Parasite Eve is an action RPG by Squaresoft. It was released for the PlayStation 1 in 1998. The game is based on a book by the same name, written by Hideaki Sena. With the popularity of the CGI sequences in Final Fantasy VII, Squaresoft aimed at making a game that flowed more like a Hollywood movie. Hence, they labeled Parasite Eve as “the cinematic RPG” in their marketing.
Parasite Eve was SquareSoft's first M-rated game! It was also 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. She was widely acclaimed for her work on creating an “inorganic” and “emotionless” soundtrack that saw two album releases.
Parasite Eve follows Aya Brea, a rookie New York City officer. She witnesses a horrifying event during an opera performance at Carnegie Hall, where the audience spontaneously combusts, leaving her as the sole survivor. The lead actress, Melissa Pearce, transforms into a creature named Eve, sparking a series of encounters between Aya and Eve. She reveals a connection between them through their mitochondria.
As Aya investigates, she discovers that Eve's transformation is part of a plan for a mitochondrial revolution. Eve is aiming to create an evolved life form by taking over human bodies. Eve tries to stop Aya by bombarding her with a horde of mitochrondria-mutated monsters.
In Parasite Eve, Aya travels around New York City. The beginning of the game automatically takes you to certain locations. But later, the game presents you with a 3D model of New York City. From here, you press left & right to cycle through the locations available to you. More locations become available as you progress further into the game. Sometimes the game requires you to return to a previous location for a new event.
The monster-infested stages in Parasite Eve are a little bit of a maze. Oftentimes, an item or action is necessary to move forward in a stage. For example, the beginning of the game requires you to knock over the corpse from the desk (as shown in the GIF to the right). When you search the corpse, you find the “Theater Key” item that allows you to proceed further.
Just like any traditional Squaresoft RPG, you gain levels and learn new abilities. You pick up or buy new weapons and armor. To have the strongest weapons/armor, you need to pick up “Tool” items to transfer the strength of previous weapons/armor to the new ones.
Enemies appear when you enter a “hot spot.” You hear a loud heartbeat, followed by enemies immediately appearing. During battle, you're bound within a perimeter of unseen barriers until all enemies are defeated or use the Escape command. You have an “Active Time Bar” (ATB) that sets the time for every turn to take action.
Just like in any regular RPG, upon each turn, you can choose to attack, use PE (Parasite Energy), use items, or escape. When targeting an enemy with your gun, a dome symbolizing its range appears. If the enemy is outside the range, the shot is likely to fail.
Aya doesn't move very fast. However, the game plays nice with you because enemies normally don't move fast either. Enemies also don't persistently attack you. The pacing is enough that battles are a ping pong of you attacking, then the enemy attacking.
The cool thing about your Parasite Energy is that it slowly recharges. In other words, you have unlimited MP. This also means you essentially have unlimited HP because you can continually heal yourself as your Parasite Energy recharges. Granted, at a moment when you need to restore HP during battle, you need to successfully avoid enemy attacks until you get the chance to do so.
Tip: I'm sure you're playing the game with a Playstation 1 emulator. When you upscale the 3D to a higher resolution, treasure chests become much easier to find.
Parasite Eve is one of my favorite PlayStation 1 games! Whenever I set up a new system with emulators (like my phone or my Android set-top box), Parasite Eve is one of my go-to favorites that I load first. It's an incredibly fun game with loads of replay value. Even now, after I've played the game to death all these years, I still find it fun and relaxing to jump into it again.
I find the whole mitochondria-based story fascinating and original. For a game that was somewhat of a competitor to Resident Evil and other horror survival games, Parasite Eve stood out and was able to hold its own. As Square's “cinematic RPG”, the many FMV movies really add to the story. I love how several of the game's bosses are introduced with an awesome FMV. Eve's evil plans are further dramatized as the FMVs show her evolution and madness in more detail.
The game's creepy soundtrack further adds to the dark atmosphere. In-between fighting monsters, the soundtrack keeps you calm with a soothing piano, like at the police station.
For the most part, Parasite Eve is an easy game. Aya levels up relatively quickly. If you get a little lost in one of the later stages (they get mazy), the time you spend wandering around and fighting monsters is more than enough to level you up to a good level. So you don't really need to ever go out of your way to grind.
I would absolutely recommend this game to any RPG fan. I consider Parasite Eve to be one of the top 5 best games on the PlayStation 1. It's a shame Square Enix hasn't re-released, remastered, or remade it. It's frustrating when you see them remaking several of their lesser known titles, but ignore their best games, like Parasite Eve and Chrono Trigger!
Unrelated to the video game, there's a Parasite Eve movie! It's based on the Parasite Eve novel. It was released in 1997, a year before the game. It was directed by Masayuki Ochiai.
The story follows Kiyomi (Riona Hazuki), the wife of Toshiaki Nagashima (Hiroshi Mikami). Her left brain is dead after a traffic accident on the day of their first wedding anniversary. Nagashima attempts to make Kiyomi live again by making a deal with a doctor who wants to harvest Kiyomi's kidneys for transplanting into a young girl in the same hospital. Nagashima agrees on the condition that he can have his wife's liver.
While Nagashima experiments with the organ, the doctor finds one night the samples have emerged as a gelatinous form in the form of Toshiaki's dead wife. This form reveals themselves as an organization of sentient mitochondria that are bent on making a new species that will wipe out humanity. Scary!
I have more info and screenshots from the movie in my anime site. You can watch the Parasite Eve movie on YouTube. If you prefer having a high-quality version, you can download the movie via torrents from Nyaa.
Due to the wild success of the first Parasite Eve, a sequel was released a year later in 1999, also for the PlayStation 1. The game shifts from the original's RPG-heavy mechanics to a more action-oriented approach, drawing comparisons to the Resident Evil series.
Aya Brea returns for Parasite Eve II. She's now working for the FBI's Mitochondrial Investigation and Suppression Team (MIST). She's investigating a new outbreak of Neo-Mitochondrial Creatures (NMCs). The story begins in Los Angeles but soon shifts to the Mojave Desert, where Aya uncovers a sinister conspiracy involving a research facility called Neo Ark. They are conducting unethical experiments to create and control these deadly organisms.
Combat is more fluid than its predecessor, with real-time action that requires quick reflexes and strategic use of Aya's evolving parasitic powers. These powers, which can be upgraded, add a unique twist to the gameplay, providing a deeper layer of strategy.
Parasite Eve II's reception was a mixed bag. Making the game more like Resident Evil didn't sit well with fans of the first game. Squaresoft shouldn't have tried to fix something that wasn't broken. The game, though, is not complete garbage either. There are people who liked it. In the end, Parasite Eve II fell into obscurity; it's not remembered or talked about much these days.
The 3rd Birthday is an ambitious yet polarizing entry in the Parasite Eve series. It was released for the PlayStation Portable in 2010. This game is a spin-off that veers away from its predecessors. It blends third-person shooter mechanics with RPG elements and a complex, time-travel-driven narrative.
Aya Brea returns once again for this spin-off. She is now an agent of the Counter Twisted Investigation (CTI) team. She battles mysterious creatures known as the Twisted in a devastated New York City. Gameplay in The 3rd Birthday is fast-paced and engaging, featuring a cover system and the innovative Overdive mechanic. This allows Aya to possess and control other soldiers on the battlefield. This adds a strategic layer to combat, requiring players to manage positioning and utilize different soldiers' strengths. However, the reliance on this mechanic disrupts the flow of gameplay, making it feel disjointed.
The 3rd Birthday wasn't received well by fans at all. It was a disappointment. Square Enix has yet to give us another (good) entry to the Parasite Eve series in decades.