Post by Imperial Khador on Mar 12, 2016 20:02:01 GMT
So, after abut 5 months and 12 in-game hours, I finally finished Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, and thought I'd share some thoughts.
FF4 is the first game in the series not to come out in the west, and fan-translated by the fine folks at fatalframe4.net.
This is the game for which I originally soft-modded my Wii, and I would definitely say it was worth it. It can also be played on Dolphin, the Wii/Gamecube emulator.
FF4 takes place earliest in Fatal Frame's loose continuity, with the background events of the game taking place in 1970, and the main narrative in 1980. There aren't many connections to the rest of the Fatal Frame universe, except the Camera Obscura itself, and references to its creator Kunihiko Asou and his family.
The game continues the excellent, oppressive atmosphere of the series, and the length of time it took me to play through the main game is largely because of this. I play most FF games with a group of people, and I find when playing it on my own, I have to be in a very particular mood.
(Side note: The Wii puffs along a bit when playing Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, but it doesn't detract from the overall atmosphere of the game. That said, having completed it, I've now seen some footage of the game running at higher resolution in the Dolphin emulator, and it helps transform the game's visuals from just oppressive to hauntingly beautiful. In some cases, I would even compare this to the beauty of the more recent Maiden of the Black Water.)
Much like Fatal Frame 3, FF4 features multiple playable characters (3 + 1 who is only available in the prologue), and thus 2 camera obscura variants to use and upgrade, along with a new device called the Spirit Flashlight to offer some gameplay variation.
The camera has shifted from the static angles of the previous entries in the series to 3rd person perspective behind the playable character, with the camera view remaining first person. The controls are otherwise very close to previous entries. A good comparison would be the camera change made between Resident Evil 4, and the earlier series entries.
Overall, I liked the Wii Remote and nunchuk controls. I honestly expected motion controls to be used more prominently, but in general it is simply used to tilt the camera along the Y-axis, with the rest of the controls being more standard. I found the general effect to be quite comfortable.
Veterans of previous Fatal Frame games, or the more recent Maiden of the Black Water, may be surprised by the general lack of healing items or more powerful film types encountered throughout the game even on normal more. I think this actually helped ratchet up the tension quite well, even though I only ended up dying a few times throughout the story.
The story is enjoyably creepy, and I think it benefits from the minimal connections with the other games. The three main characters each feel quite distinctive as they explore Rogetsu Island.
I'd definitely recommend Mask of the Lunar Eclipse both to series veterans, and to Fatal Frame newcomers.
FF4 is the first game in the series not to come out in the west, and fan-translated by the fine folks at fatalframe4.net.
This is the game for which I originally soft-modded my Wii, and I would definitely say it was worth it. It can also be played on Dolphin, the Wii/Gamecube emulator.
FF4 takes place earliest in Fatal Frame's loose continuity, with the background events of the game taking place in 1970, and the main narrative in 1980. There aren't many connections to the rest of the Fatal Frame universe, except the Camera Obscura itself, and references to its creator Kunihiko Asou and his family.
The game continues the excellent, oppressive atmosphere of the series, and the length of time it took me to play through the main game is largely because of this. I play most FF games with a group of people, and I find when playing it on my own, I have to be in a very particular mood.
(Side note: The Wii puffs along a bit when playing Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, but it doesn't detract from the overall atmosphere of the game. That said, having completed it, I've now seen some footage of the game running at higher resolution in the Dolphin emulator, and it helps transform the game's visuals from just oppressive to hauntingly beautiful. In some cases, I would even compare this to the beauty of the more recent Maiden of the Black Water.)
Much like Fatal Frame 3, FF4 features multiple playable characters (3 + 1 who is only available in the prologue), and thus 2 camera obscura variants to use and upgrade, along with a new device called the Spirit Flashlight to offer some gameplay variation.
The camera has shifted from the static angles of the previous entries in the series to 3rd person perspective behind the playable character, with the camera view remaining first person. The controls are otherwise very close to previous entries. A good comparison would be the camera change made between Resident Evil 4, and the earlier series entries.
Overall, I liked the Wii Remote and nunchuk controls. I honestly expected motion controls to be used more prominently, but in general it is simply used to tilt the camera along the Y-axis, with the rest of the controls being more standard. I found the general effect to be quite comfortable.
Veterans of previous Fatal Frame games, or the more recent Maiden of the Black Water, may be surprised by the general lack of healing items or more powerful film types encountered throughout the game even on normal more. I think this actually helped ratchet up the tension quite well, even though I only ended up dying a few times throughout the story.
The story is enjoyably creepy, and I think it benefits from the minimal connections with the other games. The three main characters each feel quite distinctive as they explore Rogetsu Island.
I'd definitely recommend Mask of the Lunar Eclipse both to series veterans, and to Fatal Frame newcomers.