Operation Backlog Completion 2025

Fatal Frame Producer Hopes to Make a New Entry

 Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Aug 042021
 

As announced during E3, Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is getting a second chance at life later this year.

The Wii U exclusive will be remastered for all major platforms on October 28, although sadly it’s still digital-only in the West.

While I have Maiden of Black Water on the Wii U, I was thrilled to see the news because it increases the chances that the Fatal Frame series will make a comeback… and it sounds like Koei Tecmo wants that, as well.

According to Siliconera, Fatal Frame producer Keisuke Kikuchi said in an interview with Famitsu that the performance of the upcoming remaster could help pave the way for future Fatal Frame games.

In particular, by releasing it on multiple platforms to celebrate the series’ 20th anniversary, they hope to bring it to many more players and “connect it to the next title.”

So Fatal Frame is still alive! Not only is the latest entry being remastered, but there’s a good chance we could still see a Fatal Frame VI!

Are you planning to pick up Maiden of Black Water?

Top Untranslated Games I Want to See in English

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,
Jan 222021
 

Over the years, we’ve talked about a lot of untranslated games and localization campaigns to finally see them in English. Sometimes our hopes have been fulfilled… other times, not so much.

Today I’d like to highlight some of the ones I’m still waiting for. It’ll be structured like a Top 5 list, but based on series rather than individual game (so an entry might have multiple games).

Here are the top untranslated games I most want to see released in English.

5. Tales of Destiny 2, Rebirth, Innocence R

There are a lot of Tales games available, but there’s still a handful of notable ones that never came out of Japan.

One of the biggest is Tales of Destiny 2. Don’t confuse it with Tales of Eternia, which was confusingly released in North America under the title Tales of Destiny II for the PlayStation.

The real Tales of Destiny 2 is a direct sequel to Tales of Destiny, and it seems to have been well-received. Speaking of which, Tales of Destiny also received a remake that didn’t come west, either.

Then there’s Tales of Rebirth, a main entry in the series that was never localized despite positive previews from English publications ahead of its launch.

Meanwhile, Tales of Innocence didn’t get localized either, not even when it was enhanced as Tales of Innocence R. Being a Vita game might have doomed it, despite Tales of Hearts R coming out.

I’d love to see all of these Tales games released in English, especially if the older games could be released in some sort of collection to celebrate the anniversary (or maybe a Tales of Destiny/Destiny 2 dual-pack like they did with Symphonia). I still have a lot of Tales games to play, though, so who knows? Maybe by the time I’ve worked my way through the series, these Japan-exclusive titles will finally be localized.

4. Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse

This year is also the anniversary of Fatal Frame… and you know what I’d love to see? A translated Switch port of the fourth game in the series, Mask of the Lunar Eclipse.

Unlike the Fatal Frame II remake, which at least came out in Europe, Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse was never released outside of Japan. A European release was actually planned, but later was cancelled. I guess they really didn’t have high hopes for Fatal Frame in the west at that point.

Fatal Frame IV, or Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, was co-developed by Grasshopper Manufacture, with Suda51 being a co-writer and co-director. They seem to be on pretty good terms with Nintendo, and other Grasshopper Manufacture games have been re-released in recent years, so maybe there’s still hope.

Again, I have quite a few Fatal Frame games to play in the meantime. If I play them all, perhaps the localization fates will reward me with an official Fatal Frame IV translation.

3. Ace Attorney Investigations 2, The Great Ace Attorney, The Great Ace Attorney 2

You knew they were going to be on this list, right?

Once upon a time, I went into every gaming event hoping to see an English announcement for Gyakuten Kenji 2, or Ace Attorney Investigations 2. My hopes have diminished greatly since then, but I still don’t think a Switch collection is out of the question.

Meanwhile, last year’s supposed leak claimed Dai Gyakuten Saiban, or The Great Ace Attorney, and its sequel are planned to be released in a new collection and translated.

There hasn’t been any official word from Capcom yet about this, but I really want to believe it’s true. I’m also all caught up on the Ace Attorney series, so these unlocalized titles are the last ones I need.

2. The Trails Crossbell Arc

Now let’s head back in to the land of JRPGs, where have the long-running Trails series. Fans interested in the overall Trails story will get the best experience if they play all of the current arcs… but unfortunately, one of them is exclusive to Japan.

