Parasite Eve: The 3rd Birthday headed to the PSP [E3 TRAILER!]

cj iwakura

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOVkZHgq5cU

Slightly newer trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ3j-hxro_4

Older trailer!



So thanks to what was arguably the best news to come out of the Square-Enix party, a sequel that was formerly only for cellphones is now PSP-bound.


Parasite Eve?

A fairly infamous cinematic survival-horror/RPG that came out around the time of Final Fantasy VII, and included a demo for Xenogears.



The worst foe lies within the self.

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 winged beast and flies into the sewers, declaring that her name is now Eve.

Basically an Action-RPG in a unique sense, battles occur randomly, and during combat, Aya is freely controllable and can gun down mutant assailants with ease.



Like most PS1 games, the graphics don't stand the test of time, but the gameplay and story hold up well.

And most people fond of the series like to think it ended there.

Except it didn't.



The very divisive sequel, which took out PE1's RPG elements and made the gameplay into straight survival horror.

The game opens to reveal Aya Brea, the protagonist of the original Parasite Eve game, who is now an FBI operative in their Mitochondrial Investigation and Suppression Team (MIST) being dispatched on an urgent mission in central Los Angeles, where there have been reports of NMC sightings. The first chapter in the game puts Aya in the position of investigating the Akropolis tower where she finds a slaughtered SWAT team and an NMC infestation. She soon discovers that the NMC's can take on human form, and eventually encounters a different type of creature; a humanoid Artificial Neo-Mitochondrial Creature (ANMC) called Golem No.9.

Instead of having to put up with random battles, the sequel lets Aya directly shoot everything in her path.

While the story isn't quite as epic as I's, it still has its moments, and resolves Aya's story nicely.

At least, that was what I thought until they came up with The Third Birthday.

Late night on Christmas Eve, Aya and the other members of CTI: New York are called into headquarters in response to an outbreak of attacks in Manhattan by a creature called Twisted. These creatures emerged from a mysterious time contortion, details about which will be revealed later.

Aya is the main focus of this game. Due to her special powers, she still has the body of a woman in her 20s, although in terms of age she should actually be 35 years old. Motomu Toriyama, the scenario director, feels that it is rare to be able to focus on a woman in her mid 30s in a game and is taking the opportunity to properly depict the thinking and lifestyle of a cool woman.

It sounds like it's a sequel to me, even though the creators don't want it to be thought of as one for some reason.

I'd expect it would be focused on

Aya's adopted daughter

from PE2, but I guess only time will tell on that one.

Still good news for PE fans, and better news for those who hate seeing awesome games get cellphone exclusives.

TehSpectre

Oh man.

This is awesome news.

While PE2 was a completely different game than the original, it was up there with RE and AitD for awesome survival horror games on the PS1.

firewaterword

Both games were great. The 2nd one gets crazy towards the end. This game might sell me a PSP if it's good enough.

Blackjack

Haha..."We totally want to depict a grown, mature woman in her thirties ... ... ... as long as she still looks like she's about 19."

Pureauthor

Blackjack wrote: »

Haha..."We totally want to depict a grown, mature woman in her thirties ... ... ... as long as she still looks like she's about 19."

Best of both worlds, or something along those lines.

Bleak Harvest

Almost as attracted to her as I am Nomura's male characters... does that say something about the way he draws dudes, or am I just confused?

finalbroadcast

PE2 was a great survival horror game, way ahead of its time for mixing action RPGs with shooters. It was mind bendingly hard in some spots if I remember right.

Cheesechick

Blackjack wrote: »

Haha..."We totally want to depict a grown, mature woman in her thirties ... ... ... as long as she still looks like she's about 19."

Hahaha that's exactly how I read it, too.

I think this is excellent news! Even though... I never technically beat either of the first two games. I owned the first one and got pretty far when I loaned it out to a friend... and never got it back because I moved shortly thereafter. So since I never beat the first, I never bothered with the second... maybe I should try and pick up copies of those before this comes out.

cj iwakura

I've started replaying PE1 since I figured it can literally be finished in a handful of hours.

