Topic: Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water | Coming to NA Fall 2015

[Enner]

The free-to-start/demo is nice. Not having a retail version of what I assume will be a large-data-size game is a bummer.

[Ian Sane]

I suppose we could have not gotten it at all so while this could be done better it could be much worse.

Reggie came aboard shortly before the DS and Wii kickstarted the biggest period of Nintendo prosperity since the NES days.  As a result I think the current management of NOA thinks of that casual buck as the "normal" thing and main focus so they're really thrown off by the Wii U and they don't get the idea of appealing to more dedicated gamers with releases that are more niche.  We see another game to help keep the Wii U puttering along where every new release on the shelves just makes it look that much less of a failure to the public.  NOA sees Fatal Frame as the sort of game that won't appeal to the Wii Fit crowd so they don't see value in it.  They're hit focused so stuff like Mario Kart is what matters and the smaller stuff does not.

[sudoshuff]

Several more sites have posted gameplay footage (maybe the review copies are out?)  and I am really impressed with what I've seen so far. The English voice acting is OK, not bad, not great.  I'm trying not to watch too much though...as this game seems like it would be more fun if I knew as little as possible before playing.

[TOPHATANT123]

God tier Nintendo Europe subsidiary Nintendo UK has made a really good trailer for the game including but not limited to a spooky bathing scene. I think the voice acting is decent but if you want to it confirms you can change to Japanese voices. At least in the short term this is my most anticipated game.

[Phil]

I wish I had room on my Wii U for this. It's what's keeping me from having a vested interest in this.

[Evan_B]

I wonder if this game will be available for purchase on Amazon? I have store credit there and since they've begun selling digital copies of games via their site...

Am I hopeless?

[Enner]

I wonder if this game will be available for purchase on Amazon? I have store credit there and since they've begun selling digital copies of games via their site...

Am I hopeless?

I think there's a fair shot of it happening.

Wait, but that would mean that Amazon would have to have the ability to sell DLC since the digital version is structured as a free-to-start download where one DLC purchase unlocks the rest of the game. Hmm, since I vaguely recall GameStop selling the Mario Kart 8 DLC, it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

[Shaymin]

Amazon's code shop blew up recently: http://www.amazon.com/b?node=12597678011

I see Hyrule Warriors and Smash DLC there, plus what may be codes for eShop cards so you can buy that way.

[Evan_B]

I think those cards are the actual physical thing, but I'll double check.

[Soren]

Yeah, if those are digital codes then I would be pretty happy, but the reviews aren't helping.

[TOPHATANT123]

Have you ever wanted to hunt down the chozo ghosts with nothing but a camera and a skin tight body suit? Well now you can!

[Evan_B]

What is not to love about this game...?

[ejamer]

What is not to love about this game...?

Digital only release.
(Obviously not a big deal for everyone, but a deal-breaker for me.)

[Soren]

Do we think there's going to be a pre-load feature for this one?

[Evan_B]

I don't know, but it is a fairly big release. I'm surprised Nintendo isn't saying more about it, especially with the season.

Then again, cute girls, horrific deaths...

[Shaymin]

Do we think there's going to be a pre-load feature for this one?

Doubtful; it'd be up by now.

[Enner]

I don't know, but it is a fairly big release. I'm surprised Nintendo isn't saying more about it, especially with the season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-cIGX8kE_g

Instead, they are content with releasing "Spoopy" trailers

[Enner]

Reviews are out! And they are extremely mixed! It's Kirby and the Rainbow Curse all over again.

For the controls, reviewers have criticized the basic movement being frustrating and imprecise. Others took issue with the gyro controls losing tracking, recommending to use the control scheme with the sticks.

For the story, some couldn't care for any of the three playable characters. They found the story to be boring and tired.

What I find most damning are the criticisms of back tracking, repetition, and repeated content. The game has you trekking through previously explored areas multiple times while throwing more enemies and jump scares at you. A reviewer has written that the game is structured so that a 10 hour game is stretched to almost twice that.

It's not all gloom though. The reviewer at Ars Technica has a favorable verdict on the game. The IGN reviewer came away enjoying the game, taking issue with clumsy controls and repetitive encounters. NWR's official review is one of the most favorable reviews on the game.

Comparing Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water to Sony's Until Dawn, I find it amusing that the most favored of this year's big-publisher-horror games is the one that is "less of a game." Putting away the lame snark, Until Dawn's writing, execution, brevity, and what not are what will put it ahead of this latest Fatal Frame.

[Soren]

Played the chapters in the trial version. The controls are indeed clumsy, but the combat feels good overall once you get a handle on the controls.

[Enner]

Mm hm.

For those curious, the free-to-start portion and the rest of the game is available now. The free portion is a 6.351 GB download and the rest of the game is a 9.964 GB installer download.

[sudoshuff]

I find it amusing that the most favored of this year's big-publisher-horror games is the one that is "less of a game." Putting away the lame snark, Until Dawn's writing, execution, brevity, and what not are what will put it ahead of this latest Fatal Frame.

The ol' "less is more" effect.


I'm downloading the demo now--can't wait to finally try it out.

[ShyGuy]

I'm guessing that the mentor lady is evil, because she creeps me out.

[broodwars]

I started playing the game last night, and after finishing the first real chapter I went back to Yoshi. Man, I REALLY don't like how this game controls, even with the sticks. It just feels super stiff, and the gyro tilting feels really unreliable (like all motion controls) and for some reason also throws off my sense of where pushing the right stick move the aperture. I'll give the game another shot tonight, but the game really doesn't make a great first impression.

And on a side note, Until Dawn is a great game. ^_-

[Enner]

It sounds like Koei Tecmo made "another Fatal Frame game" when the world needed "a new Fatal Frame game".

[broodwars]

As I said I would, I went back to the game tonight and replayed through the first "Drop" (Chapter 1) and then up to "Drop 4". It's taken me a while to warm up to the PS1/PS2-era tank controls and moving around under duress is still a colossal pain in the ass, but I think the game's starting to click with me.  Racking up points so you can upgrade your cameras is fairly addicting (I even managed an S Ranking in Drop 3), but I can definitely see a formula setting in.

The storytelling also seems exceptionally clunky by modern standards, with characters sometimes talking without moving their mouths and the story boiling down to exposition text dumps/recaps at the end of each "Drop". It's disappointing since the character models really are quite lovely. They just don't emote. At all. This game definitely did not get NoA/NoE's Localization "A Team" treatment, but it's sufficing so far.