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

The Camera Obscura lies in a billion pieces. Good thing that didn’t happen before we defeated Kirie once and for all!





uh oh













Miku starts frantically scooting backwards on her butt.



She knows she’s fucked.



It’s (Li'l) Kirie ex Machina!



Miku: Oh!



Lying in the shattered remains of our only offensive weapon is…

Miku: It’s … the last piece of the mirror!

How convenient!

The implication is clearly supposed to be that the Holy Mirror fragment was the entire reason that this otherwise ordinary old timey camera had spiritual power. It works in this story’s context, but completely falls apart when the other games in the series come along with Cameras Obscura that are very explicitly not the same as this one.

But I digress.

Miku has a tiny determination!



Let’s do this! The sparkling point that indicates the mirror piece is quite hard to see with the background all gray and fuzzy. It’s just to the left of the stone pillar.









Only one thing left to do..!













Um, you’re blocking the…





No, seriously, you might wanna…

Hey! After all that, brother-guy isn’t actually dead!









Miku: Mafuyu! Thank goodness!

Not really sure why Kirie is staring at her hands here. Maybe admiring the lack of rope marks.





Well, this is awkward.





Li’l Kirie: Don’t forget your duty!

She really has only the one trick, doesn’t she?





















The door closes.

And Kirie psychics over the bits of torn rope.











Kirie: My duty is to keep this gate closed.



Miku looks kind of appalled. Or gassy. The FMVs are better, but she still only has the two facial expressions.





The ropes pull taut and Kirie is suspended by them against the Hell Gate.









Suddenly, the earth quakes and the Hell Gate tries to open. Kirie’s ropes pull her back against the door and she shrieks in agony.

Kirie: Leave this gate to me. The rest of you, hurry and escape!

This explains why they needed a new Shrine Maiden every ten years. This has to be hard on a spirit.



Mafuyu: But what about you?



Kirie: I must stop the Calamity, or else it will happen again! Don’t worry about me. You must go.



Another earthquake sends rubble tumbling from the cave ceiling.



Miku: Mafuyu, come on!





Mafuyu: Miku. I must stay.



Miku: What are you saying?



Mafuyu: I think I can help her.









Mafuyu: Miku! You go on without me!



Mafuyu: Miku. The whole time Kirie was guiding me, I could hear her screaming.



Mafuyu: Screaming for help.

Mafuyu: As the Rope Shrine Maiden, she was destined to seal the gate,





Mafuyu: Yet she also wanted to be with the one she loved.









Mafuyu: But she couldn’t have both, and was being torn apart by those two feelings, which resulted in the Calamity.













Mafuyu: Her spirit was touched by the Malice, and she became a creature that wanted to make others suffer as she had.

Mafuyu: Now free of the Malice, she is about to fulfill her duty as the Rope Shrine Maiden.









Mafuyu: Her soul must remain here, keeping this gate sealed off for all eternity.





Mafuyu: All alone. Endless pain.





Mafuyu: As long as she is free of pain, as long as she is not left hopeless, I wish to be by her side. Miku…



Seriously, someone get this girl tested for narcolepsy.

Miku: Mafuyu…





Miku: Look! Their souls are all going back to where they belong!











Mafuyu: Miku. I now realize why I was brought here, and I will accept this destiny of mine. Miku, thank you for everything.



Miku: Ever since that day, I stopped seeing things that other people don’t see.



…

Thanks, game.

As far as I can tell, the rating you get at completion is entirely based on how fast you beat the game. Going out of my way to get every item and photo op added quite a bit of time. Fortunately, none of the unlockables are tied to the rating in story mode, so it doesn’t actually impact you if the game thinks you suck.

Next time: Mission Mode, Unlockables, and Miscellany

Well, that was.... something.

I don't get why Mafuyu had to stay behind. It just seems a pointless sacrifice because he is the mysterious figure we've tracked all game and no one would care if he stayed or left.

Mafuyu isn't even the guy Kirie was in love with, and he never will be. Someone's just making excuses for wanting to hang out with a hot ghost chick!

When you mentioned that the mirror wasn't complete, I thought you were showing off the bad ending. I guess I should have expected something stupid to happen instead.

Now Miku has no brother and no camera. Good job?

Yeah, it looks like someone developed quite the case of Stockholm Syndrome. A better heroine would have bitch-slapped him and dragged him out of the mansion by his toes, or at least had more of a reaction than "Wait... what?"

I'm sticking with my fan theory that he's actually been dead this whole time and so can't leave, but didn't want to break Miku's heart by telling her.

The "good" ending has both of them get out of the mansion -- I'll get into that later -- but in the Fatal Frame series, the "bad" ending (the one you get by playing on easy/normal) is always considered to be canon for the purposes of sequels.

That makes so much more sense. I'm considering it officially canon, because I'm never going to think about it again.

Miku's reaction to being told her brother is dead and bound for eternity to a gaping hellmouth? Dull Surprise!