RF Generation Message Board

Take control of Ellen, a young girl looking to learn about her past, and Keats, a journalist for an occult magazine looking for the next big story, as they travel to the small village of Doolin to explore the mysteries held within.  Alternating between both characters, you will get to travel through the Netherworld, the world of the dead.  Throughout the game, you will find and defeat powerful creatures called 'Folks' and be able to absorb and utilize their powers and abilities.

Participants
Disposed Hero
douglie007
Fleach
GrayGhost81
Pam
singlebanana

Checkpoints
Week 1 - Complete Chapter 1 with both characters
Week 2 - Complete Chapter 3 with both characters
Week 3 - Complete Chapter 5 with both characters

Sweet! I went on a hunt for this one a while back, and it took a bit to find. I never got very far into though, so now I have a reason.

Glad you're joining us Pam. Seems that you have a choice between two characters in the game. Maybe Will would be interested in the opposite experience??

You have to play through with both characters in order to complete the game.  At certain points, the game won't let you progress with one character until you've reached the same point with the other character.

But I started the game a couple of days ago and am really enjoying it so far.  It feels very unique, and the art style is beautiful.  So far, it definitely feels like a hidden gem for the PS3.

I just played Ellen's prologue and all I can say is...WOW.

I'm really looking forward to getting into depth with you guys on this one.

Folklore isn't really my type of game. My ADD won't allow me to play open world games like this. I'll be in a corner playing my Shmups.

Understood. :)

i'm not sure if i'll find time to join you guys but i picked up this game a few months ago and it looked really amazing! i don't know how i had never heard of it before.

Get on board Jamie.

This is going to be great! Folklore looks like an interesting game, and by that I mean that I have no idea what this game is like. I only know about it's reputation of being an overlooked hidden gem.

Looking forward to playing this with you guys.

I bought this game and never got to play it so I will join

Cool douglie!  Glad to have you along.

Started playing yesterday and even though I only finished both Prologue chapters I think I'm going to really like this game. The look, the theme, all so good!

I should mention that this isn't an open world game. It is indeed very linear with the exception of a few path choices.

Rich is right. Things are pretty linear but you have play as both characters to get the full story. It's worth playing. Just try it out and see how you go.

I'm starting to uncover an interesting murder mystery. Can't wait to start talking about this game with everyone.

I've played through both prologues so far and I'm really liking it. The visuals are great and I'm liking the characters so far. My only complaint right now is that I really wasn't thrilled when I learned I had to flick the controller during combat - I wish there were a way to turn off any type of motion control.

Thats a great point Pam. Unfortunately, the controller movements get even more complicated as you go along. I don't know about everyone else, but it seems somewhat unresponsive at times. This was an early game for the system and the developers really wanted to incorporate the Sixaxis feature. I too wish you could turn it off and maybe map it to buttons. As much as I'm not a big fan of QTEs, I think they would have worked well here.

I'm going to have to disagree with you guys. I really like the use of motion control. It's not obtrusive at all and it really gives off the feeling like you're wrestling with this creature trying to reel in its id. Mapping it to a button would make the game more button mash-y.

It does feel a little unresponsive at times though, and you have to be pretty precise with how you flick, turn and move the controller.

I don't mind some of the motion controls, but some of the mechanics are pretty bad.  The one where you have to violently shake the controller up and down comes to mind.  The whole idea of wrestling with the ids reminds me a lot of Luigi's Mansion and even the 2009 Ghostbusters game.  Those games use the analog sticks for a similar type of mechanic, and I feel like those games handle it much better.

I think anything even slightly unresponsive is a fail when it comes to controls.  Sorry, but when things aren't working as they are meant to, developers are to blame, there's no excuse for that. I've almost thrown my f*#king controller across the room 10+ times, especially when battling Folklores and I have them down to the Sixaxis phase and fail it multiple times.  Those id battles get more and more complex as you go, and these control failures cause the Folklore to rise again which can result in deaths.

Funny you should mention nearly throwing your controller while capturing the ids of Folklores. I always wonder what someone would think if they saw me during one of those scenes because it must look pretty goofy.

