesthetics and cool, and keen eye for what makes
action and horror games great. The chair of co-director for this game was
filled by one of the best in the business: Goichi Suda. Or, as he’s better known
and loved, Suda51. Suda51 and his comrades at
Grasshopper Manufacture were front-and-center in the development
of this game, and it REALLY shows. The signature “Suda touch” is
evident right away in Fatal Frame 4, even before you’ve
picked up a controller. The aesthetic of Mask of the Lunar Eclipse
makes heavy use of blue-yellow color contrasts, which marks a striking
departure from the traditional survival horror color palette of
washed out gray-brown-greens. This game is bathed in soft moonlight
blues and inky purple-blacks, which are punctuated by warm
and hazy yellow illuminations. These tweaks to the Fatal Frame
style are even more effective for how they subtly complement
the overall tone of the series. This is most definitely
a Fatal Frame game, but one with its very own
unique vibe and aesthetic. And the cumulative effect
is a masterful, almost painterly interplay
between shadow and light, warm and cold, tableaus of curtains
flapping softly in the pale moonlight, and of dim illuminations setting soft shadows
dancing down haunted hallways. Not to mention how the protagonist’s
bright yellow dress positively pops in contrast to
her cool-blue environs. The fresh over-the-shoulder
perspective; the adoption of motion-controls
and the striking new aesthetic; ALL of these ingredients give rise
to a game that is so much more than just a competent
entry in a venerable series. These tweaks and change-ups
to the established formula didn’t just give the Fatal Frame
series a new lease on life. Mask of the Lunar Eclipse
represents nothing short of a quiet revolution in survival
horror game design. Seriously, a total thrill-ride
from stem to stern that elevated horror gaming
to new realms of terror. (distorted scream) Motion controls..... - [Arin] "Ahh Dan I can't this is so dumb" "This is so dumb!"
(Dan laughing) ....are generally not well-loved. And, sure, sometimes that bad
reputation is rightfully earned. (frustrated laughter) But while a lot of energy has
been expended in critique of bad or cringeworthy
examples of motion controls, there’s been far, far less critical
examination of the games that get it RIGHT. Because when motion controls ARE
implemented well and done correctly, they can become the
magic umami ingredient. That extra dose of interactivity that elevates
a “good” game into something truly sublime. (cartoon sounds, horse neighing) Fatal Frame 4 didn’t get
an international release, but there were a handful of import
reviews that cropped up in the west. And sadly, this game’s control scheme was
almost uniformly slagged off in the writeups, in keeping up with the “motion
controls R 4 casual dum-dums” ""hardcore gamer""
groupthink of the time. While these terrible takes may have
aged like yoghurt in the desert, the opposite is true
for Fatal Frame 4. (camera flash) This game is just as, if not even more, excellent
now as it was nearly a decade-and-a-half ago. And that is BECAUSE OF, not in spite
of, the excellent motion controls, which underpin and uplift
the entire experience. And that’s even moreso the case thanks
to the magic of modern emulation, which lets you enjoy motion controls
without requiring the expensive, proprietary, Nintendo-branded
Wiimote and Nunchuk. But whoahhh there! Let’s pump the
brakes for a second. I’m getting a bit
ahead of myself. We’ll get to that part
later in the video. Here’s the thing: The motion controls in Fatal Frame
4 are so much more than just a gimmick implementation of
the Wii’s console hardware. Motion controls are pitch-
perfect on both a mechanical AND philosophical level when
it comes to horror games. But despite being so complementary to
the genre, especially survival horror, motion controls seem to have come and
gone from the survival horror scene with very little commentary
or critical analysis. Which makes the experience of playing
Fatal Frame 4 for the first time in 2021 feel all the more remarkable. An absolutely unexpected breath of fresh
air in a genre that’s been dear to my heart for decades, where I feel it’s hard to
surprise me at this point in time. Survival horror is a game design
niche where the player’s movement is purposefully designed to
feel weighty and considered, full of friction and momentum. I mean, hell, this is the exact reason
why there’s a whole dang schism in the Church of Survival Horror
around the sacredness of tank controls. At this point, we’re just a few
months away from some upstart Itch.io dev nailing their 95
theses to the cathedral doors. Ayyyy, is this
joke too heretical? Where are all my Catholics in the audience? (taps mic) Anyway, The motion of the
player-character is always a primary consideration
in survival horror games. Movement is often slow
or cumbersome, which means you need to be thoughtful
and intuitively favor a defensive, planned approach as you navigate
through trap- and monster-filled labyrinths. Which makes them an extremely
