If you're worried about spoilers, then you have until the end of this sentence to close this page and finish the game.
Final warning!
Parasite Eve is yet another game that took me a few decades to finish. More accurately, back in the early 2000s, I defeated the final boss, then failed the escape sequence that followed. The idea of repeating an entire final boss battle simply because I ran in the wrong direction left a bitter aftertaste in what could've been a classic PS1 Action RPG. Needless to say, I watched the game sink into the abyss and disappear, leaving behind just another inescapable memory. One of the reasons I even revisited this so many years later was out of spite. Forget developer's intent. I'm going to use save-states to trivialize the post-final boss section. No more will getting chased by a mankind-obliterating mutant seal sit in the back of my mind so many other accumulated splinters.
...It turned out that I didn't need the save-state. I escaped both seal and exploding ship on my first (technically second) try. You may find this hard to believe, but I had myself convinced that Parasite Eve used several dirty tricks to eliminate Aya. The cruelest of them all was having the "Ultimate Being" disguise itself as a save-phone to lure unsuspecting players into an instant Game Over. Maybe that actually happens in Parasite Eve 2. Otherwise, I don't even remember how I came up with such a ridiculous idea. Whatever the case, now I'm obligated to share my thoughts.
The story has aged about as well as anything else from 1998. It's big, dumb, really dumb, and also dumb. If you can't remember when you last saw the word mitochondria in a video game, it's likely because it was killed here. Now the character-driven stuff is pretty solid. Aya and Daniel are consistently great. Maeda has his moments, though I sincerely regret holding onto all of his good luck charms (I thought they were plot necessary!). Everybody else is mostly a bundle of cliches, but they work. Eve in particular is the exact hammy villain needed to bring everything together.
One thing that I want to make clear is that Parasite Eve doesn't give a shit what I think. It leans into its own nonsense in a way that brings smiles to faces. Think back to when Sheeva rampaged through the police station, turning it upside down and inside out. Not even a day passes and they've already restored the place good as new. Instead of saying... well... anything else, NPCs that are about to go up in flames say that they're "getting HOT!" Daniel jumps out of a helicopter to toss Aya some final boss-destroying ammo, gets engulfed in fire because of his close proximity to the final boss, and... of course he's fine. This is a game that embraces both the bad and the good schlock. Logic can get kicked down the stairs.
Navigating the world of New York City is simultaneously simple and complicated. Choosing a location to explore is done through the *iconic* map screen. The piece Yoko Shimomura composed for a place that players would spend a minute of the entire game in is just the best thing. Each location is done up in the classic prerendered style. It's clear that Square spent a lot of time accurately detailing NYC. Not that I'd ever actually know since I never visited the place, but I've watched a few movies and seen a couple of photographs. Point is, everything looks good, though it's clearly aged a bit. There are times where it's a little difficult to tell what's an exit. In Final Fantasy 7, players could press the select button to get placed user-friendly arrows at every possible screen transition. I get why this game doesn't have the same feature, since it loves its secret rooms full of valuables, but still.
Though there aren't really many puzzles, Parasite Eve still reminds me of a 90s Point & Click Adventure game. Mainly, this is because so much of exploration involves hunting down pixels and approaching seemingly innocuous objects such as doors or shelves from several angels just to open them. I don't want to spend a ton of time getting hung up on a nitpick, but there are at least a couple moments where I actually had to pull up a guide because I was missing something, and the guide said to check an area that I'd already checked a half-dozen times. This actually happened with the Central Park Zoo key. Seriously! At least the most absurd pick-ups - like those dot-sized items in the Sewers - are entirely optional. The campaign difficulty is also light enough that Aya can go without a +1 here or a +2 there.
Combat has aged amazingly. The real-time system Square came up with is as brilliant as ever. Moving around the environment to dodge attacks while waiting for the ATB gauge to fill is delightful. Each enemy has an array of attacks and tells. Learning them is key to avoiding or at least minimizing damage. The fact that so many projectiles will just miss Aya even when they're expertly predicted and dodged is the perfect example of how to build tension. There is significance in every action taken, even when that action is simply moving around. It's very possible that someone could put themselves in a bad position during a fight, making it much harder to avoid attacks. This happened to me during the roof-top fight in the museum. The first fight went well because I made all the right moves, but then a jet crashed into Aya, and I had to do it again. The refight was sloppy because all I could think about was that damned timed section and what turned out to be the single Game Over I received.
Like a lot of Square's games from the 90s and 00s, it's possible to craft gear that'll easily crush the required content. I'll admit that the finer points of the tool system made a whistling sound as they flew over my head, but moving stats from one gun or armor to the next is simple to grasp. Transferring special abilities is where things get pear-shaped for Aya's adversities. Take an MP5PDW, swap its random targeting for burst fire, then add double command. Suddenly, the rookie cop has an SMG that behaves like a shotgun. Much appreciation to the redditor who shared this build I used for the endgame. Moving around to get all of the mutants in Aya's line of fire is pretty satisfying. Also, it's not as if sub-optimal builds suddenly means that fights are that much harder or time-consuming. Neither enemies nor bosses have a ton of HP. Healing options are plentiful, and it never hurts to keep a Revive or two in one's back-pocket.
Ultimately, I have to come to terms with the realization that my issues with Parasite Eve are all nitpicks. What I thought was some game-ruining major error turned out to be a fantasy I created in my head. The post-final boss sequence was just something I flubbed eons ago. Mistakes happen. This game is another great from the era when Square was putting out classics 2-3 times a year. It's lean enough for a quick playthrough while also offering plenty of depth for players who can make the time. Also, I just love the 90s prerendered look of everything. Maybe they make some areas annoying to navigate, but I wouldn't give up these scenes of the main characters driving through the streets of NYC for anything.
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