Photography 201: Advanced Decomposition. Let's Play Fatal Frame!

Guess not.

Meet “Man With Long Arms”. Like Bound Man and Ogata, he likes to make his way slowly toward you before lunging, but he’s got a much longer reach than either of our previous enemies. He’s also pretty fast when he decides he wants to grab you. To make matters worse, he flickers in and out of visibility. You can’t damage an invisible ghost; you’ll just waste film.

Stealing a quick look at our map…



The hallway we’re in is a circle. Since this spirit moves slowly until he’s within striking distance, the best strategy is to run all the way back and snap charged shots until he starts getting close, then run around the corner and wait for him to catch up. Zero shots are risky given Man’s speed. Keep a good lead on him, and he’ll never touch you.



Unless you’re screwing around trying to get screen caps of him when he’s not invisible. Then you take damage.





Win.

So now there’re three options. A door to the north, a door to the south, and a room in the middle of the circular path.

The central door is locked with a strange device.



There’s engraving underneath, but it’s gouged. Can only read some.

I can just barely make out…

“the Shinto ritual,” “Strangling “ and “held on the day of…” from the gouged out words.

We know from reading one of Ogata’s notes that these characters represent the numbers 0-9, starting at the top and going counter-clockwise. But what’s the correct PIN to open the door? Actually, we do have this information as well, in one of the other documents we picked up. But since that article did not mention strangling specifically, and because I played through this sequence in the correct order like the proper anal retentive gamer that I am, we will not be opening this door yet. Time to check out the northern door.

Because I said so, that’s why. Don’t make me turn this car around.

Actually, no. First we’re going to look at this weird niche in the inner wall that I noticed while I was dealing with Man With Long Arms.







“On the night of 3rd, the police received a report that four children failed to return home after 9pm. There is an old superstition in the surrounding villages about children being snatched away by ghosts, and some villagers indeed suspect that this is what has happened to the four kids.”

Oh, those wacky superstitious villagers! They are so childlike and do not at all have folkish insight into the horrifying truth about the world in which we live, as evidenced by the fact that none of them have been featured on a Discovery Channel supernatural documentary even once.

Now we may visit the next room.



This room is partitioned in such a way that there’s basically a little mock-hallway you have to go through to get to the rest of the room.

If you go right from the door, there’s a dead end. The camera filament reacted here, but would not focus on anything.



No screenshot? *checks notes* Looks like that was some Type-37 film.

Heading into the room itself, there’s a small table with a locked box and some candles on it.

“On the 13th day of the 12th month, a maiden, cut off from the outside world for 3669 long days, shall be torn apart to provide power to the rope.”

And there’s our official hint for the door password. Note the way it’s written; it’s using the European convention of DD/MM, so the code will be 1312.



It looks like this room is used to store remains before burial. There’s a door on the wall next to the altar.



Tomoe: That girl… is trying to say something. Something… important.



Like Ogata, Tomoe is trying to show us where the plot wants us to go. But there’s stuff to be gotten first!





“September 11th, 6:30 am
“I saw that woman in the white kimono again. She’s trying to tell me something. She knows I have this special sense for ghostly things… The woman’s name is… Kirie. So, it’s Kirie, huh?

“I shouldn’t get any closer than this. I don’t want to get any closer… I’m scared.”

That’s pronounced “kee-ree-ay”, just like the Greek kyrie (“lord”). Kirie eléison? Not so far…







This door has a piece of paper stuck to it. It’s a ward, which seals the door – theoretically against evil, but actually against Miku. Yup, another locked door. This is what the camera wants us to take a picture of.



Like the picture of the folding screen, the photograph of the door changes. But this isn’t as simple as cut-sceneing our way through a plot gate. We need to find the place shown in the picture and photograph it.

It looks like a ladder with some stuff stacked behind it. Not something we’ve seen so far… maybe behind the other door in this room?



This room is dark and filled with debris. There’s also a save point.









“September 13th, 9:30 am
“We found Ogata’s body. His head, hands and feet were strangled off… What happened to him is just like the strange deaths that occurred here long ago. There was a photo of Ogata near him. In it, there was something that looked like ropes on his neck, arms, and legs.

