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[SolVanderlyn]

I played Parasite Eve 2 recently, and although I played this in my youth, I remember next to nothing about it. Picked it up on sale and...

This plays like a completely different game to PE2. It's more like a Survival Horror RPG, drawing much more heavily on the RPG aspects, and the story is more prevalent and tends to take the forefront much more often than it did in PE2, which played out more like a Resident Evil game with its focus on character interaction. PE1 is more like a standard RPG in that it has a set story to tell and makes it the main focus. Personally, I like the approach in this game much better, as it leads to a far more fascinating narrative and characters. Daniel is hard not to like with his grounded problems relating to his son, and Aya's checkered past and profession as a cop are both tackled throughout the course of the story in a very organic way.

The dialogue is sometimes stilted, which can be a bit off putting, but I attribute this to localization. There's a lot of unnecessary emphasis on certain words or phrases in all caps and it sounds very unnatural at times. The science behind the game is also probably laughable to anyone who has a passing knowledge of science, playing up Mitochondria of all things to

Spoiler

be a parasite.

Despite this, the plot is still interesting and keeps you captivated from the get-go. If you're willing to suspend your disbelief, the story is quite engaging.

I'm about halfway through now, and I can already say I like this much more than PE2, despite being paced more slowly and not being as "scary." I look forward to playing the rest of the game.

 

[antitrop]

I remember being so shocked that Square was making an M rated RPG as a kid. It was a great game, Aya Brea was a cool character.

 

[Kammie]

I loved this game and the ambience it gave off. The soundtrack was amazing.

I often just sat in the police station listening to the theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtwksWZdCGU

One of these days I'll replay it...

 

[BTails]

This is one of my favourite PSX games, I've played through it about 4-5 times. Every time, I always enjoy the blend of survival horror, action, and RPG. The plot is great, and it's really refreshing having a strong female character (who isn't overly sexualized, at least, not until the sequel).

But man, fuck the final boss:

Spoiler

specifically, once you beat the final boss. You have to run away from the creature after the final fight, and if it catches you, Aya dies instantly, meaning you have to reload a save and fight the boss again. What's TERRIBLE, is that the game places a save point during this chase scene, but if you try to get to the save point, you don't have enough time to escape. The save point is there specifically just to kill you, and that SUCKS.

 

[drtomoe123]

I loved this game and the ambience it gave off. The soundtrack was amazing.

I often just sat in the police station listening to the theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtwksWZdCGU

One of these days I'll replay it...

Was gonna post Out of Phase but happy you beat me to it.

 

[kamineko]

I played this just last year. Had a great time with it.

Heard mixed reviews on PE2, so I haven't gone there. Will probably get to it someday.

Square was always up to something new back then. I love RPG's in atypical RPG settings

 

[News Bot]

Parasite Eve I&II are two of my favorite video games.

Parasite Eve II was directed and written by Resident Evil planner/writer Kenichi Iwao, with art staff comprised of RE1 and RE2 artists. That's why it feels like a Resident Evil game. They were pretty much asked to make a competitor and did very well.

The science behind the game is also probably laughable to anyone who has a passing knowledge of science, playing up Mitochondria of all things to be a parasite.

There's nothing laughable about that as it's one of the most commonly accepted theories on the origin of mitochondria in cells in the first place, since they have unique DNA from the host. The science is exaggerated but pretty sound, the premise is about an evolved form of mitochondria able to exert control over cells (and causing mutations in the process) by freely manipulating ATP crucial to cell division.

The only thing it really stretches is the idea that mitochondria have or had intelligence.

 

[theMrCravens]

Excellent story. Excellent setting. Excellent narration via the day system.
Freaking New York under siege by monsters.
I loved how the police precinct would be your basic town hub.

Sequel(s) were utter trash in story.
Combat gameplay in 2 was a bit better though, but I still suggest avoiding it.

 

[Xion_Stellar]

One of my favorite RPGs of all time on PS1! Once you beat the game initiate New Game+/EX-Game to unlock the final dungeon

Spoiler

Chrysler Building

and you get the extra ending after beating the final boss there.

 

[News Bot]

Sequel(s) were utter trash in story.

PE2 has a great story that focuses more on mystery and intrigue. The 3rd Birthday is trash bollocks.

 

[Seven Force]

It's a fantastic game with some refreshingly brisk pacing. That, New Game+ and the weapon and armor upgrading system help the game lend itself well to replays. And on a personal level, I loved this game a lot as a kid. I always thought it was so cool to have a JRPG take place in my home city.

Probably Shimomura's best OST behind Legend of Mana, too. Some of Nomura's best art is on display here, too.

 

[Koozek]

I loved this game and the ambience it gave off. The soundtrack was amazing.

