I've heard a lot of cool things about this game, particularly the second one. Do they hold up at all?

I loved the first one. The second one kinda sucked I think. The first one is still very much worth playing.

i recently played the first and it was great. i love the grainy look of psone games though. but in terms of playability, many parts will frustrate and there is always the potential to totally fuck yourself over long-term, so keep multiple saves. also there's a really cool and pretty unique battle system. if you're into squaresoft games this won't disappoint.

I played the first one on my PS1 a few months ago. I've never played it at the time of it's release but it held itself pretty well throughout. If you can get it PSN or for you PSP/Vita then go for it.

I played the first one a few years back without any sort of prior knowledge and thought it was superb. The second didn't appeal to me so much.

Doesn't the second one have a more survival horror thing to it?

I'll just say not terribly well. It was fascinating at the time to see a game try to marry RPG elements with survival horror, but in retrospect it's incredibly clunky and needlessly grindy.

@birdflu777 said:

Doesn't the second one have a more survival horror thing to it?

I believe you might have it backwards. The first one had the survival horror elements to it, the second one was more of an action game... I believe. That's what I've been told from numerous people.

I played the first PE a couple years ago (had to track down a ps1 copy, then 6 months later it releases on psn ><) and I really enjoyed. I haven't played the second one yet, though.

The first one looks terrible and the movement lacks finesse, but if you still dig the battle style the Final Fantasy had around the PS1 era and have a penchant (or at least a tolerance) for magic-science plots, then you might enjoy it. It's got some good music going on, too, if you care about that kind of thing. I find the weapon customisation to be a bit silly to go through, but I find the stupidly overpowered handgun I end up at the end of it eternally entertaining.

Parasite Eve 2 has tank controls. Personally, I hate tank controls, but whatever works for you. Actually, it has a Resident Evil vibe in general. If you liked the PS1 Resident Evils, then Parasite Eve 2 is probably going to be enjoyable. If it weren't for those damn controls, I'd probably find it a lot easier to say that PE2 is better with regards to gameplay. And it has the bonus of looking better than the first one.

I'd say that, at this stage, you have to really want to play either of them. Even though I have a soft spot for the series, I would never recommend them if your reasoning is "I'm looking for a bit of fun and these sound cool."