History VideoGame / FatalFrameMaskOfTheLunarEclipse

* FifteenPuzzle: In Phase 8, you have to solve one of these in Sakuya's room to proceed. The puzzle forms an image once finished. On Hard and Nightmare difficulty you can't see the numbers of the tiles, meaning you have to go off the picture of the completed puzzle to solve it.

''Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse'' is the fourth installment in the ''VideoGame/FatalFrame'' survival horror series created by Creator/{{Tecmo}}. Originally an exclusive on the Creator/{{Nintendo}} UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} released on July 31, 2008, the game was also co-developed by Creator/GrasshopperManufacture, and was the first of the ''Fatal Frame'' games after Nintendo became a partner in developing the franchise. An UpdatedRerelease was released on March 9, 2023 for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/PlayStation5, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, UsefulNotes/XboxSeries and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} platforms.

!! Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse contains the following Tropes:

** Both of Magaki's notes have "I was born. I was born. I was born! I was born!"

* BodyHorror: 'Blooming' is portrayed as a person's face melting and distorting.

* DarkerAndEdgier: This game ramps up the scare factor from the previous games. Nearly every enemy ghost now sports one hell of a NightmareFace thanks to ArtEvolution, and are a lot more threatening this time around.

* NightmareFace: Blooming distorts a person's face beyond recognition. And it's so bad that a person afflicted with Moonlight Syndrome worsens upon merely looking at someone who is Blooming.
** Nearly ''every'' enemy ghost in the game sports an incredibly terrifying face as they try to attack you.

* ShoutOut:
** The disease is called ''VideoGame/MoonlightSyndrome'', another game Goichi Suda directed and wrote.

* TheDragon: Souya Yomotsuki, the creator of the titular mask [[spoiler:and Ruka's father]]. He was among those at fault for the last Rite of Descent to have failed, and has to be defeated before facing [[FinalBoss Sakuya]].

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: {{Invoked}}. Sakuya sees Ayako as very different from how she's portrayed. Though it's implied that Ayako is Sakuya's daughter, so she might be biased.
--> ''"That child goes around with an air of evil and fear around her, but I know she is really very gentle and vulnerable."''

** The moon. It's ''everywhere'', from its relation to Moonlight Syndrome to a good chunk of the cast having the kanji for moon (月; tsuki/getsu) in their surnames.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: [[invoked]] Sakuya sees Ayako as very different from how she's portrayed. Though it's implied that Ayako is Sakuya's daughter, so she might be biased.

* ArcSymbol: The moon. It's ''everywhere'', from its relation to Moonlight Syndrome to a good chunk of the cast having the kanji for moon (月; tsuki/getsu) in their surnames.
** Masks are also present throughout the game and play an important role in Rougetsu Island's culture, especially where the Kagura Dance is concerned.

* ObviousBeta: The game contains a GameBreakingBug that was never fixed, and it also has a broken Ghost List that is impossible to complete, without hacking the save-file.

* JigsawPuzzlePlot: The game adopts a non-linear method of storytelling, unlike the previous games, while at the same time using a tripartite approach to its plot, that it, the player ''knows'' and controls three different characters on the island, but ''when'' their individual chapters are positioned in a chronological sequence is a bit blurred. [[spoiler: However, beginning with Chapter 4, the game offers a brief recap of a character's previous chapter. In this case, it is explicitly said Ruka came to Rogetsu '''after''' Misaki and Madoka.]]

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: [[invoked]] Sakuya sees Ayako as very different from how she's portrayed. Though it's implied that Ayako is Sakuya's daughter, so she might be biased.
--> ''"That child goes around with an air of evil and fear around her, but I know she is really very gentle and vulnerable."''

* MuseumOfTheStrangeAndUnusual: [[spoiler:Meiji Era-occultist and folklorist Kunihiko Aso(u) visited Rougetsu Island to document its old traditions, and stayed as a guest in the Sanitarium. According to undated, but old newspaper clips, Aso(u)'s room was converted into a museum, and he personally donated one exemplar of his famous Camera Obscuras as a centerpiece.]]

!! Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse contains the following Tropes

* BigDamnHeroes: The final cutscene of ''Fatal Frame IV'' has Ruka trip and fail to place the Mask of the Lunar Eclipse on Sakuya. [[spoiler:Choushiro's spirit appears and places the mask in her stead, appeasing Sakuya and breaking the curse.]]

* DiscoveringYourOwnDeadBody: Fatal Frame IV has [[spoiler:Choushiro Kirishima]]'s story involve reliving the events leading up to their death and ending when they come across their corpse in the same location they first woke up in.

* DubNameChange: ''Getsuyuubyou'' can be translated as ''tranquil moon disease''. The English patch chose to call it ''Luna Sedata Syndrome'' In the Remaster, it's called "Moonlight Syndrome"

* DismantledMaGuffin: [[spoiler:Throughout the game, the three main characters find, lose and regain the pieces of a Mask of Lunar Eclipse, which Ruka uses on Sakuya at the end of the game.]]

* MuseumOfTheStrangeAndUnusual: [[spoiler:Meiji Era-occultist and folklorist Kunihiko Aso(u) visited Rougetsu Island to document its old traditions, and stayed as a guest in the Sanitarium. According to undated, but old newspaper clips, Aso(u)'s room was converted into a museum, and he personally donated one examplar of his famous Camera Obscuras as a centerpiece.]]

* MuseumOfTheStrangeAndUnusual: [[spoiler:Meiji Era-occultist and folklorist Kunihiko Aso(u) visited Rougetsu Island to document its old tradition, and stayed as a guest in the Sanitarium. According to undated, but old newspaper clips, Aso(u) room was converted into a museum, and he personally donated one examplar of his famous Camera Obscura as a centerpiece.]]