I often just sat in the police station listening to the theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtwksWZdCGU

One of these days I'll replay it...

Was gonna post this! I hope Shimomura is doing some songs in this style for FFXV, too.

 

[YoungOne]

One of my favorite games ever just loved the way they handled the gameplay mixing horror and rpg.

 

[KyanMehwulfe]

Game was enthralling, ominous as hell... I've never been able to really enjoy it a second time because the atmosphere is so dependent on its mystery, but that first time playing it back when it release was rather intense. Great environment art, especially the city buildings (sort of a bias of mine, whether it's Deus Ex or GTA or survival horror, I always enjoy police stations). Haunting soundtrack, too.

 

[threelights]

Yeah, Parasite Eve is the best game Square made that never got sequels...

=X

Spoiler

3rd birthday has fun gameplay I guess...

But for real, I really wish a new game would attempt this battle system again. Vagrant Story had a similar one, but it was waaay too technical >.>

For someone like me who doesn't like playing horror stuff, this game is perfect.

 

[Danlord]

I own both Japanese and American versions of Parasite Eve and I still have my original copy of Parasite Eve II which is UK format.

 

[vainglorious]

Out of all Square's games Parasite Eve deserves a reboot.

The Aya Brea Easter egg in the FF7R trailer gives me hope.

 

[theMrCravens]

PE2 has a great story that focuses more on mystery and intrigue.

The prologue was so well done, I thought the game's setting was going to be similar to the first one (city under siege theme).
Instead, they later throw us in some boring desert lab bunker with some retarded clone story.

 

[Jigorath]

One of my favorite RPGs ever. Square was so damn good in that era.

 

[NoblesseOblige]

This game gave me a head start in middle school science. My 7th grade biology teacher was amazed I was familiar with mitochondria.

 

[JimboJones]

Always thought the battle theme was way too upbeat in this game but other than that I liked it!

 

[Strangelove77]

I fucking love Parasite Eve.
I should replay it soon.

 

[Transistor]

Primal Eyes will be forever one of my favorite intro songs ever. That piano part in the middle is just sogood.gif

 

[Vincent Grayson]

I wish like hell we could get a remake or a real sequel to this (as in, one that plays like PE1, and doesn't have a terrible story).

 

[Makoto Yuki]

I never beat PE, but I did love what I played of it. It got scary for my 9 year old self. Guess it's time to finally beat it. Also, 2 doesn't look as interesting. While 3rd Birthday is...

 

[Patrick S.]

I have this game, luckily managed to snatch it off eBay for €20, when it's usually more like €60-75. It seems to be a really awesome game, and I've started playing it 4-5 times but I always get stuck at the first boss(?), which is a huge toad in a sewer. I always arrive there without enough resources and die, and then put it away for another year and the same thing happens again.

 

[Landford]

This game gave me a head start in middle school science. My 7th grade biology teacher was amazed I was familiar with mitochondria.

lol, had the same experience. She was absolutely baffled. "Where did you learn this?"

 

[Weiss]

It's seriously one of the best games on the PS1. I'd even say it's the best of Square's non-FF PS1 output, at least compared to 7 and 9.

 

[Aerocia]

I wish The 3rd Birthday wasn't real.

 

[InsaneTiger]

I have such fond memories of my time playing this game. I remember it being a demo and then playing the whole game. I loved the atmosphere, the soundtrack, the gameplay, it was all great. I found the gameplay much more fun that PE2 where if you didn't kill everything or get every item you missed the one big weapon that made the last boss easier.

Squaresoft seemed much more adventurous with games in the 90s. They seemed to try anything, now it's Final Fantasy or nothing.

I love Parasite Eve.

 

[News Bot]

The prologue was so well done, I thought the game's setting was going to be similar to the first one (city under siege theme).
Instead, they later throw us in some boring desert lab bunker with some retarded clone story.

It's more of a detective procedural with monsters than the bombastic ordeal of the first game. I was happy they used a different setting.

I don't see what's meant to be retarded about the clone. Basically a shadow government organization obsessed with artificial evolution saw the Eve cases and evolved mitochondria, capable of altering DNA, as perfect examples of how evolution can be harnessed if they perfect the mechanism behind it. So they clone Aya, the only known living host of such mitochondria, and use it to create ANMCs and a host able to control them like the original Eves.

Once they had those two factors, all they needed to do was incorporate their designer DNA into a vector virus and spread it globally using an ANMC designed for that purpose. The clone part is actually the most harrowing part of the story for me. Examining test tubes and reading Aya's narrations take a particularly gruesome stance where she finds children with all sorts of afflictions and mutations.

