Surprise - Fatal Frame2 scarier and better than Silent Hill

[Deepak]

I played Fatal Frame2 yesterday for the first time and spent around 2 hrs with it. It is scary, infact I would say it is scariest game ever (except possibly Siren) and it beats SH2/3 hands down, it successfully creates a Japanese Horror movie kind of environment and believe me it is scary.

Gameplay: There are 2 types of control setup 2D and 3D. I played with 3D and it felt comfortable as it played like Code Veronica, Camera angles are also a bit like CV but lot better placed and closer to the action, it only adds to the environment as you always expect to see some frightening sights. And lastly the encounters with *others* is awesome. The fact that you can use a camera only and nothing more is terrific....really

Graphics: I am not among who sits and examines carefully each and every polygon, every frame....but it looks and feels great, esp in between noise filtered/dark/weiry cut-scenes. FMVs are great as well.

I was dissapointed with SH3, but FF2 exceeds my expectations by several notches. I am eagerly waiting for Siren now.

This should be most understated game of 2003.

 

[jvd]

is it as good as alone in the dark ? That was a scary ass game . That and friday the 13th game on the nes .

 

[Deepak]

is it as good as alone in the dark ? That was a scary ass game . That and friday the 13th game on the nes .

It is, you have see it or play it (at night at exactly 12.00 am with all lights switched off )....the fact that you don;t have anything else besides that camera which can see what a human eye can not , just imagine *something* is in the room and suddendly that thing starts on her knees and slowly stands up ( like sadako in "Ring") and you have use your camera multiple times to save yourself...and you can use your camera in first person only.

 

[notAFanB]

is it as good as alone in the dark ? That was a scary ass game . That and friday the 13th game on the nes .

Not IMO. it successfully builds on what made the first game so great, adding a nice dose of polish too (bit overdone in some instances, but rent/demo it for an hr to get the general feel if you like).

worth the purchase.

It is scary, infact I would say it is scariest game ever (except possibly Siren)

don't hold your breath, the execution and content of the latter are totally different.

 

[LisaJoy]

"is it as good as alone in the dark ?"

No game will ever be.. that is the best horror game ever made..
these days noone makes horror games GOOD, now adays horror in a game= making everything really brown and rusty.. and empty..

Silent Hill 2 is one of the worst games I ever played in my life, the jail level, my lord, its one of the worst moments in gaming history.."hey its been 2 hours, and all of the areas are the same... where am I? oh my meter is hissing at me, monster alert.. that would have been scary had it not warned me... oh look at him, he is scarey.. but why is he running back and forth and not really paying attention to me? doesnt he want to eat me or rape me or something? oh well, guess I'll just bash him over the head until he stops running laps.

 

[Legion]

I hope you payed attention to the rather Ringu/Dark Water/Kourie-esque style japanese horror. I think they should chalk the game up as a tribute to Hideo Nakata.


.....Why do you kill....?

 

[nobie]

Hope I'm not the only one, but I really enjoyed Silent Hill 2. It's not without flaws (what game is) but the excellent story and creepy atmosphere alone make the game worthwhile. I have high hopes for the movie!

 

[marconelly!]

The thing is, not a single game is scary for everyone, and the same goes for the films or books. The same way not the same thing is funny for everyone. That is why there always be discussions like this where people can't understand how someone can think something is not scary or vice versa. Well, it's possible, and apparenly very common and normal. We should all get used to it and swallow our egos.

Hope I'm not the only one, but I really enjoyed Silent Hill 2.

Of course you are not the only one. I thought SH2 was fantastic game in pretty much every way (except for some small problems with dialogue/writing inherited in prety much every Japanese game ever made)


Question for Deepak: How does FF2 compare to FF1? I didn't care too much for the first game but mostly for the way it looked like. It had that typical clean Tecmo look, and even the main character had that dolly plastic look like their DOA girls. It seems to me that overal art direction is very much improved in the sequel, but I'm judging that only from the screens and trailers.

 

[No-name]

Hope I'm not the only one, but I really enjoyed Silent Hill 2.

Of course you are not the only one. I thought SH2 was fantastic game in pretty much every way (except for some small problems with dialogue/writing inherited in prety much every Japanese game ever made)

Which is not exclusive to Japanese games but games in general.

 

[zurich]

Silent Hill 2 will always be one of my favourite games evAR, even though its totally lost its effect on me due to multiple replayings. I thought Silent Hill 3 was great, but a large part of it was lost on me, having not played Silent Hill 1.

 

[notAFanB]

The thing is, not a single game is scary for everyone, and the same goes for the films or books. The same way not the same thing is funny for everyone.

