I would like to take the time today to talk about one of my favorite games of all time, Parasite Eve II. Now I know the original Parasite Eve is generally held in higher regard than its sequel, but you know what I say to that? FUCK THAT SHIT. Parasite Eve II is where it's at, baby. You may be wondering "why the hell is this game one of this clown's favorites?". Well first of all, fuck you for calling me a clown. Second, if you would calm down, I would gladly explain.

It's not that I don't like the original Parasite Eve, because I actually love it, despite never having completed it. It was the first disc-swapping game I had ever played, and I didn't understand the concept of leaving the PlayStation ON to swap discs. So the farthest I got in PE was the end of the first disc because I was too stupid to figure out how to start the second one. I was eight. Give me a break. I've wanted to play the game again for years but just never did anything about it. So I guess that'll never happen. Oh well. It also taught me about mitochondria. Well, kind of. If you asked me tell you exactly what happens in Parasite Eve, all I could say that every other goddamned word is 'mitochondria', people bleed out of every orifice in their body until they are reduced to puddles of orange goo, and that a lot of weird science shit happens. I don't think there's really much more to say about it, to be honest. And they say video games have no educational value. Pfft.

Fast forward three years. I remember reading an issue of PSM that previewed the second game, and suddenly becoming completely ecstatic at the idea of playing another one of those. Being a huge Resident Evil fan, I had no idea of the surprise that was in store for me. That brings me to the major difference between the two PE games, and the reason most fans seem to prefer the first. Parasite Eve II is, for all intents and purposes, a Resident Evil clone. It straight up lifts the tank control scheme that the survival horror genre was known for, and does away with the 2D-plane controls the first game had. It also throws in a real-time battle system and a shitload of ridiculously contrived puzzles. I bought the strategy guide and read through a lot of it before the game came out, but actually finding out what this game was exactly when I had first played it...my head almost exploded.

Okay, calling it a straight 'Resident Evil clone' is a bit harsh, or at least I think so. It still retains a lot of what made the first game unique. There's still plenty of the aforementioned weird science shit, and there are still customizable weapons, armor, powers to upgrade, item shops, stats, and numbers flying off of baddies when you shoot them. I wasn't too into RPGs back when these games came out, and they were kind of my introduction to the genre. I really like RPGs now, or some of them, and having just played PE2 to completion for the first time in probably twelve years (and the first time without cheat codes...I miss you, GameShark), I have a new-found appreciation for it. A more apt moniker would be "Resident Evil: The RPG", because that is exactly what this is.

What stuck with most about the game is the enemy design. The creatures you face in this game are fucking bizarre, almost every last one of them. A variety of humans and animals mutated into disturbing, grotesque monstrosities by their mitochondria...or something. Watch this, what is one my most unforgettable moments in gaming. These are some of my favorite enemy designs of all time. For as many pages as it takes from the survival horror genre, I would not call PE2 scary at all, but it gets by with its supremely unsettling monsters. There're weird horse-camel-dogs with human faces, ugly babies, and sometimes just giant baby heads that roll around towards you, torsos with grinning faces and one limb that they use to fling themselves at you...it's all batshit insane. Oh, and there are bats, too.

And then there are the bosses. OH MY GOD, THE BOSSES. There are more than a few in the game, and some of them are absolutely massive and intimidating as hell. The boss designs, as well as the fights themselves, are some of the best parts of the game. In particualr, the "Burner" boss, or "Cannon Mouth" as he is apparently sometimes called. This is one of my favorite boss fights ever. Even his intro is fantastic. Before he arrives, the player is treated to what the game is perhaps most known for:

When I was 11, this was wonderful. Hell, it's still pretty nice now, I'll admit it. But then THIS motherfucker stomps into town to crash the party.

Yeah, I know some of you may laugh at that ridiculous elephant noise he makes, but that shit is downright bone-chilling.

The Glutton is another great boss fight. While not as big as the Burner, he's still quite large, and also makes a horrifying sound that will haunt your dreams and likely make you shit your pants in your sleep. Though if you kill him the "right" way, you are awarded with what I think is an unintentionally very hilarious death sequence for the poor guy. It lessens his scariness a bit.

