Parasite Eve

Parasite Eve is a 1998 horror action-RPG by Squaresoft. It's a sequel to the 1995 novel Parasite Eve by Hideaki Sena, which has been long out of print in America.

The combat has been described as a combination of survival horror and action-RPG, but I don't think that's accurate. The "survival" aspect is incredibly shallow and has no influence on the actual gameplay - ammo is given out like candy and inventory management is as bare bones as it can get. That said I still mostly enjoyed the gameplay. Encounters are random but limited to one per screen, and Aya fights with guns and psyonic energy (magic). When the ATB gauge fills you can choose an action, but in the mean time you can run around the battlefield. Enemy attacks can be dodged if you're quick enough, but the gameplay would have benefited from a dedicated dodge action (possibly at the expense of your ATB gauge) because jogging around the battlefield to dodge attacks can feel awkward and, at times, unresponsive (the janky hitboxes don't help). Upon leveling up you get bonus points (based on how many attacks you've dodged, if the game manual is to be trusted) which can be used to either power up your weapons, make the ATB fill faster or increase your inventory size. The majority of these points I used on the ATB gauge which made combat much snappier and more enjoyable.

There's a weapon/armor customization mechanic that involves using limited-quantity items to transfer "parameters" (stat bonuses) from weapon to weapon (or armor to armor), basically snowballing stats onto one weapon/armor. You could split stat upgrades if you wanted to but I ended up going through the last third of the game with a +30 attack/psy/critical acid-fire grenade launcher and I doubt splitting parameters between guns would be as effective. An even rarer item allows you to transfer special effects from weapon to weapon, which is how I got my grenade launcher to spit fire and acid, but I only encountered one of those throughout the whole game. The customization is oddly roundabout but it was unique enough that I found it fun to mess with.

The plot is nuts. It involves rogue mitochondria (in this universe mitochondria are actually powerful sentient parasites) forming into a being called Eve, intent on destroying the human race and liberating mitochondria from their human hosts. The story unfolds through the eyes of NYPD rookie Aya Brea, who serves as the game's protagonist. The cast includes a socially awkward Japanese biologist and a hotheaded divorced veteran cop and they all play well of each other. The trajectory of the plot becomes fairly obvious early on but it's told in a compelling-enough way so as not to matter. I liked seeing New York's landmarks being recreated in blocky 98-era PS1 graphics (apparently the NYC setting is a leftover idea from Final Fantasy VII's early stages of development). The character models are sort of a prototype for FFVIII's visual design. My only complaint with the graphics is the lighting - the pre-rendered backgrounds are great but often too dark to really make sense of where I'm going. This has actually led me to missing doors and entrances because I couldn't see them, and I spent an embarrassing amount of time lost because of this. This might be due to the crappy CRT television I used, I dunno. The levels are generally well-designed and avoid dragging too long, but there's an exception where you travel to Chinatown and are tricked into a shitty maze-like sewer sequence after exploring the city for three screens. Fuck you Square!

Ultimately my favorite part of the game was the full motion video sequences. They're liberally peppered throughout the story (explaining the two discs required for a 10 hour game) and involve lots of spontaneous combustion, orange mitochondria goo wreaking havoc on New York, and stylish action scenes involving Aya. The soundtrack was composed by Yoko Shimomura and fits the game perfectly. It's a mixture of moody techno, dark ambient, and pseudo-operatic scores for the more dramatic scenes involving Eve.

If you have an open mind and you're willing to put up with late-90's design "quirks" then Parasite Eve is an easy recommendation. It's the perfect game to play in short 30-90 minute bursts, maybe in between a larger game you're currently playing. I'm willing to overlook a lot of the flaws because it's a weird intriguing gem from my favorite era of Squaresoft, so your mileage may vary. There's a sequel from 2000 (and another that came along much later on the PSP) but it doesn't look as cool so I'll probably pass on it.

Parasite Eve was an expansion of the 1995 novel. Notable for pairing grotesque horror with JRPG sensibilities, the fusion was more superficial than mechanical, with traditional RPG aspects appended to its sci-fi horror backdrop. Despite this, there are two neat gameplay ideas: A traversable on-map battle screen combining ATB command selection with free movement and dodging, feeling like a cross between top-down shooters and Chrono Trigger, and Tools - rare items that could transfer stats and traits between weapons and armor. Unfortunately, cases of awkward hitboxes and odd enemy behavior mitigates some of its gameplay strengths, alongside a few other annoyances like the final boss. On the bright side, its FMV graphics, designs, environments and soundtrack are all striking.

Parasite Eve's gameplay may not be perfectly integrated or balanced, but Square could be credited for carving a new interesting grammar in JRPGs, one that completes the circle of influence beginning with Sweet Home and continued via Resident Evil.