potent means to immerse the player in their role via the simulation
of physical movement, ESPECIALLY in a
survival horror context. And it’s here where Mask of the
Lunar Eclipse really struts it off. As you navigate the haunted
warrens of Rougetsu Island, you’ll use the motion controls to “point”
at different parts of the environment and train your character’s gaze, and therefore
the camera perspective, in that direction. No longer will you have to patrol
each and every room’s perimeter, furiously mashing the
“interact” button as you hope to catch a hidden item or
trigger a concealed switch. In Mask of the
Lunar Eclipse, it’s only by shining your flashlight directly
on different parts of the environment that you can find items, solve
puzzles, and discern where to go next. (morse beeping) Combat follows
a similar scheme. Once you ready the
trusty Camera Obscura, you’ll use the motion controls to
aim the viewfinder in first-person, with movement along the X and Y axes tied
to both pointing and rolling the controller. And as is the series’ tradition, the
longer you wait to charge your shot and the closer the enemies creep, the
more powerful your attacks become. (camera flash, ghost howling) You can also shake the controller
to execute a 180-quick-turn, or to play the artful dodger
when ghosts lunge at you, at least, until you fall down on your
ass trying it one too many times. (ghosts wailing) Fatal Frame is already a
tense experience when you’re being set upon by wailing
ghostly assailants, but the addition of motion controls gives
it an uncanny physicality that is both thrilling and TERRIFYING. (heartbeat) I, personally, am somebody whose response
to jump scares is almost exclusively stoic, and that’s not a
bragging thing; I’m just severely anhedonic, but Fatal Frame really got my blood
pumping through its masterful blend of thrilling spirit-combat and immersive motion
controls multiple times throughout the game. The ghosts themselves
get an upgrade too: These specters seethe, roil,
and lunge across the room, rather than serenely floating to
and fro before coming in for a hug, like they did in the
previous games. This is well and truly a “next-generation
Fatal Frame'' in every sense of the phrase. Now, that is not to say that Fatal
Frame 4 represents a huge leap in VISUAL fidelity over
previous games. The Wii was, under the hood,
basically a slightly souped-up Gamecube in terms of
raw processing power. But the new camera perspective
and gameplay elements, the killer aesthetic, the absolutely next-level
sound design, and yes, the deeply immersive
motion controls- -taken together, it all represents a huge
leap forward in quality for the series. (spooky scary sounds) It is also a savvy maturation of the
core principles of Fatal Frame: Spooky ghosts, terrifying
emergent jumpscares, fragile protagonists, and an
atmosphere of all-consuming dread. (door thuds with long reverb) And it is here that we must once again salute
and pay tribute to that mad lad, Suda51. As one of the first developers
to get his hands on the Wii devkit and hardware ahead
of the console’s 2006 debut, his games’ imaginative use of
motion controls are a high watermark for this control style, especially
when it comes to action games. What I’m saying is: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse
is a Kill the Past game. Sorry, I don’t make the rules. That high level of quality and attention
to aesthetic detail can be found in every nook and cranny of
Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, down to how you hold the
A button to collect items, slowly extending your grasp and rendering
yourself vulnerable to some well-timed surprises. (percussion and short scream) It’s foreboding and scary
every single time, and even moreso if
nothing happens at all. It always kept me on my toes, and I’ll never
look at collecting lore notes the same way again. The switch to the Resi-4
camera perspective likewise marks a superb modernization
of the series’ formula. And, seriously, it's so well implemented
that in the first twenty minutes or so, I didn't even conscoiusly notice that the
game was not in a fixed camera perspective. It just felt perfectly
Fatal Frame. With the camera pulled in so close, the
environs feel that much more claustrophobic, and you’re that much more connected
to your character’s physicality. And it’s not just perceived, but the closeness
of the camera also allows the level designers to narrow the corridors
and environs drastically, because the architecture doesn’t need to accommodate for
the wide static camera lens anymore. And claustrophobia is a surefire dash of
seasoning that makes a good survival horror dish. "Good soup!" And speaking of trademark
artistic touches and level design: Koei Tecmo is definitely at the top
of their level-design game as well. Gone are the spacious hallways
and courtyards of the original, which were actually quite a bit wider
and more expansive than real traditional Japanese households. Here on Rougetsu Island, it’s all long,
narrow, and ominous corridors, usually flanked by curtains flapping,
