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Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

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Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly
North American PlayStation 2 cover
Developer(s)Tecmo
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Makoto Shibata
Producer(s)Keisuke Kikuchi
Programmer(s)Katsuyuki Okura
Writer(s)Tsuyoshi Iuchi
Composer(s)Ayako Toyoda
SeriesFatal Frame
Platform(s)
ReleasePlayStation 2
  • JP: November 27, 2003
  • NA: December 9, 2003
  • EU: April 30, 2004
Xbox
  • NA: November 1, 2004
  • JP: November 11, 2004
  • EU: February 4, 2005
Genre(s)Survival horror
Mode(s)Single-player

Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly[a] is a survival horror video game developed by Tecmo for PlayStation 2. The second entry in the Fatal Frame series, it was published by Tecmo in 2003 in Japan and North America, and by Ubisoft in Europe in 2004. An expanded Xbox port was published in 2004 in Japan and North America, and by Microsoft Game Studios in Europe in 2005. The story follows sisters Mio and Mayu Amakura as they are trapped in a ghost-filled village cursed by a failed ritual which they are being forced to re-enact. Gameplay follows Mio as she explores the village searching for Mayu, fighting hostile ghosts using the series' recurring Camera Obscura.

Crimson Butterfly began development shortly after the original game, with returning staff including director Makoto Shibata, producer Keisuke Kikuchi, and writer Tsuyoshi Iuchi. The aim was to both refine the gameplay mechanics of the original Fatal Frame, and to create a compelling narrative to encourage players to finish the game. Singer-songwriter Tsukiko Amano created the game's theme song "Chō". Crimson Butterfly sold well, and was praised by critics for its narrative and gameplay, later being called a classic of the survival horror genre. A sequel, Fatal Frame III: The Tormented, was released in 2005. A remake for the Wii was released in 2012 in Japan and Europe.

Gameplay

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Further information: Fatal Frame § Series gameplay
Left: Mio and Mayu exploring Minakami. Right: A typical battle. Unlike in other installments in the series, the Camera Obscura's attack power is based on the player's proximity to the target ghost.

Fatal Frame II is a survival horror video game.[1] For most of the game, the player controls the protagonist Mio Amakura as she and her sister Mayu explore a ghost town.[1][2]: 4  As they explore the town and uncover its secrets, they defeat enemies in the form of ghosts and spirits by taking pictures of them with an enchanted camera, the Camera Obscura.[1][2]: 10–11  There are two modes of gameplay, field mode and viewfinder mode. When in field mode, the player controls Mio directly and can examine items and search areas for clues. When the camera is used, the game enters viewfinder mode, from where pictures of ghosts and scenery can be taken. Information about the camera film type, lens type, and camera enhancements is visible.[2]: 6–13 

Most of the game is spent directing Mio followed closely by Mayu as they explore the village. A filament in the corner of the screen will glow when ghosts or clues are nearby. Many clues are only visible through the viewfinder, and some ghosts are non-hostile and will provide hints to advance further. Sometimes Mayu will stop if she finds a clue as well.[2]: 6–13  Other than clues and key items to progress the narrative, consumable items such as health restoratives and film for the Camera Obscura can be found.[2]: 31 

Fighting spirits by taking pictures of them is a key gameplay mechanic.[1] When in viewfinder mode, one can take pictures of enemies, damaging them. More damage can be dealt by snapping shots at certain moments, indicated by the filaments and lights on the camera. Power-up lenses can be used to provide added affects such as slowing down the enemy or pushing them back.[2]: 13, 16–17, 24–27  Pictures taken with the camera can be saved to the memory card.[2]: 21  Mayu cannot fight off ghosts, and if she takes too much damage, it results in a game over. The player character Mio has a health meter, and like Mayu, if she receives too much damage it is game over. The game must then be continued from a previous save. The game can only be saved at red lanterns located in throughout the village.[2]: 6–13, 20 

Synopsis

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Twins Mio and Mayu Amakura visit a forested valley in the Minakami region where they used to play as children, which will shortly be flooded due to a new dam project. Due to a crippling leg injury suffered by Mayu indirectly caused by the younger Mio, the twins are very close but suffer a strained relationship. Mayu is led away by a crimson butterfly, with Mio giving chase and the two ending up in Minakami Village, a legendary location said to trap people who enter it. The two search for a way out, finding Minakami Village haunted by hostile ghosts. Mayu is frequently separated from Mio, led by crimson butterflies deeper into the village and eventually becoming possessed by the spirit of a girl called Sae Kurosawa. Mio is helped by Itsuki Tachibana, a friendly spirit who mistakes her for Sae's sister Yae. Yae also appears within the village, and appears to influence Mio's actions. The village's history is revealed through documents and flashbacks Mio experiences from the ghosts.

