SkylineRKR
Member
Its December again, and as fate would have it I could finally recover my lost PSN account, which contained a ton of digital downloads and PSX classics. This right here is one of the reasons you shouldn't dump your PS3 just yet.
Parasite Eve being one of them. Its one of my fav games of all time. And I mostly played this around X-mas. So I was thinking about it, and just decided to boot it up. I started yesterday night and am now at the end of Day 5, on disc 2.
PE is billed a Cinematic RPG. And they couldn't be more true. Its full of awesome FMV (that still look quite good), and full of short scenes inbetween the action like being in a police car in between locations. A lot of this isn't unlike Resident Evil, but PE really is an RPG. You can name your character and build her stats, you level up and you unlock Parasite Energy abilities, which is just magic in this game. You also gain battle points, which you can distribute to stats like ATB speed, item slots, or your weapon stats. The best way, sadly, is too just pump everything into your weapon attack (you can distribute all weapon stats to any other you desire with a Tool item). The combat is hybrid too. You'll engage in random encounters, but they are kind of fixed in spots and don't happen too often. You can run around while charging your ATB, this is all you can do. When ATB is filled you can either fire your weapon (which freezes Aya in place), or use PE casts. Because Aya freezes and enemies move around, weapons have different properties. a handgun is fast, but lacks range. A rifle has better range but shoots slower. You need to find the sweet spot between maximizing damage but not at the cost of too much recovery time. The upgrade system is rather deep and robust (you can add some crazy things to your gun, and you can be immune to pretty much all statuses on your armor), but you'll need some foresight and planning. And it isn't needed to beat a fresh game.
The game is brilliant for a few reasons. First of all the horror cinematic RPG hybrid I don't see too often. Secondly the OST by Yoko Shimomura and the real life setting. The game takes place in Manhattan, from Christmas Eve to December 29. You'll visit locations such as Central Park, Carnegie Hall, Soho and Chinatown. In reality I believe this game is a sequel to the novel by Hideki Sena. And in my opinion Square has mishandled this franchise since. PE2 was good still, but also kind of mundane and had rather uninteresting settings and characters. That game chased RE a bit too much for my liking. Third Birthday is a difficult one to dissect. I utterly hated its story as much as anyone else, but there was barely a PSP game I played more than this one. I was simply hooked to finding chips and min maxing my character. The TPS gameplay, for a PSP game, was actually pretty fucking good and body jacking was kind of cool.
Even though Aya moves slow, I am actually amazed by how playable this game still is. Especially with analog control. The combat is rather simple and quick, attack when your ATB is filled and run around avoiding things (or cast Haste to make this easier). The pacing is rather perfect, I found myself constantly doing one more area despite wanting to quit. I think it shouldn't take you more than 8 hours to beat. The game never pulls you out or send you on a useless fetch quest just to extend time.
Parasite Eve is a masterpiece.
Intro gets you into the mood:
Parasite Eve being one of them. Its one of my fav games of all time. And I mostly played this around X-mas. So I was thinking about it, and just decided to boot it up. I started yesterday night and am now at the end of Day 5, on disc 2.
PE is billed a Cinematic RPG. And they couldn't be more true. Its full of awesome FMV (that still look quite good), and full of short scenes inbetween the action like being in a police car in between locations. A lot of this isn't unlike Resident Evil, but PE really is an RPG. You can name your character and build her stats, you level up and you unlock Parasite Energy abilities, which is just magic in this game. You also gain battle points, which you can distribute to stats like ATB speed, item slots, or your weapon stats. The best way, sadly, is too just pump everything into your weapon attack (you can distribute all weapon stats to any other you desire with a Tool item). The combat is hybrid too. You'll engage in random encounters, but they are kind of fixed in spots and don't happen too often. You can run around while charging your ATB, this is all you can do. When ATB is filled you can either fire your weapon (which freezes Aya in place), or use PE casts. Because Aya freezes and enemies move around, weapons have different properties. a handgun is fast, but lacks range. A rifle has better range but shoots slower. You need to find the sweet spot between maximizing damage but not at the cost of too much recovery time. The upgrade system is rather deep and robust (you can add some crazy things to your gun, and you can be immune to pretty much all statuses on your armor), but you'll need some foresight and planning. And it isn't needed to beat a fresh game.
The game is brilliant for a few reasons. First of all the horror cinematic RPG hybrid I don't see too often. Secondly the OST by Yoko Shimomura and the real life setting. The game takes place in Manhattan, from Christmas Eve to December 29. You'll visit locations such as Central Park, Carnegie Hall, Soho and Chinatown. In reality I believe this game is a sequel to the novel by Hideki Sena. And in my opinion Square has mishandled this franchise since. PE2 was good still, but also kind of mundane and had rather uninteresting settings and characters. That game chased RE a bit too much for my liking. Third Birthday is a difficult one to dissect. I utterly hated its story as much as anyone else, but there was barely a PSP game I played more than this one. I was simply hooked to finding chips and min maxing my character. The TPS gameplay, for a PSP game, was actually pretty fucking good and body jacking was kind of cool.
Even though Aya moves slow, I am actually amazed by how playable this game still is. Especially with analog control. The combat is rather simple and quick, attack when your ATB is filled and run around avoiding things (or cast Haste to make this easier). The pacing is rather perfect, I found myself constantly doing one more area despite wanting to quit. I think it shouldn't take you more than 8 hours to beat. The game never pulls you out or send you on a useless fetch quest just to extend time.
Parasite Eve is a masterpiece.
Intro gets you into the mood:
