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Parasite Eve is a fantastic game made by Square (now Square-Enix) released in 1998 for the Playstation. It is an excellent RPG that spans 2 discs with many lush cut scenes. The game takes NYPD officer Aya Brea through a horrifying six day adventure through-out New York City. The story is a sequel to a Japanese book of the same title, and both play with the idea of the Mitochondrial Eve theory. Mitochondria are the organelles in our cells that give us energy and are responsible for cell growth and death, among other functions. What if they evolved independently and essentially had a mind of their own? The game has a very unique battle system where you have full control over Aya in an enclosed area, allowing you to dodge and get in close for your shot. The system of upgrading your weapons and armor using Bonus Points, tools, stat boosters and trading cards is very fun and encompassing. The game is fairly linear, but there are quite a few optional areas to explore, especially in the "EX-Game" unlocked after you beat the game once. As mentioned there are many fantastic FMVs. The game is rather short though, which could be seen as a good thing. Aya's general movement is quite sluggish, I imagine to keep on par with not making it extremely easy to dodge in battle. This makes exploring areas back and forth a bit of a chore at times. After some time in an area, battles come much less frequently which also can be a pain if one is trying to level up. There are many useless weapons who's use is really only to strip the bonus points or attributes off to create your ultimate weapon in the EX-Round. Many times this game is described as a mix between Final Fantasy & Resident Evil. The relative games made around the same time would be Final Fantasy VII & Resident Evil 2, for which are both better games than this. It draws on vaguely similar RPG elements of Final Fantasy and horror elements of Resident Evil, but does not stand up next to those games in excellence. Parasite Eve is still an awesome game, better than many games, but with quite a few flaws in my opinion. Also, I bought the black label version, which frequently goes for more money here on Ebay. The extra bonus disc is not worth anything extra you might otherwise pay for a Greatest Hits version. The extra disc includes four demos, only one playable demo, for Xenogears. The rest are videos showing Final Fantasy VIII and others. To sum up: Pros: Excellent, smart story Awesome gun upgrade system Unique battle system Beautiful cut scenes Cons: Sluggish character control Low replay value Somewhat repetitive gameplayRead full review
Parasite Eve is, without a doubt in my mind, one of the many great games for Playstation. It's an RPG game mixed with a bit of sci-fi action. It is, however, one of the most shortest games I've played. Expect to beat it within 15-16 hours. The year is 1997 and it's Christmas Eve. You play as Aya Brea, a 25-year-old NYPD cop who just arrived at Carnegie Hall (which is featuring an opera) with her boyfriend. The show is a disaster from the start. When the lead singer (who we believe is Melissa Pearce at first) starts her solo, everyone in the audience bursts into flames, except Aya and her date. When everyone in the theater is pretty much dead, Aya whips out her pistol and confronts the actress who identifies herself as "Eve." To make up for the relatively short game, the producers put in an ex-game, which is only available after completing the normal game at least once. The ex-game is the same as the normal game except you gain entrance to the Chrysler Building. In there, you have to climb 77 floors and encounter a boss every 10 floors. During your climb, you gain items that are not available in the normal game and you get more powerful weapons and armor. On the 77th floor, the final boss awaits you. Defeating it will unlock the second ending to Parasite Eve. I don't want to spoil the game for people. This game is one of the first games I've played on Playstation and I loved it right away. I do believe that this game will be played by many gamers for years to come but when I played it and beat the game, I was still confused by a few parts of the game. Maybe this is just me but I had to rent the 1997 Parasite Eve film (which covers the Japan incident as mentioned by Maeda) and that helped me answer my questions. I believe that a video game should answer all of the gamer's questions and that someone should not have to refer to a film to get those questions answered. But still, this game is fascinating and I highly recommend it. 4/5 overall.Read full review
