History YMMV / FatalFrame

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: After the first two Fatal Frame titles having the bad endings being considered the canonical ones, it's hard to be hopeful in the following installments.

** Type-90 is a fantastic film, having the second highest damage of all films and also having the fastest reload rate. Though as the games are mostly balanced around you fighting with Type-14 film, and its relatively short supply, it comes off as TooAwesomeToUse.

* GameBreaker: The Festival function. In the [[VideoGame/FatalFrameIII third]] game it grants Rei and Kei unlimited Spirit Power, allowing them to spam lens abilities, and gives Miku a constant Double charge, meaning she's guaranteed to deal insane damage with every shot. In the [[VideoGame/FatalFrameMaidenOfBlackWater fifth]] game, it allows all shots to be converted into [[CriticalHit Fatal Frame]] shots. It's also the most difficult function to unlock, requiring the player to complete Misson Mode with the highest ranking (S for ''VideoGame/FatalFrameIII'') or the game with the highest ranking on the highest difficulty (SS for ''VideoGame/FatalFrameMaidenOfBlackWater''), making it mostly a BraggingRightsReward.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: After the first two Fatal Frame titles having the bad endings being considered the canonical ones, it's hard to be hopeful in the following installments.
** The first three games involve HumanSacrifice to appease whatever dark force is out there and a lot of the villagers are rather apathetic about it or obsessed with it, which makes them rather hard to sympathize with sometimes.

* Go to YMMV page for ''YMMV/FatalFrameII''
* Go to YMMV page for ''[[YMMV/FatalFrameIII Fatal Frame III: The Tormented]]''
* Go to YMMV page for ''[[YMMV/FatalFrameIV Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Luna Eclipse]]''
* Go to YMMV page for ''YMMV/FatalFrameMaidenOfBlackWater''

!! The first game

* TooCoolToLive: Mafuyu Hinasaki. Presented as an amazing guy that has a pleasing personality, Mafuyu took care of his sister after their mother committed suicide. He headed into Himuro Mansion to find his professor and his colleagues, but got accosted by Kirie and lost the camera. Then he went on to explore the mansion without any weapons, was clever enough to figure out the events of the mansion's tragedy and left notes for Miku to find. In the end, Mafuyu decides to stay with Kirie at the Hellgate so that she'll never feel lonely again.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: In the movie, characters from ''Manga/KurosagiCorpseDelivery'' made a cameo appearance which can be very jarring if you didn't get the reference and they appeared with no buildup or foreshadowing, especially when their presence was necessary for the plot.

* UncannyValley: Man with Long Arms. Why are his arms so long?

** ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSjCf35yPGk Higanbana]]'' by [=AnJu=] for ''Maiden of Black Water''

* OlderThanTheyThink: With the release of ''VideoGame/PokemonGo'', there was a meme floating around suggesting ''Fatal Frame'' get the mobile game treatment probably not realizing at attempt has been made in the past, although it was [[NoExportForYou Japan only]].

** Majority of Ending songs performed by Tsukiko Amano.

* TooCoolToLive: Mafuyu Hinasaki. Presented as an amazing guy that has a pleasing personality, Mafuyu took care of his sister after their mother committed suicide, and headed into Himuro Mansion because he wanted to find his professor and his colleagues, but gets accosted by Kirie and loses the camera. Then went on to explore the mansion without any weapon to defend himself against, was clever enough to figure out the events of the mansion's tragedy and left notes for Miku to find. In the end, Mafuyu decides to stay with Kirie at the hellgate, so that she'll never feel lonely again.

* {{Narm}}: The English voice acting in ''Fatal Frame'' and ''Maiden of Black Water'' is honestly terrible in places, often making it difficult to take the events seriously. Just listening to the cassette tapes found in the first game, the monotonous drag the actors perform sounds like they are giving instructions, rather than documenting the horrendous, terrifying events of hauntings and sudden deaths.

* ScrappyMechanic: For the Nintendo-era games -- ''Deep Crimson Butterfly'', ''Mask of the Lunar Eclipse'' and ''Maiden of Black Water'' -- the mechanic of having to press-and-hold a button to pick an item up. While the character is slowly reaching their hand out for the item and an ominous drum is played in the background, there's a chance a ghost hand will reach out and grab the character's arm, resulting in health being drained. Can lead to potential ParanoiaFuel, but ultimately fails because of the frequency of having to pick items up and being forced to watch an unnecessarily long scene of the character grabbing an item.

* OlderThanTheyThink: With the release of VideoGame/PokemonGo, there was a meme floating around suggesting Fatal Frame get the mobile game treatment probably not realizing at attempt has been made in the past, although it was Japan only.

* Go to YMMV page for ''YMMV/FatalFrameI''

*** ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw7FyjOb43c Chou]]'' for ''Fatal Frame II''
*** ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbQUl8d0jds Kurenai]]'' for ''Fatal Frame II: Deep Crimson Butterfly''

* SpiritualLicensee: Replace Proton Packs with the Camera Obscura, set it in Japan instead of America, and this series can be seen as a significantly less lighthearted ''Franchise/Ghostbusters''.

* AwesomeMusic

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Misaki: Did she honestly abandon Madoka [[spoiler:which led to the girl's death]] on purpose, because she was lagging behind or did she honestly not notice, until later? Or is she understandably shortsighted [[spoiler:since she's just as likely to die from Getsuyuu Syndrome]]?
* AuthorsSavingThrow: After the [[ValuesDissonance reaction]] of the "correct" choice in the first three games being human sacrifice, the fourth and fifth games make some attempt to avoid this - namely, that ''nobody'' was supposed to die in [=IV=], and that being sacrificed in V was such a great honor that people underwent it willingly, to the extent that the miko who was selected found herself having to comfort the women who ''weren't'' chosen.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The Ending songs performed by Tsukiko Amano.
** III - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOI9Jq8NH9Q Koe]].
** IV - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OwORC7OArk Zero No Chouritsu]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OfBeW5K9jU&feature=related Noise]].
*** While not a Tsukiko Amano song, the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw1-eBFm5fI&feature=related final boss version of the Tsukimori Song]] is pretty hypnotizing.
*** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qft36hUnpr0 piano-only version of the Tsukimori Song]] which plays during the ending stat results is as beautiful as it is painfully bittersweet.
** V - [[https://youtu.be/NwioakFMl4c?list=FLRiSiWUvfvcXLRa5uDCpVew Torikago - In This Cage]].
** V's other Ending song - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSjCf35yPGk Higanbana by [=AnJu=]]].
* BrokenBase: The announcement that the fifth game in the series will be an eShop exclusive release in North America, and how Europe's retail limited editions are the sole retail copies being produced in, of course, pretty limited quantities. Some people in both regions are not happy with the decision as some people would have preferred having a physical disc copy of the game, while others are fine with the decision as ''Fatal Frame'' has always been a very niche franchise outside of Japan, and are just happy to get the game at all (plus this means that the game can never be "sold out"). Others are completely indifferent and really don't care either way. Of course, people with terrible Internet connection are absolutely screwed.
** And now we have the revelation that the skimpy alternate costumes, common to every past Fatal Frame, [[http://www.destructoid.com/fatal-frame-localization-removes-smutty-outfits-316443.phtml are being replaced]] with Nintendo themed costume.
*** Though the base had always been broken about the fact that vulnerable pre-teen girls would run around in bikinis. Fatal Frame V took it UpToEleven by having the female characters have dessous as costumes, plus Gainaxing, creating an outrage.
* GameBreaker: The Festival function. In III, it grants Rei and Kei [[BottomlessMagazines unlimited Spirit Power]], allowing them to spam their lens attacks like crazy, and grants Miku unlimited Double charges, guaranteeing she deals insane damage every time. In V, it grants Yuri, Miu, and Ren the ability to convert all of their shots into [[CriticalHit Fatal Frames.]] It's also the most difficult function to unlock in both games, requiring you to complete all missions with the highest ranking possible (S in III, SS in V ''and'' on the highest difficulty), which makes it a BraggingRightsReward more than anything.
* LesYay: Miku and Rei gave off mild vibes in the third game.
-->"Having trouble sleeping? Do you need to sleep in here with me?"
** Miya and Misaki also have a few moments which are... questionable.
* {{Narm}}: Protip: if you're going to try to make headless ghosts scary, do not make them constantly repeat "Where's my head?", especially when their head is ''on their shoulders'' for 80% of the fight. And Female Head ''rolls in midair'' as she moves, which just makes her hilarious.