My wife looks at me like I have a 3rd eye. I think she finally figured out it was voluntary.

Week 1 checkpoint added to OP.

I'm finding it a bit hard to figure out how to beat some of the enemies. I know the pages give hints but I'm not finding them super clear. I'm fighting the first Folklore and I got that I need to toss the spiky guy when he inhales, but am not really sure what to do with the second tentacle. I throw out all sort of attacks which don't seem to do a whole lot.

You actually need to repeat the process for the second tentacle. Don't forget that when the tentacle is down, you need to hit it with your slash folk (the ram).  After both tentacles are dispatched, there is a 2nd phase where you have to use a 3rd folk (I'll post the technique as a spoiler below in case someone doesn't want to see it).

I agree, the books aren't very straight forward since the drawings are a bit ambiguous at times. I kind of like that it doesn't completely spell it out, but certainly understand the frustration.

Spoiler (hover to show)

In the 2nd phase, use the winged creature (wind attack) to take out the flower.

I have the same problem with the storybook, Pam. It's definitely helpful when you can figure out what folks are in the drawings.

The biggest problem I had was with the memory stones. It was frustrating trying different folks until something worked. I eventually learned that the colour denotes which element you need to use (match the memory stone colour to the ring around a folk's icon). Also, there are some places with filters that distort the stone colours.

So far I really like this game and Ellen's voice actress reminds me of an Irish movie called Felicia's Journey. Bob Hoskins was in it. It was weird.

I'm up to Chapter 5 with both toons. The Chapter 4 Folklore was much easier than the one from Chapter 3; however, the level design of Chapter 4 was aggravating to say the least (more on that at when we get there).  I bring this up to talk about the balance of the game. In a lot of games, you start out with a fairly rudimentary objective and the first few bosses are typically lightweights that have simple strategies, often times you just bash them with a singular offensive attack. Folklore is a bit different. Though I wouldn't say that the first boss is overly difficult, there is a fair amount of strategy and battle learning that goes into the fight.  I've found myself replaying boss battles multiple times and while some have been overly frustrating (causing near controller throws), for the most part, they are pretty fair once you "learn" them.  Good thing save points are close. I know digging in and learning patterns in fights over multiple deaths isn't for everyone, but for me, there's a great deal of satisfaction in finally overcoming these battles. While bosses typically increase in difficulty as you go from stage to stage (and I find this somewhat true in Folklore), as Steven has mentioned via text, it gets a little easier. For instance, there aren't any sub-bosses in Chapter 4, but instead the designers decided to focus on beefing up the level by adding a maze, time trials, and specific "targeting" feats; the end boss is easier too.  I'm not sure if this holds true in the remaining portion of the game, but we will see.

Those are some good points. I've using the storybook more and it's helping for boss fights, but when I just can't understand what the pages are supposed to depict I'll use a guide. Speaking of guides, I really needed one for Chapter 4 but now I have a strategy which makes it a little easier to navigate the maze. I've also noticed that talking to NPCs in the Netherworld Realms is very important. They'll often give you tips on how to catch certain Folks or beat the Folklore at the end of the level.

I'm now at the middle of the game and just got the cliche mid-game plot twist. Which isn't much of a plot twist really since I'm sure everyone will see it coming.

Things are a little quiet in here. Is everyone doing OK with this game?

I'll take this moment to share a thought I've had while playing. This game feels very much like a PS2 game to me. The fairly straight forward level designs mirrored for each character, the text box style dialogue, the sparse hub world of Doolin. I guess that could be the case considering Folklore is an early PS3 game so maybe development began during the time of PS2 and Sony had the project moved to its newer console.

I'll be honest, I didn't see the plot twist coming. I'm usually pretty perceptive of these things, but I think the writers did a pretty good job here.

I will agree in part that I think this feels like a PS2 game. My reluctance stems from not having played a lot of PS3 games since I have only  had my system for little over a year. I think you're probably on it in regards to this being an early PS3 game. However, this certainly doesn't look like a PS2 game, super gorgeous!