Actually, Aya's examine text narrations are some of my favorite uses of storytelling in video games that are rarely used. The Resident Evil series popularized it but they are generally just one brief sentence. PE2 made it so that every examine opportunity had multiple sentences attached, so examining something again yielded more information on it, or a personal quip from Aya. This is the only way you learn in the game that Aya doesn't age and she reveals her insecurities about that, as well as other aspects like fearing how people perceive her due to her powers and choosing to work alone as a result, and even things as innocuous as not wanting to eat ice cream due to watching her fat intake are just wonderful examples of character building all through player interaction.

 

[KyanMehwulfe]

Primal Eyes will be forever one of my favorite intro songs ever. That piano part in the middle is just sogood.gif

the organ in Kyrie still gives me shivers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf6_nyEA_XY

i'm surprised not a single video of it on YT has more than 10K views

 

[FlashbladeGAF]

Out of all Square's games Parasite Eve deserves a reboot.

The Aya Brea Easter egg in the FF7R trailer gives me hope.

Whaaaat?

Did I miss something?

 

[Memnoch]

I absolutely loved this game when it came out.

 

[Danlord]

Whaaaat?

Did I miss something?

In the Final Fantasy VII Remake reveal trailer;

I'll try find the exact time in the trailer.

Edit: 21 seconds in the E3 2015 reveal trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kznek1uNVsg

 

[FlashbladeGAF]

In the Final Fantasy VII Remake reveal trailer;

I'll try find the exact time in the trailer.

Lol

Yeah I missed that.

Thx

 

[Linkark07]

Still need to finish this, think I'm on the last chapter.

Anyways, I have liked the game but it is kind of hard for me to play it.

 

[Octavia]

Awesome game. Somehow able to wrap horror with JRPG conventions and feel made for an memorable experience.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

I remember being a kid, popping in Parasite Eve and Vagrant Story just to watch the opening cut scenes over-and-over-and-over.

 

[tav7623]

This game was the first (and so far only) RPG I ever beat and I enjoyed it so much that after beating the game I tried going for the true ending that you can get when you beat the (imo)

Spoiler

brutal 77 floor Chrysler Building "post game" dungeon

though I only ended up getting as far as

Spoiler

the 65th floor

before giving up.

 

[industrian]

I'm still slightly bitter they never released the first game in Europe.

 

[AwShucks]

Parasite Eve is one of my all time favorites. The gameplay is just great and the story pretty engrossing.

PE2 pales in comparison to me. I'm not a tank controls fan so I hated that change. Location certainly was worse in PE2 as well.

 

[User 479360]

I always wanted to play this and Fear Effect, but never did. I didn't own a PSX until late in the game, and focused on trying to play some of the classics.

I missed this unfortunately

 

[DSmalls84]

Loved it but didn't really care for the sequel. Played through it a number of times thanks to new game +, weapon upgrade system and the Chrysler building. Really a shame the sequel veered off in such a different direction.

 

[h0tp0ck3t]

This game was so great, beat it more times than I can count.
The boss theme always got me hyped up

I actually did the crazy 100 floor Chrysler Building too. I think it took me something like 5 years of on and off playing to beat

 

[Overside]

If people like the parasite eve story, but are disappointed by the lack of new... Well, anything, they may want to check out the original novel by Hideaki Sena, the PSX game was designed as a direct sequel to the book.

 

[NinjamicWZ]

I must have played through this game at least 6 times back then. It was so cool and the replay value was crazy.

I never got around to playing the sequels and still need to. Got 'em sitting on my laptop ready to go on the Vita.

 

[JadedWriter]

Finally a thread I can get behind. I recently played during my commute on my vita. I must say it's not as hard as I remembered with the exception of that fucking crab boss so far. I left off at the Museum if I'm not mistaken cause I do believe I got caught up in marathoning Beserk. Glad you're enjoying it. Aya is one of those great forgotten female protags, she really deserves another game. I have PE2, but I don't like it as much as PE1 cause PE2 just feels like a Resident Evil clone. I preferred the firsts grid based battle system too cause it made the game feel more unique.

If people like the parasite eve story, but are disappointed by the lack of new... Well, anything, they may want to check out the original novel by Hideaki Sena, the PSX game was designed as a direct sequel to the book.

Wasn't that turned into a movie in Japan also?

 

[TriAceJP]

Great game from Square's golden age. The sequel was different but good, Third Birthday may as well be completely unrelated (it's an alright cover based shooter thing I guess? It looks nice anyway).

The game is actually a spin-off/sequel to a Japanese novel. There was also a terrible live action movie that is worth watching due to it being one of those 'so bad it's good' deals.

The battle system was later re-used in Vagrant Story, another underrated but fantastic game Square brought to the PS1.

Shimomura does not disappoint.

 

[NoblesseOblige]

Wasn't that turned into a movie in Japan also?

A film adaptation of the novel was made but it's pretty bad in my opinion.