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[Dusk Golem]

Update: Also just noticed the official Nintendo UK Fatal Frame 5 site is live.

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Release for Fatal Frame 5: Maiden of Black Water is about two weeks away (releases in American in October 22nd for $49.99 USD, Europe on October 30th, Australia on the 31st) across the digital WiiU eShop platform, and a physical limited edition in Europe. Nintendo has been mighty quiet on the release, but it stands as one of the only bigger horror games releasing this October. Review copies have been sent out and footage has been allowed, and some outlets have released some English gameplay footage to gawk at.


NeoGAF's own NateDrake took close to 20 minutes of gameplay from Mount Hikami, one of the earlier more atmospheric locations for his own site.

And GameXplain has uploaded the first 10 minutes of the game, the opening prologue.

And NinEverything has uploaded the first 30 minutes of the final English build of the game as well.

There's also an opinion article from the above, saying the game is a high-quality great horror game and questioning why it doesn't get a US physical release or much advertising.

But I have been playing the game for a few days now, and quality is not an issue. At all. Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water, so far, as been a stellar experience with some of the best GamePad usage so far on the system. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying my time with this title, and think it has a lot going for it in terms of presentation, amount of content, game play, and visuals. While my full review will be released soon enough, from what I’ve experienced in my time with Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water, I can easily say this has been one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences, especially in the horror genre, that I’ve had all year.

Of course, in a smarter move, Nintendo has made it so that the game 'free to start', so you can play the first three chapters (The Prologue, and Chapters 1 & 2) for free, which isn't a bad move to let people, excuse the pun, test the waters for those who have never tried the franchise or want to get a taste first. It also works as Fatal Frame 5 is supposed to be the longest entry in the series, being a total of 16 chapters long (including the prologue), and estimated to be around 16-24 hours long.

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Thoughts on the English dub, the bits of gameplay on display, holding out for the prologue, think it's going to bomb or be a surprise success as it doesn't have much competition? Fatal Frame has always been a series that's been underlooked a bit, think this will change tides, or be more the same? Review embargo apparently is a few days before release, so we should have some reviews on it soon as well.

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EDIT:
Examiner's impressions of the game: One of the best games in the franchise.

German Site has uploaded an hour of gameplay also:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueMdRMqdbSQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD8cxN2Qz68

Nintendolife impressions:

On to one of the biggest questions - ss it scary? We've been playing Maiden of Black Water at night whenever possible, with the lights off and the sound turned up for maximum effect. Do the same, and we're fairly certain you're in for a chilling time. We're also happy to report that there haven't been any loud jump scares so far, nor a sudden violin shriek designed to give the player an artificial jolt of adrenaline. There's an elegance and subtlety to the horror of Fatal Frame which allows an unsettling atmosphere to take center stage; slowly building a sense of dread over the course of each chapter. Faces appear in windows and bodies shuffle past your line of sight without fanfare, allowing the moment to mingle with a sense of self-doubt.

Solid visuals are complimented by extraordinary sound design, as ghosts wail in an otherworldly tone that borders on mechanical. It's creepy to hear them lament their actions with their final whimpers, and the stronger "boss" ghosts have even more character to them. One such example took the form of a hanged man, who repeatedly threw himself out of the window before landing right back in front of our eyes. Notes scattered about the environment often give background information on these poor souls, and slowly reveal the influence of a mysterious presence. The English voice acting is also perfectly serviceable so far, but we've still got a way to go yet before completing the story and giving a full opinion.

So far, we feel that Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water could manage to both please fans and intrigue newcomers by doing enough differently without sacrificing that morose atmosphere in the process. It's shaping up to be perfect for the Halloween season, and we're very much looking forward to the rest of our trip to Mt.Hikami. In fact; we're dying to stay here as long as we can. Won't you join us? Forever?

 

[Lucentto]

I'm still upset this is eshop only. But I haven't played a Fatal Frame since the 3rd one first released all those years ago, so I will probably still buy it while cursing under my breath. Now I just have to hope this game will fit on a fresh 32GB Wii U. It looks really good.

 

[kunonabi]

English voice acting is meh but the series as seen worse. I find everything about how Nintendo has handled this to be shitty and I don't see it doing well at all. it's a shame the series gets treated this poorly in when you have lesser games like Until Dawn exceeding expectations.

At this point my only hope is that them ignoring it this badly will mean they won't bother censoring it like the Zero 2 remake.