** The English voice acting is honestly ''terrible'' in places (with V being the most notorious offender), which can make it difficult to take things seriously. For example, the monologues in the tapes across the series detailing horrifying events happening to them while in the same placid monotone that someone would use for recording machine instructions.
** During the third game, Rei wakes up and gets surprised by Yoshino's ghost slipping onto her bed and grabbing her wrist. There's a few seconds of silence as the camera remains still on Rei and then Yoshino. Rei's face looks less like it's saying, "OhCrap, a ghost!" and more a completely derpy expression of "Uhh..."
* NightmareRetardant: Some of the unlockable costumes look so out of place that they make it hard to take the games and all the horror elements seriously. This was actually a criticism for ''Maiden of Black Water''.
* ObviousBeta: IV has a number of bugs, with a couple being particularly notable. The biggest ones are the game freezing if you take a logical (though thankfully incorrect) path through something, and six ghosts being glitched and not being recorded properly, thus preventing you from getting the Festival Lens without hacking or a cheating device. This is actually what kept it from being localized: Nintendo wouldn't publish it abroad unless Tecmo fixed the bugs, which they were unwilling to do.
* ParanoiaFuel: Possibly even more than the NightmareFuel. Usually a result of NothingIsScarier.
* PlayerPunch: And it ''hurts''. Now with its [[PlayerPunch/FatalFrame own page]].
* TheScrappy: Mayu and Rui (from Fatal Frame II and V) are this due to being TheLoad. Mayu's also hated for [[spoiler: being a ManipulativeBitch]] and for getting her and her sister lost in All God's Village, and Rui gets hate for being a boring SatelliteLoveInterest and not doing much apart from being a DamselScrappy.
* ScrappyMechanic: The StealthBasedMission in III; while there is precedent for being stripped of your camera, III takes the cake by forcing a character on the player whose ability to squat behind things is advertised as his 'special ability'. Made even worse by it not working most of the time.
** From the same game, the frickin' candles. After a certain part of the game, the whole house becomes covered in miasma, causing more and more dangerous ghosts than usual to appear, including Reika who is unkillable and kills you in one hit even if you have a Stone Mirror. Also, the whole game turns black and white, making it hard to see anything. The only way to counter this is to find candles, but they last a few minutes at best, are scattered at inconvenient locations in the manor, so you have to go out of your way to find them. In the end, you're stuck between a rock and a hard place: Do you hunt for the next candle (being hunted yourself by Reika on the way) in order to be able to proceed more safely to the next location you actually need to be, or do you just try to rush on without and risk getting one-shotted somewhere close to your goal. Good luck trying to kill those required ghosts with an unkillable one-hit-kill distraction chasing you around!
*** Permanently distorting the player's view and forcing them to run as fast as possible without paying attention to their surroundings in a game which in no small part relies on its visual aesthetics? I see nothing wrong with this plan...
** In IV, the piano segments. They require you to point at the narrow keyboard keys with game tending to think you hit the ones next to them instead, and they're also picky about timing. To make things worse, [[spoiler: if you fail three times at the end of the final boss fight, you have to fight Sakuya again and repeat the process.]]
** Whose bright idea was it to force you to fight through a long series of tunnels starving you of checkpoints? Right before the instant kill boss?
** The press-and-hold-A mechanic to investigate or pick up items in ''Fatal Frame II'''s Wii-version and ''Fatal Frame IV''. Can lead to potential ParanoiaFuel of a ghost suddenly jumping out at you, but ultimately fails at the frequency of having to watch an unnecessarily long scene of Mio picking up an item, instead of simply picking the item up with a simple push of the button. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking The ghost hands that could grab her wrist at random are just another strike to that]].
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5ShFRYbpE IGN]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrLDsGVekYA GameXplain's]] reviews of ''Fatal Frame V'' both criticized it for adhering to ''[[Franchise/ResidentEvil Resident Evil's]]'' infamous "tank control" scheme[[note]]noted @6:17-7:00 of [=GameXplain's=] review[[/note]]. Which they described as being clunky and frustrating to deal with in tight corridors, especially while being pursued by spirits.
