Parasite Eve (video game)

Parasite Eve
Developer(s)	Square
Director(s)	Takashi Tokita
Producer(s)	Hironobu Sakaguchi
Artist(s)	Tetsuya Nomura
Composer(s)	Yoko Shimomura
Platform(s)	Playstation
Genre(s)	Role-playing game, Survival horror
Mode(s)	Single-player

Parasite Eve (パラサイト・イヴ) is a survival horror role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix). The game is a sequel to the novel Parasite Eve, written by Hideaki Sena. It is the first game in the Parasite Eve series. In the North American market the earlier copies were packaged with Squaresoft on PlayStation 1998 Collector's CD Vol.1; a collection of demos of future Squaresoft games.

Parasite Eve is an RPG with many survival horror elements. Movement in the various environments is free. Movement in the "world map" (which is a map of Manhattan) is limited to specific destinations. Upon the player walking over a "hot spot," there's a chance of a random encounter. Each time the encounter occurs, the likelihood of the battle reoccurring decreases. Enemies materialize suddenly and though there is no shift to a separate battle screen, the player is bound within a perimeter of unseen barriers until the battle is over, either by defeating all enemies or using the Escape command. In battle, the player has an "Active Time Bar" (ATB) that sets the time for every turn to take action. Upon each turn the player may choose between attacking with their equipped weapon, using PE (Parasite Energy) for defense, assistance or attack, using items, changing weapon or armor, or escaping the battle. If the player chooses to attack, a dome symbolizing the range of the weapon appears. If the enemy is outside of the range, the shot is likely to fail. Even if the shot lands, the damage will be less than normal.

When the player decides to use Parasite Energy, they must choose from the menu the desired PE skill. The same goes for weapon, armor or items; however, if the player should choose to escape, experience will be lost. Parasite Energy is slowly recharged over time.

When not in battle, the player has the option of altering the weapon and armor attributes and effects with tools and super-tools. The player selects the "tune-up" option, choosing the weapon that will be altered and the weapon from which the attributes or effect will be taken.

One of the principal RPG elements of the game is that experience-based levels are present. Each time the player's level increases, his/her attributes go up and BP (Bonus Points) are given. These points can be distributed to the ATB, item capacity, or attributes of a weapon or armor.

When the game is cleared once, a new mode appears, called the "EX game." It is different from the normal game in various aspects: the player has access to every item stored in the police station, the game begins with the final weapon and armor the player chose before ending the first game, and the bonus points (BP) given to the player at the end of the game are now available to use. However, the biggest difference from the normal game is the Chrysler Building, a progressive endurance test.

The Chrysler Building test allows the player the chance to save only every ten floors and only after defeating a boss. The items, weapons, power-ups and enemies are of a higher class. The best items, armors, and weapons are here along with the trading cards that allow the player to make customizations to the weapons and get the tool and super-tool kits. It should also be noted that every floor (except floors 1, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70-77) are completely randomized so each floor is like a maze. Most importantly, the boss in the last floor of the building (77) is the true final boss of the game and has the form of Aya's elder sister, Maya. This final boss explains to Aya that Klamp cultivated the cells of the original Eve to analyze. So when Melissa was giving birth to the ultimate being, she created a nest there. In case Melissa and the ultimate being failed, the purebred would remain. Aya speaks with her sister, and they engage in battle against the purebred. After the purebred is defeated, the mitochondria inside Aya begin to rebel against her. The explanation is that Aya's mitochondria have now reached a higher evolutionary stage than Maya’s, but Maya's personality has suddenly become dominant and begun to fight off the Eve persona. Maya eventually wins, purging the Eve persona from herself. Somehow, Maya protects Aya by preventing the original Eve from taking over her. Aya leaves the building by herself, although she apparently has gained some sort of connection with her dead sister.

Maya's body is not physically present in either scenario, only Eve is. What actually happens is arguable due to the scene's lack of camera angles for certain characters.

The game takes place over a six day span in New York City in 1997. The incident starts on December 24 and ends on December 29.

