I hate/love to beat a dead horse, and this IGN review is completely fucking ridiculous. It's four fucking pages long and filled with deluded bullshit to the point that I'm almost assuming that IGN cribbed the content of a SolidSnakeX post from GAF or something. It's worth pointing out that most of the games I truly love and end up completing are not perfect, but instead have some enumerable flaws. Folklore's got enumerable flaws, but I don't like it. I may be a C- gamer in some respects, but Folklore would be repeating 8th grade at
my school.
Presentation 9.5
Incredible. Everything from the cutscenes to the falling leaves in the menus work together to create a very enthralling experience.
They don't even really do the whole "Our final score is not an average" thing for Folklore, really, giving it a bunch of middling scores and a higher than one would assume final score. They pump out the bullshit from moment one. True, presentation is one of the few areas I do not have a real problem with the game (that can not be better blamed on another category), but a 9.5 assumes greatness more than it does the competence actually on display in the final game. Of course, there's the question of how the fuck they define "Presentation." If "Presentation" includes UI, this score should be no greater than 6. Indeed, if there were a good way of listing, comparing, and selecting monsters, this game might even be worth finishing. If "Presentation" includes localization, this should probably be no higher than a 4. Reading the whole, 4 fucking page review, you'd never know that this has the worst localization since C-list games like Rule of Rose. Going by the review, you'd think it even had a story that not only made sense, but was really involving. The review text even includes praise for the terrible cutscenes, which it sees as atmospheric rather than as the cut corners they actually are. More on that later.
Graphics 9.0
While not superb in a technical sense, the artistic direction and execution of what's there are top notch.
The text is more accurate than the number, though still a bit lofty. But 9?
9? Are they giving up on trying to pretend that the PS3 is of comparable power to the 360? I hate doing shit like this, but there's another game from a similar timeframe of release to Folklore that was released on 360. It, too, was not really a great game; a little better than Folklore, probably, but still not hitting that C- mark of TVC quality. It, too, scored a 9 in graphics roughly a year after release (a little more) of the console. It was called fucking LOST PLANET. Comparing the two systems and applying proper logic and mental ratios, does Folklore even deserve to be mentioned within 6 fucking sentences of LOST PLANET when discussing visuals? Folklore is clearly a port-up from the PS2, and although the art is nice in spots, it's not nice everywhere, to the point where it's detrimental to the game (there are too many monsters that look the same). Giiving it a 9 is also forgiving the puzzling technical flaws. A 9.0? Are they fucking HIGH?
Sound 8.5
Solid voice acting and a vividly atmospheric score demand you to turn the volume up.
The closest thing to a realistic score the review have to offer. The VA, despite the terrible localization, is pretty good, and the music would probably rank as very good if I could assemble some sort of objective scale. Better than the majority of game scores, but still not something I'd dream of listening to in my free time. It also wears its influences on its sleeve, which adds a bit of atmosphere, but would knock points for creativity. The main issue here, what would keep me from ranking it so highly, is that score and VA, there's too little of both. VA is relegated to the beginning/end of chapter cutscenes only, with the lion's share of the game being delivered in some of the worst, cheapest cut scenes to have graced a next gen game up until this point. SILENT cut scenes, without even sound effects. They appear to be going for a comic book frame effect, but that's incongruent with the rest of the presentation, which basically means the game is holding up a bigass sign that says LOOK HOW FUCKING CHEAP I AM! The music, there's too little, and again it tries to pass off its cheapness by pretending to toss up atmosphere, via atmospheric sound effects that sometimes take the place of the score. Generic atmospheric sound effects.
Gameplay 8.5
A few design decisions hamper a very fun game.
A bit vague, isn't it? Lord only knows that any sane person wouldn't want to venture into those 4 fucking pages of pornography and find out what the "few design decisions" are. Allow me to elucidate tersely (yes, tersely, even by my standards) the wrong things with the gameplay:
1) The UI sucks and hampers gameplay.
2) There is no variety of gameplay. The only variety would be the slight timing differences between the different types of otherwise generic skills.
3) The level design is terrible. Uninspiring, identical-looking rooms. Every level so far has the same, identical, linear structure. This identical structure would be boring by and low tech oh, let's say rogue-like standards.
4) The game obviously is going for a Pokemon sort of thing, which has a simple-but-effective rock-paper-scissors gameplay system. Folklore doesn't want to make things as difficult as Pokemon, so 99% of monsters can be killed with the even simpler whack-whack-whack combat system.
5) The localization is puzzling. That does hurt gameplay.
6) It lacks content. At least Silent Hill 4 waits until a good portion through the game before it makes you start repeating shit. Folklore wants you to start repeating shit beginning with, yes,
the fucking prologue.
I am sure I could go on if prompted, but let's keep it objective. Nobody, even defenders, would argue that any of those complaints are not legitimate or that they are less than terrible game issues.
Lasting Appeal 9.0
A haunting adventure (that will take fifteen hours at least) worth coming back to.
So a 7-8 hour game that you have to play through twice to finish is a 9.0 in lasting appeal? Well, this is the site that spent like 3 years hyping up Eternal Darkness, right? Maybe they are consistent. A little.
