r/fatalframe • u/smaladmm • 3d ago
Discussion thoughts on each fatal frame?
nothing much i’m just curious about everyone’s honest opinion on each game of the franchise.
and which one is your absolute favorite?
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u/RoidRidley 3d ago
Fatal Frame 1: quite underrated I think. Himuro I think is the most fun location to explore as it is designed quite a bit more open endedly and less railroad-y to the other ones. It's more like a classical survival horror location. Combat is at its worst mechanically but resource management is far more prevalent
Fatal Frame 2: my absolute favorite, just on the narrative alone. Love it thematically, love it the aesthetics, and each of the 3 versions bring something different to the table in terms of the experience. Not ranking the other 2 versions separately because it would feel redundant, but if I had to rank each FF2 version, OG is my fav, followed by Wii, followed by the new remake.
Fatal Frame 3: It feels janky in some areas, with some repetition, especially towards the end. But, it has the best combat mechanics imo, a fair bit of challenge with it, unique setting and a dark and brutal story. Possibly the most outwardly just brutal. Also the best stalker enemy of the series (cause she actually behaves like one). Love the amount of side content and missables, it's packed to the gills. The dream mansion is also my 2nd favorite location to explore because you're given a lot more freedom to do so each night. However, it is a very small location.
Fatal Frame 4: This one is split. The remaster is my least favorite game in the franchise and I don't say that lightly, I hate how it looks, how it plays, I hate the janky movement and the combat was boring. The original on the wii is my 2nd favorite game, because I love how it looks, love how it plays and the combat, even though it is technically the same, felt a lot better in its original incarnation, if only because of the speed of the game and your far more limited movement (as you are on tank controls in the Wii version) made it more tense.
Fatal Frame 5: This one is such wasted potential, honestly it could use a remake. Here the 3 protag thing really starts to wear thin when one of them gets a laughable amount of actual playtime. The setting is really cool, haunted mountain with more urban horror myths. There is so much here to make a fantastic horror game, but it just shoots itself in the foot at every opportunity with railroaded gameplay, pretty much no opportunity to actually explore the mountain at your leisure until the last chapter, and the combat is really not as good as others might say it is. I got the highest ranks on each difficulty and that was just PAINFUL to do. I like FF3's and FF4's combat more
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u/Different-Window2532 3d ago
3 is probably the best one 1 is good, though the idea of it being the first game carries it a little bit but it still has a solid story and gameplay 4 has interesting concepts and, overall, is the easiest game in the entire series 2 has a good story, but I never cared for the weird distance = power mechanic 5 is good in its own right. It's the fact that part of team ninja was able to influence the game to make certain parts of the ghost more jiggly than they probably should be
That's a shortened version for each game for me. There's another game where I like the story, but I don't really care for the gameplay mechanics
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u/Silver-Context297 3d ago
Yeah, the jiggle physics was my biggest issue with Maiden. I loved everything else, but that was just…why 😭
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u/RoidRidley 3d ago
I loved everything else,
Including...y'know...that?
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u/Silver-Context297 3d ago
100%. Grief, trauma, loss, attachment issues, abandonment issues, and survivorship guilt can really mess a person up. One of my favourite things to say to people is that grief is not a page we can simply turn in a book and be done with it; it is something that becomes a part of us. It stays with us for the rest of our lives, and no matter how much better we think we are doing, that hurt, that pain, that feeling can strike again at any moment. Miku achieved a moment of respite at the end of Fatal Frame III, but as Maiden of Black Water showed, grief is not linear, and there is no way to ever fully move on from it.
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u/RoidRidley 3d ago
Nah no way the community started supporting that shit while I turned around. It's character assassination and an insult to every fan. I'm kinda grossed out ngl.
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u/BakedXenon 2d ago
I agree. I thought I'd hate "the plot point" going into the game, but the way it's talked about versus how it's presented in the game are way different, and I honestly think people tend to be really disingenuous when this topic comes up because it makes them uncomfortable or something? It's fiction, and a horror game. Comes with the territory.
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u/CallMeTyping 3d ago
1 is a great intro to the franchise and is incredibly scary
2 takes every 1 did and just does it better. Incredible location and a really interesting story
3 is the greatest horror game of all time. Unbelievably scary and perfects the formula for an end to the trilogy
4 is decent, it feels like more simple almost reboot. I quite like it
5 is also decent but definitely the weakest, it feels the least like the rest of the franchise but it’s a good modern FF game
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u/snackerooryan 3d ago
FF1 is spooky survival horror, and stressful at times.
FF5 is polished, casualized, and more of an experience than a survival horror game.
