Kinda spoiler if your a first time player and want to keep the challenge and scare. If your new but have played once before then here’s a pro tip:

Calling for Hewie can in fact alert the stalkers. I’ve been playing this game since I was about 4 years old (my aunt bought it when it first came out for $20 and I’d always watch her and my mom play and would wanna play it too) and I’m 20 now. I’ve only just found out about 3 years ago that calling for Hewie can alert them and I keep forgetting about it. I’m playing currently and just alerted Debilitas 3 times in row within a 10 minute span because I keep calling for Hewie as soon as the music turns on lmao. So yeah just a pro tip for those who don’t know. Dont keep making the same mistake I do and get stuck being chased over and over for 20 minutes by a stalker😂

The low frame rate hurts my eyes. I'm using the EU version of the game on PCSX2.

Im officially playing the game for the first time tonight, i only played the intro to test it walked into the first room. Tonight finally i play haunting ground in my crappy laptop for the first time, thanks for everyone that gave me tips etc. you guys ROCK

(Interesting image so that you wont ignore my post) black screen goes away if i close the submenu, also while on the sub menu i can selsect and move arpund i can hear it but cant see anything.

Hello everybody,

I am not sure if this is the right space to share my thoughts or if it will be the most receptive, but ever since playing Haunting Ground, I have wanted to assess its themes of the uncanny, the forbidden, and the grotesque as they relate to alchemy.

I drafted an introduction to my essay today after extensive brainstorming and light research. I would post it here, but I don't think anyone will want to read it, so I will just mention the highlights. I see azoth in the game to be a metaphor and/or allegory of Fiona's womb, which is evident based on Daniella's commentary of it being the "essence of life" and the imagery of Daniella attempting to claw out Fiona's womb in a cutscene.

This raises existential questions about the meaning of femininity in wider research (no, I am not a woman; I am a man) as Daniella is a homunculus, an artificial being, but an imperfect woman because she is incapable of giving birth. This is one element of the uncanny, as several characters of the game world are not natural beings. Thus, what questions might this raise about life that is artificially created?

So, Homunculus is the Uncanny.

Azoth is the instrument of life-giving, aka the womb, in this case, Fiona's (and the central argument of my essay; an argument because azoth has conflicting meanings in the game vs. history)

The monstrosity of Debilitas is the Grotesque.

The disturbing sexual interest in Fiona's Azoth by Riccardo and Aurelius serves as the Forbidden because it is incestuous.

Would anyone be interested in reading my introduction based on the information I have outlined here? I cannot for the life of me find any like-minded peers. I majored in Professional Writing and English Lit, so I am prone to assessing games from a literary point of view (I also took more than one philosophy class).

The game flickers a little bit. It is very distracting and especially noticeable on bright backgrounds or lights. I've also noticed that torches leave artifacts or a ghosting trail behind them, how can I fix this? Sorry for making multiple posts about issues but it might be better to separate these.

The game runs at 30fps and it's straining my eyes quite a bit and making it hard to enjoy the game. My eyes just get blurry after a while and it doesn't feel good to play at all. I want to have it on 60 or higher, can anyone help?

Using EU version. Thanks in advance.

EDIT: I will make a new post once this get's fixed, I'll use that as a tutorial to help others.

I've been stuck in the old mansion for hours now, it's not fun anymore. I started playing this game a few months back and overall enjoyed my time however, there are usually multiple weeks (or months) in between play sessions because I sometimes get stuck or something. It usually feels like I'm making very little progress in each session and that I'm just wasting my time with this game - which is a shame cuz I actually like it.

I found a film roll, got hewie to knock daniella and finally got to use a mirror after a million attempts. Daniella started walking like a doll so I'll take this as an indicator of progress. She already had a very weird standing animation like that where she was ''jittering'' or something. I learned how to escape her consistantly but have made very little progress otherwise. I've checked every room many many times.