All that said, the game still looks it's going to be another great Fatal Frame title so I think it's best to just focus on that going forward. Gameplay wise I hope they find ways to play with some of the map, item collection, and pathfinding mechanics a bit. It's always nice when developers mess with that stuff a bit for some good unexpected shocks. I don't mind the new item pick-up system but it's really about time they mix it up a bit.

 

[Dusk Golem]

I'm still upset this is eshop only. But I haven't played a Fatal Frame since the 3rd one first released all those years ago, so I will probably still buy it while cursing under my breath. Now I just have to hope this game will fit on a fresh 32GB Wii U. It looks really good.

While I also wish America was getting a physical version, I can understand why it was digital (apparently FF1-FF3 in total sales in America didn't reach a million copies sold together), but I am happy it's coming here. I'm actually surprised they took the time to dub the game into English, though, apparently the game also has dual-audio, which is why the file-size in America is larger than Japan.

Should be able to download it on a 32GB WiiU, the filesize of the game is about 16 GB apparently normally, but I think around 20 GBs for this version (actually, if someone could answer this who knows, that'd be appreciated, I think?).

 

[Majestad]

Is this game any good? What were the Japanese impressions?

 

[Drilbit777]

The English dub is meh but its far better than the other games in the series, I had to end up buying a new hard drive for my Wii U to play this game so I'm doing what I can to support it.

Its really a shame Nintendo is sending this game to die off.

 

[AdanVC]

Been watching gameplay videos provided in the OP and this game looks awesome! So dissapointed NoA/NoE have doing close to nothing to promote it.

Edit: Holy mother the game is 16 gb?? I have a 32gb Wii U and I only have like 3 gb left... S I G H H hHh Keep up the good work on releasing this only as a downloadable title, NoA...

 

[wrowa]

German YouTube channel Rocketbeans has 1 hour of gameplay footage online as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueMdRMqdbSQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD8cxN2Qz68

 

[cerulily]

The English dub is meh but its far better than the other games in the series, I had to end up buying a new hard drive for my Wii U to play this game so I'm doing what I can to support it.

Its really a shame Nintendo is sending this game to die off.

I have really no problems with the dubs in 2 or 3. Just replayed them recently.

 

[KingSnake]

The previews seem really positive for this game. Here's another one:

“Fatal Frame: Maiden of the Black Water” may be the best game in the series since the original.

The Treehouse play-through also showed it to be a great game.

Only 3 weeks to go now. (EU)

 

[Dusk Golem]

Is this game any good? What were the Japanese impressions?

Fatal Frame 5 was received well by players who imported. Here's a few misc ones I can find online:

Foreign reviewer, GirlDoll, gave it a 10/10, saying the game has a surprising story and one of the best horror games to come out from Japan in years.

Kotaku says it's a solid survival-horror game with good scares spaced through.

There will be a lot more reviews coming since the embargo is apparently something like a few days to a week before release, but it's supposed to be the longest FF game and I've heard it commonly take people around 15-20 hours to finish it, and like most FF games there's a lot of extra hidden ghosts, side-quests, unlockables, and such, and the post-game mission mode, so it does have good length and content to it.

I've heard some people in the horror community say they don't think it's scary, some say they thought it was terrifying, I've heard a lot of people compliment the Gamepad usage and the story and audio of the game, some think some parts are a bit repetitive, some love the change of locale for the series since you spend more time outside than any other entry and has more of an open-world kind of feel linking main locations you visit.

To see more thoughts soon, though.

 

[Dusk Golem]

English voice acting is meh but the series as seen worse. I find everything about how Nintendo has handled this to be shitty and I don't see it doing well at all. it's a shame the series gets treated this poorly in when you have lesser games like Until Dawn exceeding expectations.

At this point my only hope is that them ignoring it this badly will mean they won't bother censoring it like the Zero 2 remake.

All that said, the game still looks it's going to be another great Fatal Frame title so I think it's best to just focus on that going forward. Gameplay wise I hope they find ways to play with some of the map, item collection, and pathfinding mechanics a bit. It's always nice when developers mess with that stuff a bit for some good unexpected shocks. I don't mind the new item pick-up system but it's really about time they mix it up a bit.

The English dub is meh but its far better than the other games in the series, I had to end up buying a new hard drive for my Wii U to play this game so I'm doing what I can to support it.

Its really a shame Nintendo is sending this game to die off.

I'm actually sort of amused by the English dub since it sounds almost like they tried to emulate the fairly lifeless acting that FF1-3 had, the characters in the FF series always talk so dryly and lifelessly with a few exceptions, I've always wondered if its intentional or not.

