Parasite eve is it GOOD?

[ColonelKurtz]

I think Parasite Eve 2 is vastly superior to the original game. I know that's an unpopular opinion but the atmosphere and vibe is unparalleled and it has excellent replay value.

The story itself is more bare bones but I think the character and environment design is still more interesting despite that. A motel in the Mojave desert is a crazy location for a survival horror game if you think about it. The boss designs are insane too.

I thought the first game had way too much text and the battle system wasn't really fleshed out enough. The weapon building aspect is cool but i like how the second game had more distinct weapons with different ammo types + attachments that could proc debuffs. You can even unlock the gunblade from FF8 and a giant rail cannon.

The second game is better suited to challenge runs too. Melee only, no damage runs, no save runs, stuff like that. The different difficulty modes were really cool too. Not just easy/hard modes but bounty and scavenger modes that fundamentally change the way you play the game.

Parasite Eve 2 might actually be my favorite PS1 game despite its unpopularity.

(PS I found those pictures on Google sorry about the aspect ratio it definately does not do the game justice seeing the 4:3 image stretched to 16:9)

 

[Sfjeov]

Yea it's pretty good and I like the gun customization. Some of the bosses were pretty bs with their bs aoe attack but otherwise, the game is fun once you get into it.

 

[Burzuru Burzuru]

PE 1 i thought was pretty cool but i just lost interest in it a little after the 2nd disc starts. idk i just don't really want to go back into it.

 

[UnDubious]

I think Parasite Eve 2 is vastly superior to the original game. I know that's an unpopular opinion but the atmosphere and vibe is unparalleled and it has excellent replay value. (...)

I like the first game but yeah, PE2 is super underrated. And then The 3rd Birthday is even more underrated. IMO it's a very solid series, but semi-changing genres with every entry left a lot of fans behind.

 

[Maresia]

I like the first game but yeah, PE2 is super underrated. And then The 3rd Birthday is even more underrated. IMO it's a very solid series, but semi-changing genres with every entry left a lot of fans behind.

I feel the same about the changing genres. I know a lot of people that started with Parasite Eve 2 and haven't touched the first one. It's seen as a good RE clone.

I have played both of them and prefer the first one just a bit more (the atmosphere is just great).

Can't say I've played much of the third game (I want to get around to play it eventually), but it feels fun. I don't like the plot and the characterization of Aya, maybe it gets better down the line but I couldn't be bothered to continue.

So when I here that some one likes Parasite Eve, is either the first one or the second one and not the series as a whole, and that hurts it a lot.


Even if you were to do a remake of the first one, do you stick closer to the RPG side? Make it a little bit more like the second one or even the third one? What happens if you try to remake the second one if the first remake was successful?

 

[Deleted member 144646]

I found it okay, I didn't enjoy it enough to finish it though. Koudelka was the better horror-meets-RPG experience to me.

 

[UnDubious]

I found it okay, I didn't enjoy it enough to finish it though. Koudelka was the better horror-meets-RPG experience to me.

Koudelka has random encounters that last several minutes every 5 steps, it completely ruins the experience. You can't even pick the important items from the backgrounds half the time, so you have to run around checking everything, and then it triggers one more of those stupid slow-paced SRPG battles that had no place in a game like this. Huge design mistake on their part.

 

[Deleted member 144646]

You can't even pick the important items from the backgrounds half the time, so you have to run around checking everything

Huh? I never had this problem.

You can not like the combat of something, but calling it a "huge design mistake" comes off as silly. Sorry it wasn't one hit most random encounter enemies to win, a la PS1 era Squaresoft enough for you.

 

[UnDubious]

Huh? I never had this problem.

You can not like the combat of something, but calling it a "huge design mistake" comes off as silly. Sorry it wasn't one hit most random encounter enemies to win, a la PS1 era Squaresoft enough for you.

It's the most common complaint about the gameplay. I know people who praise the game but casually admit to fast-forwarding every battle through emulators. In general, slow battles with high frequency are going to test most people's patience. Even the director expressed regret in multiple interviews. He didn't want a turn-based system at all, but the rest of the staff (who also came from Square) weren't ready to go with an action system. interview 1 interview 2 Hiroki Kikuta never directed a game after that.

As for PS1 era Square, weak enemies dying quickly in turn-based RPGs is good. If they're not going to challenge you, why waste the player's time? But that's not the only problem in Koudelka, every single move is slow, every animation, the grid-based movement adds nothing and slows things down further, etc.

 

[Kovlak]

That's the great wall of text. Good writing from what I've seen and good review.

