Folklore - PS3

[DANGERMAN]

Searched but couldn't find a thread, apologies if there is one.

It's an odd game this. It's kind of an rpg, but also very Zelda-y, but then it works a lot like some of the recent Castlevanias. You play as either Ellen (got a message from her dead mother to meet in Doolin) or Keats (a sceptical reporter for a paranormal magazine). Story wise they both seem to follow trying to find Ellen's mum, but in a independent way, storywise at least, the levels may be interchangeable (I've only done the prologue for Ellen, and the pro and 1st level proper for Keats - over an hour in I'd have thought).

Doolin is your hub world, you start everything off there, it's a rural Irish town that looks surprisingly accurate considering how Japanese this game is. Even the grass is the right kind of green. At night the local pup and the town itself are inhabited by Halflifes. They seem helpful enough, and are the people who help you get your powers, they are also brilliantly designed, and full of character. I'm not sure I trust them though, they're certainly not 'good', but they seem harmless so far.

To enter the Netherworld you must find a "memento of the dead". Basically something that meant something to the dead person you want to speak to. That means wandering around Doolin during the day to speak to the human you need to speak to. The day/night cycle is automated and Doolin isn't very big, but it doesn't mark the various exits at all. Which is actually a bit of a problem with the game, the map system is shit, you get a rough shape of an area, but no indication of where you are in it.

The fighting is where it gets a bit Castlevania. When you get into the Netherworld you'll be attacked by various Folk. Folk are a lot like Halflifes as far as I can tell, and when you beat them their soul will appear above them in red. You grab it with R then flick the remote up to capture it, if its one you didnt have then you can now use it to attack, if you did have it then it might powerup Folk you already have.

You assign Folk to the face buttons, and each of them costs a little bit of magic to use, which refils quickly, but means you cant just spam attacks. The more you level up a Folk the less magic it uses. Also Folk's have weaknesses, to find them out you need to find picture book pages, which just ads to the grimy fairytale feel to the game.

So yeah it seems good so far, quite a bit of humour to it, it looks great, even if the frame rate can be a little choppy. It feels quite adult thematically, considering that its set in the world of faries for the first level. Kind of like Where the Wild things are if the kids parents had died

[DANGERMAN]

The plot to this has gotton surprisingly bleak. As mentioned your role is to enter the Netherworld and talk to the dead, but it turns out that the entire town of Doolin is covering up something seemingly massive. Half the town died 17 years ago, though not in one single act, and getting a straight answer is like pulling teeth. Made worse you end up actively working against the second character, reluctantly admittedly but there's a clash ahead.

The only downside so far is that i've hit a literal wall. I got a fork in the road, did one side and headed to the other. The story told me that that's what I had to do, but as I can't get past the second room I'm thinking that's wrong. I need a different Folk, so i need to work out how to get to the previous worlds I've visited.

It's a really interesting game, the combat isn't staggeringly awesome, and the frame rate drops pretty regularly, but everything else about it is really creative. If the PS3-ers do somehow stumble on it they should pick it up

[illdog]

I lost an Ebay bid on this last week, i think it does actually look quite good from what ive found online. If you still like it as the days roll on i might just snap it up.

[stoobie]

I lost an Ebay bid on this last week, i think it does actually look quite good from what ive found online. If you still like it as the days roll on i might just snap it up.

There used to be a demo on PSN - I tried it back when I first got my PS3 and I didnt think much of it tbh. Ben makes it sound better than I remember tho.

[DANGERMAN]

Completed this, it's actually huge. Granted it's a bit pissy the way you have to play through 5 levels with both characters to get to the second half of the game. But as it is the second half is much better (not that the first half is bad at all), more action, less wandering through levels collecting Folk. It'd probably be a pain if it was linear all the way, I was getting a bit bored yesterday (played it pretty much all day), but the change of pace today gives it another spark.

The story's good too, it's a bit convoluted but it's certainly original. Really enjoyed the look of it too, I recommend it if only because it's one of the few 'different' games of the last few years