Fatal Frame III: Column #2 - 22 July 2005
Night 2, 22nd of July
With the Fatal Frame series so far, Director Shibata has had a conviction that we shouldn't perform a purification ceremony under any circumstances.
When you have a game in which really scary things occur, having a purification would get rid of that fear. He seems to think that this is a condition for aiming for the scariest horror game possible, and so when I secretly tried to get interested people together to hold a purification during Fatal Frame 2's development he found out right away and unfortunately I had to give up on it.
Sure enough, real spiritual phenomena occurred during development, and he was filled with satisfaction that this was a true horror game.
However, I have a confession to make. With Fatal Frame 3, for the first time ever we went to a purification.
In seeking a realistic fear, the team was to conduct research at a variety of places such as haunted houses, Japanese houses and gardens, and dense forests. Worried about what would happen to them there, this new year, in accordance with praying for the game to be a hit, I dragged a reluctant Shibata along with me and had a purification performed.
This, though, backfired.
As if he had taken damage from the purification (perhaps he's really an evil spirit), he became ill and retreated to bed. As if he had brought something strange back from the purification with him, people kept getting sick one after the other, the equipment would simultaneously stop working, and in actual fact more bizarre phenomena occurred than ever before, but I think Shibata will report on those later on.
To this extent, the game itself became something scary with a soul.
In Fatal Frame 3, we have a non-human character for the first time. This is Ruri, a cat owned by Rei Kurosawa, the game's protagonist.
Black cats are an integral part of ghost stories, but this time one appears as a pet.
She is supposed to have been named by Miku due to her lapis lazuli ("ruri") coloured eyes. She appears often in various places throughout the house, so I hope you pet her, take photos of her, and treat her well.
(Producer Kikuchi)