“I wonder if it has anything to do with the Rope Shrine Maidens in the legends around here, the girls that had ropes tied to their neck, arms and legs, too…?

“September 13th, 12:10 pm
“Tomoe is acting strangely. She’s been mumbling nonsense all morning. Something about ropes… And mirrors… I can’t blame her for going to pieces, though, after seeing what happened to Ogata.”

Takamine is pretty damn stoic if he can critically analyze the gruesome death of his business associate against his mythology research. He doesn’t seem particularly worried about his own prospects, either.

“Give thanks to the five gods’ protection.

“Place the stone, representing the five mirrors, in the correct location.”

This is a kinda-sorta-not-really hint about how to unlock this door. Not that we can, because the locking mechanism is broken.



Thanks for nothing, scroll-writer.

There’s nothing left to do here. We’ve got a password, we’ve got a door with a keypad… let’s go check out that room to the south of the circular hallway first!



The Grand Hall is a really big room sectioned off by painted screen doors. There is a lot of stuff lying around in the corners, too.





“September 10th, 8:00 pm
“I clearly saw the image of a woman, in front of the mirror near the entrance. She had long hair and a white kimono. There were ropes tied to her arms and legs, and she dragged them along when she walked. I think I heard Koji talk about something like that, too.

“There’s something VERY wrong about this mansion.”

Glad to see someone has functional pattern recognition skills. Maybe some self-preservation instincts, too. Actually, we know Tomoe had those. She ignored them in favor of a business opportunity.









It looks like a dead end, but Miku can step through that broken rice paper window.





“The Mystery Of The Rope Maiden

“Among the few documents found on the ritual, mention of the “Rope Shrine Maiden” is made many times. Her arms, legs, and neck are bound by five ropes. However, no documents discuss the role she plays in the ritual.

“One theory is that she is a sacrificial lamb, but I find it hard to believe that such a cruel ritual was practiced.”

Is this a good time to mention that Shinto is a positive religion that venerates life? Because it totally is.





New item! Sacred water will completely fill Miku’s HP gauge. It’s significantly rarer than herbal medicine, so should be saved for emergencies.

There’s a door here, but we can’t go through it.



…ew.

Actually, if we check our map we can see that this door leads back to the rope hallway. Pity it’s boarded up / bound with hair, because that would be a convenient shortcut.



Well, I think we’ve dicked around about as much as possible. Let’s go see a door about a password.

Or we’ll get ambushed on the way out of the grand hall.



Floating Woman can fly. Rather, I think she died by drowning and is actually swimming. The point is, she swoops around the room very quickly and occasionally divebombs Miku. Her speed makes waiting around for zero shots a bad idea; just shoot her when you can.





Okay, now we’re done here.





Someone really needs to talk to the Himuro family about proper password security. Never mind leaving scrolls with the password on them just lying around – easy-to-research personal data like pet names or the date you habitually strangle young girls to death is the first thing any hacker would think of!



Pointing Girl: This way! This way!



Yeah, whatever, kid. This room is stuffed to the gills with dressers, desks, boxes, and other places to hide precious treasure. Or at least film, healing items, and bathroom reading material.











“The girl who has been missing for three days in the Himuro Mountain area, and rumored to have been snatched away by ghosts, has been found by a local man. She is fatigued, but in good health. The police plan to wait for her recovery and ask her about the other three children.

“The girl’s parents have also been missing the day after her disappearance. The police is looking for a foster home for the girl.”

And now let’s see where the creepy little girl was pointing.



Ladder, stuff behind it… looks like the place we were supposed to be looking for.



An image of the warding seal appears and burns itself into ash.









Hey, we weren’t scheduled for a fight in here!

Up until now, every battle has been scripted. But Fatal Frame does have random encounters. The longer you avoid advancing the plot, the more likely you are to be attacked by some random ghost. So don’t ever walk away from your controller without hitting pause first; ghosts do not respect potty breaks. If you’re trying to get all of the items in this storage room, a random encounter is more or less guaranteed.

This is the Bound Man, who has graciously decided to not be invisible this time. He’s one of two potential random ghosts you can fight during the first night.

He has much more HP than he did when Mafuyu was fighting him, but is not actually any tougher.



