Folklore (PS3)

I noticed that as of yet there aren't any reviews on the full-game version of Folklore, so I'm going to fill the space for everyone and let you know what you're getting for your money.

Folklore's story revolves around the two main characters, Ellen (A young girl desperately searching for her lost mother) and Keats (A journalist/reporter for an occult magazine). Both characters have quite different personalities, which makes it refreshing when playing through as both. Ellen is your typical naïve, albeit brave mix of both heroin and maiden-in-distress, whereas Keats is more of a cynical, sarcastic persona, after hard-facts and a good 'scoop' for his magazine.

The storyline requires you to play as both characters in order to complete the game. This is seemingly an interesting concept, as both character's stories are quite seperate in that where Ellen is searching for answers to her past, all Keats wants is a front-page story, and thus the two go seperate ways, inevitably meeting towards the end of the game, which I won't discuss for spoiler reasons! The story is set in two different 'worlds' and many different 'sub-worlds' lasting over a period of 7 chapters.

In the 'real' world, you will only play in the quite village of Doolin, and it's near surrounding area. The village itself offers very little for the adventurous player, and the locals don't have very much to say at all. The second world is the 'netherworld', now the Netherworld is split into many different realms, each of which could be considered sub-worlds. Each realm in the Netherworld is gloriously detailed and vibrant, it's clear that the power of the PS3 contributes greatly to the stunning visual effects in Folklore, and it sure is pleasing to the eye. Sometimes it's just worth a stroll through the different realms for the visual treats that they are.

Briefly going back to the story aspect of the game, and the fact that you need to play as both characters in order to finish the game, this is where the game's greatest bugbear comes into play. The way the story is structured means that you have two options in the order you play each chapter: You can either play one chapter as Ellen, and then go back and play it as Keats (effectively leapfrogging your way through the game) which is terribly boring as both characters usually go through exactly the same worlds, the only real difference being the monsters (or 'folks') that occupy the realms, and the slightly different routes you have to take based on decisions made by the character you first played the chapter with (ie, if there's two routes to get to the end, each character must take a different route). The second way, which in my opinion is the better way but that is undoubtably the player's opinion, is to go right through to chapter 7 with one character, leave the game for a few days, and then return to finish it with the other character and then meet at the end to complete the game. It's a bit of a weird way to go about finishing a game, but to avoid excessive repetitiveness you will need to leave the game well alone for a while..This doesn't help towards the replayability aspect of the game as once you know the story, there's not much point in doing it again other than to try out new tactics.

The artistic direction of this game is definitely comic-book style. Cutscenes are displayed in a comic style, with characters placed in the frames and text flowing through speech bubbles. This is both good and bad as although its presented nicely, sometimes the conversations can be a little void of character, and a little empty. They can be fast forwarded, but not skipped, which can sometimes be a nuisance. It's definitely an aquired taste, but it's equally something that you will grow used to, personally I quite like it. When the CG cutscenes appear, you can really marvel at the graphical and cinematic quality as characters and evironments come to life.

Back to Folks; there are over 100 in the game to 'collect'. This is a concept not too farfetched from games such as Pokemon, where you capture a creature in order to use it in battles. Exactly the same applies in Folklore. Folks naturally have different appearances and abilities, for example there are certain folks which act as barriers to shield you from harm, and there are folks that have status-changing attacks which might posion or bind enemies, and then there are standard folks which simply attack in different ways. Overall, the folks are well-varied and each has a nice description and unique personality. Folks can be levelled up when certain parameters are met, for example some require you to only feed them an item, whereas some require you to defeat or capture a certain amount of enemies. Capturing Folks utilises the SIXAXIS function of the PS3 controllers, and it's definitely one of the best uses so far! Overall the whole Folks system is clearly well thought out and there's definite room for expansion on the Playstation Store, I wouldn't be surprised to see downloadable Folks any time soon.

The extras in the game are a little short, with only a handful of sidequests offering you small rewards which usually go towards levelling up your folks. One thoroughly Japanese aspect of the game is unlockable costumes for both characters. Each costume gives your character both a different look and helpful attributes. For example, the fairy-cloak gives you a resistance to sleep and posion (useful for capturing one tricky folk!). For players who complete the game capturing every single folk, there's a special costume to be had, and for the competitive types this is an achievement to go for, even simply for the bragging rights!