Back in my early teens I was really obsessed with Square. On the SNES I played all of their localized games and were pretty much my favorites, they were the greatest video game company in the world by far. But I decided to buy a N64 instead of a PS1 (Mario in 3D was just too revolutionary to skip), and while I loved my N64 the consequence was to miss out on the future Square games. I managed to borrow a PS1 and play the Final Fantasy games, but never really got a chance to explore their other games from that era and here I am now more than 20 years after they've been released.

Parasite Eve is a game that shows its age immediately. The 3D polygons from that time haven't really aged well, I get that we all wanted gaming to progress towards 3D but many of the games from the late 90s haven't aged very well compared to the 2D games of the 16-bit era. However after a while you get used to the graphics and they aren't such a bother. The cut-scenes on the other hand still look amazing, they really done a great job at them and are still respectable to this day. It's definitely a game from the PS1 era, so just be warned if you are looking at it from 2020 eyes.

It didn't take long for me to fall in love with Square all over again. There's just something about their RPGs that make them stand above others, just overall strong production values, great stories and interesting and innovative gameplay. One thing that stands out immediately is that the game has an amazing soundtrack, this really stands out as one of Yoko Shimomura's finest work. It's not too far from the sounds of PS1's Final Fantasies which are among my favorite video game music. This really enhances the game and it's also got some solid sound effects to boot, like walking boots sound that really go well with the atmosphere. The battle system is a mixture of Action and Turn Based RPG, you've got an active bar but the game pauses while you choose your action. However what's different from a Turn Based RPG is that you must move manually in between acts to evade the enemy attacks and position yourself correctly for the next one. It makes the battles active and pretty fun, which definitely helps because single character RPGs are generally inferior due to the limit of options you can have.

This is said to be Square's answer to Resident Evil, and I have to say that it's much more than that. While there is an horror theme here, it's not about killing zombies with survival and whatnot, this is much more into the science fiction realm with a crazy apocalyptic story. Actually I quite enjoyed the story, and even at times it feels very dark and brutal (hence Horror) and it's got some pretty interesting twists. The game is about 11 hours long which felt just about the right length for this, it doesn't overstay its welcome and I think they balanced the length pretty well.

There's a few flaws here aside from the dated polygon graphics, some of the items can easily be missed because you must be positioned perfectly to pick them up and the same is for doors that don't seem to open unless you have that perfect angle. The battles are random encounters and they do feel a little too much in the Day 5 Museum area, the building is such a maze and having the random encounters pop up constantly becomes an annoyance. But I think these are fairly minor flaws, considering just how many things the game does well.

Overall a very strong PS1 RPG, it's very well rounded in pretty much all areas and quite fun with great gameplay, music and story. Definitely a time where Square were a master in their field, they just had those RPGs on lock and they seemed to release one great one after the other (many of them among the greatest of all time too). It's a nice twist on JRPG and would recommend it to fans of that, but not necessarily to people looking for a pure horror game as it's really not that.

Parasite Eve is one of those games I wanted to play a while, I actually saw it at my college's library for PS1 and played a little of it during my Sophomore year in college, but didn't get past the first area. Then years later I bought it on the PSN and played it a few months after I graduated college. To be honest its not quite as good as the main Square Final Fantasy games or Chrono Cross, but it still is a solid horror based RPG. I like the system where you have semi control and can time when to shoot and move around, it feels less restrictive than most RPGs at the time where your characters are locked in place during combat. The game has some cool design and it has some awesome looking enemies and catchy music, and the story is pretty damn dark. Now on the other hand it does have a few flaws, the weapon system is sort of confusing and you'll get many weapons and not know which ones are best, and there are mods and stuff you can do for your weapons, and it gets a little confusing. There are a few parts of the game too where you need keys and I didn't know where to go or to find the keys, but there weren't many of those parts. And the boss fights in this were pretty fun except the final one where you had to spam your top powers or get destroyed. Despite its flaws its still a good RPG with a unique style and decent, if somewhat convoluted, story.

A few too long sections and an aged interface and translation aside, Parasite Eve takes a ludicrous premise and presents a credible sci-fi horror story packed to the gills with emotion and commentary, with great pyrrhic framing of the villain and an atmosphere that perfectly drives the evil you face throughout, as New York becomes more stark and empty. The combat is also a great marriage of turn-based and real-time, which provides enough tension even with how easy it can be at times, and oodles of customisation with reasonably enforced limits according to the story aid the feeling of involvement. The art design and FMVs are a bit aged and seem schlocky but are still incredibly effective, as is the case with all its cliches employed.

It adds up to an absolutely wonderful take on biological horror, neo-urban paranoia and the early action-RPG. The total package.