Now that that’s taken care of, let’s see if there’s any more stuff upstairs.









“The Disaster Called the Calamity

“Long ago, great tragedy struck this region. One legend calls this event “The Calamity,” but reveals no detail regarding the disaster which unfolded.

“A brief description of the event is as follows: ‘The mirrors, kept in the five shrines broke, and the dead returned from hell.’ I wonder what sort of disaster it must have been, because the passage can’t be literal.”

Obviously not.

Here’s another item that you need to be looking through the finder of the camera to spot. It’s Type-74 film.

Well, looks like that’s everything. Or is it? What’s that narrow walkway along the wall?







“May 20th
“We’ve finally gotten through the move to Himuro Mansion. I had a hard time cutting through all the red tape with the local officials. But, just as I’d hoped, the air is fresh here! It should be good for Yae in her poor health.

“My daughter Mikoto seems to like this area, too. She’s made friends here already, and is enjoying herself. Yae seems to think this old mansion is spooky, but I plan to do some work on it. Make it easier for her to live in. (Once I get settled in my research.)

“The best thing about living here is that I don’t have to go out to do my research. It’s all here in this mansion. I can be right by Yae’s side all of the time.”

This must be written by that folklorist that Ogata was talking about, Ryoza Munakata. It sounds like he had a happy family.



Really? Really. I was in this room so long the game decided I needed not one, but two random encounters. This is Broken Neck. We have not seen her before, and this tiny little cluttered loft is just about the worst possible place to fight her. She’s another “flying” ghost and likes to charge straight at you, back up, and charge again. Occasionally she’ll circle you and come at you from a different angle. She’s good for zero shots, but if you miss them you will take damage.



That should be everything. Some walkthroughs claim that there’s a Sacred Water in here somewhere as well, but damned if I could find it. Unless someone can offer some proof, I’m going to go ahead and say that it doesn’t exist.

Anyway, back to the burial room.







And now we’re outside, in that atrium we could see from the balcony earlier. There is a door to our right, and what looks like splatters of fresh blood on the wooden porch.



Tomoe: Kirie…





Let’s check out that door we saw before Tomoe showed up.



It’s another sealed door.



I honestly couldn’t tell what was in that picture the first time I played this game.



The porch continues off to the left, and there are also stairs leading down into the atrium. We’ll stay on the porch for now.

“September 13th, 3:00 pm
“Tomoe’s condition is getting worse and worse. She can’t stop shaking, and she keeps mumbling the same words over and over. I don’t know if what’s happening is anything supernatural or not. But in any case, I think we’d better leave as soon as possible.

“Tomoe is in such bad shape, she can’t even move. I guess I’ll have to look for a way out of here myself. Even if we waited for help, I doubt anyone would ever come looking for us…”

Well, if it wasn’t supernatural, then the list of suspects in “Who Offed Ogata” is… two. And you’ve said yourself that she’s been acting crazy. Still, I admire your calm detachment.


Another warded door.



A shelf full of creepy dolls. Pretty sure we haven’t come across these; the only dolls I remember seeing were in the anteroom over by the tatami room, and those were on a brown dresser.

Time to explore the yard.







It’s hard to see in a still shot, but the corner is subtly shimmering and blurry. Unsubtle sparkling objects first, though.





Tomoe: “September 11th, 8:16 pm. We looked all over the mansion, but we couldn’t find Koji. While true that this mansion is huge, I’m certain we would have found him by now… Could he have already left?”

Other voice: “It’s too late for him. Too late for us.” *laughing*

Tomoe: “He’s been saying something about ‘more ropes’ since we took some photos yesterday.”



The camera didn’t react at all until I was basically on top of this corner.



There’s another hidden item over here, only visible through the camera.

Different corner, more loot.





There’s a small circle of standing stones in the middle of the yard near a large cherry tree. It looks like a grave.



Walking past the stones toward the back, there’s a door.



Tomoe: Mr Takamine… save me…



Let’s follow her!

So… Tomoe got drowned and/or crushed in the water wheel?



Picking up the tape…





Tomoe is stumbling around, frantically clutching at her throat. Nothing else seems to be wrong with her, but she’s completely panicked. She’s gasping and moaning.