I know FF5 changes several things up, but it is true I think since the hand-grab mechanic was in FFIV and the remake of 2, a mix-up might be nice, BUT also this may be the first FF game many players have played with the item-grabbing mechanic, so I think they may be able to get away with it since many who play may have not played FF4 or the remake of 2, in America especially.

 

[DooD1234]

Never played Fatal Frame before but impressions here sound good and sounds like a great game to play on Halloween. Amazes me how this is not getting a retail release and yet somehow Devil Third will.

 

[wild wild rice]

I'm still upset this is eshop only. But I haven't played a Fatal Frame since the 3rd one first released all those years ago, so I will probably still buy it while cursing under my breath. Now I just have to hope this game will fit on a fresh 32GB Wii U. It looks really good.

Dat first sentence of dat first post.

Still really looking forward to playing it.

 

[RiverBed]

The main character design is so distracting in a negative way. Why in the world would you design a character that is visiting haunted old houses to look like a teenager going to a highschool party? So out of place and hurts the atmosphere of the game.

 

[Jonneh3003]

Never played a Project Zero game, was meaning to pick up Project Zero 2 Wii Edition but i'm yet to find a reasonably priced copy. I have however preordered the physical version of this as I can see it never going lower than £50. I'm pretty excited to give it a shot!

 

[Kouriozan]

I can hardly wait, hope I will be able to grad the physical LE.
Also, f*ck ghost hands, I jumped everytime in Project Zero 4/2 Wiimake.

 

[wild wild rice]

The main character design is so distracting in a negative way. Why in the world would you design a character that is visiting haunted old houses to look like a teenager going to a highschool party? So out of place and hurts the atmosphere of the game.

Dude...this is like a staple of horror anything. I get if you don't like it I get it, but it's not like some bizarre decision.

 

[Dusk Golem]

Never played Fatal Frame before but impressions here sound good and sounds like a great game to play on Halloween. Amazes me how this is not getting a retail release and yet somehow Devil Third will.

Never played a Project Zero game, was meaning to pick up Project Zero 2 Wii Edition but i'm yet to find a reasonably priced copy. I have however preordered the physical version of this as I can see it never going lower than £50. I'm pretty excited to give it a shot!

Hope you both enjoyed, I haven't played FF5 yet, but I think it was designed so you could sort of hop into it without playing the other entries in the series, and be interesting to see what a lot of first-timers to the series think when it's out in the wild.

The main character design is so distracting in a negative way. Why in the world would you design a character that is visiting haunted old houses to look like a teenager going to a highschool party? So out of place and hurts the atmosphere of the game.

You get kind of used to it after a while, the main character in FF4 was dressed like this:

And having come off the game just recently (finally took my time to fully play and beat it a couple days ago), it's a bit distracting at first, but you adjust. I also believe this game is like the third and fourth game and have multiple playable characters, I think in this case it's two female and one male character. But the characters always dress... Too well, to these situations.

The worst for me was Misaki in Fatal Frame 4, the second female playable character. She goes to an island where she was once kidnapped and is now abandoned, and she comes in fucking high heels.

 

[Hellwarden]

I'm so glad we're getting this.

I know some people are annoyed this isn't a physical release, and I am too to a point, but at this point, I'll take anything good for the Wii-U.

 

[Gears]

Is the game scary at all? I loved Until dawn, but i do want something thatll get me pretty good this year

 

[artsi]

This doesn't have dual audio, right?

 

[shadow2810]

Any news if we can preload?

This doesn't have dual audio, right?

It has.

 

[artsi]

It has.

Really? I had the impression it didn't but that's good news.

I'll be buying Wii U for this, Xenoblade and #FE.

 

[Sakura]

The main character design is so distracting in a negative way. Why in the world would you design a character that is visiting haunted old houses to look like a teenager going to a highschool party? So out of place and hurts the atmosphere of the game.

Should she be wearing anti-ghost armour?

 

[Dusk Golem]

Is the game scary at all? I loved Until dawn, but i do want something thatll get me pretty good this year

I haven't played it, but here's looking it up on the internet in terms of scariness, I'll pull some site quotes. Keep in mind scariness is subjective and all that.

Kotaku says the following on scariness:

Fatal Frame V has a great atmosphere. As the game is set across an entire mountainside, there are a variety of environments, from the ancient—temples and shrines—to the modern—tram stations and houses. Many of the locations are as beautiful as they are creepy—even the caves and forests.