atmospherically and forbodingly in the moonlight. (camera flash, mournful wailing) The over-the-shoulder
viewpoint means you’ll rarely be bowled over by specters lunging
from blind spots in the scenery- -the favorite trick of
the fixed-camera game. In Fatal Frame
4, ghosts will now suddenly just APPEAR
right in front of you, without ever using non-diegetic
sound cues or musical stings to announce their arrival,
as in cheap horror flicks, which is, to me, so
much more effective. It's not a cheap trick; you're really scared of what
you're seeing right in front of you. Kairo-style. The scares here are intensely
up-close-and-personal and...are all the
more terrifying for it. The story of Fatal Frame
4 begins in medias res, with best friends
Misaki and Madoka exploring the halls of the very creepy
abandoned hospital on Rougetsu Island, far afield in rural Japan. Though they suffer from memory loss due
to an unspecified trauma in their past, they are looking for something
on this island that they sense is connected to the recent brutal
murders of two of their friends. But then, something foul and fatal
befalls both Misaki and Madoka, as well. (creepy staticy noise) (eerie music-box sounds fading in) And so, our main protagonist, Ruka
Minazuki, soon follows after them, and becomes enmeshed in the calamitous
curse that has gripped this island. And from there, a tale of amnesia, abuse, and
mad science gone awry unfolds, scene by scene. This is classic Fatal Frame storytelling, where every new note or cutscene
further peels back the narrative’s layers to reveal the horrific events that drew
Ruka and her friends to Rougetsu Island. And each new story
beat further unearths the grisly trauma that caused
their paralyzing amnesia. Naturally, this
being Fatal Frame, this horror yarn is steeped in
shintoism, ghosts, and folklore. (scream) And of course, center stage
in this tale, as always, is the mysterious CAMERA OBSCURA that
can see and banish supernatural curses. Heck, this game is so rooted in the folkloric
history of Japan that it was released in the dead heat of midsummer 2008, in order to coincide with the
country’s famous tradition of the Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, as
I've talked about in a previous video. But the real history
surrounding this game is… quite a bit more muddled,
and a whole lot less reverent. Project Zero 4 debuted to rave
reviews in the Japanese press, and was at the time the
most popular AND, yep, the most financially successful
entry in the entire series, selling nearly 100,000
copies in Japan alone. But despite this tremendous,
unarguably huge success and considerable
achievement for the series, Nintendo...responded with a shrug. They decided the game
was still too niche, and opted not to license it
for release worldwide. You see, as part of the deal that
brought Fatal Frame to the Wii, Nintendo gained exclusive
rights to future worldwide licensing and distribution for
the entire series, up until today. And in a supremely Nintendo move, they
pulled a Mother 3 on us and decided that Mask of the Lunar Eclipse was
too good for us ungrateful gaijin. And so it has remained locked in the Nintendo
Vault to this very day. And normally, that
would have been that: Another legendary,
lost classic of a game, consigned forever to international
obscurity, and forgotten. But wait... If Fatal Frame 4 was never
released outside of Japan, then how have I been
playing it, IN ENGLISH?!?! (Windows NT Startup Sound) Fatal Frame
is no ordinary series. And Fatal Frame fans
are no ordinary otaku. A powerhouse trio of cyberpunk
rom-hackers known as Tempus, Chabi, and MrMongoose put in the yeoman’s work of
translating the entire game, replacing all the Japanese
text with a slick English font, line-by-painstaking-line, and
providing captions for all dialogue. But their efforts went even further than
that, well above and beyond your average, already commendable,
enthusiast fan-translation job. These madlads actually
went to the length to code into every key texture in the
game that contains Kanji, the proper English translations
underneath or next to the Japanese signage. Which-Holy hell, there just
aren’t enough superlatives in the dictionary for how
incredibly cool this is. These dedicated super-fans have
basically produced what feels like a full, professional localization job, virtually free
of any grammatical or spelling errors even. Thanks to the patch they authored,
Fatal Frame devotees can enjoy a full playthrough in English on either
a modded Wii or the Dolphin emulator. (dophin chittering) I’ve talked a lot in recent
videos about the importance of preserving older videogames,
and Fatal Frame 4, not to mention
its incredible fan-translation, is the perfect example for
and testament to why emulation and "piracy"
is so critical to these efforts. The game runs like a dream
on the Dolphin emulator, and looks incredible with just
simple upscaling to 1080p, like you’re watching now. But the real magic here is how Dolphin
can link up with middleware programs like DS4Windows and Betterjoy, and use a modern