It's still fun, and the music is really good. Interesting that the composer went on to do Kingdom Hearts' music.

PE2 is definitely a tough game if I remember right, but the final boss of 1 is a nightmare.

Atlus Parker

I'm excited for this and purchased the Parasite Eve novel in anticipation as I've always wanted to read it. Now I didn't give PE2 a fair shake and I've been considering going back to it but boy did I play the crap out of PE1. The only thing I never did was finish the Chrysler Building. I would always get stuck on the roach boss and then I somehow lost the floor keys so in order to progress I would have to beat the first 40 floors in succession. No thanks.

Ah the memories I have from PE1. I bought it the same night I bought my second PSX back when the Dual Shock controllers were only being packaged with new systems. Beat it that first weekend.

UnbreakableVow

I bought Parasite Eve a few years back and still haven't played it. I should get on that sometime. Don't have PE2, but if I like 1 I'll definitely look into it.

I like survival horror.

Atlus Parker

So now that I'm on a Parasite Eve, trip I started cruising eBay for some PE memorabilia. I found this pretty cool looking Japanese art book.



It also has this (Spoilered and linked for NSFWish):

http://azarashido.sakura.ne.jp/ebay080321/s1CIMG3283.jpg

Toned down a bit for the US version, apparently.

Edit: Just going to add this in here before I turn this into a red ranger thread.

Linked and spoilered for NSFW (again):

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/9856/ayabloodwm2.jpg

cj iwakura

Most of the concept art for PE's borderline NSFW for some reason.
(Though that's really out there, even for Nomura)

And I remember that I waited outside EB for the first Parasite Eve's launch.

It was mostly for the FFVIII preview, but the style of the game also had my interest.

An RPG that took place in NYC? Sold.

UnbreakableVow wrote:

I bought Parasite Eve a few years back and still haven't played it. I should get on that sometime.

You could probably finish it in under ten hours, easy. It's not a very long game at all.

artoo

Atlus Parker wrote: »

It also has this (Spoilered and linked for NSFWish):

http://azarashido.sakura.ne.jp/ebay080321/s1CIMG3283.jpg

Toned down a bit for the US version, apparently.

:winky::winky::winky::winky::winky::winky::winky:

Nocren

Why does it look like Aye is going to eat her gun in that poster?

Dusda

Fucking awesome. I had pretty much concluded that I wouldn't be able to play PE3 due to its (retarded) exclusive-to-cell-phones-in-Japan thing. Unless the game is total balls, I will pick this up on launch day.

FCD

Blackjack wrote: »

Haha..."We totally want to depict a grown, mature woman in her thirties ... ... ... as long as she still looks like she's about 19."

Hey, at least she doesn't look 9 years old instead. For Japan, this is an improvement.

Dis

*goes kill everyone by making them spontaneous combustion...
I miss this game...

Igpx407

Did they say what kind of game the new PE would be?

skarsol

PSP? *sadface*

Golden Yak

Nocren wrote: »

Why does it look like Aye is going to eat her gun in that poster?

Cuz this game will suck worse than 2 did?

I hope not though, I loved the first one and I'm considering getting a PSP soon.

cj iwakura

Squeenix can work wonders with the PSP, so if PE's got to go portable, this is definitely the console for it.

Think if it runs on the Crisis Core engine. It'll look better than 1 & 2.

skarsol

cj iwakura wrote: »

Squeenix can work wonders with the PSP, so if PE's got to go portable, this is definitely the console for it.

Think if it runs on the Crisis Core engine. It'll look better than 1 & 2.

Yes, but I don't *have* a PSP

Lunker

YESSSSSSSSSS

Dis

skarsol wrote: »

cj iwakura wrote: »

Squeenix can work wonders with the PSP, so if PE's got to go portable, this is definitely the console for it.

Think if it runs on the Crisis Core engine. It'll look better than 1 & 2.

