Parasite Eve

Square's cinematic RPG. It was used as a staging platform between Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII, and much of what premiered in PE was used in Vagrant Story.

You control Aya Brea, NYPD officer, whose past crosses that of the opera singer Melissa, aka Eve. Eve's mitochondria have rebelled, giving her superior power over humans. She is capable of influencing their cells into revolt, causing spontaneous human combustion (well, not really spontaneous, i guess), melting out into a pile of goo, and radical mutations. Aya is immune to her influence, and she soon learns that she has the same powers. Very well explained, beautiful cinematics, and pretty hard. Beating the game yields the key to the Chrysler Building, 70 floors of very tough monsters...

Based on the novel of the same name.

I'd just like to comment on this game. I played through the whole regular game (no, I didn't sit around beating the Chrysler building), and the only thing that kept me in it were the fantastic cut scenes, and the combat system.

I can't say much for the cutscenes, I don't think. They have to speak for themselves. The gooey monster thing breaking out of the sewer and stomping across town was very cool when I watched it for the first three or four times, and after that, it was still cool in my book.

But what gets me about this game, what really gets me, is the free-roaming combat system. Quest 64 was the first game I played that fought like this game, and Vagrant Story has the same system also. The system works like this: You get to run around in a designated area, trying to dodge attacks, and then you have a designated radius of attack for what weapon you happen to be weilding, or what special ability you're using. This is a design that I could learn to live with, as the turn based system of the Final Fantasy series, while very playable, doesn't account for much of the fun in the game.

Parasite Eve, Square's cinematic rpg was a very good game, it just lacked the publicity of the Final Fantasy games. The game took up only two discs (small compared to the afforementioned FF series), but also including a demo disc with Final Fantasy VIII on it. It was rated Mature.

The game was set in modern day New York City and presented a pretty cool weapon customization system. It also featured an extra play mode once you beat it, which made the game more difficult (except for the fact you kept your best weapon and armor from the previous game) and opened up a new level, the Chrysler Building, which allowed you to get an alternate ending.

It's based on a novel, as is a Japanese movie of the same title. If you're lucky you can find it on DVD at your local Suncoast or Babbages. But beware, it's subtitled.

Main Characters:

Aya Brea (Age 25, 160cm tall, 106 lbs)-The main character of the game, an NYPD officer in the 17th Precinct with special abilities.

Melissa Pearce (Age 32, 180cm tall, 114 lbs)-The woman who becomes Eve, the main enemy of the game.

Daniel Dollis (Age 42, 180cm tall, 209 lbs)-Your partner at the NYPD.

Kunihiko Maeda (Age 35, 170cm, 115 lbs)-A scientist friend from Japan who witness a similar incident back home (basically, the events from the Parasite Eve novel by Hideaki Sena).

Hans Klamp (Age 37, 175cm, 141 lbs)-Mysterious German scientist at the museum.

Minor Characters:

Ben Dollis- Daniel's eight year old son.

Wayne-One of the guys in the NYPD armory. Collects gun trading cards.

Torres-The older of the guys in the armory, doesn't like guns ever since his daughter was shot.

Douglas Baker-Aya's boss.

Maya Brea-Aya's twin sister. She died a long time ago along with Aya's mother.

Mariko Brea-Aya's mother, died with Maya. Was also featured in the novel and the movie adaption of it.

Lorraine Dollis-Daniel's ex-wife.

Parasite Energies (Magic):

Heal 1 (Lv. 1)- Recovers 30 HP

Scan (Lv 4)-Scans enemies HP and weakness

Slow (Lv 7)-Slows down the target

Detox (Lv 9)-Cures poison

Heal 2 (Lv 11)-Recovers 60 HP

Barrier (Lv 13)-Uses PE bar to absorb damage

Energy Shot (Lv 15)-Channels all PE into single shot

Confuse (Lv 17)-Confounds and bewilders foes

Haste (Lv 20)-Increases Aya's speed

Heal 3 (Lv 22)-Recovers 280 HP

Gene Heal (Lv 25)-PE Bar slowly goes down, HP goes up

Medic (Lv 28)-Cures all status effects

Preraise (Lv 30)-Instantly return to life exactly where you were standing if you die

Full Recover (Lv 32)-Recovers all HP and cures all status effects

Liberate (Lv 33)-Aya transforms and goes Dragonball Z on a foe

The game also got a sequel, called Parasite Eve 2, naturally. However, this game was designed by a different team in Squaresoft, and as such is quite a bit different from the original. The only character from the original you even see is Aya herself. It seems the new team wanted to try and make it as much like the Resident Evil games as possible. It is a Survival Horror game instead of a Cinematic RPG.