Tomoe: Help..! Mr. Takamine!





Marks that look like rope burns suddenly appear at her wrists and neck.





Is someone behind her?







There’s a sound like a winch tightening a rope, and Tomoe jerks as if she’s being stretched.

It’s Kirie.



And her army of disembodied hands.

Tomoe: Noooooooooooo—







Mr. Takamine doesn’t look like he’s thinking about folklore now.



Takamine: Oh--! Kirie!





And item get!

Voice: “Curse his soul!”

Tomoe: “I found Koji. His death was just like the one in the mountain village! His hands and limbs were severed! I can’t believe what’s happening!”



This dismal area with the lake is called the Abyss. The camera seems to be reacting to the waterwheel.





Oh, that must have been what was in that photo. I totally see it now.

The camera reacts to one of the stone lanterns, too.







Looks like we need to find a way to light this lantern. If only Miku had brought, oh, anything with her on this rescue mission.

Another Stone Mirror. This one is not hidden behind bullshit camera angles.



The pier is inaccessible.







Okay! The ward should be gone on one of the doors on the atrium porch. Let’s go see.





You can’t photograph her from the doorway. You have to walk into the room in order to aim the camera correctly.





I think we found the dolls from that other photo…











“September 12th, 1:45 pm
“My sixth sense is telling me some children are playing here. I can’t see them, but they keep calling to me. Are they playing tag? Or hide-and-seek, maybe? They might be the children in that photo.

“September 12th, 4:30 pm
“There were human heads in that room…so many of them! They were cut off by the Himuro family master… They were all trying to tell me something.

“I never should have come here. I should have trusted that sixth sense of mine.”

You live, you learn.

Here’s the area that we’re supposed to be photographing. One of the things that sets ward ghosts apart from regular hidden ghosts is that you can see them before you snap the pic.







The other door on the porch is now accessible.

Suddenly, the perspective shifts to… behind the wall?





Miku senses something and looks around wildly.







All she sees are dolls, staring at her with glassy, soulless eyes…







A panel slides open.

Fight time! This is Crawling Girl. She army-crawls swiftly toward you along the floor, drifting in and out of invisibility while giggling and calling out, “Wait… take me with you!” She can also teleport to other parts of the room. Occasionally she’ll scream, which will completely paralyze you for several seconds. Interrupting the scream with a zero shot is the only way to avoid damage, unless you happen to be on the other side of the room when she shrieks. Crawling girl is also not hindered by the great big hole in the floor, while Miku has to run around it.



I must have improved at this game, because I remember her being much more difficult than she turned out to be here.

Now would be a really good time to save the game. The next vanishing ghost is sadistically difficult. You can run back to the burial room and into the rubble room to save without triggering it.

Done? Okay. So we’re going to go to the left side of the porch and check out that other warded door. We’re walking in front of the lattice in front of the doll room, when the camera reacts suddenly. A split second later, this happens:









That was a woman plummeting to the earth at terminal velocity, and immediately rising to attack you as a hostile ghost. She’s on screen for an instant. And, yes, she’s still capturable.

To do it, Miku must be facing the right way. You don’t have time to even think about aiming. So go into finder mode on the camera, and angle Miku until you’re targeting this area:



While still in finder mode, use the right analog stick to walk sideways while holding focus on the same spot. When the ghost triggers it’ll kick you back into third person view. Instantly bring your camera back up and hit the shutter button without touching anything else. This takes perfect timing.



Now we have to fight her. Oh, it’s Broken Neck. So that’s how she got that way.



Unlike when she’s being a random encounter, Broken Neck will begin this fight by floating slowly toward you, but her head is angled away and she can’t be damaged unless you can see her face. Once she’s a certain distance away, she’ll look at you suddenly – a zero shot moment. At this point she’ll start her normal attack pattern of charging at you, drawing back, and circling around to the side before charging again.

Broken Neck: “It hurts!”



We have a good chunk of points banked now, so time to upgrade the camera’s speed and power. That should make fighting easier!





Next Time: Junsei Takamine

At first I thought you meant that some living-at-the-time woman had jumped off the roof of the mansion for some reason and immediately became a ghost. Which would have been quite a plot twist.