After I got the film reel she started appearing in a locked up area behind the circus room, doing something? It's sorta independent from her AI as she can still walk around some times. So I'm on the right path to something, perhaps... maybe? I don't know...

I don't know what to do now and it sucks, the game makes me feel stupid and it's very demotivating.

I looked the film reel up online but instead of maybe finding a hint I got a spoiler to smth else instead... so I'll stop doing that now.

TLDR: It would be nice if someone could give me a hint on what to do next because this is frustrating. I love when games let me figure stuff out myself but this feels bad, I look like an idiot. I don't want the solution, just a hint as to what I should be looking for.

What does everyone think Fiona is thinking when she wakes up after the car crash naked except for a sheet in a cage. What about her reaction to being given random well fitted clothes. Please let me know what you think thank you.

Specifically, when the statue falls over and you have to push it off, I have no idea what button to mash or what to do and flaming Lorenzo catches up to me each time for a game over. I'm running this on PCSX2 with a ps5 controller if that helps.

EDIT: What I did was hold both L3 and R3 upward while mashing all four buttons. Thanks to everyone!

I'm playing this game for the first time (at last) and I've noticed I'm kind of bad at swerving the stalkers. It's my first time playing a game like this so it's all a bit new to me.

I've noticed about the music, but if I can hear their footsteps is it basically a guaranteed chase or are there ways to avoid that?

As an aside I'm currently streaming the game on Sunday evenings in case anyone wants to laugh at an old Brit floundering. I very much enjoyed my first blast at it the other day.

She’s gorg 🖤

Love their dynamic, wish it was explored a little more

I’m sorry if I’m getting pretty annoying with my posts, but this game and the lore has me in a chokehold once again 🤣

Anyways, so as we know, the reason why Fiona gets hunted down by the inhabitants is because of her Azoth (Daniella wants to be complete aka gain fertility, Riccardo is an incomplete clone without Azoth and wants to be reborn and lastly, Lorenzo wants immortality to discover “the great truth” and to possibly gain more power and other megalomaniacal desires).

The interesting thing about Azoth is how vague it is, but there’s a few facts about it and some implications that can be made

1. It can be considered a “life force” because all living things have a little Azoth in them, but some living things, like Fiona, have a more potent version of Azoth
2. Because Azoth is the “essence of life”, it is presumably generated in the reproductive organs and gets spread into the bloodstream
3. It can be extracted (so far all attempts at extracting Azoth leads to the victim’s death)
4. It’s never stated how external Azoth gets administered into someone (Injection? Elixir? Just drinking it raw?)

As stated Azoth is very vague and open to interpretation as to what else it can do, so I came up with a probably dumb idea on what else Azoth could do. I’m a fan of superhero stuff and I’ve always liked the origin of powers coming from genetics (X gene from X-Men, Conduit gene from the Infamous series, etc.), so I figured that it would be interesting if those with more potent Azoth had some sort of supernatural power, which would come about from trauma and overwhelming emotions

Now onto the power that Fiona would possess, it was easy for me to decide: telekinesis. I figured that the power would fit on a thematic level because Fiona is trying to regain control over her life and autonomy, so to me, it made sense that she should be able to take control of objects from afar to achieve her goals. I’d like to imagine that she can’t lift anything heavier than a chair and she can only use her powers for defensive purposes and to misdirect her stalkers because they have incredible durability and Fiona is more focused on running and hiding than killing. I’d also imagine her subconsciously using her telekinesis as a sort of radar system because she’s on high alert (playing into music mechanic the game has where the ambient track means no enemies, silence means the enemy is in the vicinity and then the chase theme plays depending on how close the enemy is)

Another thing I’d like to add is that because of this idea of potent Azoth granting superhuman abilities in their carriers, it could give an explanation as to how Lorenzo had access to other abilities, like there could be notes scattered throughout the game about various victims that had displayed supernatural abilities which he took, like enhanced physiology, telepathic communication, his teleporting attack and others (I’m making Lorenzo similar to Sylar from the NBC tv show Heroes, who kills other superhumans to gain their powers)

