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Do you remember? "Parasite Eve"

4.12.2018

Translation: machine translated

A really strong, female protagonist who makes her first appearance in a skimpy black dress? Check. New York City as the setting? Check. Animals that mutate and people who spontaneously combust? Check. In 1998, "Parasite Eve" offered everything I had hoped for in a video game as a fifteen-year-old.

The Statue of Liberty is crying. That doesn't bode well, I thought to myself as I watched the first few seconds of the intro sequence of "Parasite Eve". The sequence continues with a tracking shot through the canyons of New York City.

The camera stops in front of Carnegie Hall and I see Aya Brea, NYPD rookie and main character of the game, for the first time. She's on a blind date. What follows is probably the most boring three minutes in video game history. I have to watch an opera from Aya's perspective in the most beautiful pixel splendour - and only with subtitles.

But then comes another of the ingeniously animated cutscenes of the time. Now the actress, whose name is Melissa Pearce, even sings with audio output. Everyone present - except Melissa, Aya and her companion - spontaneously bursts into flames. Squaresoft has literally set off fireworks here. I enjoyed it immensely at the time, especially as I watched the scene hundreds of times on my home cinema system. Of course, the good Melissa then mutates into a new kind of being that wants to replace humanity as the dominant species.

Humans going up in flames - what more could a fifteen-year-old want?

As it turns out later in the game, Eve's mitochondria - as the mutated Melissa is now called - are going crazy. And Aya also seems to be affected somehow, which is why she didn't burst into flames. But I don't want to tell you any more. The best way to find out is to play the game yourself or watch a Let's Play.

Not for optimists

"Parasite Eve" is dark. In terms of content and game design. The game is a shade of grey. It is somehow always dark and the wintry New York City creates an oppressive atmosphere. In terms of content, the story is very convoluted. To be honest, I didn't understand too much of it at the time. I mean: crazy mitochondria that somehow develop a life of their own and develop their own ego called Eve? Could it get any crazier? And as if that wasn't enough, a pseudo-scientific explanation is also slapped in front of you.

Then there's Aya Brea. Probably the strongest female main character in a game to date. Ok, she wears a black, skimpy dress at the start of the game. But unlike other female main characters, she is never sexualised. Aya is tough, but without falling into a man-in-a-woman's-body mould. She is calm, reflective and never seems to lose sight of her goal, despite the confusing story and three-tailed rats. Squaresoft has shown courage here and created a female main character that I haven't seen in video games like this before. Not that I would have realised it as a fifteen-year-old.

Wilful mechanics

The trade press treated "Parasite Eve" as a mixture between "Resident Evil" and "Final Fantasy 7". While this may be true in terms of game design and atmosphere, it does not do justice to the game mechanics.

What sets the game apart from "Resident Evil" is that "Parasite Eve" contains a complex weapon and armour modding system for the time. In addition, as is typical of role-playing games, you level up with accumulated experience points and receive BP, which you can invest in your skills.

The battles in "Parasite Eve" are turn-based, as is typical for JRPGs. In contrast to "Final Fantasy 7", however, you do not switch to a special combat area. Enemies appear randomly in front of you and you can control Aya freely within a given framework.

I've never seen a battle system like this before.

The battle system is very unique. But as a fan of JRPGs, it was perfect for me at the time. I finally had something to do while my status bar was filling up and didn't have to watch my character being helplessly beaten up. In today's JRPGs, you are often allowed to move freely. "Parasite Eve" was a pioneer here.

Corners and edges

The game was a perfect fit for Squaresoft's love of experimentation at the end of the 90s - the golden years of the Playstation, so to speak. The company produced various extremely unconventional games at the time. "Parasite Eve" is a calm, reflective game without a hectic pace, which Squarsoft marketed as a "cinematic JRPG".

Speaking of hectic pace: I celebrated the dialogues and cutscenes at the time. I found the dialogue gripping and the cutscenes visually bombastic. However, as was usual for JRPGs back then, there was no voice acting at all. From today's perspective, the dialogues and cutscenes therefore lack a lot of emotionality.

The game has still not been released in Europe. I got "Parasite Eve" as a US import. It was also the reason why I fitted my Playstation with a mod chip for playing imports. Until then, I had always used the switching trick. You had to leave the lid of the Playstation open and swap a PAL version of any game with the import twice during the boot process. Unfortunately, this didn't work with "Parasite Eve". And if you didn't want a black and white picture, you had to buy an RGB scart cable. That was recommended anyway; with the tube TVs, the RGB cable was the ultimate in picture quality.

Is there anything else coming?

"Parasite Eve" has had two successors. In 1999, just one year later, "Parasite Eve 2" was also released on the Playstation and in 2010 "The 3rd Birthday" on the Playstation Portable. At the end of November 2018, Square Enix - as the company has been known since 2003 - had "Parasite Eve" legally protected in Europe. Perhaps we too will finally be able to enjoy this gem. Or is Square Enix planning to release an HD remake or even a proper remake? I can hardly wait. Hopefully there will at least be an HD remake. The pixel graphics of "Parasite Eve" have aged very badly. And maybe then I'll finally find out why Aya's blind date, of all people, survived the massacre at the start of the game. <p

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Kevin Hofer

Senior Editor

kevin.hofer@digitecgalaxus.ch

From big data to big brother, Cyborgs to Sci-Fi. All aspects of technology and society fascinate me.

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Do you remember? "Parasite Eve"

Not for optimists

Wilful mechanics

Corners and edges

Is there anything else coming?

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Gaming with Zoe: my daughter’s first time on the Nintendo Switch

Remember «Xenogears»?

«I was conceived in a tent by the Matterhorn»

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