Minakami Village was built over a gate to the underworld dubbed the Hellish Abyss, and used a ritual to placate it; one of a set of twins strangled the other, supposedly reuniting their souls into one being and appeasing the Abyss. After several failed rituals, Yae and Sae were the only remaining twins in Minakami Village. Itsuki, a survivor of an earlier ritual, sought to help them escape, sending for help from a friend outside the village, Ryozo, who visited with his folklorist teacher Seijiro Makabe. The villagers used Seijiro as a stopgap sacrifice dubbed the "Kusabe", though Ryozo escaped. When Itsuki tried to help Yae and Sae escape, Sae let herself be captured so they could perform the sacrifice and be "together forever", but Yae ran. Itsuki killed himself in despair at Sae's capture, and the villagers sacrificed Sae alone. This caused the ritual's failure, consuming Minakami Village and causing Sae and Seijiro to return as vengeful spirits. Mio, learning that according to the village's customs she will kill Mayu, attempts to flee. Sae captures Mayu, intent on seeing the ritual completed as she sees herself and Yae reflected in Mio and Mayu.

The story has multiple endings based on different actions. Mio can choose to abandon Mayu, causing her to be attacked by Sae and waking up in the real world without Mayu, resulting in a game over. If Mio follows Mayu, the sisters are led through the sacred pathways by Sae and Yae respectively, with Mio fighting Seijiro before reaching the Hellish Abyss. With both sisters in a trance, Mio strangles Mayu, completing the ritual and bringing peace to Minakami Village as Mayu's spirit becomes a crimson butterfly. Mio is later seen with a red mark on her neck representing Mayu's spirit.[b] Completing the game on hard mode unlocks a new fight with Sae, which allows Mio to rescue Mayu; due to looking into the Hellish Abyss in the process, Mio is permanently blinded. An Xbox-exclusive ending sees Yae using Mio to reach Sae, allowing them to complete the ritual and sparing Mio and Mayu, allowing them to reconcile.

Development

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Production on Crimson Butterfly began at series developer Tecmo shortly after completion of the original game.[4] Makoto Shibata and Keisuke Kikuchi returned respectively as director and producer.[5]: 78–82  While the basic gameplay was carried over from the first game, it underwent adjustments and additions. They also sought to balance the game difficulty, as feedback had indicated the original was either too easy or too hard.[6] The camera angle was being adjusted up until release, and anything that would obscure the player character was removed.[7] The CGI cutscenes were handled by Daisuke Inari, who described the task of balancing the horror elements with Japanese-inspired beauty as "a mind-boggling challenge". He used reference material from Shibata to achieve the desired atmosphere.[8] Production ran parallel to the Xbox port of the original game, with Kikuchi choosing the early staff to "push the envelop" of the proposed gameplay. After completing other projects, the full staff were pulled back together to finish development.[9]

Based on feedback that the first game was too scary for some players to complete, the team decided to create an interesting storyline. The scenario was inspired by a dream by Shibata which he described as having a complete plot and ending he just needed to make work as a video game.[4] Tsuyoshi Iuchi returned from the first game as script writer.[10] The story was based around the symmetry of twins and butterflies, with the game's horror coming from the loss or injury of one half of a whole, and its drama coming from contrasts between pairs.[5]: 78–82  Kikuchi cited the stories of Seishi Yokomizo, and both Japanese and Western horror movies as inspiration for Crimson Butterfly. Kikuchi specifically referenced The Shining, his favorite film, as a great inspiration.[11] They additionally drew inspiration from legends, folklore, and unspecified natural disasters.[6] As with the original game, female leads were chosen to emphasize the protagonists' weakness and elicit player sympathy.[9]