When it comes down to it, it isn't the jump scares that cause the most fear for the player. Rather, it is the more subtle ones. Exploring a hallway full of life-size dolls, only for them to suddenly disappear when you turn around is far more terrifying than a ghost suddenly popping out of the wall.

(skipping some spoilers from the page as they talk about some of the story themes and a chapter in the game they found terrifying)

Fatal Frame V is a solid addition to the Fatal Frame series. It has a good little survival horror story and more than a few good scares spread throughout.

German guy in this video playing the game says he likes the games atmosphere a lot and thinks the game is quite scary.

Here's some first impressions from Nintendolife that directly answers this question:

On to one of the biggest questions - Is it scary? We've been playing Maiden of Black Water at night whenever possible, with the lights off and the sound turned up for maximum effect. Do the same, and we're fairly certain you're in for a chilling time. We're also happy to report that there haven't been any loud jump scares so far, nor a sudden violin shriek designed to give the player an artificial jolt of adrenaline. There's an elegance and subtlety to the horror of Fatal Frame which allows an unsettling atmosphere to take center stage; slowly building a sense of dread over the course of each chapter. Faces appear in windows and bodies shuffle past your line of sight without fanfare, allowing the moment to mingle with a sense of self-doubt.

What I found immediately on the subject.

 

[lewisgone]

Nice impressions, I'm glad I preordered the special edition now.

 

[Cramoss]

I haven't played it, but here's looking it up on the internet in terms of scariness, I'll pull some site quotes. Keep in mind scariness is subjective and all that.

Kotaku says the following on scariness:


German guy in this video playing the game says he likes the games atmosphere a lot and thinks the game is quite scary.

Here's some first impressions from Nintendolife that directly answer this question:


What I found immediately on the subject.

I love subtle scary shit, things you can miss.

 

[RiverBed]

Should she be wearing anti-ghost armour?

Are you thick?

 

[Sammy Samusu]

Ugh, I want to play this game so bad, but not digitally, I want to beat it and sell it to some random dude on the internet.

Hoping for an NX port. :s

 

[Dusk Golem]

This doesn't have dual audio, right?

I believe it does, and there's notably a higher file size limit for the English version than the Japanese version, where the only explanation for why that would be is probably because of more than one language track. If it's English and Japanese, or English and something else, is to be seen, and hope someone with the game can answer that.

I love subtle scary shit, things you can miss.

I do too, and that's always been on of FF's stronger areas. Each of the FF games have a lot of subtle and easy to miss things, or hidden encounters or scenes that will only trigger if you do something at a specific time in the game.

 

[Astral Dog]

The setting looks great, reminds me of old school RE games, going by the videos.

 

[Dusk Golem]

The setting looks great, reminds me of old school RE games, going by the videos.

I'm happy someone said it! This is actually the number one thing I'm excited about, I love the setting. The whole game takes place on a mountainside of a cursed forest, and in an antique shop the main character runs. The antique shop is creepy and a nice change of pace, but the mountainside looks completely atmosphereic. Apparently the game is designed somewhat open-world where more of the mountainside opens up and becomes explorable as the game goes on, and the mountainside has everything from forests, to waterfalls and lakes, to caves, to abandoned tram stations, to old houses/mansions, to a farm, some old ritual shrines, suicide spots, and more. Adore the setting~

 

[Sakura]

Are you thick?

??
It's not like she is fighting monsters. It wouldn't make a difference what she is wearing. She is taking photos of ghosts. Complaints against bikini armour and stuff I understand because it doesn't make sense. Saying she isn't dressed appropriately to explore a haunted house...what exactly is appropriate dress for that?

edit: Also it is not exactly a high budget game. Aside from the optional unlocks, the characters only wear one outfit for the majority of the game. Whether they are sleeping, at their homes, or exploring.

 

[BumblebeeCody]

T]Looks good. The EU special edition is pretty nice

??
It's not like she is fighting monsters. It wouldn't make a difference what she is wearing. She is taking photos of ghosts. Complaints against bikini armour and stuff I understand because it doesn't make sense. Saying she isn't dressed appropriately to explore a haunted house...what exactly is appropriate dress for that?

Waifu Ghostbuster?

 

[Htown]

Why in the world would you design a character that is visiting haunted old houses to look like a teenager going to a highschool party?

It was my impression that this was literally the only way people in horror movies dressed.