This game seems really creepy, especially with how often you have to go into first-person mode. I just cannot handle first-person views in video games, like, ever - not being aware of what's behind or to the side of me at all times just freaks me the hell out for some reason.

That said, I'm glad you're doing this LP, because Fatal Frame seems like quite an interesting game. Now I won't have to force myself to play it at some point in the future!

Whoops! Yeah, I can totally see how you'd read it that way. Sorry about that.


I think the game being in FPS might be part of why I was so creeped out by Portal 1 the first time I played it.

Fatal Frame would honestly be better served with a video LP, because the sounds are so much of the scare. Like, during Tomoe's death scene there's a weird constant creaking noise in the background that you don't really identify until this happens



and you realize that what you're hearing is rope being stretched on some kind of winch. It's incredibly effective. But you guys don't want to hear me go "um" for fifteen hours, so images it is.

I just want to say this is the best thread title.

Thank you. I agonized over it a bit.

Time to boost my post count for another update!

Last time, Miku saw Tomoe Hirasaka get strangled to death by Kirie the scary white kimono lady. After unlocking the door in the Cherry Atrium, she prepares to open it and see what lies beyond.



Opening the door reveals Takamine’s ghost examining another large mirror.











Yes! We can make fire now!





“September 14th, 10:00 am
“That woman that Tomoe called ‘Kirie’ looks just like the descriptions of the Rope Shrine Maiden in the legends. And there’s a strong resemblance, too, between the way Tomoe and Ogata died and the manner of the deaths in the folklore.

“So that woman is the Rope Shrine Maiden, is she…?”

I’m starting to think that logical analysis is Mr. Takamine’s coping mechanism.

There’s a gaping hole next to the staircase that leads to the second floor. Nothing else of interest in this corner.



The second floor is a hallway leading in a couple directions.





Old News Article “Missing Girl’s New Home Found”

“The girl, who has been found after three days of mysterious disappearance, has been adopted. Mr. Hinasaki, a close friend of Mr. Ryozo Munakata (also missing), will adopt the girl.

“The girl’s parents were missing even after she returned, so the police was looking for a foster home or adoptive family. The girl does not remember anything from her disappearance, and the three other children are still missing.”

It sounds like it was the folklorist's daughter who went missing, along with the other kids. Also, isn't Hinasaki Miku and Mafuyu's family name?



There’s another inaccessible door. A glance at our map shows us that this is the half-door that leads to the anteroom. Another useful shortcut, or would be if the door could be opened.



The boarded-up door at the other end of the hallway doesn’t lead anywhere that we’ve been so far.





“The Legend of the Holy Mirrors (The Mirrors of the Five Gods)

“The Holy Mirrors, held in five shrines in this region, are most commonly known as ‘the Mirrors of the Five Gods.’ The legend tells that the five gods, before leaving this land, created these mirrors as a means of protecting the village.

“Some legends mention another mirror. The story is that all five mirrors were used together in a ritual to fend off a huge disaster (whether this was the Calamity or not is not known).

“It is not known whether the ritual mentioned above is related in any way to the one performed by the Himuro family, but there is the correlation of the mirrors.

“However, the actual existence of the legendary Holy Mirror, one complete mirror, has not been confirmed, and it is not known what the legend is based on.”

Back downstairs, there’s a hallway past the corner where Takamine appeared. Heading down it, we get a visit from Tomoe. I guess we’re not quite done with her yet. She says something, but I can’t make out what it is.

Her ghost leaves some more documents.





“The mirror is breaking… Smash! A broken mirror… People on the floor, all over the mansion. So many people. All those people! What are they running from? And then at the end, with such desperate looks on their faces…!

“Something’s coming this way! From deep within the mansion… A coldness… It’s colder than anything I’ve ever felt! I don’t know anymore if this is a dream or real…”

Well, she’s cracking up. There’s a boarded-up door to the right that we can’t access, and the hallway ends at a new room.



Welcome to the “Fish Tank Room”. It’s a series of narrow stone walkways connected by wooden planks that serve as bridges. Presumably there are fish in that water. Possibly ghost fish.