* SpiritualLicensee: Replace the Proton Packs with the Camera Obscura, and set it in Japan, and this can be seen as a '''[=SIGNIFICANTLY=]''' less lighthearted ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}''.
** The games borrow a significant portion of their aesthetic from films such as Literature/TheRing or Film/{{Juon}}
* ThatOneBoss
** Reika as the final boss in III. Whilst Kirie and the Kusabi from I and II had OneHitKill moves, they were both fairly manageable bosses thanks to their slow speed and easily read movement. Reika, on the other hand, has a habit of frequently flying high in the air, which on its own makes her rather hard to pinpoint without going into the movement limiting finder vision, so good luck getting out of her way when she comes dive bombing towards you straight afterwards. On top of that her own one hit kill attack involves appearing in a [[LuckBasedMission completely unpredictable position]] close to you. If you're not facing clear away from her when she appears, you won't be able to avoid running smack in to her and she will gladly watch that health bar of yours go all the way down whilst groping your lifeless corpse.
** The fight with the Utsuwa (dancer) and Kanades (accompanists) in the fourth game also ranks high in terms of sheer frustration. The Kanades, par for the course for child ghosts, are GoddamnedBats that work as a team, with one or more serving as decoys while another (most likely directly behind you) goes in for the kill. There are also [[MarathonBoss five of them]]. Meanwhile, the Utsuwa is a wild card, teleporting and attacking more or less at random. If you haven't mastered the evade function prepare to die. A lot.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Miu Hinasaki from V is, unfortunately, nothing to write home about. She is not just the daughter of the game's ''first heroine''[[spoiler:, but also a Shadowborn]]. There's not much known about her, other than those facts, her becoming a model and having been raised by a friend of Miku's. [[spoiler:Her being a Shadowborn doesn't even factor into the plot in any significant way; it's just what she is and doesn't seem to do anything, other than having doomed Miku to an early death.]] While her plotline has her mother talk about the Yuukon ritual, it is vastly more focused on in Ren's plotline, turning it into a weak plot point separated into two. Sad to say, Miu's presence in the overall game seems unnecessary and she is mostly just a fanservice-nod to the first game by relation.
* TooCoolToLive: [[spoiler:Mafuyu from the first game and Choushiro from the fourth.]]
* UncannyValley:
** Man With Long Arms in the first game stands out.
** Kageri Sendou´s disturbing mannequin is a notable one. Especially when it ''moves.''
** "Tall Woman" in the fifth game, who is also absolutely unexplained.
* ValuesDissonance: These games are intensely Japanese, and it shows. A major one in several games, but is especially critical in the endings of the 1, 2, and 5. [[spoiler: The human sacrifices are the CORRECT choice, closing the hell gate and releasing all the souls trapped by the Calamity/Repentance/Black Water in the good endings. Any western game would have [[TakeAThirdOption found another way around]] rather than support human sacrifice.]]
* WhatAnIdiot: In number 3, despite having confirmation that something serious, otherworldly, and life threatening is occurring and having a genuine piece of anti-ghost technology on hand that they know of and know how to use. The main characters make no attempt to repair the Camera Obscura in the waking world or use it to cure or even resist the curse.
** In 5, despite all the main cast being repeatedly attacked/kidnapped by the ghosts and the previous experience showing that the antiques shop was neither safe nor secure, and that Ren could be overwhelmed, everyone goes to sleep in the shop again leaving Ren on watchman duty. This is despite the fact that there is nothing preventing them from putting more distance between themselves and Mt. Hikami. Needless to say, it got worse.
* TheWoobie: Pick a main character. Any of them. Many of the dead {{NPC}}s have tragic backstories as well.
** You can safely apply this label to many of the ''ghosts''. Even the BigBad. In some cases, depending on the game, ''especially'' the BigBad.
** IronWoobie: Kei Amakura deserves a special mention. While he's the most determined in finding a way to escape the Manor of Sleep and lift the curse, even trying to cheer up Rei [[spoiler:when Miku falls into a coma, [[TalkingInYourSleep he too is suffering from the]] [[PleaseDontLeaveMe loss of his niece and closest friends.]]]]