Parasite Eve is one of the latest games I have played and it is a great game with an original storyline. The game is about a female cop named Aya who goes to see opera and the lead actress causes almost all of the audience to burst into flames. Questions keep piling up constantly as the player goes through the game more and more. The good things about this game are it's graphics and it's battle system. The graphics are top notch for the PS1 and the cutscenes of the game are amazing. The battle system is a mix of an RPG and a shooter. While you have Parasite Energy (PE) that is equivalent to Magic Power (MP) and items that heal your health and abnormal statuses like an RPG, you have the ability to move freely and dodge attacks like shooters. Some flaws that the game has when it comes with the battle system are the invisible walls that limit your free will to move, affecting how well you will be able to dodge attacks and how they are planned out in specific spots. If you've played this game before, you'll know that dodging attacks can be pure torture. One HUGE example of this flaw is the fight with Eve in the carriage ride. IN this fight, you are BARELY given ANY space to dodge Eve's constant attacks. The fights being planned in specific spots aren't nearly as bad, but it still takes away some of the fun in this game. The controls in this game are good, but nowhere near perfect. The controls in this game are easy to learn once you start fighting in Day 1. You're given the choice of using either a specific type of gun or a club (mainly in case you run out of ammo). The only problem I really had with the controls are how slow Aya runs. This is the most annoying part about the entire game. Of course, this would have made the game ever shorter, which brings us to another problem of the game. Although this game is fun, it's really too short and will end quickly. At the end of this game, you'll be wishing you could have played this great game longer. One last problem with the game is how tedious some parts of the game could be, especially to new gamers. All in all, this game is a great experience, even though it does have it's flaws, this game can easily become one of your favorite games.Read full review
I have been searching for Parasite Eve for many years. At last i bought it for a very reasonable price. Having played the sequel, which is the only game of the series released in Europe, i really wanted to play the first installment. At first I thought it will be a clone of Resident Evil just like Parasite Eve 2. To my surprise it is a very interesting blend of rpg and action adventure gameplay. It really is a unique game, with great production values and overall it's a far greater experience than the sequel. The story is really interesting as are the characters. God, i miss the mid- to late 90s Squaresoft- they were really on a roll, releasing one great game after the other. The game has a very mature theme and a very nice atmoshpere that reminded me of the film "The thing" by John Carpenter. Great music, great graphics and spot on gameplay. All in all a great, underrated game for the Playstation that never saw the light of day in PAL regions. Buy it and treasure it, as a new game in the franchise is coming out for the psp and price will definitely go up.Read full review
Verified purchase: No
Dubbed the 'cinematic rpg' by squaresoft, Parasite Eve truely is an immersing experience. FMV cutscenes highlight the action, while in-game text and scenes set the mood. The graphics are very slick. They may not hold up well by today's standards, but given the time it was created (12 years ago!) they look fine. The sound is great - an awesome soundtrack accompanies the game. The battle theme in particular is cool and easy to listen to. The storyline is well-done and heavily rooted in science: it seems mitochondria have staged a coup, and only Aya Brea can stop it. The story starts with a bang and continues on a steady path up to its climax. Sure, you may have to suspend your beliefs to take in the story, but overall, it was a fun trip to take. The gameplay is very cool as well. If you have played the game Vagrant Story, you have a basic idea of what the gameplay is like. Combos are chained depending on the firing rate of your weapons. Weapons are varied and can be upgraded continuously through the adventure, along with your armor. There are not many cons to speak of, but again i'll point out a few. Aya's run speed is, at best, slow. Within the context of the game's battles, this is fine. The trouble comes in running through the environments at that same slow pace. Also, and i didn't have trouble with this, but the dialogue through the game, while well-written, is also completely text based. Some may be troubled by the lack of voices, but i didn't mind. It brought me back to the good ole days of rpgs! Overall, Parasite Eve is a game anyone should try if they are into rpgs. It provides a unique experience, cool storyline, and fun gameplay. Suggested for those into rpgs.Read full review
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