Set between the Trails in the Sky arc and the Trails of Cold Steel arc, Zero no Kiseki and Ao no Kiseki make up the Crossbell arc, and they’re highly praised in addition to being important for the overall story. There have been several hints that the new PS4 versions could be localized, so here’s hoping it finally comes true.

I’ve got a few Trails games to play before I’d need to decide if I want to skip Crossbell or play the fan translation… which means there’s plenty of time for official translations to be announced.

1. Yakuza Kenzan, Ishin, Black Panther, Black Panther 2

And of course, you probably anticipated that my new favorite series would make the #1 spot on my list.

I’ve absolutely fallen in love with the Yakuza games, and there are still four important spin-offs that have never been localized, starting with the historical spin-offs Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan and Ryu ga Gotoku Ishin.

When these games first came out, it’s no surprise they weren’t localized. Yakuza itself was still a pretty niche series in the west, so spin-offs grounded in Japanese history probably looked like a risky bet.

But now? Yakuza’s popularity is growing, we have all of the mainline games in English, and the success of games like Sekiro and Ghost of Tsushima certainly show that there’s an audience here for that setting. They’ve gone on record saying that Kenzan’s best chance of localization is if it gets the Kiwami treatment, since it was a PS3 game, but Ishin being a PS4 game still has a chance of coming over as it is.

The spin-off Kurohyo: Ryu ga Gotoku Shinsho, or Black Panther, and its sequel have never received official translations either. The demand is smaller and I don’t think our chances of getting them are particularly good, but I’d never say no to more Yakuza games.

And… yes, I have five whole Yakuza games and two spin-offs to play before I run out of Yakuza, so once again, maybe all I need to do is get through those games…

Conclusion

Tales, Fatal Frame, Ace Attorney, Trails, and Yakuza – all great series with untranslated titles I keep hoping to see localization news about. Right now, Ace Attorney feels like it’s the closest to coming true, while the others still have a mountain of translated games for me to work through first. Here’s hoping the games on this list are translated in the future!

What unlocalized games would you most like to see translated?

Celebrating All Things Spooky: Fatal Frame

 Celebrating All Things Spooky, Reviews, Video games  15 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Oct 042019
 

As usual, October will be filled with horror game reviews, starting with one that’s long overdue.

Remember five years ago when I started the original Fatal Frame? I got stuck and gave up on it not long after that, but this year when I got my PlayStation 2 out, I decided to give it another try.

Fatal Frame is a classic survival horror game following a girl named Miku who heads into a haunted mansion in search of her brother (who himself went inside searching for another character). The mansion is filled with ghosts, most of which are hostile, but Miku can fight back by using the Camera Obscura to photograph them.

It’s a pretty interesting twist on combat. You need to keep the ghost in your sights to power up your shot, and taking the shot at the last minute deals extra damage.

As expected in a survival horror game, you have limited “ammo” in the form of film you find in the mansion. Fighting ghosts also gives you points you can use to power up your camera or unlock special attacks, which made it feel oddly like it encouraged combat more than other survival horror games, but at the same time every encounter felt deadly.

I got better at the combat the longer I played, but that never removed the dread. There’s something scary about a ghost advancing toward you while crying out about its death, then fading from sight as you desperately try to find it again before it attacks.

(Some can teleport. And they can go through walls!)

Adding to the sense of dread is that you don’t have a mansion full of wandering enemies that you can clear out. Many fights are scripted encounters, and then there are also random ghosts that can appear anywhere, even in rooms with save points. You can run from the random ones, and one random ghost that began appearing near the end was dangerous enough that I fled every time it arrived.

Of course, the fact that you’re encouraged to take the shot in the moment right before the ghost’s attack also increases the tension.

The gameplay also has all the survival horror mechanics I look for – puzzles, exploration, an environment that gradually opens up – and uses its supernatural premise to add to these. Locked door? You might need a key, you might need to solve a puzzle, but then again, you might need to take a photograph to get a clue and then go fight a ghost whose power is sealing the door.

Finally, Fatal Frame is just disturbing. The atmosphere is unsettling, the story is dark, and the more you learn about the events that occurred in the mansion, the more twisted everything feels. I’m actually surprised they got away with a T rating.

I often give survival horror games a pass on story compared to other genres, but like with the Silent Hill series, Fatal Frame is one where I really enjoyed learning more about the story (mainly backstory) as it unfolded.

Five years ago, I gave up on the original Fatal Frame, but now that I gave it a second chance, I ended up really loving it. It was the perfect way to kick off this Halloween season.

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