Parasite Eve
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Parasite Eve | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Square Co., Ltd. |
| Publisher(s) | Square Co., Ltd. (Japan), Square Electronic Arts (U.S.) |
| Release date(s) | March 29, 1998 (Japan) September 8, 1998 (U.S.) |
| Genre(s) | Role-playing game, Survival horror |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: M (Mature) |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation |
| Media | 2 × CD-ROM |
| System requirements | Memory Card |
| Input | DualShock controller |
Parasite Eve (パラサイト・イヴ Parasaito Ivu?) is a survival horror RPG video game published by Square Co., Ltd. loosely based on the novel of the same name.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Aya Brea, a 25 year old NYPD rookie, is attending an opera in New York City's Carnegie Hall on a 'date' during Christmas Eve when suddenly nearly every person in the theater bursts into flames. Aya and an actress on stage are the only people in the entire building who remain unharmed. Aya confronts the actress, Melissa Pearce, and before disappearing backstage Pearce reveals that the mitochondria in Aya's cells need more time to develop. After her encounter with the actress, Aya feels a change in her body: a sudden heat along with a new power. Aya travels backstage in search of Pearce and eventually finds Melissa's diary. She discovers the actress's greed for a particular part and her addiction to a certain medication. In the final room backstage, Aya encounters Pearce, who mutates into a flying monstrosity. Pearce declares that she is no longer Melissa Pearce, but "Eve", a being hellbent on a mission to free mitochondria everywhere. Eve escapes to the sewer system, but Aya confronts her once more after defeating a variety of mutated creatures. Eve states that she is going to give Aya more time to evolve and escapes while Aya is distracted battling a giant mutated crocodile.
After surviving through an uncomfortable press conference regarding the events at Carnegie Hall, Aya travels with Daniel, her NYPD partner, to see a mitochondria expert at the Museum of Natural History. Dr. Hans Klamp provides them with scientific information that is of no use, and Aya and Daniel suspect something about Klamp is amiss. In spite of their inklings, they return to their police precinct, only to discover that Eve is holding a show in Central Park. Aya travels to the park alone because Daniel would be subjected to Eve's dangerous power over mitochondria. She fights her way to the amphitheater where Eve is, but Eve once again departs as Aya arrives. However, Eve first uses her powers to liquify the entire audience at the park into an orange, slimy mass. Aya chases after Eve, and they end up fighting in a carriage. The horse loses control because of Eve's influence, and Aya falls unconscious.
The game then follows Daniel for a brief period of time. Daniel learns that his son, Ben Dollis, has escaped the slimy mass while his wife, Lorraine, has been absorbed. At the precinct he also learns that the entire borough of Manhattan is in the process of being evacuated due to the threat that Eve presents. The scene then transitions to a Japanese man desperate to enter the borough despite police barricades. When one of the cops begins to burn, the Japanese man, Kunihiko Maeda, is able to slip through. The next scene portrays Aya waking up in Maeda's SoHo apartment; Daniel is there as well. Maeda reveals to the pair that similar incidents have occurred in Japan. It all began after a scientist tried to culture his wife's cells after she was involved in a car accident. Her mitochondria eventually overtook her physical body, but the lifespan of Eve, the mitochondria being, was short. Eve therefore donated her organs, and her kidneys were ultimately transplanted into a young girl. Eve tried to give birth to an ultimate being after acquiring the scientist's sperm, but she failed. After hearing the truth behind Eve, Aya is left contemplating whether or not she herself is a monster.
The next morning, the trio go to the museum, learn about the mitochondria, and discover that the nuclei in Aya's cells fight the Eve mitochondria. Then Dr. Klamp enters and watches the sample of Aya's blood and starts to ask her questions. When Daniel sees a list of names with his son and ex-wife on it, he tries to force Klamp to speak, but Aya stops him. The three of them leave and go to the police station to find that it has been attacked. Aya and Daniel search for Ben who is seen chasing the police dog Sheeva. Aya finally catches up with Ben and Captain Baker and protects him from Sheeva, who transforms into a Cerberus-like NMC.
