Parasite Eve (PlayStation) Playthrough [1 of 2]
175A playthrough of Square Electronic Arts' 1998 license-based sci-fi horror RPG for the Sony PlayStation, Parasite Eve.
This is the first part of a two-part playthrough. You can find part two at https://youtu.be/wGDtm5mczog
In this playthrough, I complete the game's normal mode and the EX-game mode (including the full Chrysler Building) for the true ending.
3:07 Tutorial
7:52 Day 1: Resonance
51:07 Day 2: Fusion
2:12:26 Day 3: Selection
3:16:21 Day 4: Conception
3:22:18 Collecting junk at Central Park
6:26:15 Back to more pressing matters
7:11:52 Day 5: Evolution
9:26:55 Day 6: Liberation
9:50:47 Regular ending
10:12:01 EX-Game begins
10:40:07 EX Day 2
The fall of 1998 was an amazing time to be into games, wasn't it? Metal Gear Solid, Crash Bandicoot 3, Xenogears, Ocarina of Time, Half-Life, Grim Fandango, Brave Fencer Musashi, Thief, Ridge Racer: Type 4, Baldur's Gate, and Parasite Eve all released within mere weeks of one another, just in time for the holiday season. I was looking forward to playing all of them, but as a huge Square fan, it was Parasite Eve that had me the most excited.
It was promising to be Square's next big budget, multi-disc jaw-dropper of a JRPG following Final Fantasy VII, and its emphasis on science fiction, horror, and its real world setting really appealed to me. Riding chocobos and swinging swords was fun, but tearing through the streets of NYC in a Crown Vic Interceptor with a rocket launcher? I liked the sound of that, too, especially when this was going to be Square's first M-rated game.
Parasite Eve is a loose adaptation of Hideaki Sena's award-winning novel of the same name. You step into the role of Aya Brea, a young cop, and the story opens on Christmas Eve. You and your date arrive at Carnegie Hall for a night at the opera, but shortly after the show begins, everyone in the theater spontaneously combusts. Everyone, that is, but the lead singer and Aya. Aya pulls her gun and demands to know what is going on, and the woman - Melissa - responds with something vague about Aya's mitochondria before making her escape backstage. Seeking answers, Aya gives chase, blissfully unaware of the horrors that await.
The story of Parasite Eve unfolds over the course of six days, and it's a thrill-a-minute ride. The story is genuinely compelling and the breakneck pacing of the plot does wonders for the game's cinematic feel. It's short for an RPG - a first-timer would probably get through the main story in 10-15 hours - and the length feels perfect. Grinding is never necessary, and there's little in the way of filler. That being said, if you insist on being a completionist, there are plenty of ways to sink your time into breaking the combat system's balance over your knee.
The turn-based, ATB-driven combat system offers a welcome bit of change from the FF games. Aya fights alone, and without other party members to worry about, the combat feels snappy and fast, and the ability to dodge attacks in real-time means that you can often sidestep RNG shenanigans with a bit of skill.
And the graphics and sound masterfully pull all the elements together. Yoko Shimomura nails it with her fantastic minimalist electronica soundtrack, and the shiny prerendered CG backdrops and FMV sequences were top-quality dazzleware in their time. Many of these cutscenes are thoroughly unsettling, a few will leave you slackjawed as you repeatedly say "Ew" or "WTF" to yourself, and every single one is memorable.
The only thing I found lacking was the quality of the translation. It's an improvement over FF7's, but the dialog is oddly dry and stilted given the subject matter. A bit of wit and fire in the writing wouldn't have gone amiss, but like FF7, Parasite Eve proves that a good game can transcend a mediocre localization job.
Whether you're a fan of RPGs, big production values, or things that can make you uncomfortably squirm, Parasite Eve is worth taking the time on some October evening to check out.
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