 

[zacharinolongpants]

For me, this is an absolute favorite. I've had my fill of princesses and dragons and cringey fan servicey shonen. I wish more RPGs had a sci-fi body horror thing going on with a cool setting and art direction. I won't say it's perfect, but the combat system and weapon upgrading/tweaking is extremely satisfying to me. The cutscenes are awesome and I love the pre-renders and character designs. I would like to see a quality re-imagining or just more truly horrir infused sci-fi in RPG form. I'd like to see you review PE2 next. This was awesome and I enjoyed your in depth look at everything.

Also there is a decent live action PE based on the book. The game has some fun references to the novel too that aren't vital but at least makes it feel like a loose sequel to it. A game being a sequel to a novel is a great idea lol.

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think an RE4-style action-RPG remake of Parasite Eve would go hard.

I wouldn't mind it , in fact it could be awesome going through the opening section and the sewer like that but it's it will need to be bigger and more grandiose

Post automatically merged: Jan 17, 2026

I think Parasite Eve 2 is vastly superior to the original game. I know that's an unpopular opinion but the atmosphere and vibe is unparalleled and it has excellent replay value.

The story itself is more bare bones but I think the character and environment design is still more interesting despite that. A motel in the Mojave desert is a crazy location for a survival horror game if you think about it. The boss designs are insane too.

View attachment 143182View attachment 143183

I thought the first game had way too much text and the battle system wasn't really fleshed out enough. The weapon building aspect is cool but i like how the second game had more distinct weapons with different ammo types + attachments that could proc debuffs. You can even unlock the gunblade from FF8 and a giant rail cannon.

The second game is better suited to challenge runs too. Melee only, no damage runs, no save runs, stuff like that. The different difficulty modes were really cool too. Not just easy/hard modes but bounty and scavenger modes that fundamentally change the way you play the game.

Parasite Eve 2 might actually be my favorite PS1 game despite its unpopularity.

(PS I found those pictures on Google sorry about the aspect ratio it definately does not do the game justice seeing the 4:3 image stretched to 16:9)

PE2 is fun yea and the improved graphics really raise a question mark on my part of why the 2 games look so different with the gap being one year only.... I did notice aya got a little more fat (she let herself go?) PE2 really missed out on keeping the same combat system instead we got a little easier action based combat that i beaten 99% of the game with the M4 and not even once touched the shotgun , not to mention the attempt by square to get a monster like the licker from RE2 which didn't result in the same scare i got from RE2 lickers admittedly the only part or enemy that stressed me a little and was creepy is the white thing at the lab entrance before the elevator that was the only thing i found scary in PE2 the gameplay does have its merits especially the spellcast system is much better than PE1 and the movement speed is a lot better i don't have to run everywhere like i did in PE1 also PE2 had a good amount of puzzles that are quite entertaining to solve , the FMVs of PE2 are also much better especially the scene with aya and the mutant army that alone is worth a point but can't say the same regarding the weird inconsistent voice acting 2 words every now and then like you either VA or not VA at all , music is forgettable save for the battle music and the intro music which sounds like "WE ARE SO BAACCK"

parasite eve was an attempt by a company that specialized in pumping out fire RPGs for the most part that's why even their survival horror titles have some RPG elements they tried something new in PE2 but it just didn't land so well i say if they took PE1 combat and improved it like not having enemies respawn and making the arena i think the game would have been miles better

PE 1 i thought was pretty cool but i just lost interest in it a little after the 2nd disc starts. idk i just don't really want to go back into it.

DO IT DOOO IT

So when I here that some one likes Parasite Eve, is either the first one or the second one and not the series as a whole, and that hurts it a lot.


Even if you were to do a remake of the first one, do you stick closer to the RPG side? Make it a little bit more like the second one or even the third one? What happens if you try to remake the second one if the first remake was successful?

You can remake the first game as it is but ohh boy the 2nd game is tricky to remake , working more on the story and changing the combat now that can be quite challenging

That's the great wall of text. Good writing from what I've seen and good review.

Thx man

For me, this is an absolute favorite. I've had my fill of princesses and dragons and cringey fan servicey shonen. I wish more RPGs had a sci-fi body horror thing going on with a cool setting and art direction. I won't say it's perfect, but the combat system and weapon upgrading/tweaking is extremely satisfying to me. The cutscenes are awesome and I love the pre-renders and character designs. I would like to see a quality re-imagining or just more truly horrir infused sci-fi in RPG form. I'd like to see you review PE2 next. This was awesome and I enjoyed your in depth look at everything.

Also there is a decent live action PE based on the book. The game has some fun references to the novel too that aren't vital but at least makes it feel like a loose sequel to it. A game being a sequel to a novel is a great idea lol.