I hate this room. You always get attacked in it, and it’s really hard to maneuver around all the bridges.







There’s something in that water besides fish, isn’t there?







Miku peers into the darkness but doesn’t see anything.

Um…





You might wanna…



It’s Tomoe!



I didn’t get any good images of her during this battle. The terrain is your biggest enemy here. Tomoe hits really hard if she gets near you, but at a distance she’s incredibly slow. If she doubles over she’s about to rush you. She can also teleport behind you, but didn’t bother during this battle. I dispatched her without breaking a sweat.





Tomoe: Since we met that girl, I’ve seen many strange visions. All the ghosts in the mansion howl and scream at me.

Voice: Just LEAVE!

Tomoe: I don’t think they’ll ever let me out of this mansion. I don’t even know how long I can hold onto my sanity. Anyway, I’m leaving this tape. If ever someone listens to this, please, tell me what has happened to me.

Voice: Suffer! [garbled]

Tomoe: Still, I hope it’s just a dream.

Although the camera doesn’t visibly react, you can hear static while crossing one of the wooden plank bridges. There’s a hidden ghost here, and it’s up in the rafters. Without visual clues from the camera it takes me roughly forever to find the place where the capture circle glows.

Here’s where you stand:











“A little girl in a white kimono keeps pleading to me. I can’t keep my mind focused, but her voice rings in my head and won’t leave. But what does she want me to do for her? I can’t even get out of the mansion anymore…

“Broken. Five pieces… The mirror!

“Tell Mr. Takamine… the way to break the curse…”

The door out of this awful room is password protected.



There’s engraving underneath, but it’s gouged. Can only read some.

I can just barely make out…

“the chosen,” “maiden” and “purifies” from the gouged-out words.

We’ve already got the answer to this one, but before going through we’re going to take a detour back to the Abyss (the dark outdoor area with the lake and the water wheel) to see what happens when we light up that unlit lantern.

The trip back is uneventful.

All that for a mahjong tile. Excellent. Leaving the Abyss, there’s a new ghost in the atrium’s big cherry tree.







Hmm, we haven’t seen that ghost before. I wonder if she’s talking about those children in the newspaper articles.



Random encounter. This is a Floating Head, which we haven’t been formally introduced to yet. In fact, none of the walkthroughs on gamefaqs think that these can be encountered randomly during the first night. A gamefaqs guide with incomplete information? I’m simply shocked. Anyway, these things just charge straight at you, do damage as they pass through, and come at you again from the new position. They have very low health, so are pretty easy to take out.



There’s a nearby save point in the room next to the burial room. There’s also a vanishing ghost if you head back to where the broken door is.

I spent some points to extend the camera’s capture range.



Back in the hallway with the stairwell, we get to see Floating Head for what is theoretically supposed to be the first time. First it’s a vanishing ghost and tumbles up the staircase…









Then it attacks you. And, in this case, kicks your ass. I just couldn’t get away from it long enough to stun it off me. I didn’t die, but I wound up sucking down three herbal medicines. No other fight so far has required more than one. I did win eventually and headed back to the Fish Tank Room and the password-locked door.

Our clues are “the chosen”, “maiden”, and “purifies”. The answer is on the Strangling Scroll that gave us the last password:



I would imagine that the time the maiden spent sequestered away from the world would purify her, so let’s try 3669.







We’re back outside in a narrow walkway lined with paving stones.

It eventually opens up to a large backyard.



That little shed houses a save point.







The Backyard boasts a well, an attractive little copse of bamboo, and the ghost of Junsei Takamine.





Takamine: How can I break the curse of the rope?

He leaves behind one of those glowing blue spirit wisps, but not so fast. As you approach the well, the lid jumps up a bit and a harsh childlike voice hisses “HELP!”

At the same time, a female voice echoes the cry behind you. Ignore the well; it’s a red herring. Instead, you need to bring up your camera, spin around, and quickly pan up to the second story.

Now we can explore around for loot.





September 12th, 3:20 pm. I know this sounds crazy, but there’s something here besides us in this mansion. I’ve seen it myself. It was a woman in a white kimono. Something is definitely happening here. Have we unknowingly awakened something? Or perhaps we’ve been lured here to die?