The combat in the game is simple, but fun and can be rewarding if you have the right equipment. It initially appears simpler than that of Resident Evil's combat, since you auto-lock on to every enemy. As the game goes on, it becomes apparent that each enemy has its own strengths and weaknesses, and each combat scenario revolves around using the correct weapons and Parasite powers to manage the enemies effectively. After each fight, a screen pops up with your EXP and money gained. I'm a sucker for numbers, so this is probably why I like the combat so much. There is no dodge button, though. There are a lot of parts where I really, REALLY wish there was a dodge function of some sort. Some of your foes are fast as shit, and have attacks that are nearly unavoidable with the admittedly clumsy tank controls. Anyone trying to play this today with little to no prior experience with this control scheme is going to have a rough time. Overall, I don't think the game was as hard as I remembered or thought it would be going in, but like I said, I almost always used cheats when playing games like this back then. The last section of can get downright brutal, however. The first form of the final boss is butt-fuckingly infuriating if you don't have the most powerful weapons in the game, too. It should be noted that I did not have the most powerful weapons in the game in my recent playthrough.

I would be remiss to not mention the puzzles. Another thing the game ripped right from survival horror games, because there were none in the original PE. Puzzles are a huge reason why I love the genre so, and the ones in PE2 are so wonderfully stupid that they fit right in with Resident Evil's and Silent Hill's obnoxiously contrived brain-teasers, and in some cases, shows them up. I have a special fondness for puzzles that make you write shit down on a notepad to come back to later, and most of PE2's require you to do just that. The thing is, some of them would be a hair shy of impossible for most people. Unlike RE and SH, where the clues are in plain view and at your disposal, many of the clues in PE2 are hidden in the environment, and you have to scour every inch of the per-rendered backgrounds to find them. In one case, they are even MISSABLE. I can't imagine what I would've done if I didn't have the strategy guide back when I first played this. They require you to do things like count the number of urinals in the town and circumvent a computer virus that rearranges passwords. Most of them aren't that diabolical, but the ones that are could have you racking your brain for awhile. But this is the kind of absurdity that I revel in, even if I end up having to look up the answer. Before I started playing, I told myself I would not refer to the guide for the solutions. In traditional me-fashion, my patience eventually grew thin and I cheated on the last 4 or so puzzles. I should work on that.

There is a lot to love about Parasite Eve II, especially if you're like me, or even better, you ARE me. There's a good bit of malleability in the story, with three different endings. There is also a pseudo-New Game+ to unlock, as well as higher difficulties where they throw end-game enemies at you from the start. I had never tried my hand at any of these new modes until just recently beat it. I died on the first level and gave up. The bit of Japanese weirdness thrown in elevates it even more. I mean, there are about seven lines of spoken dialogue throughout the entire game, aside from various grunts, cries and screams, and they stick out like a sore thumb when everything else is text. I admittedly have little experience with SquareSoft games from that era, so that could be a totally normal thing for them that I'm oblivious to, but come on..it's still kind of hilarious.

I would love to see a third PE game (please...Third Birthday does not count). Or would I? What would a real sequel even be like at this point? I'm certain it would not be what I want it to be. Not like it would ever happen anyway. I'll just have to be content with what I already have. I have no idea where PE2 stands with me when it comes to the old-school RE or SH games, but it definitely pulls off a few parts of those games more impressively than they do, which is enough to make it ONE OF THE BEST GAMES EVER...according to me.

Thank you to anyone who read all of this! Or even some of it. Or even clicked on this blog just to see what it was about before you realized you didn't give a shit. I plan to do more of these in the future to highlight some lesser-known games (and sometimes totally...known games) that I consider to be all-time classics. Hopefully my urge to just play games instead of writing about them doesn't get the best of me.

That tempts me to play Parasite Eve 2. ahah

I fucking love Parasite EVE. In fact its the only game series that I have legit physical Japanese import copies of that I bothered to get. I should go back and play both of them. They are fantastic.

I used to be part of a small fan forum and group dedicated to Parasite Eve back in the early 00's.

Game sucks, blog was great. Reading about why someone is totally into a game (especially when it's an entertaining read, great work.) is much more interesting than reading about console wars or being pissed because anime tits. I'm looking forward to reading the next one.

Parasite Eve II is up there for me too, despite never finishing it or playing the original. Dryfield is one of the best locations in a game ever.

3rd Birthday is decent and I think that's the closest we can get to a sequel if the story is canon. One thing I would say though is that every game of the series deviates from one another in terms of game play. Only Aya is constant.

One thing I like the most about this game is when you barrage an enemy with machine gun the number stacks up like hell.

