History Main / Folklore

* ''VideoGame/{{Folklore}}'', an action-adventure game released for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3.

* For the storytelling genre, you may be looking for OralTradition, {{Mythology}}, or {{Fairy Tale}}s.

''Folklore'' may refer to one of the following:

''This is a disambiguation page. If an internal link led you here, please redirect it to one of the following:''

* For the video game, see VideoGame.{{Folklore}}.

* For the storytelling genre, see OralTradition, {{Mythology}}, and {{Fairy Tale}}s.

* For the Music/TaylorSwift album, see Music.Folklore2020.

* For the horror anthology series in HBO Asia, see Series.{{Folklore}}.

* For the storytelling genre, see OralTradition, {{Mythology}}, and FairyTales.

* For the horror anthology series in HBO Asia, see Series.{{Folklore}}.

* For the Music/TaylorSwift album, see ''Music.Folklore2020''.

For the video game, see VideoGame.{{Folklore}}.

For the storytelling genre, see OralTradition, {{Mythology}}, and FairyTales.

For the video game, see VideoGame/{{Folklore}}.

''This is a disambiguation page. If an internal wick led you here, please redirect it to one of the following:''

''This is a disambiguation page''

For the video game, see VideoGame/Folklore.

[[redirect:VideoGame/{{Folklore}}]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/folklore.jpg

''Folklore'' (known as ''[=FolksSoul=]'' in Japan) was an early title for the Playstation 3, an action adventure game with JRPG elements.

It features as our stars the young student Ellen, a MysteriousWaif with an amnesiac past, being summoned to the town of Doolin, Ireland by a letter from her dead mother. At the same time, Keats, a skeptical reporter for a third-rung occult magazine receives a phone call from Doolin begging him to save her from "The Faeries". These two characters meet up at the same place, only to find the woman who summoned them both has been murdered.

In the course of trying to unravel the mystery of her murder, Ellen and Keats are separately drawn into the Netherworld on the night of Samhain and begin discovering, by meeting with various dead people, that a chain of events starting 17 years ago in Doolin is dramatically affecting the present. Ellen forges forward seeking the truth about her past, while Keats, like any good IntrepidReporter, hangs around just trying to get a good story. A conflict in the Netherworld gradually comes to light while more people in the present day Doolin are turning up murdered by a mysterious woman known only as The Hag, and everything somehow connects to Ellen's missing past.

The story is told through two perspectives - Ellen and Keats play separate storylines through the same areas until a certain point in the game, allowing the player to start filling in the gaps between the overall storyline. Ellen's powers come from the various Cloaks she wears, which allow her passage into the Netherworld, while Keats' are drawn from having been transformed into Ellen's guardian merely by being within her presence the first time she donned the Cloak. And then, there are the Folks, which are both enemies and weapons to the protagonists - the game's defining feature is the ability to subdue the various Folks and absorb their Ids in order to utilize them as weapons within the Netherworld.

The game's method of delivering its plot is also of note - instead of relying solely on FullMotionVideo, it also switches between that, a series of comic-book style story sequences, and traditional dialogue.
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This game provides examples of:

* ActionGirl - Ellen
* AgentScully - Keats. It takes a ''lot'' for him to actually accept the supernatural. Even when he travels to the worlds of the dead, he merely shrugs his shoulders and calmly assumes he must be going insane.
* AncientConspiracy - With poor Ellen at ground zero and Keats dragged along for the ride.
* ArbitrarySkepticism - Being an AgentScully obviously means Keats is prone to this.
* BadassBookworm - Keats. Definitely does not look the type of guy to beat the crap out of demon souls with his bare hands...
* BadassCape - As part of the Battefield Cloak.
* BadassLongcoat - Keats again. He even gets to wear a modified version of it in his Transcended form.
* BareYourMidriff - The Cloak of Sidhe, and later the Cloak of Midnight Sun.
* BigDamnHeroes - Keats busting in on the courtroom scene to rescue Ellen. Also doubles as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome.
* BodyguardCrush - While Keats is basically thrown into this role against his will, he genuinely comes to protect Ellen out of a sense of chivalry. Then again, he later learns he might not have had much of a choice anyway...
* BoringButPractical - All of the shielding folks don't seem like they're that great if you master the dodge step, but with health recovery being virtually nonexistent in the game outside of specific areas of the map, they can be a godsend in prolonged boss fights, [[StoneWall Spriggan]] in particular.
** Killmoulis too. It can only take one hit, but that's ''any'' hit.
** Similarly, using the small fry folks at their maximum karmic release tends to be a quicker and easier way to rack up damage on most enemies than your bigger, more Magic-consuming folks. On the other hand, the big guys are still incredibly useful, especially against higher-level folks and bosses ordinary creatures might not be able to touch.
* BurnTheWitch - [[spoiler: This is the reason Ellen and her mother left Doolin in the first place: their sensitivity to the existence of the Fairy Realm led to them being accused of many of the tragedies that befell the town.]]
* ClothesMakeTheSuperman - Ellen's power in the Netherworld comes from the different cloaks she wears. Presumably, so does Livane's.
* CrapsackWorld / CrapsaccharineWorld - Most of the Netherworld Realms, at least by way of FridgeHorror, but also justified as these Realms base on the fears of humans about the afterlife.
** [[MeaningfulName Warcadia]] is a world of constant war, and the [[{{Mook}} soldier-type Folks]] there seem to have a WWII-esque uniform.
** [[CaptainObvious Hellrealm]] goes without saying.
** The Endless Corridor is created from thoughts of modern people pondering what is in the afterlife or if there is even one at all. The unanswered questions and doubts form the realm. It hovers over a bright void and the player character can get trapped by being sent to a previous point if they fail to achieve the requirements.
* DeadAllAlong - [[spoiler: Keats, kind of - Halflives are essentially ghosts, but they're not the souls of people who were alive in the first place, they're created by strong desires or wishes. Keats was created by Herve's final wish to save Cecilia's life, and in that sense could be said to be a remnant of Herve, in the image of Cecilia's drawing of how she thought Herve would look as an adult.]]
* DeadpanSnarker - Keats.
--> '''Keats:''' "A murder in the village of the dead? Somebody tell me this is a joke..."
* [[spoiler: EldritchAbomination - Scarecrow becomes one for the final boss fight, transforming into a misshapen creature made out of what appears to be a mishmash of thousands of crows and a very pissed off Great Old One.]]
** Most of the eponymous Folklores count as well, [[BodyHorror Fleshrum]].
* ElementalPowers - All folks except the non-elementals use attacks based on one 'element'. They include the classical elements of fire, water etc. - and such 'elements' as 'Destroy' or 'Slash'.
* ElvesVsDwarves - The Fairy Lord's beautiful fae subjects and Livane's shady and brutish-looking ones. [[spoiler: Subverted in that Livane's people are actually the noble ones, while the Fairy Lord and his people are most ''definitely'' not.]]
* EstrogenBrigadeBait - Keats again.
* {{Expy}} - O'Connell has a probably-not-coincidential resemblance to VincentPrice.
* FakeLongevity - Unfortunately, the game does suffer from a bad case of this. For the first five worlds, you must complete them twice - once as Ellen, once as Keats. Aside from different enemy placement and a few level layout changes, there's very little differentiating the two playthroughs.
* FramingDevice - The murders happening in Lemrick/Doolin. This is what brings Ellen and Keats together, and are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the mysteries surrounding the town.
* GottaCatchEmAll
* [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice - Herve insisted on having his blood transfused to Cecilia to save her life, although he knew his condition was already bad enough that it would probably result in his death.]]
** At the end of the game, it's revealed that [[spoiler:Belgae is a Half-life created by a warrior who sacrificed himself in order to protect Livane]].
* HubLevel - Doolin itself, though Ellen and Keats each have their own respective hubs where the player can make them sleep to pass the time or save the game.
* IncrediblyLamePun - ''[[JudgeJuryAndExecutioner "I'll throw the book at you!"]]''
* KangarooCourt - The trial that Ellen is subject to in Hell Realm is full of preconceived conclusions, as it's meant to be a symbolic representation of her own guilt