 

[Vinnk]

Any impressions or videos get into if the game has been censored?

 

[scitek]

Ugh, I want to play this game so bad, but not digitally, I want to beat it and sell it to some random dude on the internet.

Hoping for an NX port. :s

You can, you just have to sell your Wii U with it.

 

[Dusk Golem]

Also just noticed the official Nintendo UK Fatal Frame 5 site is live. Didn't just go up, but haven't seen anyone else mention it.

 

[WiiRevolution1]

Wow I thought it would just be subbed but that they went through the trouble of making it dubbed makes the digital only all the more hilarious.

It has to be only a Europe voice since they went physical right? (Not warching videos, dunno when I'll ever play this but I go into horror games blind) if its a NOA dub and still digital only then damn, (Unless there isn't much dialog but at around 16 hours I'd think it would be alot.)

 

[Vena]

The main character design is so distracting in a negative way. Why in the world would you design a character that is visiting haunted old houses to look like a teenager going to a highschool party? So out of place and hurts the atmosphere of the game.

She's not intentionally in that scenario.

 

[Dusk Golem]

Any impressions or videos get into if the game has been censored?

No word yet. If anything was censored, it'd be the unlockable costumes, and since those aren't unlocked until completing the game and completing certain requirements, I don't think we'll know until release.

 

[Dusk Golem]

Wow I thought it would just be subbed but that they went through the trouble of making it dubbed makes the digital only all the more hilarious.

It has to be only a Europe voice since they went physical right? (Not warching videos, dunno when I'll ever play this but I go into horror games blind) if its a NOA dub and still digital only then damn, (Unless there isn't much dialog but at around 16 hours I'd think it would be alot.)

It's actually American acting it sounds like, they don't have accents. Which makes the whole situation weirder, since they've taken the time to dub the game with American actors it sounds like, but it's digital-only here and may have dual-audio (confirmation fully needed on that one, but it looks like it). Dubbing it is even stranger, since that means they also have to dub all the ghosts phrases and the music, since a lot of the music in the FF games have ghost voices in them. Added with this being the longest FF game reportedly and how little Nintendo is pushing the title, it all does come off as a bit strange.

 

[itchyass86]

I don't want to ruin the visual and audio experience by watching the gameplay footage. The impressions are great though so I'll gladly read those.

Gettin awfully excited for this game. It's just a shame that I won't find the time to play Fatal Frame til mid December.

 

[Sumio Mondo]

I'm there day one for it, got my limited edition pre-ordered and the impressions sound great, but then again this is Makoto Shibata we are talking about here. He knows what he's doing.

It's actually American acting it sounds like, they don't have accents. Which makes the whole situation weirder, since they've taken the time to dub the game with American actors it sounds like, but it's digital-only here and may have dual-audio (confirmation fully needed on that one, but it looks like it). Dubbing it is even stranger, since that means they also have to dub all the ghosts phrases and the music, since a lot of the music in the FF games have ghost voices in them. Added with this being the longest FF game reportedly and how little Nintendo is pushing the title, it all does come off as a bit strange.

Maybe the localization was actually done by Tecmo? But the game's being published by Nintendo? Are people really sure that Nintendo were handling the localization of the game or is that just an assumption?

 

[Ridley327]

No word yet. If anything was censored, it'd be the unlockable costumes, and since those aren't unlocked until completing the game and completing certain requirements, I don't think we'll know until release.

I'd be pretty surprised if they removed anything at this point, seeing as it has PEGI and USK 18 certificates.

While it sucks that the US isn't getting a physical copy, I gotta support console survival horror. The glowing impressions make it even better.

 

[Dark_castle]

The main character design is so distracting in a negative way. Why in the world would you design a character that is visiting haunted old houses to look like a teenager going to a highschool party? So out of place and hurts the atmosphere of the game.

It's designed to make player felt more vulnerable and unsecured in a survival horror. Imagine replacing the young girl with ordinary outfit and minimum protection gear with a huge, muscular 7 ft tall space marine with buster sword, yeah.

 

[Porcile]

I got an order in for the physical LE at least. It makes absolutely no sense that so few copies were put up for pre-order. At the same time, the Xenoblade Chronicles X LE is still up in the UK store. Really fucking dumb.

 

[evilromero]

So pumped for this.

 

[IAmtheFMan]

I'd definitely prefer to have a physical release of this considering I still like to go back to the original Xbox to play the FF2 director's cut from time to time, but I'm just happy this game's coming out at all.