gamepad’s built-in gyroscope (for instance like in the PS4
or 5 or Xbone gamepads) to emulate the motion controls of
the original Wiimote and Nunchuk. This was the approach used to record all the
footage you’ve watched throughout the video, and it worked surprisingly
flawlessly all the way through. Honestly, it felt even a bit tighter and more responsive than
the original Wii’s motion controls! There’s truly no reason
not to try this game out for yourself with all these
means at our disposal, crafted free and non-profit by
enthusiastic preservationists. (camera flash, scream) As always, you’ll find a link in the description
of this video to a document that helps you calibrate and set everything up, so
you can enjoy Fatal Frame 4 yourself. Long live the retro-gaming
pirates and preservationists, the true folklorists of our time. Long live emulation! (I have actually no idea what
Burt Lancaster is shouting here) (but it sounds like he
knows his business) "Gather 'round lads and lasses,
gather round!" "In a pirate ship in pirate
waters in a pirate world! (heroic music) (reverberating thud, waves crashing) We’ve survived a full three
nights in Himuro Mansion. We’ve faced down the horrific
Twin Deities of a Lost Village. And we’ve walked into the depths of the Manor
of Sleep, and braved its grisly Tattoo Curse. But the grim mysteries of Rougetsu
Island may be our greatest challenge yet. At least, until we begin our
hike up Hikami Mountain. Mask of the Lunar Eclipse is a
triumph of survival horror game design. It is a Fatal Frame at its
most gripping and thrilling, not to mention haunt-your-
nightmares-terrifying. (distorted ghostly noises, camera flash) And after playing it, I consider it an
absolutely essential Survival Horror experience for fans of the genre
and newcomers alike. It’s very much worth experiencing on its
own merits, because few games have tried this combination of motion controls
and purebred Survival Horror gameplay. And the most noteworthy ones are the other Fatal
Frame games that came out for the Wii and Wii-U. They’re actually
pretty great too! The Wii-only remake of Fatal
Frame 2 updates Crimson Butterfly, using the same engine as
Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, and it’s an equally all-
killer-no-filler experience. This one only got a European
release outside of Japan, but I guess where Nintendo is
concerned, that’s better than nothing. (increasing distortion noise, flash) (swoosh) And thanks to the efforts
of a few valiant folklorists, who have preserved the longevity
of these games via emulation, so that they may be handed
down through the ages, the saga of Fatal Frame is playable right
now on any mid-range PC or laptop, equipped with a modern gamepad. Because when the lunar
eclipse is at its zenith, and the fragments of the sacred
mask are gathered once more. The gates of hell will open... ... and you'll be in for
one HELL of a ride! (ominous ambient music) Thank you so much for watching! For... anyone who
discovered me with this video, hey, I'm Ragnar
and on this channel I cover old games, horror games,
indie games or combinations thereof and try bringing attention to
games that have fallen into obscurity as well as outstanding indie titles
that I want people to not miss out on. In my credit sequences I
love to showcase indie games that I think are totally
worth checking out, and since we’ve been talking
about a classic survival horror title - today I’m showing you footage of my
first hours of playing Tormented Souls, a recently released classic, fixed
camera perspective survival horror game, which is an unapologetic love
letter to the origins of the genre. It really doesn’t hide its inspirations, such as Alone in the Dark,
Resident Evil, Silent Hill etc. really going for the appeal
of *where it all began*. But it’s so much more than just a cheap
knock-off with nice, modern graphics. I’ve not yet been
able to finish it yet, but during the first 3-4 hours I’ve been
exclaiming “whoaaaa”’s quite frequently - lots of cool ideas and
clever mechanical twists - great aesthetic,
and with its beautiful modern visuals it’s a wonderful proof for the fact that true old-school,
back-to-the-roots survival horror is far from being an outdated,
antiquated genre. Really hope to see more indie-takes
on classic Survival Horror in the future. If that sounds intriguing to you,
go check it out: Tormented Souls it’s on Steam, PS5 and XBox X and will come soon to switch, PS4 and XBone and GOG on October 27th. (intense horror music,
uncanny snarling, protagonist gasping) (metallic clanking) Now, lastly, but very importantly: the work on this channel
and everbody who partakes in making these videos
is primarily crowdfunded. If you’d like to help us shed light on more
forgotten and overlooked gems in the future, then please consider
supporting us on Patreon. It makes a tremendous difference and is the de-facto financial
backbone of this channel. So thank you for considering and thank you to everyone who supports me there already! And a special thanks this time goes out to: patreon.com/RagnarRoxShow Until next time... ta ta!