As a survival-horror fan

I enjoyed parasite eve 2 (Though I never beaten it), but I don't care for the series as a whole. It never really caught my full attention and the story was just a mindfuck. The 3rd Birthday story was like something out of the Twilight Zone, it was a complete mindfuck (I've beaten 3rd birthday btw...)

Sounds like a game I would enjoy but only the second one ever got released in europe. The logic behind that completely eludes me. Is the second one worth playing on its own? Great read by the way!

I remember watching the trailer for the old game on my playstation demo disc. Never managed to play it though.

I've been meaning to play through PE2 at some point since I bought it a while ago on psn. Seeing tank controls after really enjoying the first game stopped me from playing through the 2nd one. You've pretty much convinced me on giving it another try.

Never played either Parasite Eve, but this was when Square was making weird games with all of that Final Fantasy money they had (see also: Chrono Cross). I'm not entirely sure if I'd be into them (not going to lie: the central caveat of evil sentient mitochondria monsters is a bit too much), but I guess it's sort of cool that Square made games set in contemporary settings with a more horror-oriented tone? It's certainly more interesting then 90% of what they put out now.

I only played PE2 proper a few years ago. Like you, i first played it when I was a young 'un, though I found it too freaky. I was perfectly alright with stuff like Resident Evil back then, but that scene in the cafe early on... *shivers*.

Heading back into finally, and my first thoughts was how impressive this game still looked. Undoubtedly one of the best looking games on the PS1. I was surprised at how engaged I was from beginning to end, and you are correct in PE2 being basically ''Resident Evil: The RPG''. Great series of boss battles, with that awfully creepy 'baby' boss at the end as a highlight. I've long considered going back to it again; I completed it two consecutive times, though I never got to saw the 'true' ending. Plus, I completely forgot that this game even had puzzles, so my memory has unfortunately already began to get a little hazy.

I probably wouldn't go as far as to say it's one of my favourite games ever, but even when played from a current-gen mindset, I enjoyed my time immensely with PE2. Never played the first one, but from how you describe it--with its lesser degree of Resident Evil-isms--I think I'm OK in giving that one a pass. Anywhoo a fine read.

Thanks for the response, guys! It means a lot, really. Hopefully it won't be more than 2 weeks or so before I do another one. I enjoyed articulating my thoughts on why I love such a strange game.

To be honest, I haven't played Third Birthday, so I have no idea what the actual story is. But I watched enough gameplay to realize that it wasn't at all what I was hoping for. I was pretty against it from the get-go, since it was only a mobile game ported to the PSP. Maybe it is a decent game on its own, but I'll never know. I was hoping it would somehow be big enough to refresh interest in the series, but that very clearly did not happen.

Yeah, there is a lot of real unsettling shit in the game. The first transformation scene definitely freaked me out back then. But then you realize you can totally cheese the boss fight by standing behind a table and watch it get stuck trying to come after you, haha. As for the first game, it depends on how much you like RPGs. It really is a damn fine game, and has deeper mechanics than 2. You level up Aya proper rather than just her powers, and there is a much more robust weapon customization feature. There are still a few nasty looking monsters (go watch the transformation scene of Sheeva, a dog....it's quite fucked) though not nearly as many. It certainly has horror elements, but it's way more sci-fi than anything else.

Yes, I would say so. If you are really interested in old-school survival horror games, then give it a go! There is a brief recap of the first game at the start, and there are a handful of small references to the original's events. It's not hard to follow at all. Just know "mitochondria" and you should be okay. Do you have a PS3? I don't know what Europe's PSN is like compared to the US's, but both PE games are on there for $6 a pop. I would imagine its price there would be pretty comparable.

Funnily, this is the only era of Square I truly cared for. I was never big into FF or most of what else they put out. But they had a few games back then that I absolutely loved, another of which will be the subject of one of my next blogs. It's not Einhander. I fucking love that game, but I never played enough of it to truthfully call it one of my favorites. I would kill for a PSN release, though!

@onekillwonder_: Nope, they're not even available on the EU playstation store. But I've looked around a bit on the internet and it seems you can get a used copy for like 20-30 bucks.

I'm going to go on the record to say that Parasite Eve ll is a excellent game and everyone that has a PS3/Vita should buy it. Don't bother playing The Third Birthday because it's so awful!

@automatontribe: That's a bummer, man. I guess that ain't too bad of a price though. I still own both hard copies. Amazon lists the first game for a whopping $300 and the second for $116, which is nuts. If that's accurate, I'm sitting on a goddamn gold mine! The first one is, I think, the second rarest game I own.