Zero Needs A Hero

When I first bought Fatal Frame IV, I knew it came with an expiry date and that was part of the reason why I pushed all other games aside to finish it that time. What I didn't expect was the expiry date to arrive so soon as I was met with an unwelcome surprise playing my Wii last weekend. In my final hours with Darkside Chronicles before putting it away, I received a message from Nintendo informing me that the new system update 4.3U is already available for download. This could potentially render my Fatal Frame IV patch useless as it was made to run on the earlier system update 4.2U.

Perhaps it was fitting that I was done with Darkside Chronicles as I must now go back to playing Fatal Frame IV, who knows how many updates Nintendo will issue and how many Team Zero can successfully find ways to bypass it. Though the team behind the fan-made translation project are fairly confident to get around any future Nintendo updates, there is always the fear in me that this could very well be the last time I'm able to play Fatal Frame IV on my Wii.

The Big Picture

I liked how i started with Fatal Frame III, I just didn't like how I finished it this past weekend. True enough I grew desperate to get the game out of the way once I knew it was indirectly holding back some other games i was wishing to play. So i ultimately resorted to FAQ to finish the last two chapters of the game having grown fed up of wandering around aimlessly in the game not sure of what to do.

Surprisingly the core story of Fatal Frame III still make a lot of sense despite me playing off and on for goodness know how long since I started. The tie-in to previous installments of Fatal Frame games are a nice touch for longtime fans but what i liked best is the series uncanny abilities to tell a deeper and bigger picture by providing backstory to every ghost that appear to haunt you in the game. If you are not bother to get involved with the game they may seem like random ghost but usually every ghost has a past life and how they come back to haunt you is revealed if you are resourceful enough to snap the quick shot. Speaking of which, now that I'm done with Fatal Frame III i can finally think about going back to 4 on the Wii.

Evil Now Has a Home

Fresh from the recent E3 announcement of a new Silent Hill, I have finally added Silent Hill: Homecoming to my collection. It was a long and initially hopeless process from the fruitless search in the US trip to Play-asia running out of stock, it didn't seem likely I would get to play the series entry to the HD generation. There was a rare sighting of the game here and there but mostly the timing and the price was just not right to commit to the purchase.

This time I happened to find the korean version of the game which I recall Play-asia was selling for as low as USD24.90 at one time but i passed it up waiting for a further price drop of the US version. Now that the US version is longer available locally, I had no choice but to settle for the Korean region 3 version and hope that the earlier reported problems with the inverted controls doesn't surface. I will admit this it's going to take some work to get this copy of the game to fit in with the rest of collection both from the aesthetic and space point of view.

Back to Zero

Finally Fatal Frame III is in the books at last, I cheated and lied my way through the end but at that point I didn't really care anymore (haha). Maybe I didn't cheat or lie but I certainly did refer to faqs for the last two chapters of the game, something I would normally not do for games I'm playing the first time. I didn't want to spent any more time with this game as my play time has already exceeded that of part IV (19 hours+ !) though I'm confident I would be able to finish the game on my own eventually.

The story of part III is pretty good on its own made even better for longtime fans of the series with all its connection to the past games of the series. I made sure to keep the save file of this game handy by making a copy on my playstation3 hard disk so hopefully i will be able to give the game the attention it deserves one day.

Excess Baggage

True story about Devil May Cry 3, when I first played that game I took a six months lay-off somewhere in between as I was stuck on one of the boss fight before ultimately returning to finish the game. While Fatal Frame III wouldn't be rivaling Devil May Cry 3, I have certainly started this game far too long ago and have yet to finish it even once. Part of the problem with the game is I felt the third installment had too much baggage and had problem recalling the events and character from past games referenced in part III. I felt a need to replay the previous two games in order to get the most out of part III but in doing so, I'm afraid Fatal Frame III might really rival Devil May Cry 3 as the longest game I took to finish.

Frame Frame III also had a tendency to dump the player in a scenario with little or no clue as to what to do, a recipe for disaster for someone who plays the game irregularly like myself. The light at the end of the tunnel is near, I just hope i have enough will power to make it there.

Burning Twice as Bright

Patience is not something most gamers would like to practise, myself being guilty of that many times as well. This one time when i decided to skip finishing Fatal Frame III on playstation2 and moved straight to Fatal Frame IV on the Wii did work out better than I thought and prove that patience is not always a virtue. By doing so, i avoided burning myself out and managed to finish part IV after playing the game consistently for about two to three weeks. Just as I started, I was struggling to juggle my playing time between Fatal Frame IV, Yakuza 3 and also Monster Hunter Tri which i recently got. Something had to give with Yakuza 3 seeing less and less playing time than rest, i decided to give that game a break and just concentrate on the two games on the Nintendo Wii. Truthfully I felt a little burnt out having to play Yakuza 3 after racing to finish Yakuza 2 a few months back and the slow pace at the beginning of that game certainly didn't help as well.

Now that I have finished Fatal Frame IV, Yakuza 3 didn't feel like such a drag as before and of course, Fatal Frame III still needs finishing touches before I can even think of playing part IV again. I guess games are always best played when you are not rushing to finish them for whatever reasons it may be.