So, maybe I'm a little late to the party on this one. I purchased Folklore during the earliest of days of the PS3's life (I find out recently that I am one of 230,000 people in the world who actually did). It came at a time, when I was in denial as to how few games were on the big black monolith console, so I had to have it. After all, the demo was unique. Somehow, however, PS3 decided to play a serious game of catchup and had endless waves of great games coming since to keep me busy. Folklore was buried under the Uncharteds and Killzones that followed it. Alas, I looked up at the shelf a few weeks back and saw Folklore, just sitting, looking neglected. I have a large stack of games beside my TV that are labelled "to play", but something about Folklore got my attention and it jumped to the front of the pack. So, how does this nearly 5 year old game hold up?
The first thing to note is that the music is unbelievable. It has an ominous fantasy sound that I have yet to see executed better anywhere else. The graphics have also aged incredibly well. It's a beautiful game, that uses just the right amount of style to overcome obsolescence. Even my girlfriend, said it was beautiful, and she's always negative about any video game that isn't Pixeljunk Shooter or L.A. Noire.
The story is what I personally value the most in a game though and this one pulls it off well. While some may feel a little disconnected with the storybook style of cut-scenes, where you read word bubbles over nearly still pictures, I feel that it fit well with the fairytale feeling of the whole thing. Basically, the story deals with some very dark themes, involving childhood death and how people deal with painful memories. It genuinely keeps you guessing by never revealing its full hand until the end. It's clever and does very well to lead you to believe you are smarter than it is, before showing you that the twist you figured out wasn't the only twist to be seen.
I could complain about occasionally unnatural dialogue and frustrating motion controls with the sixaxis controller, but the atmosphere and imagination that this game puts forward, really does well to overshadow all negatives. Basically, you are travelling into the Netherworlds in search of lost memories to find out the past of a mysterious town, and solve some bizarre murders that have been occurring. The game does a great job of making you confused for most of it. All that is known is that the murders are somehow connected to a strange happening from 17 years before involving a young dying boy named Herve and a young girl named Cecilia who prayed to faeries to keep him alive.
The game is interestingly set up between two different characters named Ellen and Keats. Ellen is a girl who receives a letter from her mother whom she hasn't seen in many years, asking her to visit this place to find her. Keats is a writer for a writer for a magazine that deals with the paranormal. One day he gets a call from a mysterious woman who says she needs his help at that town. The game lets you choose which one to play as, however both characters uncover different pieces of the puzzle and thus eventually, you'll have to play through all chapters with both of them anyway. They have to fight their way through various realms, that are amazingly unique using the souls of monsters defeated along the way to attack other monsters (folks as they are called). This system never really gets old, as the monsters keep changing and thus you keep finding new attacks to use.
This game is really unique in many ways, and always leaves you with the feeling of confusion and curiosity as to what you will find next. Most importantly, to answer my initial question as to whether or not this game holds up, yes it does. It lasts, because it feels like it was made to last. It doesn't feel like it was made to be a graphical achievement, or a ground breaking RPG. It just feels like it was made to be a timelessly enjoyable game. If you find this around for $18 or less, which you likely can, buy it...set it on your shelf for a few years and savor it like a fine wine. It ages very well.
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