Which is why I try and avoid whether I personnelly found a title scary as a moot point.

Question for Deepak: How does FF2 compare to FF1? I didn't care too much for the first game but mostly for the way it looked like. It had that typical clean Tecmo look, and even the main character had that dolly plastic look like their DOA girls.

I can't speak for Deepak, but the sacrificial Doll theme evident in the first title fit the designs quite nicely imo.

 

[Legion]

Graphics: I am not among who sits and examines carefully each and every polygon, every frame....but it looks and feels great, esp in between noise filtered/dark/weiry cut-scenes. FMVs are great as well.

I would say the game uses mainly greyscale/browish textures which are often very low resolution.

FF2 runs at an obviously lower frame rate than the FF1.


AI:

I would say the enemies in FF1 are far more vicious, fast, and powerful! They have an air of evil about them i found more terrifying then the characters in FF2 who were ultimately less horific looking.

I am sorry but the final battle doesn't even come close to the level of sweat inducing anxiety the battle with Kirie produced. Infact my roomate legitimately defeated the final boss in less than 7 shots.

I was dissapointed with SH3, but FF2 exceeds my expectations by several notches. I am eagerly waiting for Siren now.

Of course. SH3 was ranted about for its graphical aspects which ps2 fanb-ys trumpeted as proof of the PS2 graphical power.

This should be most understated game of 2003.

FF2 and 1 are awesome titles which redefine "survival horror." Nothing Capcom or Konami have produced have terrified me like FF1/2. In my eyes Tecmo humbled the Resident Evil and Silent Hill franchises.

 

[maskrider]

I think many people don't check the options as they can turn the radio off if you don't want early warnings of monsters in any Silent Hill game.

IMHO, SH2 is the best amongst the series. I love it so much, SH2 is more on silence and separation and the slow accumulated fear with regard to silence and separation. SH3 holds its own candle in terms of graphics, and it uses a more explicit way to horror.

FF scares me, but not as much as Siren. Siren is on top of my list for scare and fear.

No intention to buy FF2 yet.

 

[LisaJoy]

Alone in the Dark still stands to me as the only horror game I truely enjoyed, because on top of creepy, it was FUN, that is what all other horror games left out..

they all remind me of Fulci Films.. lots of atmosphere, lots of creepy scenes and gore.. but also lots of boredom(with the exception of Zombie, I loved that one)

 

[marconelly!]

FF2 runs at an obviously lower frame rate than the FF1.

Does that mean that FF1 runs at 60FPS and FF2 runs at 30? Or that the framerate is simply inconsistent in FF2? Btw, is there a perceivable reason for that? Have they improved anything in the engine, like shadows or lighting, that made the framerate worse?

Which is not exclusive to Japanese games but games in general.

True, but it's most jarring in Japanese made games, as I can't think of one except for ICO that dones't have this problem. On the other hand, I can probably think of about as much western made games that have pretty good writing, as I can think of those that are not good in that regard.

 

[Legion]

Does that mean that FF1 runs at 60FPS and FF2 runs at 30? Or that the framerate is simply inconsistent in FF2?

I am getting the feeling that FF1 runs at 60fps while ff2 runs at 30.

Btw, is there a perceivable reason for that? Have they improved anything in the engine, like shadows or lighting, that made the framerate worse?

Indeed. The models are clearly higher in polygon count in the second title as well as there are usually more of them on the screen. They also use a great number of transparency/blur effects. I wouldn't necessarily call it worse, i'd call it a trade off.

 

[PC-Engine]

Never played any of the SH or FF games, however, I didn't think the US version of The Ring was that scary. The scariest game I've played to date has to be RE:CV with RE Zero not too far behind.

 

[Echarin]

Which is not exclusive to Japanese games but games in general.

True, but it's most jarring in Japanese made games, as I can't think of one except for ICO that dones't have this problem.

You should try Vagrant Story. Not only does it not have the problem, its dialogues and writing are superior to most games I've ever played, whether they are from Japan or anywhere else in the world.

 

[marconelly!]

I am getting the feeling that FF1 runs at 60fps while ff2 runs at 30.

OK, as long as the framerate is not all over the place, 30 is fine for slow moving games. I certainly didn't mind it in Silent Hills.

hey also use a great number of transparency/blur effects.

Hmmm, that sounds like something I would like ) Horror game with such effects - it should make for some very nice atmosphere if they are used well.

 

[passerby]

Any game that allows the player to beat up whatever is causing fright has the scare factor cut by 50%.

It's when there is no way for the player to fight back at all that things get interesting.

SCEJ's Siren uses this approach in several scenarios.