After all is said and done and Fiona escapes the castle with Hewie, it’s anybody’s guess as to what happens to Fiona after her ordeal and I was like “lmao, what if she fought crime?” I don’t think that ending would fit her well unless it was well written, but this is where I turn it over to y’all. What sort of epilogue would you give the telekinetic Fiona?

https://retroachievements.org/user/Soapiestrainbow

Thanks to everyone that helped me with this game and answered any questions I had, I enjoyed every hour of the game

I started the game for the first time and know that the clothing chests let you change costumes but for some reason when I interact with them it just says it’s a chest that holds clothes and doesn’t give me the option to change costumes. Is it an option that is available after beating the game?

I'm emulating this on pcsx2 and i had it in 2x speed

i walked over to the steps to let Hewie get the item and said go but instead he walked right through the locked gate and got the prima Materia instead

https://preview.redd.it/vrh0l2yuezpd1.png?width=1717&format=png&auto=webp&s=3780f3c46fd7cb4df94ca0be7ef1ec2801d2f30c

Do you think Debilitas tried to run after Daniella before Fiona arrived?

Do you think Debilitas ever payed attention to Dani? I’ve never seen them interact, so I can’t say for certain if he was scared of her. His childlike persona and her cold insane persona, I've always wondered if he chased after her like Fiona - and thought Daniella was some victorian doll lol.

Debilitas doesn't like discipline from Riccardo, so I doubt he'd like Daniella.

But I'd like to hear about your opinions or headcanons.

Haunting Ground [PS2] - Guide 100% / All Endings, Gears, Hidden Items and Cinematics (youtube.com) So i am watching this video as a guide and the person playing is on new game plus i am not, everything was going well up until the forest and my forest is very different from theirs, is it because they are on new game plus?

thank you

As I’ve posted many times before (or at least it feels like it XD), Haunting Ground lives rent-free in my mind not only because it is such a creepy psychological horror game, but also because Fiona is such a likeable protagonist for a few reasons

1. Good personality

Even though she isn’t the most complex protagonist out there, she’s still has a good personality. She’s reserved but not shy. She’s not an athletic powerhouse, but she’s not a pushover. She’s not a tactician, but she’s damned witty. And furthermore, she is very empathetic, especially with Hewie

2. Good design

Not only is she a very beautiful character, but she directly contrasts the environment and the antagonistic characters: she looks cleaner than Debilitas, less formal than Daniella, less mysterious than Riccardo and Lorenzo. Furthermore, her outfit provides more contrast to the villains in the game. Fiona’s outfit is predominantly white, symbolizing purity and divinity, among others (she’s at least divine to the villains of the story because they desire her Azoth). Meanwhile, the villains wear muted shades of normally brighter colors (Daniella with purple) or colors that blend in with the bleak environment of the castle (Riccardo in his muted green-brown robes with the hood and Lorenzo wearing black and brown clothes)

3. The peril she gets thrown in

A way to endear your protagonist to the audience is to put them in danger. Fiona is a damsel in distress trapped with psychos that want to do more to her than kill her, and there’s no knight in shining armor to save her, only her faithful Hewie and her wits are all she has in order to escape and survive.

4. The dehumanization of Fiona

What makes this game even scarier and what makes me feel for Fiona even more is how she gets dehumanized as simply the vessel for Azoth. Combined with the Resident Evil-esque camera angles that make it look like someone is watching Fiona and some of the cutscenes having villain POV’s watching her, it adds to the sense of peril that Fiona goes through. I remember watching a play through and when Riccardo gets close to Fiona and puts his hand on her face, I was thinking to myself “get away from her, you predator!”