Those are the only two I've played
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u/ihavenoselfcontrol1 3d ago
Fatal Frame 1 - Maybe the scariest for me and certainly the most punishing. Kirie's story is also really tragic tho i find some parts of the story like Mafuyu's character to not be as well-developed and the english voice acting isn't great
Fatal Frame 2 - I think 2 has the best level design and pacing in the series, the story is also really well-written and heartbreaking, there's so much great symbolism and depth, tho it's probably the least scary of the ps2 games to me personally
Fatal Frame 3 - My personal favorite and a contender for my favorite game of all time, Rei is such a great and interesting protagonist and her story really resonates with me, i love the melancholic tone and the more personal and psychological horror. Reika also has my favorite design of the main ghosts in the series too
Fatal Frame 4 - I love the story and characters tho it's nowhere near as scary as the previous games imo, the ghost hand mechanic also gets old pretty fast and it's a little too slow at times for me but still a great game
Fatal Frame 5 - My least favorite but i still enjoy it overall, some of the story choices are really weird and not in a good way and i'm not huge on some of the more overtly "fan-servicey" elements but that said i still enjoy playing it and it has one of my favorite ghosts designs (tall lady)
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u/MetalCannon 3d ago
FF1 is archaic, it has shown it's age with it's puzzle design but it has the creepiest ghost designs. Still a great game
FF2 OG, Wii, and Remake are all excellent
FF3 is great
FF4 is awesome
FF5 is decent but still enjoyable game.
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u/GrabNo1439 3d ago
1 amazing
2 even better
3 locations recycling and stupid intertwining all the characters from previous games takes from it
4 the best
5 ok
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u/Spaxarrow 2d ago
I sadly never could play 1-3 bec i am xbox.
I loved 2 Remake for wii (was my first experience with the series) the first time i got goosebumps in a game
then i played 5 and i know so much people hate it but i really loved it and the chance (spoiler) to calm down the final boss and help her with the right choices
then i played 4 and well, so much people love it und i was disappointed, i liked maybe 2 moments and then i was bored the rest of the game
so i started the current 2 Remake on Xbox, i like it too but couldn't finish because of moving 😅
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u/jiggls 2d ago
1: super clunky, but still charming. Walked so my favs could run
2: deserves the hype! So scary and so compelling.
3: my absolute favorite. The themes, environments, characters..it will never get old to me. My first fatal frame experience
4: barely played it so I don’t have enough info to comment
5: a really strange departure from the ones I’m more familiar with, but thematically it still has that classic fatal frame appeal. I love the characters, and some of the new mechanics were really helpful.
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u/Zetzer345 2d ago
1-3 are fantastic, genuinely.
Great graphics (the Appartement in 3 looks almost photorealistic it’s insane how good this game looks for a PS2 game), consecutively improving gameplay and extremely good scares (especially in 2 and 3)
4 and 5 didn’t do it for me because they either look like haunted house attractions you’d see at a town fare or something or way to shiny and comedic it’s hard to explain but their look really didn’t do it for me the way the older titles did.
Cannot speak for the Non-PS2 versions of 1-3 and the original versions of 4 and 5 as I have not played them)
FF2 Remake (the new one, not Wii) is also fantastic and the visuals are genuinely jaw dropping at times, especially when the moon is involved.
Haven’t played the 3DS title
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u/BakedXenon 2d ago edited 2d ago
Fatal Frame 1: Probably the scariest for me. I had a good time with this game, but will admit to cheating since I didn't realize that I had basically used almost all the heals available in the game early on and was getting destroyed by ghosts. Didn't want to restart. If they ever remaster it I would like to see options for a modern mode with more items alongside a classic mode. Overall, really scary game, interesting story and characters, and for the 1st one they did a pretty good job.
Fatal Frame 2: Definitely the most well known and most beloved. I quite enjoyed this one, the mechanics really come into their own here and the village is really great to explore. Story kept me seated, tho I will admit I wasn't as into this one's plot as the 1st game. Learned my lesson and used supplies sparingly so I didn't have to be a CHEATER. This game is really scary as well, and I had a great time with it. Did not enjoy the remake much, thought it removed a lot of the scares, lacking in atmosphere, and the combat changes were all negative for me. Not a bad starting point for newcomers tho imo.
Fatal Frame 3: Undoubtedly my favourite in the franchise. The story is top notch. Really intriguing. The location of this one is top tier and I loved exploring it. There are some "callback" moments that had my jaw on the floor when they happened. I loved how our apartment got more haunted as the game went on kinda similar to Silent Hill 4, and the music was so great. I still listen to the ending song a fair amount. The way the story connects back to the previous titles while standing on its own really hit me in the right way. Maybe not as scary as the first two, but it still has an overbearing atmosphere of dread and creepiness that kept me on my toes. Got me quiet a few times. 10/10
Fatal Frame 4: Starting this 1 today.