Blue tapes belong to Mr. Takamine. He sounds a lot less disinterested in his fate here than his written records would have us believe.

The camera reacts to the fence next to the well.





There’s also another hidden Stone Mirror at the base of the well.





The spirit of Mr. Takamine has been so patient while Miku loots the room.



Past the well, the backyard continues into what looks like a small graveyard area.

Voice of Tomoe: Tell him… tell him!





Miku: Tell him what?





Tomoe has more hit points here, but isn’t really any more difficult.





When you defeat her, her ghost cries, “The mirror… the mirror..!”







“September 14th, 8:00 pm
“In the materials Tomoe gathered for me, there’s a paragraph about five pieces of mirror passed down through the Himuro family for generations. These pieces were said to seal off the Hell Gate and protect the region from a great disaster. They might have something to do with the current hellish situation.

“Five Holy Mirrors in shrines around the area all broke in a small earthquake the other day. When I heard about it, it gave me the idea for this next work of mine. I think I brought a news article about it with me when I came here. It says there were only five Holy Mirrors in existence.

“But according to some legends, there is another – the True Holy Mirror. The folklorist also mentions this in his research documents, the ones I found here in the mansion. (I think I dropped the research documents somewhere when I was trying to escape that cursed woman.)

“Here are my theories. I think that the five mirrors that were destroyed in the earthquake the other day had the role of “watching over” the True Holy Mirror. I don’t think it was the earthquake that broke the five Holy Mirrors in the shrines.

“I think it was a signal that the seal on the Hell Gate that the Himuro True Holy Mirror provides had broken for some reason. The five mirrors were trying to warn us.”

So those research scraps we’ve been picking up were written by the folklorist Munakata. And we’re looking for a magic mirror which will break the curse.







The next area is pretty clearly the path leading to a shrine.

You may or may not get dive-bombed by a black bird while making this climb. I did, but it happened way too fast to capture.



The perspective shifts here, and although the camera doesn’t glow, static can be heard. Ignore it for now, and continue on a bit further.



Takamine: The Moon Shrine Maiden… the curse…






Now head back and look for the hidden ghost in the surrounding trees.





The path ends at an impressive shrine.



There’s some stuff to grab on either side of the door.









Trying to enter the shrine triggers a puzzle lock on the door.



Now, if we remember our Five Stones Document, we know that… you know what? Fuck that thing. It’s obscure to the point of irrelevance.

You have to move the stones along the white lines until they are in the positions that correspond with their symbols. You must do this within a certain number of moves. Once complete, you will automatically insert the final stone – the one we picked up from the lantern in the Abyss. If you don’t have the final stone in your possession, you won’t be allowed to attempt the puzzle.

The inside of the shrine is pretty bare. There’s an altar flanked by mirrors, and a sparkling item on a pedestal in front of the altar.







The camera reacts suddenly. There’s nothing behind you… unless you angle your camera up to the ceiling.









Mr. Takamine writhes in the grip of countless phantom hands.





He’s clearly in agony.





They drop him…



And he plummets towards Miku…

Where’d he go?



Not up there…





A shadow circles rapidly around the room.







BOO!





At last, we face the novelist himself. Takamine likes to hide in the walls; fortunately, the shrine door is wide open and there’s nothing saying we have to fight him in here. Out on the forest path, there’s no place for him to hide.

Like most bosses, he goes invisible and can teleport. He also has a paralyzing attack which is telegraphed when he bends over and clutches his head. Takamine has a ton of health but is slow. Get him away from that shrine, and you won’t even need to use one of the higher films.





Defeat him, and his ghost exclaims, “The last Buddha statue is… at the Shinto gate!”

Your kill-shot photo also morphs into a hint:







Time to use some of those juicy points to max out Speed.



And we can listen to that tape we picked up in the shrine, since we haven’t had the opportunity before now.

Blue Tape 2

“Is she the one causing this disaster? All of those earlier deaths… Koji, Tomoe? All of them? Am I the next to die? The Rope Shrine Maiden Ritual, as told of in legend -- both arms, legs, and the neck. It is said when all five are marked, the curse is complete. Ropes are beginning to appear on my photo. I’m running out of time.”

