Should you play Fatal Frame in order?

Q: Do you need to play the Fatal Frame games in order?

It does sound complicated – because it is – but thats the thing about Fatal Frame games: you dont necessarily have to play them in order of release to follow their stories.

Q: Are all the Fatal Frame games connected?

For those who arent familiar with the franchise, the Fatal Frame series, its a series of mostly standalone games connected by a few threads. The most noteworthy one is the camera obscura, an old camera that can exorcise ghosts.

@EvilSilentFrame I agree. Remembering how I played the series for the first time, Project Zero 2 Wii Edition, you need a quiet evening and just let yourself be driven by the game slowly. Explore, think and read. The impending danger will come even if you don't want to.

Índice Show

In what order should I play the Fatal Frame games?
Do you need to play the Fatal Frame games in order?
Which Fatal Frame should I play first?
Are all the Fatal Frame games connected?

I too, after having these discussions, would like to play all the games again. I have Wii, Wii U and Series X but I don't have a PS2 nor an original Xbox, so emulation is my only choice for 1 and 3. I have said this a few times, but I bought a PS4 thinking that the PS2 games were available, not when a handful of PS2 games were announced for PS4 but at launch, when there was a PS2 digital store available on PS3, but on PS4.

It seems that we will be playing the remakes (the 2021 release looks like a remaster but the 2023 release looks like a remake) in reverse order and, once all of them have been delivered, we will be able to play them in the natural order.

I'm sure that you'll be able to choose Japanese as the voice language as in last year's remaster. I've never played them in Japanese but I feel the urge to switch to Japanese voices in some games where they are available because of the awful English dubbing, e.g., Octopath Traveller, so I should probably do the same and hear the difference, at least where available.

Edited on Sat 17th September, 2022 @ 13:27 by Banjo-

@Banjo- the English dubbing in PZ/FF games hasn’t been as bad as some other series. There are some where I wonder if they just found the first person who spoke English without any acting experience and were like “good enough.”

It doesn’t help us now, but I’m wondering if in time, PlayStation will add 1-3 to their online service. I personally don’t have their service yet,. Though I love older games and I know it’s still new, they haven’t done a good job yet on bringing in a good library of older games. Maybe some more time, they’ll have a better selection and including 1-3.

This almost feels like a bookclub lol. “Now everybody go play the first one and report back” lol. With horror games becoming more accepted and this trend of remakes/remasters coming, it gets me excited for the future. I personally think they are working on 6 while another team is working on the older games. I don’t have proof, so please nobody take my word as “news.” I’m just thinking with “Maiden of Black Water” selling better than the past games, that it might be encouraging for them to make the next one while getting the older ones out to also help fund the project(s). I’m also hoping that the budget is bigger and the story/rituals are more like the first two. Would be nice for the series to return to its former glory and just maybe get the recognition it deserves this time.

@Banjo- going forward with the series, do you want it more like the earlier games where it felt more like one continuous run through, or do you want it like V where they have it broken down with chapters?

I personally don’t hate chapters but my preference is more of a continuous play. Yes the first couple games had chapters or nights, but it wasn’t as jarring and then giving you a different character for the next chapter (I know the early games had secondary characters like Mayufu and Mayu in short quick scenes, but for the most part you’re left playing just one character.) I felt V was broken up a bit and I just wanted to progress and not end up back home at the end of the day. I wanted to stay in its haunted locations and stay with one main character.

I think the one good thing about the chapters is if you’re trying to complete your ghost list. You can start a specific chapter again and capture all the ghosts instead of restarting the whole game. If they are making VI, I’d like to focus on a single main character and play one longer play through than broken up chapters.

Edited on Mon 19th September, 2022 @ 02:05 by EvilSilentFrame

@belmont I’m also glad this game isn’t being censored the same way Sony has forced others to censor when putting games on their system. I’ve always looked at it as almost like art and the ones Sony asks to be censored really don’t deserve it.

As for MK, yes they’ve changed the look to many of their characters. In the past, they have come under fire for over sexualizing the characters, especially the females. I didn’t think they cared much as they have come under fire for other things as well, especially the violence. I mean they are the whole reason why games get ratings. But with there being so much political influence on pretty much everything in the US, companies are changing a lot of their ways. I’m guessing the clothing of females in games is included, again it doesn’t bother me if they left it or change it. I don’t play the games for the clothing. There’s a big emphasis here that it teaches boys that girls can be objectified and not respected. The MeToo movement has really been trying to reverse all that. I don’t see how changing the outfits in this game is going to help with that but the team must have a reason for altering the costumes.

@Banjo- the remaster really does look so much better than the Wii version! I looked it up and was like wow what a difference! It’s going to look only better on my OLED TV. I cannot wait.

When I looked up the Wii version of Mask if the Lunar Eclipse, I remembered you mentioning playing Crimson Butterfly on the Wii as well. So I looked it up. It was the first time I ever saw any footage of that game and I also liked the visual upgrade it received. Though I liked the look of many of the cutscenes in the original version better, I thought they did a good job using the power of the Wii to upgrade the game. It was also the first time I heard their voices in that game. I wasn’t expecting them to have British accents, but I liked it. Gave the game a fresh feel. Maybe one day I’ll watch a play though all the way.

In what order should I play the Fatal Frame games?

Fatal Frame..

Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly..

Fatal Frame III: The Tormented..

Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse..

Do you need to play the Fatal Frame games in order?

It does sound complicated – because it is – but that's the thing about Fatal Frame games: you don't necessarily have to play them in order of release to follow their stories.

Which Fatal Frame should I play first?

The fourth one and the second one are considered to be the best in the series. You could start with either of these, as it isn't that necessary to play the other ones (although the second one makes much more sense if you played the first one beforehand).

Are all the Fatal Frame games connected?

For those who aren't familiar with the franchise, the Fatal Frame series, it's a series of mostly standalone games connected by a few threads. The most noteworthy one is the camera obscura, an old camera that can exorcise ghosts.