5. Personal events

I’ve had a pretty good life, but some of my pals weren’t as lucky and the common denominator involved some really bad trauma of some sort but I’m proud of them for still choosing kindness despite the shit they’ve been through. Still, whenever I feel upset over some major wrongdoing that’s been committed against them, like sexual assault, it makes me wish I could avenge them in some way, even though logically I couldn’t carry it out and even if I did, I’d probably go too far because of emotions.

But anyway, I’ve never come across more of a character I felt needed more saving (or was at least deserving of quite a few hugs) than Fiona. I probably say this because I’m a man and the ideal man has been painted as a heroic figure that stands up for those that cannot do it themselves, but I don’t know, I’d imagine that anybody regardless of gender looking at the peril Fiona faces would wish they could go in and save her because there’s something so troubling about seeing someone (especially a very beautiful looking person) in dire trouble and wanting to help them, but are unable to.

But yea, that’s the end of my very long rant about why I find Fiona very endearing and deserving of nothing but good things because of the harrowing things that the villains wanted to do to her ^^

This question popped up into my mind because the maid is a very tragic and sympathetic antagonist and I think it would be interesting to see how her and Fiona’s interactions would change if Daniella lived. And I’d also other people’s opinions on the matter

The way I see Daniella being saved is that during the scene at the end of her boss fight where she screams so loud that she causes the glass to shatter from above, Fiona, despite covering her ears, runs and pushes her to the ground with her body, avoiding the maid from getting stabbed. Now here is where the interaction could go in 2 different ways

1. Daniella could be in shock and wonder why Fiona saved her despite all the torment she caused her. Fiona responds by saying that she’s seen enough death for a lifetime and just wants to get out of there. Thanks to the mercy that Fiona showed, she allows Fiona to proceed without further interference, similar to Debilitas if you drop the chandelier onto him instead of killing him. This could set up a moment in the future where Daniella could get killed by Riccardo and later, Fiona would then find the body, saying “ohh no..” before loudly swearing vengeance on Riccardo for everything that has happened. Or maybe this could set up a scene where Daniella heroically sacrifices herself to save Fiona because she became indebted to her

2. Daniella could be angry and with such barely contained rage, she’d ask Fiona “Why save me? Why couldn’t you just let me die? Why?!” Fiona then tries to reason with the maid by using the “enemy of my enemy is my friend” tactic. Fiona explains that they’ve both been hurt by Riccardo and as women, they need to stick together to escape the castle grounds. Fiona also adds that the maid knows more about the castle layout than she does and her knowledge would be invaluable cuz there’s nothing worse than navigating blindly. This could turn both characters from victims into survivors willing to do what they can to escape and if possible, seek vengeance.

As you can tell, I don’t really see Daniella making it out till the end in these two scenarios, but it would also be interesting to see how the pair would help each other once they escape. Maybe Daniella’s memories come back to her and the truth about what really happened to her comes back and Fiona feels obligated to help out the maid for closure’s sake. God, I love thinking deeply about this game because it’s just a perfect horror game for me (despite my only access being watching a play through on YouTube lol). I feel really attached to Fiona as a character because seeing the traumatizing events that she goes through makes me wish I could go in there and somehow save her from her living nightmare of a situation

I've been trying to find it forever, here's an example.

Scooby-Doo & The Haunting Ground, is without doubt, the dumbest thing I have ever made. Not much is changed, except for the main font, and perhaps the involvement of Scooby-Doo.

Installation:
You want to find out more about this mystery? Find out by playing Haunting Ground on the PS2, with this special Texture Pack! You’ll need at least the latest version of  PCSX2, the PS2 emulator and a dumped iso of Haunting Ground,

Find yourself the install folder of PCSX2 and place the SLUS-21075 folder inside of the “textures folder.” Then upon opening PCSX2 go into Settings and then Graphics. Then click load textures and you’re ready to go!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RqNG8zHatL5QwSlnTSfXQZFPPhsL_AIp/view?usp=sharing