Again, he sounds much more like a human being in audio than in print.

Anyway, he seemed to really want us to check out the Shinto gate outside the shrine.

Really? All that for a “just kidding”? I guess we’ll take a look at the other post anyway…









Ah, that’s more like it. Not really very well hidden, is it? You’d think there’d at least be a door keeping vermin from nesting with the sacred artifact.







“Bury the Rope Maiden’s spirit.

“Place the five Buddha with her damaged limbs.”

Whatever that means.

Looks like Takamine’s ghost left something behind just outside the shrine.





“I’m about to go to the shrine deep within Himuro Mansion, where they say a piece of the True Holy Mirror is kept. The curse has already left its mark on my four limbs. There’s no escaping it. About the only thing left now that I can do is try to reseal the Hell Gate. It’s my last hope.

“I’ve already found four of the Buddha statues I need to get a piece of the mirror. And I’ve managed to find an old document that tells of the location of the fifth statue.

“’Make observance to the Buddha,’ At the base of the large gate, ‘So that the souls of the piteous maidens can reach up to the heavens.’

“If all goes well, no one will ever have to read these notes, and I can use them toward the content of my next book. In closing, I would like to thank my assistant and my partner, Tomoe Hirasaka.

“If it weren’t for the words she left with me, I wouldn’t have been able to complete this, my final work. If I don’t return, please give her a decent burial.

“Signed, Junsei Takamine
“September 15th.”

Well, he obviously never got to the fifth Buddha statue. The ghosts probably got him while he was busy journaling. All bloggers need to learn the holy survival mantra, Evacuate First, Tweet Later. Anyway, I like how he hopes Tomoe gets interred properly but Koji’s mortal remains can just rot in a closet for eternity. Guess we all know who the boss’ favorite was.

Apparently in the novel Tomoe and Junsei explicitly had a romantic relationship in addition to being business partners, but this is as close as the game comes to hinting at that.

Anyway, that mirror should still be in the shrine. Let’s go break us a curse!

But first! Let’s talk about bugs. Fatal Frame has a rather big one. I don’t know if this was fixed for the Xbox version, but sometimes when you play a New Game + on the PS2 some of the items aren’t where they’re supposed to be. They simply don’t appear in the game. This is annoying if you were looking for an herbal medicine, but if you were trying to collect that diary scrap that you didn’t find in the first playthrough only to have it not be there… it’s a great big glaring hole in your 100% completion, and it’s now permanently missed. Let’s avoid that embarrassment, shall we?

At this point, we should have the following:

Mafuyu’s Notebook
5 Research Notes (Ogata)
7 Red Notebook Scraps
6 Black Notebook Scraps
4 Research Scraps (Munakata)
3 News Clippings
3 Old News Articles
1 Old Diary Scrap
2 White Tapes
4 Red Tapes
2 Blue Tapes
Strangling Ritual Scroll
Five Stones Document
Five Buddhas Document

And… we do! Go us!

So, why bring it up now? Um… no reason! We’re certainly not about to pass a point of no return or anything. Anyway…

Allons-y!









The camera reacts. It thinks we should photograph the pedestal.

And that’s the solution to the puzzle, right there.





In case it isn’t obvious, you need to arrange the statues so that their injuries correspond with the limbs of a spread-eagled person. So, the Buddha with the bloody left leg needs to go at the lower left, the one with the bloody head goes in the top center, etc.

If you didn’t photograph the plinth, the bloody outline of the human figure will begin to appear, first very faintly and then growing darker with each correct placement of a Buddha. If you did take the picture, the first correct placement will give you the complete image. It’s not exactly the most challenging of puzzles, but none of them really are in this game.





PROFIT!





Miku: Is.. this the holy mirror? It’s just a piece of it.

It’s been hinted pretty strongly that we weren’t going to find a complete mirror here. I’m not sure why she’s acting all surprised.

Touching it brings on another vision.





The Holy Mirror explodes, bringing seven years of bad luck to all!



They’re dead, Dave.



Dead, they’re all dead.



Looks like some sort of gate opening.



And… evil essence?



Guy in robes and a mask ceremoniously holds up a rope.



Spirits? More priests? Not sure what’s going on here.