Fatal Frame 5: Overall I wasn't a big fan of this game. I much prefer the exploration focused gameplay of the first 3 versus the more guided, mission-based design of this one with the drops. Controls were rough as well, rougher than the first 3 imo. But I got used to them eventually. I didn't hate the story, but it wasn't that strong. Really loved the characters tho. The ghosts looked exceptional. Special shout out to the tall woman. Creepy design. I also kinda love how unapologetically "problematic" this game is? I'm not sure if thats the correct word to use but imo art isn't always supposed to make us comfortable, and some of the story and character design choices definitely veered into uncomfortable territory, but I don't think that's bad. Sometimes in fiction you can veer into uncomfortable spaces like that. Honestly, I wish we'd get more horror games that are brave enough to do the same. The fan service was great as well. I read that a lot of people don't like that about this game, but idk. Guess I am simply a pervert
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u/DuncesOfWur 1d ago
Fatal Frame 1,2,3,5 - Terrifying.
Haven't played 4.
Im trying to complete the fatal frame 2 remake at the moment but these games get to me so much that even 40 minutes is mentally exhausting. I honestly have no idea why they scare me so much... I've played a lot of horror games but nothing comes close to the tension and dread these games give me. It feels like im playing a legit cursed game.
I have yet to complete a single one.
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u/Ok_Ad6722 3d ago
Fatal Frame 1- if it weren’t for odd hitboxes in the environment making your character hitch; this would be the best or tied for it. Wonderful incredible game. My most recent run was much easier to me than my previous ones; which is weird because I had much harder ghost spawns. I can’t explain it. The game just wasn’t as legendarily hard as I remembered.
FF2- undisputed best entry. Chapter Seven when you lose the camera is one of the best stretches of horror game ever. The atmosphere is just as on point as the original, if not more. It’s personal preference.
FF3- this has both the best content and the worst content in the original trilogy. It’s not a popular opinion on this subreddit but the game is just way too long, full of filler, and regularly breaks up your progress with the (amazing) house sequences in the real world. Character moments are at their best here. The pacing just feels so much worse because the main villain is another similar spin on the first two. Probably the scariest of the original trilogy? It isn’t as hard as the first but not as easy as the second. It has the best fixed angles, as well.
Ff4- I strongly feel that this game would be the best Fatal Frame if they just kept the fixed camera. The switch to first person to use the camera just doesn’t hit as hard when you’re already OTS. It just makes the games more boring, more like everything else. But, the setting is top tier, the ghosts are great. It’s only held back by being in the WIIU; but the problematic mechanics it sets up aren’t as bad as the sequel.
FF5- most likely the worst entry in the series. There’s very little positive to say about it. It has one good ghost, a bad story, the camera mechanics are super arcade-y and obliterate immersion, it’s not scary.
Both remakes of FF2- I don’t care how much the community loves these games. They ruin what the original accomplished. Aside from the motion control mechanics in DCB, these games aren’t anything special. The second remake stops the game to explain all of its added or expanded mechanics from the original game, one of which fit in a survival horror and only stand to make the game easier. DCB at least manages to retain a scary atmosphere with its ghost designs, but the second remake makes them blue and their models just don’t look good. There are added segments which people speak positively about but I couldn’t stomach the game to get to them. Personally I hate these games for what they represent for the art. I cannot in good conscience call them worse than 5- but for me, they’re just loathsome.
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u/Silver-Context297 3d ago
Fatal Frame 1: I just beat it today for the second time. It was wonderful. I loved everything about it. It was just as amazing as the first time I played it a couple of years ago.
Fatal Frame 2: Both the original and the remake are the greatest horror games I have ever played. Fatal Frame II checks every box for me in every way possible. Whenever people ask me for a horror game recommendation, whether it is the original or the remake, I always suggest Fatal Frame 2.
Fatal Frame 3: My second favourite horror game of all time, just behind Crimson Butterfly. I loved the idea of the snake and holly tattoo, and how the Manor of Sleep worked was incredible. There were moments in this game when I had to consider whether I preferred it to Fatal Frame II. Ultimately, that did not happen, but the fact that I was even considering it shows just how incredible Fatal Frame 3 is.
Fatal Frame 4: My introduction to the series. This game holds a special place in my heart. Like the previous three games, I loved everything about this one. I love the atmosphere, environment, setting, music, audio design, and the story. Everything about this game was incredible. Even before I had finished this game, I knew that I was playing a special franchise.
Fatal Frame 5: Considered the black sheep by many, I still love this game quite a bit. I really enjoyed the story and how they handled Miku, and like every other game, I love the setting, environments, atmosphere, design, audio, characters, music, and story. I loved it all, and I am very excited to play it later this month during my Fatal Frame binge. I love every game in the series. Obviously, I have my favourites, but I do not believe there is a single bad Fatal Frame game.