I'm not one to look for plot twists, plot holes, etc., so I usually don't see them coming, but I totally called this one.  There should be another plot twist coming up, and I'll be curious to see if you guys see that one coming...

This game is definitely an early PS3 game, and most early 7th gen games tend not to age well in my experience.  Fortunately, Folklore seems to have a unique art style that really works to its advantage and has aged exceptionally well.  While maybe not as technically impressive as games we see coming out today, I still find Folklore more appealing to look at than many recent releases.

I always attributed the flaws in the game's presentation (lack of cutscenes, over abundance of dialog boxes, recycled levels/environments) to be due to budget or time constraints, but I hadn't considered that it may just be a product of its time and maybe this sort of design was just the norm for this type of game during that era.  Overall, Folklore definitely feels more advanced than a PS2 game, but perhaps some of these elements were leftover from the previous generation.

From what we have read and discussed, the game was under time constraints and I agree, some things suffer from it, including an awkward balance of bubble text and voice acting. Product of its time, I think so, and what leads me to that conclusion is that I feel like they tried to do way too much with this game. There are so many great things about this game in terms of gameplay and construction, but there so many things that could have been better had they not been used at all or dialed back quite a bit. For instance, collecting the gems and seeds is trite and creates an overabundant menu. I would have like to have seen folk level up with simply use, or have no leveling system at all. It's aggravating to have a combination of collecting "gems" (which there are not enough of and require farming), absorbing folk, and also destroying folk.  I dislike having to track things and flip back and forth constantly throughout the menu, for which this upgrade system it the root of the problem.

I think Game Republic thought they had to hit it out of the park with this one and swung so hard that they hit a really high pop-up that didn't quite make it over the fence (clever baseball reference FTW).

Those are some really good points. My thoughts on the level system for the folks is that a progression system for them may have been too much to implement. This is just speculation though, maybe the developers wanted the folks to level up from the use of gems and the methods you listed. In fact, the use of folks reminds me a lot of Ni No Kuni which I played last year. That game used monster to battle for the characters and they would gain XP as well as get status boosts from special items. But now I'm comparing two games from either end of the PS3 life span and of course the new hardware could have stumped the Folklore devs.

I think Rich's analogy pretty much sums it up. There are so many great things about Folklore and just as many aspects that seem out of place. That being said, I really like this game now that's figured out its quirks and mechanics. Glad to be playing this with you guys.

I'm currently on chapter 3 with Ellen and, I have to say, I'm struggling. I like the story okay so far, but don't really like any of the mechanics. I really don't enjoy the combat or the 'gotta catch 'em all' thing with the Folks. I didn't even know they could be leveled up with items, so I'll have to look into that. I really wish there were a zone-wide map of the different Netherworld areas, or that they were linear. I also find myself yelling at the characters "Why don't you two travel together so I don't have to go everywhere twice?!"

It's getting pretty tough to chose to play this over anything else. Or XCOM.

I agree, having to play areas twice is a real drag and leveling up with items is quite a choir.  I don't mind the mechanics so much in terms of the general gameplay, but there are a few of the Sixaxis uses for folk capture that I could really do without (i.e. the balancing & shaking).  I can understand how having something waiting in the background that you are excited about playing could make you want to stray from this game. Thanks for joining us Pam.

If I remember correctly, you can press the Select button to bring up a screen that shows a map of the current area, as well as some other information.  I didn't figure this out myself until pretty late in the game.

That is correct, select pulls up the map. I learned this accidentally when trying to pull up the start menu.

I finally beat that underwater snake boss. I was one more failed attempt away from throwing my game disc into a busy intersection.

Congrats! That's a tough boss. Definitely one of the hardest in the game, maybe even THE hardest. The rest is pretty much smooth sailing.

I finished the game last night. Glad to play this one with everyone. I really enjoyed it flaws and all.

Ha ha! Yeah, that one pissed all of us off. Definitely gets easier from there until you get to the final boss. So I hear.

