FOLKLORE: HANDS ON PREVIEW

Apart from Oblivion and Genji, not much in the RPG genre has appeared on the PlayStation 3 since launch. Sony’s Japan studios are changing that with the introduction of Folklore – a murder mystery story tied in with a dense RPG set half in the town of Doolin, and half in the ‘Netherworlds’, the mysterious world where you can make contact with the dead.

Firstly, apologies to those who have played the demo and already know some of the things I’m about to go over. The game starts with a very long string of cinematic videos, setting the scene. The CG clips are very impressive both graphics-wise and story-wise, and do a very good job of starting off the game. We hear of Keats – a writer for paranormal magazine ‘Unknown Realm’ who gets a mysterious call asking him to come to the spooky town of Doolin. We also hear of Ellen, a girl who is desperately seeking her mother. Things take a turn for the worse when a woman is apparently murdered, which sets you on the trail for clues.

In Folklore, you can choose to play as either Keats or Ellen at the start of each chapter. Once the chapter is done, you go back to the selection screen. You have to play both characters for each chapter – so both have a Chapter 1 etc. At first, this system can be quite tedious as your first visit into the Netherworld is virtually the same for both characters, however as the story progresses it changes so that a part of the story that is a mystery when playing as one character is explained when playing as the other. It works quite well actually.

To get into the Netherworld you need a memento of the dead (i.e. a picture) which you then offer at the local henge. Once you’re inside, the game transforms into a fully fledged RPG. Your enemies are Folk, mysterious creatures in different shapes and forms. Here’s the killer: you absorb their IDs (the energy of its soul) by flicking up the controller (once they glow red) and after that you store them and can be used as an attack – sort of similar to Pokèmon. For the bigger Folk, the absorption process can be a bit more complicated – you may have to flick the controller at a certain time, or do it a number of times before it is absorbed. I thought the Sixaxis controls were implemented really well and didn’t have any trouble using them – contrary to what you might have heard elsewhere. There are no shortage of Folk either – with over 100 in the game. Inside the Netherworld, there are different parts – for example the Faery Realm and ruins of Undersea City; however you cannot choose which part to visit, as the entrance changes each time.

The combat system is relatively simple in Folklore. You have four Folk hot keyed to Triangle, Square, X and Circle (which four it is you can change in the menus). Some enemies aren’t effected by certain Folk, and to find out you’ve got to try. Visual clues are given to show which ones work and which don’t. If it doesn’t do anything the attack will sort of bounce off the enemy giving the impression that it did nothing. You can even get a little Folk called Killmoulis which acts as a shield when equipped.

The story in Folklore is told in two different ways. One, through the standardised cinematic, complete with voices and animation, while the second is a unique comic style layout with text speech bubbles and pictures to narrate the story. The small parts and conversations are done with the comic style, whereas the big parts to the story warrant rich cinematic sequences. I thought it was a little weird at first but now I’m used to it, it’s a different and unique way to progress the story. Folklore’s graphics are extremely realistic in Doolin – and then switch to colourful and bright scenes in the Netherworld (similar to Ratchet & Clank which is a nice contrast and helps to separate the two areas).

My first impressions weren’t very good when playing Folklore, it seemed confusing and relatively boring. Further into the story though it changed into an addictive thriller and dense RPG at the same time. A couple of things could do with improvement, the game seems to cut to a loading screen too often and the camera can be hard to control. Play on a bit longer though and the storyline really kicks off resulting in a really fun and strange game experience.

Tom Eccles
www.absoluteblog.co.uk