Parasite Eve | Part 3 w/ Commentary | Sci-Fi Lethal Weapon 5 | Horror Gaming for Halloween!

I played Parasite Eve at a friend's house in middle school, when he rented it. I thought the game was awesome and scary, but never got a chance to really dive into it. I picked up the physical copy 7 or so years ago and I finally got around to playing it!

From the Wikipedia article:

Parasite Eve is a 1998 role-playing video game developed and published by Square. The game is a sequel to the novel Parasite Eve, written by Hideaki Sena; it is the first game in the Parasite Eve video game series. The story follows New York City police officer Aya Brea over a six-day span in 1997 as she attempts to stop the Eve, a woman who plans to destroy the human race through spontaneous human combustion. Players explore levels set in areas of New York while utilizing a pausable real-time combat system along with several role-playing elements.

Parasite Eve was SquareSoft's first M-rated game, and the first major American and Japanese game development collaboration for the company. It was produced by Hironobu Sakaguchi and directed by Takashi Tokita. Music for the title was composed by Yoko Shimomura who was widely acclaimed for her work to create an "inorganic" and "emotionless" soundtrack that saw two album releases. Parasite Eve received positive reviews; critics praised the graphics and gameplay, but found the overall game too linear and with little replay potential.

The video game adaptation was part of a resurgence of popularity in Japanese horror sparked by the original book, and was released alongside a film adaptation and two manga comics; one based on the book, the other on the video game. The original title was followed by two video game sequels: Parasite Eve II in 1999 and The 3rd Birthday in 2010, and was re-released on the PlayStation Network in 2010. The first two games, Parasite Eve and Parasite Eve II, had shipped over 3 million copies worldwide by 2010.

Like other role-playing video games made by Square for the PlayStation, Parasite Eve was made during a period that Peter Tieryas of Kotaku described as an "experimental period" where nearly every role-playing video game from the company had unique combat mechanics.

Movement in the "world map" (which is a map of Manhattan) is limited to specific destinations. Upon the player walking over a "hot spot", there's a chance of a random encounter. Enemies materialize and attack players on the same screen that they move Aya around on, with no battle mode or screen being used. In battle, the game uses a pausable real-time combat system with an Active Time Bar (ATB) that sets the time that must be waited till the player can take their next action. While waiting for her turn, the player character Aya can be moved around to dodge enemy attacks. Upon each turn, the player may choose between attacking with their equipped weapon by pressing the attack button, using Parasite Energy (PE) for defense, assistance, or attack, using items, changing a weapon or armor, or escaping the battle. If the player chooses to attack, the battle briefly pauses and a dome/sphere symbolizing the range of the weapon appears, allowing the player to target an enemy within range. PE recharges during battle but the more players use it, the slower it refills.

When not in battle, the player has the option of altering the weapon and armor attributes and effects with tools and super-tools, which are limited in number. The player selects the "tune-up" option, choosing the weapon that will be altered and the weapon from which the attributes or effect will be taken. Weapons have many different properties, including special effects like "acid", which causes enemies to continuously take damage, One of the principal role-playing elements of the game is that experience-based levels are present. Each time the player's level increases, their attributes go up and Bonus Points (BP) are given. These points can be distributed to the ATB, item capacity, or attributes of a weapon or armor.

Once the game is completed, a new game plus mode is available called "EX game". It is different from normal play in various aspects; the player has access to every item stored in the police station, the game begins with the final weapon and armor the player chose before ending the first game but returns to level one experience, and the bonus points (BP) given to the player at the end of the game are now available to use. The items, weapons, power-ups and enemies are more powerful, as are the enemies the player encounters. However, the biggest difference from the normal game is the addition of the Chrysler Building, a new location with 77 floors (containing mostly randomized content), leading to a final boss battle with Aya's older sister, Maya.

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