* LaserGuidedAmnesia - Ellen can't remember anything about her life from before the time her mother died (and apparently her mother's death as well).
* LightIsNotGood - [[spoiler:The Elves.]]
* LighthousePoint - Kind of serves as a motif for the game.
* [[spoiler: LivingMemory - The dead don't continue to exist in the Netherworld, they are dead. All what remains of them are echoes in form of memories that a folk named Mnemosyne feeds on and can 'replay'.]]
* MamaBear - [[spoiler:Ellen's mother, Ingrid, will kill without hesitation to protect her daughter.]]
* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold - [[spoiler: Livane, whom we find out is much more noble than she initially seems, and WAY more than the Fairy Lord.]]
* MindScrew
* MegaManning - Both Ellen and Keats get powers by absorbing Folks. However, the ways they manifest are different: Ellen is a [[TheBeastmaster summoner]], while Keats manifests [[FightingSpirit spirit helpers]].
* NotSoHarmless - The denizens of Hellrealm seem fairly innocuous at first, giving you tips like most [=NPCs=] and discussing cloaks. The first little cracks of ugliness show when they wonder what you're doing in a realm for those who are to be punished...and suddenly they don't seem so harmless anymore when they decide to [[MindRape play a few rounds of]] BreakTheCutie with Ellen.
* OccultDetective - Subverted: while Keats's job as a writer for an occult magazine would naturally make him this, he actually doesn't BELIEVE any of the stuff he investigates.
* OurGhostsAreDifferent - There are two variants of this:
** One is the Half-Lives. They aren't souls of people who were once alive, but beings created when a human has such a desire or wish so powerful, it manifests in a corporal form and carries a purpose based on that desire/wish. Once that purpose has been fulfilled, their reason of existence ceases and so do they.
** [[spoiler: The [[LivingMemory memories of the dead]] that Mnemosynes carry. They can assume the form of these persons and communicate with others as if they were still alive. The dead are still dead, however.]]
* PainfulTransformation - Keats' first cutscene in which he is given his Transcended form. When he reverts back to normal, he remarks that "Even the pain feels real". He also writhes around a lot when the player activates his Transcended Mode, so it apparently still hurts no matter how many times he does it.
* ParentalAbandonment - Ellen never knew her father and her mother died... But then she receives a supposed letter from her mother revealing that she is actually alive. [[spoiler: And then this is subverted: Ellen's mother abandoned her to protect her from the machinations of the Fairies.]]
* PrimalStance - Keats in combat in the Netherworld, especially in Transcended form.
* RealIsBrown - Doolin is colored in shades of sepia and dull yellow, compared to the bright colors of many areas of the Netherworld.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld - [[spoiler: Livane]] is at ''least'' 5000 years old given the game's timeline.
* RuleOfSymbolism - Each Netherworld Realm represents collective human thoughts and views about what the afterlife is like.
* ScaryShinyGlasses - Keats does this a lot. His glasses also glow bright purple when he's fighting in the Netherworld.
* SceneryGorn - Warcadia, the Endless Corridor and Hellrealm.
* SceneryPorn - The Faery Realm, the Underwater City and the Netherworld Core.
* ShoutOut - The title of the magazine Keats writes for is Unknown Realms, one of the titles for the game while it was in development.
** One of Keats's DLC costumes is a ShoutOut to [[{{Hellsing}} Alucard]].
* {{Stripperiffic}} - The Twilight Cloak.
* SuperMode - Keats Transcended form, which drastically boosts the powers and effects of his attacks until the gauge runs out.
* TallDarkAndSnarky - Keats can come off as this when faced with some of the more insufferable characters.
* TheFairFolk - The Faeries in this game fight you about as often as they help you. And then there's the Folks themselves, which just want to kill you on sight outside of the sidequests.
* TheLostWoods - The Faery Realm is essentially this, with a mix of GhibliHills thrown in for spice.
* TomatoInTheMirror - [[spoiler: When Keats finds out at the end of the game that ''he'' is a Halflife and the player discovers that he's not really a reporter at all, his "office" was just another part of the Netherworld, and the magazine he supposedly wrote for folded 17 years earlier. This is further enforced by one of the downloadable quests in which an outsider to the village couldn't see Keats because she didn't believe in magic.]]
* TownWithADarkSecret - Doolin.
* TrialOfTheMysticalJury - Judge Yama's court, which puts Ellen on trial for breaking the laws between the human and other worlds.
* UnderwaterRuins - The Undersea City.
* TheUnFavorite - Suzette's mother went crazy after losing her son and husband and took it all out on Suzette.
* VisualNovel - Some of the cutscenes and nearly ''all'' of the in-game dialog (as in, non-cutscene) has the feel of one.
* WaistcoatOfStyle - Keats.
* WellIntentionedExtremist - A lot of them; none of the villains are really in it for themselves.
** Special mention goes to Scarecrow, though. [[spoiler:Absorbed all the fear in the world and planned to [[MeaningfulName terrorize]] humanity into being more compassionate.]]
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* AgentScully - Keats. It takes a LOT for him to actually accept the supernatural. Even when he travels to the worlds of the dead, he merely shrugs his shoulders and calmly assumes he must be going insane.

