Summer usually implies vacation and that's what my family has planned to do. On July 15th, I am going to be without my PS2 or my computer, stuck on the road literally for days while we make our way to Nova Scotia. It's going to be fun seeing as I'm planning on checking out some of Canada's weird locations, such as the enigmatic "Magnetic Hill" and have decided to take many pictures (maybe I'll catch an anomaly this time). I'll be visiting Louisbourg and some other historical sites along the coast to satisfy my inner history buff as well as some hardcore antique shopping in the little fishing villages we'll be coming across. Overall, I expect it to be a worth while trip, though I do cringe at the time I will be absent and unable to post: a whole fifteen days. I am hoping I will be able to jump right back into the forums and discussions when I return but I'm kind of worried about the RP and it's progression... seeing as I probably won't be there  when it really begins... I really hope that's not the case though. We'll see what happens I guess....

A few days back, when I was getting started with Gamespot and had just joined the Fatal Frame Series Union, I was looking through in the boards for no apparent reason and reading topic headings trying to find a discussion concerning theories involving the correlation between the Fatal Frame games. Then, out of seemingly nowhere, I caught a glimspe of something. There was a Novelist Group RP being held by mrsxbox but the last posting date was April of last year. I figured it was already full up however I read it through and and decided to contact her about it. Today I got my reply and I was honestly shocked. The author, mrsxbox, wrote me to say that she was happy I was as interested as she was in this RP getting off the ground. She then mentioned I was first to write her about getting involved. I wrote back to say how surprised I was and that I would definitely write about the RP in my blog today. I want to inform as many as I can that Novelist Group RP needs people and that, if they are at all interesting in taking part, they should check out mrsxbox's current post on the matter. You have to be prepared to post something daily and you must message her about it, let her know what character you want to play.
The character that I'm going to RP as is Koji! ^___^

Now that Kei has been saved and the second ending unlocked, my sister has now officially hijacked my copy of Fatal Frame III. Ever since the first Fatal Frame, she's been trying to complete the ghost lists, attempting to get all the timings of her shots just right in order to snag a shot of Crawling Girl from underneath the porch and get that elusive shot of Broken Neck falling off the Moon Observatory. So she's started a file in normal and combing through the Manor of Sleep, looking for any wayward spirits who might be deemed slow enough to be caught by her lens. My game gone for the moment and feeling I needed a change, I've resolved myself to replaying Fatal Frame over to complete the spirit list neither my sister nor I had ever truly finished. The switch from Fatal Frame III back to Fatal Frame is going to be fun... back to a time when there were no combo shots, family masters' had swords instead of lots of arms (they leave that to their sacrifice ^ ^) and there were no sacrificial pillars with giant cleavers... *sighs in reminisence* mind you, I'm not looking forward to either the fight with the Crucified Man or Himuro Family Master... damn those were annoying... two of the fights I've managed to run out of film for in the past... *grumble*
Despite it all, I miss playing the classic Fatal Frame so, if I can steal my PS2's usage away from my equally Zero obsessed sibling, I will snipe all possible to shoot ghosts and unlock more goodies! ^____^
In other news, I had pancakes for breakfest this morning WITHOUT maple syrup... I'm such a disgrace to Canada... *bows head in shame*

It happened... At long last I have saved Kei from the murderous grip of that crazy blue insomniac priestess on Hard! This morning, before the birds even had a chance to start singing, I was up, hands wrapped around my PS2 controller, cursing softly to myself as the large old television screen in my room went from deep cerulean to monochrome and a female figure stumbled, lunging at Rei.  I had used up all my healing items, with the exception of the stone mirror  I had tried to save up until the very end. My film nearly depleted, I tried desperately to outmanuver the ailing ghost and her cloaked spirit while hoping I wasn't going to run into her off screen. It was tense; I was muttering Reika's words with her, using them as a mantra to keep myself concentrated while she dove at me. After delivering a few more shutterchances to Reika, I glanced hurriedly at her life bar (thank GOD for "MEASURE w/file") and gasped. She had about three or four hits left on her! If I could avoid her flying acrobatics for just a little bit longer-
The screen reverted to monochrone and an all too familliar hand reached out of the darkness. Jerking the left analog stick quickly and pressing the square button, the tattooed hand grasped nothing but the sickening miasma as Rei darted toward the Chamber of Thorns.  The screen flashed white, colour returning to the surroundings as Reika walked towards me once more. One more shutterchance.
 She appeared once more off to the side.
 Shutterchance.
 Infront of me.
Shutterchance.
Before she had the opportunity to take to the air, I tracked her movement and took a hurried shot.
It was over. Her form faded into the deep azure nothingness of the sanctum and the ending began.  My sister laughed, I marvelled silently at the fact I still had my stone mirror. Together we rejoiced at the fact that we had both had a hand in the saving of Kei (which was not all that easy... stupid Brushing Woman... grrr....). Now that Nightmare is unlocked, it'll probably be another few days until people see either my sister or myself outside again... meh, maybe I'll go antique hunting with one of my friends later on this week if I don't get too roped into playing... (omg, bad pun...) XD

This past few weeks have been hellish... in a good way. For my birthday, one of my close friends decided to buy me the third installation in the Fatal Frame series and that was it. It was over. My life since then had consisted solely of Fatal Frame III - The Tormented, water and doing Fatal Frame fan art and fanfiction besides the random phone call from concerned friends as to why I now feared sunlight. OH, but the game itself is fantastic! The way the Manor of Sleep is rendered, storyline and the interconnecting stories from the first and second games is genius. The ghosts aren't as scary as they were from the first and second ones (with the exception of the Engravers), but the mood and generally creepy ambience is still there. I think it's funny how, no matter where you were in the first and second games, the ghosts could still sense your presence and attack you whereas in the third, as Kei, you could duck behind partitions and kimonos and the final boss would walk right past you.
... but that's just me and my crazy way of thinking. The only thing I truly dislike about the third game is from hour X onward, you need to find the "purity candles", candles that burn with a blue flame, in order to ward off the miasma that turns your screen monochrome, allowing the ghosts to do twice the damage or, in Reika's case, deliver an instant kill.  This causes some feelings of stress because these candles will run out after a given amount of time and can happen when you're fighting some relatively tough ghosts. Not only that, but they are not as easy to come by as the average person might think.
Aside from that, the fact you can play as three different people (Rei Kurosawa, Kei Amakura and Miku Hinasaki from the first game) is pretty cool and even cooler is they have their own stats, strengths and weaknesses. This makes for some more complex puzzles and fights then there were previously.
 The Fatal Frame III fighting system is also good. In the first game and second games, you could preform combo hits; if you got a Fatal Frame, you would have to wait for your next opportunity for a critical in order to get a second one. In Fatal Frame III, when you get a Fatal Frame, you might be able to preform a combo shot and have the chance to get multiple Fatal Frames (I've gotten four in succession whereas my sister has managed six).
All in all, it's gonna be hard but I'm going to try not to let my life get sucked away by this game, no matter how good or ridiculously addicted I become... man, I hope I can beat it on Nightmare...