Yes, but I don't *have* a PSP

Learn to buy/loan/steal one...

SaraLuna

Parasite Eve was the game that sold me a ps1. I was reading a preview in a magazine and was like "square rpg in new york? customizable guns? MUST HAVE." out of phase, the city map music, is the ringtone on my phone atm

I never played PE2 because I didn't care for tank controls and didn't think 19 yr old Aya was an improvement. I'd kinda like to play it now, but I haven't bothered to ebay up a copy yet.

anyway, it's good news that this is getting psp'd. the trend of interesting games coming exclusively on uber cell phones is bullshit, imo

Lunker

Atlus Parker wrote: »

I'm excited for this and purchased the Parasite Eve novel in anticipation as I've always wanted to read it. Now I didn't give PE2 a fair shake and I've been considering going back to it but boy did I play the crap out of PE1. The only thing I never did was finish the Chrysler Building. I would always get stuck on the roach boss and then I somehow lost the floor keys so in order to progress I would have to beat the first 40 floors in succession. No thanks.

Ah the memories I have from PE1. I bought it the same night I bought my second PSX back when the Dual Shock controllers were only being packaged with new systems. Beat it that first weekend.

The Chrysler Building is so, so not worth the effort. I actually grinded all the way to 300 pieces of junk for the über handgun, only to romp through all 77 floors and meet with, IIRC, maybe three screens of text and then the credit sequence.

Count me as super-excited about this news. I loved the first PE and only got midway through the sequel; it was refreshing to have an RPG that was modern-day with none of the high-fantasy RPG tropes or futuristic sci-fi/cyberpunk tropes that Square-Enix is known for. I also liked that it was a shorter endeavor overall; the back of the box for PE1 pegs the game as a "cinematic RPG" or something along those lines, I think.

cj iwakura wrote:

Squeenix can work wonders with the PSP, so if PE's got to go portable, this is definitely the console for it.

Think if it runs on the Crisis Core engine. It'll look better than 1 & 2.

S-E pulls dark sorcery out of both the PSP and the DS, but I agree that Parasite Eve seems to be a better fit for the PSP. Honestly I was kind of surprised that the franchise didn't get revived as a full-on PS3/360 console title; it seems to be much more Western-friendly than something like The Last Remnant, and a highly stylized horror/thriller RPG would be amazing.

I just want more games to use the CC engine, though, so I'll take whatever I can get.

Lars

Hmm...may have to buy PSP now, though the time distortions or whatever the fuck that's going to be kind of worries me. This game needs dogs that mutate into three headed monsters the size of a dump truck, not time travellers and whatnot.
If I'm going to get a PSP, anyone know how hard it is to find those Mega Man remakes now a days (Powered Up and Maverick Hunter)?

Lynx

Lars wrote: »

If I'm going to get a PSP, anyone know how hard it is to find those Mega Man remakes now a days (Powered Up and Maverick Hunter)?

I bought both of them used at Gamestop for like. . .10 bucks a couple of weeks ago. So, I don't think they're too hard to find.

To stay on-topic, I'm excited. I just hope it's not a straight cellphone port. I'm hoping they canceled the cellphone version and this will bea worthy PSP Square-Enix title. Same goes for Agito XIII.

Atlus Parker

Hm. A couple of the other japanese artbook auctions I was bidding on were cancelled. eBay probably mistook them for cartoon porn.

PeregrineFalcon

I never got another copy of PE1. I have PE2 though, perhaps it's time for another playthrough.

Xagarath

PE1 is another game on the merry long list that PAL never got.
2 was pretty good, though. Possibly the best graphics on the system.

firewaterword

Xagarath wrote: »

PE1 is another game on the merry long list that PAL never got.
2 was pretty good, though. Possibly the best graphics on the system.

It also had what was possibly the best unnecessary-but-great-nonetheless shower scene on the system.

cj iwakura

A few hours of play and I'm almost done with Day 4 of PE1. It's a short game, but so much happens.

I love my five shot assault rifle of fire raining death.