* BrokenBase: The announcement that the fifth game in the series will be an eShop exclusive release in North America, and how Europe's retail limited editions are the sole retail copies being produced in, of course, pretty limited quantities. Some people in both regions are not happy with the decision as some people would have preferred having a physical disc copy of the game, while others are fine with the decision as ''Fatal Frame'' has always been a very niche franchise outside of Japan, and are just happy to get the game at all (plus this means that the game can never be "sold out"). Others are completely indifferent and really don't care either way. Of course, people with terrible Internet connection are absolutely screwed.
** And now we have the revelation that the skimpy alternate costumes, common to every past Fatal Frame, [[http://www.destructoid.com/fatal-frame-localization-removes-smutty-outfits-316443.phtml are being replaced]] with Nintendo themed costume.
*** Though the base had always been broken about the fact that vulnerable pre-teen girls would run around in bikinis. Fatal Frame V took it UpToEleven by having the female characters have dessous as costumes, plus Gainaxing, creating an outrage.
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The Ending songs performed by Tsukiko Amano.

* ObviousBeta: IV has a number of bugs, with a couple being particularly notable. The biggest ones are the game freezing if you take a logical (though thankfully incorrect) path through something, and six ghosts being glitched and not being recorded properly, thus preventing you from getting the Festival Lens without hacking or a cheating device.

* AccidentalInnuendo: A ghost in Crimson Butterfly died in the lost village while looking for her boyfriend ([[spoiler:by being strangled by his ghost, actually]]). One of her diary entries has a single page stating simply "He came" and, even better, she utters a haunting "you finally...came" when defeated. Considering how hard this phrase would be to work around, the translators probably realized the implication and just plowed on ahead.
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Mayu can be viewed several different ways. Is she a sweet, helpless girl who the main antagonist has taken particular interest in and who [[VideoGameCaringPotential you want to keep safe at all times]]? Is she an irritating little wimp who [[TheLoad you need to keep safe at all times]]? Or is she [[spoiler: an obsessively crazy young woman who deliberately fell off a cliff just to guilt Mio into staying with her forever?]] Given what's AllThereInTheManual, it would appear the third option is canon.
** Sae: Did she actually care about her sister, or was she so obsessed with "becoming one" that she completely disregarded Yae's feelings on the matter?
** Misaki: Did she honestly abandon Madoka [[spoiler:which led to the girl's death]] on purpose, because she was lagging behind or did she honestly not notice, until later? Or is she understandably shortsighted [[spoiler:since she's just as likely to die from Getsuyuu Syndrome]]?

** II - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tqh2NNn8ARk Chou]].
** II: Deep Crimson Butterfly - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuMuhR1vF5I Kurenai]].

* ItWasHisSled: [[spoiler:Mio will kill Mayu]]. This was originally the big plot twist in Fatal Frame II: Mio thought [[spoiler:Mayu would kill ''her'']] until she read the notes that said [[spoiler:the twin that came out second was the eldest (it was thought that the "elder" twin would let the "younger" twin be born first)]].

** Mayu and Mio have their share, especially on Mayu's side. Especially in the canon ending, when [[spoiler:Mayu lies down on the sacrifical stone and Mio practically lies on top of her to strangle her]].
* MostAnnoyingSound: In ''Fatal Frame II'', the sound the camera makes when your spirit charge is maxed. Gets worse if the 'Butterfly' red lens is equipped, which ''doubles'' that sound. You almost want to not charge up your spirit power, just so you don't have to hear that noise.

** [[BigBad Sae]] loses some of her creepiness, when she stumbles forward and flails her arms around like a [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy whacky inflateable tube man]] during her battle.

* {{Squick}}: The shots of Mayu after her fall when she was a kid, in II and its remake. It's no wonder that she's still walking with a limp all these years later.

** The Kiryu Twins in the Doll Room in II; the second encounter with them. It still has the problem of not really giving much of a hint on which is the invulnerable doll and which is the girl, but the major contributor in this battle is that the Doll Room is very small and it's difficult to maneuvre around.
** Sae as the final boss in II on higher difficulties ([=PS2=]/[=XBOX=]) and during certain ending conditions (Wii). She [[SmokeOut generates a red mist]] around her, which screws with your camera interface and makes it difficult to take a picture of her. The only way to really damage her, is if she removes the mist. And she has an annoying tendency of having a pretty random AI and teleports around. Usually right in front of you and can immediately attack. In the original version, she didn't have a OneHitKill, but was given one in the updated Wii version.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Some of the reaction to ''Deep Crimson Butterfly'' has been this.

* PlayerPunch: And it ''hurts''.

* The english voice acting is ''horrible'' in places (with V being the most notorious offender), which can make it difficult to take things seriously.
** Some of the voice acting in the first game is also this, such as the monologues in the tapes detailing horrifying events happening to them while in the same placid monotone that someone would use for recording machine instructions.

** During the third game, Rei wakes up and gets surprised by Yoshino's ghost slipping onto her bed and grabbing her wrist. There's a few seconds of silence as the camera remains still on Rei and then Yoshino. Rei's face looks less like it's saying, "Argh, a ghost is touching me!" and more a completly derpy expression of "Uhh...", lacking fear.