The game featured a theme song by singer-songwriter Tsukiko Amano titled "Chō".[12] In the middle of production, Kikuta voiced his wish for a theme song, and Shibata suggested they approach singer-songwriter Tsukiko Amano after hearing her debut single "Hakoniwa". Amano, a video game fan, accepted the offer before knowing the genre of Crimson Butterfly.[13] She was provided with concept art and a plot synopsis to help her work.[12] Amano described her feelings about the lyrics as being from Mayu's perspective losing Mio.[5]: 84  The image in her mind when writing the lyrics was a butterfly losing its wing.[13]

Release

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The game was announced by Tecmo in May 2003 at that year's E3.[14] It was published in Japan on November 27, 2003 under the title Zero ~Akai Chō~. The game was promoted with a free DVD distributed through gaming stores in October, and supplemented with a novel in December telling an alternate version of the game's story.[15][16] The game released by Tecmo in North America on December 9 using the "Fatal Frame" title.[17] Ubisoft announced in January 2004 that it would publish the game in PAL regions,[18] releasing the game as Project Zero 2: Crimson Butterfly in Europe on April 30.[19] An emulated version for the PlayStation 3 was released as a PlayStation 2 Classic in May 2013 in North America.[20]

As the original version was nearing completion, Kikuchi began creating plans for an expanded port for the Xbox, similar to the original game. The port included updated graphics, a first person camera option, a new harder difficulty mode, new costumes for Mio and Mayu, and a new ending. When creating the first person mode, which was intended to make the game more frightening, Kikuchi used Halo: Combat Evolved as a reference.[21][22] The new ending, "Promise", was intended as a truly happy ending for the twins.[23]

The Xbox port first released in North America on November 1, 2004.[24] In Japan, the game released on November 11 using the American title, with pre-orders including a fan disc featuring behind the scenes information and promotional trailers.[25] In Europe the port was published by Microsoft Game Studios,[26] releasing on February 4, 2005.[27]

Reception

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Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly has received positive reviews from critics. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the Xbox version 84/100,[29] and the PS2 version 81/100.[28]

Fatal Frame II was ranked second in the list of "Top Ten Scariest Games" by GameTrailers in 2006,[43] and third in X-Play's "Top Ten Scariest Games of All Time".[44] Game Informer also ranked it number one on a similar list.[45] Ars Technica published an article about the game in its 2011 Halloween Masterpieces series,[46] while PSU.com in 2003 opined Fatal Frame II was the scariest video game ever made.[47] Fatal Frame II was a nominee for GameSpot's 2004 "Best Adventure Game" award, which ultimately went to Myst IV: Revelation.[48]

Video game writer and director Neil Druckmann discussed the impact of the game on his work in a 2014 interview, stating: "Fatal Frame II is the scariest kind of experience in any medium; I haven't seen a movie that comes close."[49]

Later titles

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A sequel for the PS2, Fatal Frame III: The Tormented, was released in 2005.[50][51] [52] A remake of the game, titled Project Zero 2: Wii Edition, was released for the Wii in 2012, exclusively in Japan and Europe.[53]