I'm not sure if I'll have a prayer against the Chrysler this time around from what I've read.

I always thought it was weird that the game got a 'mature sexual themes' descriptor just because of an artificial insemination subplot.

Atlus Parker

Yeah that's the only mature sexual theme. :X

Lunker

So apparently a few details have surfaced on Third Birthday. Sounds like it's not quite the RPG everyone's hoping it to be...from IGN:

According to project director Hajime Tabata, this PSP Parasite Eve sequel is going to be a true 3D gun action game. Noting that it will differ from Final Fantasy VII Dirge of Cerberus, he described it as a "true third person shooter."

Square Enix is working with another development studio on the game, Tabata revealed, without naming names.

Tabata also revealed that wireless play is being considered. He didn't state if this would be 'net based or ad-hoc, although it's worth noting that the aim for Tabata's other directorial project, Final Fantasy Agito XIII, is online-based play.

Finally, Tabata shared a couple of bits about the game's storyline and gameplay systems. These two areas are intertwined thanks to something called "overdrive," an ability that crosses time. Aya, the hero, uses this ability to both look into the mysteries of the game's enemies, the Twisted, and to fight them.

While stopping short of sharing an actual release time frame, Tabata did state that the game's scenario and design are nearing completion.

I know a lot of people will see this as a bad sign, but I'm still interested; I like the setting and mood the previous games had, and the PSP can handle 3-D action amazingly well. Just ... why did they have to mention Dirge of Cerberus?

And it's mostly unrelated, but since it was mentioned in the writeup: FFXIII Agito reportedly plays very much like a souped-up version of Crisis Core, which has me immensely excited! So RPG fans will at least have that to look forward to.

JihadJesus

I'm interested in any followup to a game where you get to shotgun a demonic flying baby. The time travel + 19 = 36 has me a bit concerned and I don't have a PSP, but still....it's Parasite Eve!

cj iwakura

So, it's basically more Parasite Eve 2, just without tank controls? (Not that I minded those)

Cade

Dirge of Cerberus?

Any mention of that game almost seems to suggest a warning.

The first Parasite Eve is perhaps one of the only good things I consider to come out of the PS Square era aside from the horrible attempt to create a new genre with the whole cinematic RPG bit. The battle system was so great, it's a true shame it was never used again.

cj iwakura

I think it's more them saying 'it's okay, we know what we're doing this time, honest!".

RainbowDespair

Lunker wrote: »

So apparently a few details have surfaced on Third Birthday. Sounds like it's not quite the RPG everyone's hoping it to be...from IGN:

According to project director Hajime Tabata, this PSP Parasite Eve sequel is going to be a true 3D gun action game. Noting that it will differ from Final Fantasy VII Dirge of Cerberus, he described it as a "true third person shooter."

Square Enix is working with another development studio on the game, Tabata revealed, without naming names.

Tabata also revealed that wireless play is being considered. He didn't state if this would be 'net based or ad-hoc, although it's worth noting that the aim for Tabata's other directorial project, Final Fantasy Agito XIII, is online-based play.

Finally, Tabata shared a couple of bits about the game's storyline and gameplay systems. These two areas are intertwined thanks to something called "overdrive," an ability that crosses time. Aya, the hero, uses this ability to both look into the mysteries of the game's enemies, the Twisted, and to fight them.

While stopping short of sharing an actual release time frame, Tabata did state that the game's scenario and design are nearing completion.

I know a lot of people will see this as a bad sign, but I'm still interested; I like the setting and mood the previous games had, and the PSP can handle 3-D action amazingly well. Just ... why did they have to mention Dirge of Cerberus?

And it's mostly unrelated, but since it was mentioned in the writeup: FFXIII Agito reportedly plays very much like a souped-up version of Crisis Core, which has me immensely excited! So RPG fans will at least have that to look forward to.

Given that Parasite Eve 2 was basically a PSX Resident Evil with some RPG elements, dare I hope that Parasite Eve 3 will be basically Resident Evil 4 with some RPG elements?