Yeah PE is a fun hybrid of RPG and survival horror it's just square being square and putting out fire products as usual

I did write a review for PE2 in here somewhere , on a side note i cut things up because of the 10k character limit if i was in writers guild i can write a lot more detailed and In depth look of everything because they offer 30k character limit , sometime in the future and if i get a PC with pretty good rig i will enlist for the guild and rewrite (remake lol) all my "mini reviews" in the detail i actually want

 

[BrawlMan]

Yes. There are some things dated with the game, but it is good overall. Still better than the sequels.

 

[Tezca]

Echoing what others have said: Yes, it's great. My favorite one out of them all. Played it through about 5 times, I think. Could be six.

An even then, I still haven't beaten True Eve. xD

2 never did anything for me and 3rd birthday....well, it exists outside the realm of my thoughts.

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

Echoing what others have said: Yes, it's great. My favorite one out of them all. Played it through about 5 times, I think. Could be six.

An even then, I still haven't beaten True Eve. xD

2 never did anything for me and 3rd birthday....well, it exists outside the realm of my thoughts.

I have downloaded it again and it's sitting there in downloads waiting to be extracted , yea I'm gonna replay it for a 2nd time soon and this time lovely game not too sweaty type it's got vibes you know? I will try the third birthday at one point sure it's gonna be better than PE2

 

[Tezca]

I have downloaded it again and it's sitting there in downloads waiting to be extracted , yea I'm gonna replay it for a 2nd time soon and this time lovely game not too sweaty type it's got vibes you know? I will try the third birthday at one point sure it's gonna be better than PE2

The only thing good I've heard about 3rd Birthday is the gameplay. They apparently ruined Aya's character...and the story is equally ruined.

But I haven't actually played it, so Idk how bad it is. Let us know your thoughts if/when you start.

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

The only thing good I've heard about 3rd Birthday is the gameplay. They apparently ruined Aya's character...and the story is equally ruined.

But I haven't actually played it, so Idk how bad it is. Let us know your thoughts if/when you start.

Ahh yea i pay no heed to criticism or praise i just go in BLIND , that's my way of playing things

I did read that they implemented a mechanic in 3rd birthday about clothes getting ripped apart to show the intensity of battles so that's pretty cool mechanic

 

[SherionVane]

yeah super good

 

[BrawlMan]

The only thing good I've heard about 3rd Birthday is the gameplay. They apparently ruined Aya's character...and the story is equally ruined.

But I haven't actually played it, so Idk how bad it is. Let us know your thoughts if/when you start.

Yes, that game sucks. I pretend it doesn't exist.

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

Update: having tried EX game i can confidently say the Chrysler building is a slog , to make it worse it's 77 floors long!

Overpowered monsters , lack of save points and a 40k HP stupidly overpowered final boss and A UNDERWHELMING ENDING

Its a waste of time i went into it on day 5 and proceeded to spend some 7 hours there split into 5 days of playing , day 1 finished 10th~20th floor ,day 2 30th-40th floor , day 3 50th floor , day 4 60th floor and day 5 70th~77th floor

Its just infinite hall running , and you can locate a treasure room which is like the only fun thing in this whole dungeon and an elevator , the elevator doesn't work and requires a card that you can acquire from defeating the boss every 10 floors , the card allows you to use the elevator on the past 10 floors you just scoured and not the upcoming 10 floors

The monsters are extremely powerful save for the 10~30 floors

Case and point don't waste your time facing the final boss because it doesn't even reward you , just get all the treasure rooms which are decent (for the most part) and finish the game normally

This "true ending" is BS , what happened to Eve and the ultimate being? My headcanon is after this reunion Aya goes back to the museum and the events go normally , thus 2 endings are Canon

Further evidenced with PE2 intro mentioning Eve and the ultimate being getting defeated

Had to cheat this one in the end , it was getting very late and she still had some 8k-10k HP

She is beatable if you use preraise i think

I also figured there is a damage penalty regarding rate of fire , so best damage is only 1 bullet used then get 3 command perk and the AOE attack from some shotgun and you are good to go

 

[dizzypixel]

oh yeah its really solid imo.

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

oh yeah its really solid imo.

Yeah i agree , it gets even more fun when you get Wayne tools boxes

 

[Netra]

Parasite Eve is superior to the Resident Evil series on the PS1 in every way. The only reason it didn't stand the test of time is that the company abandoned it moving almost the entire original staff to work on other games. The new ones tried to make a directly copy of Resident Evil, a cheap imitation of Resident Evil 2.

If only they had given it a chance, today we'd have both franchises fighting for the same player base.

 

[Majora Fi]

It's a good game, but using mitochondria as enemies bothers me a lot (I'm glad the creative team tried to innovate with this choice, but they didn't explain this pseudoscience enough to suspend my disbelief).

 

[Metalgeareris]

Yes. Great game. 2 is good too. Even the 3rd birthday in my opinion.