* CrapsackWorld / CrapsaccharineWorld - Most of the Netherworlds, at least by way of FridgeHorror, but also justified as these Realms base on the fears of humans about the afterlife.

* ElvesVsDwarves - The Fairy Lord's beautiful fae subjects and Livane's shady and brutish-looking ones. [[spoiler: Subverted in that Livane's people are actually the noble ones, while the Fairy Lord and his people are most DEFINITELY not.]]

** One are the Half-Lives. They aren't souls of people who were once alive, but beings created when a human has such a desire or wish so powerful, it manifests in a corporal form and carries a purpose based on that desire/wish. Once that purpose has been fulfilled, their reason of existence ceases and so do they.

* DeadAllAlong - [[spoiler: Keats, kind of - Halflives are essentially ghosts, but they're not the souls of people who were alive in the first place, they're created by strong desires or wishes. However, he ''was'' created in the image of Ellen's dead childhood friend, Herve, by Ellen and Livane.]]

It features as our stars the young student Ellen, a MysteriousWaif with an amnesiac past, being summoned to the town of Doolin, Ireland by her dead mother. At the same time, Keats, a skeptical reporter for a third-rung occult magazine receives a phone call from Doolin begging him to save her from "The Faeries". These two characters meet up at the same place, only to find the woman who summoned them both has been murdered.

* SceneryPorn - The Faery Realm and the Underwater City.

** The Endless Corridor is created from thoughts of modern people pondering [[CessationofExistence if an afterlife exists at all]]. The Realm hovers over a bright void and the player character can get trapped by being sent to a previous point if they fail to achieve the requirements.

* BareYourMidriff - The Cloak of Sidhe.

* CrapsackWorld / CrapsaccharineWorld - Most of the Netherworlds, at least by way of FridgeHorror. [[MeaningfulName Warcadia]] is a world of constant war, and the [[{{Mook}} soldier-type Folks]] there seem to have a WWII-esque uniform. [[CaptainObvious Hellrealm]] goes without saying.
* DeadAllAlong - [[spoiler: Keats, kind of - Halflives are essentially ghosts, but they're not the souls of people who were alive in the first place, they're created by messengers. However, he ''was'' created in the image of Ellen's dead childhood friend, Herve, by Ellen and Livane.]]

* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: [[spoiler: Livane, whom we find out is much more noble than she initially seems, and WAY more than the Fairy Lord.]]

* Stripperiffic - The Twilight Cloak

* PrimalStance - Keats in the Netherworld, especially in Transcended form.
* RealIsBrown: Doolin is colored in shades of sepia and dull yellow, compared to the bright colors of many areas of the Netherworld.

* GoddamnedBats - Hawks in Warcadia are the first example of this, with their tendency to start a charge attack offscreen and plowing into you before you know one's in motion, knocking you down. Nearly everything in Hell is this or a DemonicSpider, appropriately enough, but the batlike folks that dwell there are by ''far'' the most annoying thing in the game to fight. [[FlunkyBoss It doesn't help that two particularly hard bosses summon them two at a time to help fight you.]]
* GoddamnedBoss - Brigantia is not a powerful boss; in fact, compared to most of the unforgiving boss fights the game throws at you, it's remarkably weak. What Brigantia's battle ''is'', however, is INCREDIBLY time-consuming. The boss will only stand and fight for a little while as you slice off one segment of its body after another; most of the fight will be spent waiting for the damn thing to pop out of a hole and hang around long enough to get a few hits in instead of hiding out of reach and throwing one wave of bombs after another at you or simply swimming right from one hole to the next. To make matters worse, you can only target his head, making it that much more difficult to the vulnerable parts at the end of his body.

* GoddamnedBoss - Brigantia is not a powerful boss; in fact, compared to most of the unforgiving boss fights the game throws at you, it's remarkably weak. What Brigantia's battle ''is'', however, is INCREDIBLY time-consuming. The boss will only stand and fight for a little while as you slice off one segment of its body after another; most of the fight will be spent waiting for the damn thing to pop out of a hole and hang around long enough to get a few hits in instead of hiding out of reach and throwing one wave of bombs after another at you or simply swimming right from one hole to the next.