After defeating the monster, Aya learns from Maeda that Eve will need sperm to give birth to the ultimate being, so they go to the hospital. Aya goes alone and gets trapped in the basement after Eve sabotages the elevator and causes a blackout. After restoring the electricity, Aya heads upstairs to the sperm bank where she finds that is too late. She then goes to the roof where, after a big fight, Eve appears and Aya realizes that her sister Maya is the true original Eve. A narrow escape from a pair of military planes that crash into the hospital then follows.
The next day, the player finds Aya in Chinatown answering a call from Maeda. Following Eve's trail, Aya goes into the sewers, reaching the water control plant. There the mass of people from the park enters the city water system. Aya continues to advance reaching the subway, where she is able to get above ground.
Aya goes to the museum for a third time. This time, the place is overrun with monsters and dinosaurs. She fights her way to Dr. Klamp's office, and there he tells Aya and her companions the truth about how Eve needed special sperm without masculine cells, which he has engineered for her, to create the ultimate being. After this explanation, he asks Eve to take him. Daniel and Maeda jump off of the window, while the doctor dies from combustion. Aya continues her search, finally finding a pregnant Eve on the fourth floor of the museum. After a discussion about evolution, the mass that has changed into a humanoid form takes Eve inside itself, forming a protective barrier so that she can give birth.
After several failed attempts to attack Eve, the military decides that a nuclear attack is the only way. Aya, the only person who can get near Eve without bursting into flames, is tasked with delivering a bomb that will destroy her. This takes place in front of the Statue of Liberty, but even after the explosion apparently destroys Eve, Aya wants to make sure so she parachutes into the island for a final showdown. Eve dies wondering if Aya is the mitochondria's natural enemy.
Everything seems to be over and Aya is recovering onboard a Navy ship, but an explosion takes place, and from the rest of the mass a creature is born and attacks the other ships. Aya decides not to leave, but fights the ultimate being.
After fighting the many forms of the being, Daniel makes a suicidal jump to deliver Aya special bullets that can inflict extra damage on the being. Finally, Aya makes the ship explode with the being inside, putting an end to the crisis. When the three arrive in port, Maeda reveals that Aya received a corneal transplant from her sister Maya when she was young, which explains Aya's power. But Maeda also warns that Aya's mitochondria may well evolve differently than Eve’s.
The game ends with Aya, Maeda, Daniel and Ben again attending the opera. When the scene that began everything the previous year arrives, Aya's eyes turn red, she stands, and everyone else's eyes begin to turn red, too. However, this ending is not considered canon since the EX game presents the real ending.
[edit] EX-game
When the game is cleared once a new mode appears, called the "EX game." It is different than the normal game in various aspects: the player has access to every item stored in the police station, the game begins with the final weapons 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. 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.
[edit] Gameplay
Parasite Eve is like a survival horror with many RPG elements, but the movement in the various scenarios is free. While the movement in the "world map" is limited to specific destinations, the battles appear when the player walks over a "hot spot." Then enemies appear wherever the player is, without a pre-rendered battle ring. In battle the player has a "Active Time Bar" (ATB) that sets the time for every turn to take action. Each turn the player has a choice of attacking; using PE (Parasite Energy, use of which depletes an auto-filling bar) for defense, assistance or offense; using items; changing weapon or armor; or even 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, (s)he must choose from the menu the desired PE skill. The same goes for weapon, armor or items; however, if the player choose to escape, experience will be lost.
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.
[edit] Trivia
- There was also a two-part manga released in Japan called Parasite Eve DIVA that never saw an American release. However, a handful of untranslated pages can be seen on a few unofficial Parasite Eve websites.
- Yoko Shimomura composed the game's soundtrack, including the intro, Primal Eyes, and the ending, Somnia Memorias, is performed by Shani Rigsbee. A separate Parasite Eve Remix album was also released, containing 10 tracks remixed and remastered from the original game by various DJs.
[edit] External links
- Parasite Eve website
- Parasite Eve at the Internet Movie Database
- IGN: Parasite Eve
- Parasite Eve soundtrack (disc 2) at MusicBrainz
- Parasite Eve remixes at MusicBrainz
