Folklore -- Lives Up To Its Name

Folklore's premise involves absorbing monsters - known as "Folks" in the game's context - and utilizing their attacks in battle as companions. This sounds familiar.

Many of us have the unfortunate ability of glancing over a premise to a game and writing it off because of its ostensible potential for being passé, and it could be the reason why Folkore slid right under the radar of way too many gamers; gamers who could have appreciated the merits of what it brings to the table. There's quite a bit more to it than being a monster collector; what really matters is what you do with them once you assemble them, which adds an interesting and intriguing layer of strategy to the game's overall design.

The story is also pretty good, and it takes place in our present world. Folklore tells the tale of a 22-year-old university student named Ellen, who mysteriously remembers very little about her past. She receives a letter from her mother instructing her to come to the village of Doolin (which actually exists), a sea side village in Ireland. The letter specifically instructs Ellen to meet her at the Cliff of Sidhe. When she arrives, she stumbles upon a mysterious figure within a cloak. While there, Ellen also stumbles upon the male protagonist of the game: Keats, 29-year-old a journalist who writes for an occult magazine known as "Unknown Realms" (which was part of this game's original name when it was originally announced. They found some use for it, apparently).


Keats is called to the scene when he receives a distress call from an unknown woman, which he presumes to be either Ellen or the mysterious figure in the cloak. As the two of them arrive on the scene, a fierce wind blows the figure off of the cliff, the figure landing on the shore of the beach. Ellen, distressed by all of the occurrences, faints, while Keats ponders how to piece everything together for the story he'll eventually write. He is a journalist, after all.

A lot of mysterious, unexplained events have occurred, so it will be up to the protagonists to figure out the meaning behind everything that's happened. This will entail travelling to the Netherworld, the realm of the dead. This place can only be accessed from within Doolin, and it's a fantastical place where mystical beings and creatures exist - some kind, others malignant. It's the latter, known as "folks," that you'll have to absorb to make them act on your command while you explore the areas of the Netherworld.

Folklore has an unusual way in how it presents its story, and your mileage may vary on how much you like or hate it. While it sometimes has the occasional cut scene similar to most games in the genre these days, in both in-game and CG form, this game presents most of its cinematic scenes in a comic book-like form (or, "manga" form, for you nerds). It...really doesn't work as much as the developers wanted it to, and it feels like something that would have had a bigger effect if it was, well, based on a comic. In a fantastical game like this, it feels a little out of place.


The manga sequence cut scene as described above is, sadly, an unfortunate representation of its low budget. It's a shame, too, because this is the kind of game that could have really shined if its production quality was higher. But that's not to say it doesn't shine regardless. In fact, its environments actually manage to shimmer because of its incredibly unique art style; a kind that you probably haven't seen in a video game all that much. The outfits are a mix of contemporary-style dress and fantasy-style clothing to match whichever environment it needs to. Your characters don mystical clothing whenever they venture to the netherworld. The designs help it stand out, and developer Game Republic actually managed to handle the low budget thing pretty well.

The unfortunate aspect about not having many cut scenes doesn't come from the game needing to feel showy; it's just that it lessens the chances of hearing much of the voice acting, which is pretty good. Given how Folklore takes place in Ireland, the cast consists entirely of English and Irish actors. They all do a pretty good job, for the most part.

The music is also quite fascinating and diverse. The latter point isn't surprising, given how many music composers were involved with this game, which might answer the question as to where the budget went. Kenji Kawai of Ghost in the Shell and Vampire Princess Miyu makes a few contributions to the soundtrack (including the opening menu theme). Shinji Hosoe, Ayako Saso, Hiroto Saitoh, and Yuriko Mujoujima also contribute to the soundtrack. The soundtrack overall has a very cinematic feel, feeling inspired by movies close to the genre; most notably Danny Elfman's works.


The main gimmick for the game is collecting every kind of folk you come across. Each of the folks have an element that will assist you depending on what battle or path lies in your way. Some of them have different attributes as well; you can use a few for melee attacks, some for projectiles, some for gigantic explosions, among others. How well you fare in battles depends on how well you use each folk, which depends on what element your opponent is weak against. It's at this time that you realize how Folklore actually has a nice layer of strategy that it requires, which means it's not the button-masher it initially seems like.

It may not be a surprise that the game has monster collecting gimmick. Though Yoshiki Okamoto was responsible for overseeing the progress of the project, Folklore's creative director was Kouji "Cozy" Okada. You may know him, because he was instrumental in creating the Shin Megami Tensei franchise, and left Atlus for Game Republic about half a decade ago.


Folkore has a unique way in how you go about gathering your allies: When one of them is nearing defeat, their spirit will glow red, meaning you can absorb them. You do this by pulling their spirit out by using Sixaxis motions. Said motions depend on the monster you're fighting, and if some of them are a bit obtuse (and they will be), you can view a tutorial by pressing R3. What's great is that it uses the Sixaxis uniquely while not being too annoying about it. Well, initially, at least, because some of the more complex motions get a little annoying when you have to do them very often near the end of the game. Still, on a system where a lot of developers haven't the faintest as to how to use the Sixaxis in any meaningful way, this game represents a nice try.

It's not a surprise, but it's still a shame that Folklore is such an underrated little gem. Sure, Sony's insistence on leaving it $60 in America definitely isn't helping, but if you can find it for an affordable price (which isn't hard), you'll find one of the best action/RPG's on the console. And that's not just because there aren't a lot of them on a console, in a generation. Just try and find it cheaper than the aforementioned price.