Game:

Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water (2014)

Duration: 23:22

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3

It seems only fair to warn you that this isn't really a very interesting video in and of itself... I mean, I enjoyed myself well enough, because absolutely NOTHING bothersome happens. It takes place entirely within a safe space where I can just wander around freely and drink in the ambiance and check stuff out.

Everything before 2:30 is me looking through the menus and options, so if that doesn't interest you, you can skip right past that.

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Since I assume "shadow reading" and psychometry aren't exactly what you would call a stable source of income, we're given a quick peek into Kurosawa's Antiques, a small shop she runs... or rather, that Yuri's running at the moment, as Hisoka's off doing her non-day-job without us.

The antiques store gets a visit from one Fuyuhi Himino, a prospective client of Hisoka's, although it would appear that Hisoka hasn't replied one way or the other to let Fuyuhi know whether or not she'll be taking on this particular case... as such, Ms. Himino has gotten quite impatient and hoped to confirm this particular job in person, and doesn't seem to take it very well that Hisoka's not in at the moment to receive her.

Apparently the case is the disappearance of her friend, and having not gotten the kind of answer she'd hoped for, it seems that Fuyuhi is determined to go look for herself rather than wait. Knowing full well that Hisoka has stated that it's dangerous to go chasing after people that have disappeared, Yuri tries (barely!) to stop her, but it was to no avail, as Fuyuhi didn't seem particularly interested in anything else.

Wait, just what was the timetable for this disappearance and these unreliable eyewitness reports of people who apparently were nearby enough to spot Haruka, but didn't bother to do anything? Hisoka's been going a couple days already, so what are the police doing? If she was looking into things even as a preliminary investigation before agreeing to the job, couldn't she have at least said so to placate a desperate client? ...exactly what are the critical time limits on potential "spiritings away" before you should actually be worried?

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Most of the video past 4:25 is basically "filler" in that I'm more or less meandering about the shop, trying to touch as much of Hisoka's stuff as I can, and being a general snoop and gawker.

It almost seems like Hisoka does more business as a barista than an actual purveyor of antiques, but it's easy to see how dealing in old items belonging to others probably attracts a few clients to her OTHER job, which I might assume actually pays a bit better however infrequently people might want her to solve a caper.

I'm also a little curious and/or concerned about the conditions under which Yuri came to live with Hisoka... because it seems a little oddly unilateral and sudden that this even happened to begin with. I get the impression that Yuri shares at least a little bit of my confusion in all the excitement, even after it's not exactly something brand new. Either that or she just doesn't like to unpack... I will admit that I'm the same way in a lot of cases, but I guess it really does vary quite a bit from case to case.

There's a lot of loose documentation about that's apparently JUST set out to jump straight into Yuri's incredibly unsteady hands that happens to be 100% relevant to the Mt. Hikami that pertains to this case AND presumably all the others in the game... but seriously! Being all slow and indecisive and careful makes sense when you're in the field and could be jump-scared upon at any moment, but Yuri's just freaking me out in a 100% safe space by opening doors and drawers so slowly! (You're not helping either, overactive Spirit Filament arrows!)

Hisoka's obsession with clocks and white noise strike me as slightly veering towards the unhealthy, but I don't exactly find either one to be all that bad a thing... in the right qualities and quantities. THIS particular selection of white noise is pretty unsettling to me, though. (Maybe it's the only way to drown out an overactive third eye's second sight that constantly reveals things humans were not meant to perceive, though...)

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At 21:52, I finally do what I was initially instructed to, and you can also read the details of the case if you cared to... still super rude not to return the letter at least, eh, Hisoka? I worry that the police consider getting "spirited away" a satisfactory conclusion and reason to avoid having to do any... y'know... actual policework...

And 23:12 is where you can find the not-even-ten-second conclusion you probably already had in mind even before Fuyuhi left the scene, if you needed just THAT much confirmation.

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Do we REALLY have to go? I'm... not sure I'm ready for this... especially since Yuri has no business taking on the task of doing what Hisoka specifically states is, on all counts, a monumentally bad idea...