GB Review: Folklore (PS3)

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GB Review: Folklore (PS3)Posted 3:54pm Thu Nov 08, 2007 by Shiva Stella Tags: Folklore, Game Republic, shiva stella, 3 stars, PlayStation 3, review

Journey into the land of the folks.

Folklore is quite the charming game, boasting some astounding visuals, lovely music, a mystical atmosphere that pulls the gamer into the story, and unique creatures to collect and utilize against each other in exquisitely detailed worlds, however even the most gorgeous CGI and intriguing voice acting performances can't mask Folklore's obvious flaws. Poor pacing becomes a primary issue, followed by annoyingly long boss battles, the occasionally frustrating soul-sucking mechanism, repetitive gameplay, lots of backtracking (I thought we were done with that in the 90's), a boring plot, and lots of other little features that collectively keep Game Republic's latest project from reaching the quality gamers expect from a PS3-exclusive. Still, if you own the system it's a definite rental - just only a worthwhile buy if you're into RPGs, anime, Japanese-style (as opposed to western) games, or all of the above. And liking Pokemon totally helps, too.

score:

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When reviewing a title like Folklore it's always best to start at the beginning, and the game opens with beautiful cinematics introducing the two playable characters: Ellen, a girl with a "mysterious" past, and Keats, a writer for an occult magazine. The two venture to a small village called Dooulin, where a murder mystery that began nearly two decades ago resurfaces before their eyes. At this point the story should sound familiar - Ellen, with the help of a scarecrow, embarks on a quest to rediscover her tragic past while Keats, aided by... the Invisible Man... (I'm sure there's a metaphor here that I'm not getting) seeks to learn the history of the village and how Ellen fits into the picture. Along the way some other people die, and to complicate matters there's a war going on in the realm of the dead (the netherworld) between two powerful factions, and of course each faction picks a pawn to utilize against the other. As plots go this one isn't too bad, but it does get irritating, cliche, and overly dramatic quick.

If you played the demo and couldn't stand the comic-book style cutscenes then you might as well stop reading now, because they're here and can't be skipped (but you can fast-forward through them - how convenient). What's worse about the comic-book style and regular cutscenes is that they often severely break up the flow of gameplay; one of Folklore's most frustrating faults is this pacing issue and it is both vivid and reinforced at multiple points. Most of your progression involves running around and talking to people, and while some of that is perfectly reasonable it eventually exists only to detract from the gameplay. You can visit so and so, talk, make your way to visit someone else, get interrupted with another talk, finally reach your destination for yet a third talk, then head to the local pub for a "quest" check (that's another talk) before going back to rest to wait for night and heading out to enter the netherworld. En route be prepared for one-two more speeches, then a lovely cutscene of your character entering the netherworld, another talk at the entrance, and then maybe 45 minutes to an hour's worth of actual gameplay. This is the thing about Folklore: it looks swell, it sounds wonderful, it intrigues you from the start and all you'll really want to do is get down to the gameplay and actually play the damn thing without interruption after interruption, but you can't, and a game that won't let you enjoy it the way you want to isn't worth your time.

One of those annoying boss battles. Can you guess the fatal flaw?!

While we're on the subject of pacing I should mention a few other things that eventually overwhelmed and confounded me. The first concerns a matter of loading screens - I am of the opinion that next-generation titles shouldn't have them, but I don't count off points because they do. I do, however, count off points when they are so frequent. Every time you enter/leave an area, that's a load, and the vast majority of these areas are small, traversed in less than 10 seconds if need be. Folks (the game's monsters/creatures that used to be humans... and then dead humans... ) can actually hit your character and move him back into the previous area (that's a load), so it's a load back inside to fight the same bad guys again (more on this in a minute). The frequent loading screens aren't too bad in and of themselves, but paired with the game's already poor pacing they slow the gameplay to a crawl.

Boss battles, which Game Republic is known for implementing in the traditional "find the fatal flaw (which I'll tell you before you start the fight)" manner, are presented in much the same way here. Unfortunately they can get to be incredibly long and tiresome, with whether your survive or not determined by a monster knocking you back or standing there and letting you hit it at a vital moment. In Folklore boss fights are more frustrating than challenging, which is a pity considering that these are what players are aiming for when they explore a realm.

One of Folklore's most irritating features is that it's extremely repetitive. After you complete an area with Ellen you're given the opportunity to complete the same area with Keats, and while the game switches up the folks some it's still the same area. Quests picked up from the pub then send you back to portions of this same area, and if you're the collecting sort you've already spent some time acquiring all the folks for both Ellen and Keats. If you only stick with one character, though, then the game is shortened significantly unless you're willing to play through almost the exact same areas and situations again with the other. Is the notion driving you crazy yet?

Ellen frequently walks around with her eyes closed.

While I like the concept of collecting folks, what I don't like is the process of sucking up their souls (ie, "ids" - here's a nod to Freud). The id is presented on-screen and dances about as you use the sixaxis controller to wrestle it free from the folk. What's damned infuriating is that while I'm trying to suck up a soul some pathetic monster strolls up and slaps me in the face, breaking the soul-sucking procedure. When you can suck up ids immediately after they surface (without the wrestling, as it were) the system is great. When there are multiple baddies, however, and they're a bit tougher than you're used to, expect to get interrupted a lot.

As an aside, I'm also not a fan of the flower portals, devices that enable you to save your progress, switch cloaks (well, I am a fashionista), and teleport to other areas within a realm. They're pretty but not very convenient; a save-anywhere feature would have been a lot more player-friendly, and that's a key issue. It's as if the game goes out of its way to slow you down, distract you, and make things more difficult than they need to be. Developers do note: frustrating gameplay is not the same as gameplay that challenges you, no matter how good it looks.

It's also a shame that the title's storyline and premise are both as weak as they are; Folklore had tremendous potential and is in fact fun in small doses at certain parts, but the pacing issue and overall repetitiveness overshadow any strength (including its gorgeous visuals) the game might have had. If I want to find out who killed whom 17 years ago I'll watch a Law and Order spin-off. If I want to immerse myself in a really fantastic game, I'll play something else. No matter how much I want to adore Folklore and label it a four-star title, I can't review the game based on what it could (and indeed, should) have been. I can only say that it's unique and charming enough to warrant a shot.