Just curious, have you guys been doing side quests? The only one I did was the one that gives you the Battlefield Cloak (resists Destroy and Slash elements). I didn't find them very significant or valuable, however I really liked the look of the Battlefield Cloak so I wore it throughout the rest of the game.

On a similar note, I didn't really bother upgrading my folks very much at all.

I just cant get in to the combat in this game.  I have not even reached to checkpoint... I think its because I've been sick the entire month of February, and shaking the controller is not very good for me right now :( 

I haven't done a single sidequest. It seems like you need to go out of your way to pick them up and I'm just trying to power through the game. I found one cloak, in level 3. I backtracked a bit and it was in one of those stone things. Since I was having so much trouble with the chapter 3 boss, I leveled up Boobrie and Fraxinus a bit by killing or absorbing other folk but I didn't have enough items to upgrade them that way.

Yeah, again, like other things in this game, the side quests feel a little forced and unnecessary. However, I've done several of them and have to admit that there are additional plot lines concerning the villagers and even things that add to the main story that are drawn out. There is also a quest for a rare, ranged folk that is very helpful IMO. Other than that, the quests have varying degrees of difficulty and some only provide power up items that can be more easily farmed in specific areas.

I'm going to have to disagree about the side quests being forced. There wasn't a single time I felt compelled to do one and nothing from within the game required me to stop all progress to put some time into a side quest. I will agree that they're unnecessary. Maybe I just didn't care enough about the villagers to do more side quests. Suzette was mildly interesting, but I didn't have any investment in other townsfolk. The main game gave me enough to uncover the motives of Ellen and Keats and that was enough for me.

"Forced" in terms of the developers forcing them into the game for little or no reason. Not forced in that you have you have to do them Floyd.

Also, if you didn't do the split Suzette sidequests before Chapter 7, you missed out on that side of the story, which was interesting.

Ahh... Got ya.

I missed the Suzette side quests. Went back and read a walkthrough now I'm kind of regretting not doing them. Oh well, we've got Youtube for situations like that.

Yeah, I guess that's one of my issues with the game. I typically like to "complete" a game to it's fullest (unless it's extravagant and super, unnecessarily time-consuming); however, Folklore allows you to play straight through the game if you want and doesn't require any side questing. Hell, I didn't even know about the barkeeps daughter Charlotte and another character you can find in the barkeep's house (didn't even know you could enter the barkeep's house), until near the end of the game where I did some side questing.  I feel like they should have either made these side quests mandatory or at least pushed you more toward them in terms of letting you know they added to the overall narrative.  Instead, they feel kind of necessary or tacked on. Also, if more valuable/helpful items were added to the side quests, that would have also added to the appeal of them.  Again, like a few other things in this game, they just became another thing that seemed tacked on and that took away from the overall cohesive feel of the game.  I like this game, but it feels rushed and undertested in some areas.

That's a good point about the player not being informed about side quests. I understand that they offer additional content and insight to the game world, but in a game as small as Folklore side quests become more important. I think that if the village wasn't so empty (absolutely no NPCs wonder or even stand around outside their homes) then side questing would seem a little more interesting or worthwhile.

The lack of content and a lot of this game's flaws could be the result of the game being developed during the PS2 era and Sony telling Game Republic to change gears, hurry up and get the game on PS3. That's just my theory.

I put the ole end boss to rest last night and finished the game.  This should be a fun one to discuss. :)

[img width=700 height=393]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Playthroughs/IMG_20160215_212833376_zpsfidunsa1.jpg[/img]

Finally finished! Luckily, the end boss took me a couple less tries than that darn chapter 3 boss.

Yeah, I think a few of us can agree with that statement. Nice work Pam!

Really? The chapter 3 boss went down in one try for me, but the final boss took four attempts.

With Ellen the chapter 3 boss took me 4 tries I think. I didn't even get a segment off before that last attempt. I found it much easier with Keats though.

Last boss took me 3 tries.

Same, I found it much easier with Keats. Part of that was playing with him second and knowing that pattern, but I also thought that Ellen's slash folk had a pretty poor hitbox compared to Keat's lightning folk.