Notes

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  1. ^ Known in Japan as Zero ~Akai Chō~ (零 〜紅い蝶〜, lit. "Zero ~Crimson Butterfly~") and in Europe as Project Zero II: Crimson Butterfly.
  2. ^ Treated as the canon ending in Fatal Frame III: The Tormented[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Dunham, Jeremy (November 19, 2003). "Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly". IGN. Archived from the original on July 1, 2016. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly (instruction manual) (NTSC, PS2 ed.). Tecmo. 2003.
  3. ^ "Staff Interview". 零 刺青ノ聾 公式完全攻略本 導魂之書. Enterbrain. October 2005. ISBN 978-4757724983.
  4. ^ a b Shibata, Makoto (May 2, 2013). "Fatal Frame 2 Hits PSN Tuesday, Series Director Speaks". PlayStation Blog. Archived from the original on September 30, 2015. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  5. ^ a b c 零(zero) 零~紅い蝶~恐怖ファンブック怨霊の刻. Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha. May 17, 2004. ISBN 978-4-408-61623-0.
  6. ^ a b "GamePro chats with Keisuke Kikuchi about the horrific Fatal Frame 2 and longings for a new Deception title". GamePro. June 3, 2003. Archived from the original on December 31, 2009. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  7. ^ プロジェクトマネージャー/長谷川仁 「恐怖をデザインする」 (in Japanese). Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly website. 2003. Archived from the original on March 9, 2016. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  8. ^ ＣＧ（ムービー班）/稲荷大輔「紅い蝶の映像表現」 (in Japanese). Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly website. 2003. Archived from the original on July 31, 2015. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  9. ^ a b Hwang, Kaisar (August 15, 2003). "Fatal Frame 2 Interview". IGN. Archived from the original on May 2, 2006. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  10. ^ シリーズ生誕から10年。ゲームポットとテクモのキーマンに聞く，「モンスターファームオンライン」の目指すものとは？. 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). August 22, 2007. Archived from the original on May 4, 2009. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
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  12. ^ a b 『零～紅い蝶～』開発秘話 - その一　イメージソング「蝶」について.... Zero: Crimson Butterfly Official Website. 2003. Archived from the original on May 30, 2015. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
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  15. ^ 発売前に『零 ～紅い蝶～』の世界を堪能！ 映像DVD無料配布キャンペーン実施. Dengeki Online (in Japanese). October 16, 2003. Archived from the original on July 6, 2007. Retrieved February 8, 2025. {{cite web}}: line feed character in |script-title= at position 25 (help)
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  18. ^ Calvert, Justin (January 8, 2004). "Ubisoft catches Crimson Butterfly". GameSpot. Archived from the original on April 24, 2016. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  19. ^ Bramwell, Tom (April 30, 2004). "What's New?". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on March 20, 2023. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
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  21. ^ Maragos, Nich (August 26, 2004). "GameSpy: Keisuke Kikuchi on Fatal Frame 2: Director's Cut - Page 1". GameSpy. Archived from the original on March 9, 2005. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  22. ^ Goldstein, Hilary (September 16, 2004). "Fatal Frame II Interview". IGN. Archived from the original on January 26, 2013. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  23. ^ 零～眞紅の蝶～攻略＆設定資料集 くれなゐの杜 [Zero ～Deep Crimson Butterfly～ Capture & Setting Material Collection Forest of Crimson] (in Japanese). Tecmo Koei Games. September 28, 2012. ISBN 978-4-7758-0852-8.
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  25. ^ 『FATAL FRAME 2』予約特典は恐怖と魅力が収録されたDVDと特製ブックレット！. Dengeki Online (in Japanese). October 21, 2004. Archived from the original on January 3, 2006.
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  27. ^ "Xbox Announces European Release Dates For Two Tecmo Titles". GamesIndustry.biz. January 21, 2005. Archived from the original on May 21, 2024.
  28. ^ a b "Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly for PlayStation 2". Metacritic. June 13, 2011. Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved June 13, 2011.
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  31. ^ Reed, Kristan (April 29, 2004). "Project Zero 2: Crimson Butterfly". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on June 23, 2016. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
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  39. ^ Mason, Lisa (December 2004). "Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Director's Cut - Bleeding Edge". Game Informer. No. 140. Gamestop. p. 181.
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  44. ^ "Top 10 Scariest Games". X-Play. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007.
  45. ^ "Top 10 scariest moments in gaming". Game Informer. No. 174. October 2007. p. 36.
  46. ^ Kuchera, Ben (October 31, 2011). "Halloween Masterpiece: Fatal Frame 2 is the scariest game ever made". Archived from the original on November 1, 2011.
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  48. ^ "Best and Worst of 2004; Best Adventure Game". GameSpot. January 5, 2005. Archived from the original on March 8, 2005. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  49. ^ "INTERVIEW: Neil Druckmann on 'shooting for the insane' with The Last of Us". MCV UK. Archived from the original on April 9, 2015. For Druckmann, there's no question: "It's just our perception", he states. "In many ways games surpass those other formats. Fatal Frame II is the scariest kind of experience in any medium; I haven't seen a movie that comes close. And Ico has me connecting to another character in a way that no book ever has. Likewise, a lot of games can make you feel guilt: that's something a film can never do".
  50. ^ ファン待望のシリーズ最新作『零 ～刺青の聲～』、発売日・予約特典情報が判明！. Dengeki Online (in Japanese). May 13, 2005. Archived from the original on February 17, 2007. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
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  53. ^ "Project Zero 2: Wii Edition". GameSpot.com. GameSpot. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
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