All in all then, Folklore can best be described as an action-adventure game, with a heavy dose of 'Fairytale book' to it. It's fun, it's a little repetitive, but it'll give you many hours worth of gameplay, and in such beautifully decorated environments it isn't such a bad thing to have to go back and forth between them. It's definitely a game worth trying out, whether you rent it or buy it!

You will really be missing out if you own a PS3 and don't treat yourself to the wonderful and magical experience that Folklore has to offer. To put it simply, this game rocks!

You play as two characters in the game, Ellen and Keats. Ellen is on a journey to the village of Doolin to find answers about her past after recieving a mysterious letter from her dead mother while Keats, a reporter, finds himself drawn to the village after a strange phonecall, thinking that he may have a good story on his hands. The two characters meet and the adventure begins.

Doolin holds the entrance to the Netherworld where people can visit the dead. The Nethwerworld consists of different realms full of magical monsters, fairies, folks and folklores. You will spend your tme in the game visiting Doolin and the Netherworld. In the day you can explore the village and talk, interact with people, finding out clues to a mystery that will begin to slowly unfold. At night you will be able to enter the Netherworld to meet the dead and find answers to Ellen's past and the mysterious goings on that have been happening to the people of Doolin, but you will have to fight your way through the folks and seek help from the fairies before eventually fighting a huge Folklore which holds your secret.

Each realm has a collection of folks. Each folk is individual in it's own right and use various element attacks like charms, water, fire or combat attacks. The amount of folks in folklore is really quite something considering each can become your weapon and you can use them at any time. The folks range from the funny and cute to the scary and incredibly peculiar. To fight folks you basically use other folks against them. To do this you absorb a folk's soul which becomes a power of the Netherworld cloak. You then are able to assign any folk you have absorbed to a button on your controller and use it to attack other folks and absorb them also. You absorb their souls by using the sixaxis motion sensing controller of the PS3 by performing a number of actions such as tilting left to right, shaking or pulling up like using a fishing rod. Once you have a folk, he will go into your palette and you can use him at any time to fight other folks who may require that certain folk to beat.

The sixaxis in this game is incredibly satisfying and fun to use and very precise. In other parts of the game, you will encounter comic-book style cutscenes which are like reading a comic which helps unfold the story as you go along. These are great and the story is very intriguing. But you will also be presented with the standard cinematic style cutscenes which are simply breathtaking in this game.

The game will offer you up to 15-25 hours of gameplay depending on your ability, huge stunning vast lands to travel through, each with amazing graphics and the tiniest of details and combines various elements of many games all rolled into one but this is a truly original game that will surprise and entertain you throughout. There is a decent level of difficulty and stategy in this game to keep you hooked without getting too frustrating or too easy and you will really have to think about the folks you have to use to defeat the bosses and mini-bosses. Also available is quests which are kind of side missions you can do as favours for the folks, go to the pub at night and speak to the folk and you'll be on your way to get some rewards.

The game features some online features where you can build your own dungeon or mini-level and upload it for other people to play in or you can play in theirs with rewards too for constumes and the Playstation Network will also feature future downloads for the game to extend it even further.

This game reminds me of the movies The Labyrinth and The Wizard of Oz combined with an episode of Miss Marple! There is heaps to do and great detail has gone into the making of this brilliant game. It's one of the best games I've ever played. Do not miss out and enjoy entering the Netherworld on your PS3 now!

Very simply put, this is one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. The scenery is just stunning. There are seven "worlds", each of them perfectly unique and rich and some of them more than a little creepy.

I won't give a detailed description of the plot, as others have already done that. I got a lot of hours out of this game, and though completeld I still turn it on to have a run around and enjoy the atmosphere. The story is engaging, the characters not very irritating (how rare!) and there is plenty to do. Each captured folk can be powered up and, if you're a stickler for completion, fulfilling the criteria will keep you going for hours. There are even downloadable quests available if that isn't enough for you. The game also makes good use of the motion sensors in the control pad making it fun to play.

All in all, I loved this game and would highly reccomend it. A couple of things to note, however: although it's described as an rpg by some people, I'd say it's actually a platform game with some free roaming elements. As you power your folk up, the enemies get pretty easy to kill. Sounds obvious? Maybe, but if you like your games a little challenging, by the time you get towards the last few bosses, you'll have sussed the moves and maybe find them a little bit too easy.

The big let down for me, however, (and why it's only got 4 stars) - there are no trophies. Ok, not much of a let down, but it is disappointning when you've spent hours powering up all your folk and don't get a trophy. Makes me wonder what we did before trophies came along...