The game begins with Aya Brea, an NYPD rookie, attending an opera with an unnamed date. During the opera, everyone in the building spontaneously combusts, except for Aya, her date, and an actress on stage named Melissa Pearce. Aya confronts Melissa backstage, and Melissa says that Aya’s mitochondria need more time to develop. Melissa then mutates into a beast and flees into the sewers, declaring that her name is now Eve.^[1]

The next day on Christmas, Aya and her partner Daniel go to see a scientist at the Museum of Natural History named Dr. Klamp. He tells them things about mitochondria that they find useless for their purposes. Later that day, they hear that Eve is in Central Park. As they arrive, Eve turns all the people around her into an orange slimy mass. Aya and Eve battle in Central Park, but Aya is knocked unconscious during the fight.

Daniel discovers that his son, Ben, was at the park, but escaped being turned to slime. He also learns that Manhattan is being evacuated due to the threat that Eve poses. While Manhattan is being evacuated, a Japanese man named Kunihiko Maeda manages to sneak into Manhattan.

Aya awakens in an apartment with Daniel and Maeda at her side. Maeda reveals the origins of Eve. A scientist tried to culture the cells of his wife after she was involved in a car accident, and the mitochondria in her cells took over her body. Maeda believes that Eve may be trying to give birth to an “Ultimate Being.”

The next day, the three go to see Dr. Klamp again, and he tells Aya that the nuclei in her cells are fighting Eve’s mitochondria. After he asks a few questions of her, they leave Dr. Klamp and head for the hospital, where Maeda thinks Eve may try to get sperm for the Ultimate Being.^[2] When they arrive, they find that Eve is already there. Eve takes the sperm and escapes.

The next day, Aya witnesses the orange mass of people from the park enter the city water supply. She goes to Dr. Klamp one more time, and discovers that Dr. Klamp has engineered special sperm for Eve so that she can create the Ultimate Being.^[3] He then spontaneously combusts. Aya finds Eve in another part of the museum, where the orange mass has surrounded her, forming an impermeable shield to protect her while the Ultimate Being gestates in her.

After several failed attempts to attack Eve, the military asks Aya to attack her from a chopper, as she is the only one who can get close without combusting. The plan works, but Aya has to personally finish the fight on a now-wrecked Statue of Liberty, where Eve finally succumbs.

As Aya rests on a naval vessel, the Ultimate Being is born and attacks the surrounding ships. Aya does battle with the Ultimate Being, but its mitochondria causes it to evolve at an alarming rate. Aya sets the vessel's boiler pressure dangerously high, so as to destroy it with the Ultimate Being onboard.

See the list of minor Parasite Eve characters.

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2008)

Parasite Eve was developed at Square USA's studios in Los Angeles, California.^[4]

Yoko Shimomura composed the game's soundtrack including the main theme, "Primal Eyes". The ending vocal song "Somnia Memorias" is performed by Shani Rigsbee. The score met with great critical acclaim. It is known as one of her more original soundtracks, using influences from both opera and electronica. Shimomura states that she tried to compose "inorganic" music for the game, what she describes as "something unique" for the game's developer.^[5] A separate Parasite Eve Remixes album was also released, containing 10 tracks remixed from the original game by various artists. The idea for the work came from a simple suggestion to Shimomura that the game's music be remixed rather than rearranged.^[5] "Somnia Memorias" was also included on the Square Vocal Collection in 2001.^[6]

Parasite Eve has sold over 1.9 million copies as of February 2004, with 1.05 million sold in Japan alone and 0.89 million sold in North America.^[12] In Japan, it was the number 7 top-selling game of 1998.^[13] The game was re-released in North America under Sony's Greatest Hits label.^[14] In 2000, the game was ranked number 16 by the readers of Famitsu magazine in its top 100 PlayStation games of all time.^[15]

• Parasite Eve official website
• Parasite Eve at IMDb
• Parasite Eve at IGN
• Template:GameFAQs
• Parasite Eve soundtrack ⚠ "mbid" is missing! at MusicBrainz
• Parasite Eve remixes ⚠ "mbid" is missing! at MusicBrainz
• Parasite Eve screen shots
• Parasite Eve: CodeName TWINS - Russian Fan Game Project & Fansite