Parasite Eve Series Retrospective | An Exhaustive History and Review 

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Who else falls asleep then wakes up to random videos?

I keep waking up to this video on autoplay

Its actually incredibly comforting to know that, when I picked up the 3rd Birthday as a teen and it made No Damn Sense, that I wasn't alone. Even the people who knew it was a sequel (which I did not) were in the same boat.

O man, I didn’t even know Parasite Eve started as a novel. I just thought Squaresoft had some wild writing staff.

The immense strength it must have taken to make this video without giving in to the impulse to say "the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell"...

I was a 3d character modeler/rigger in the PS1/PS2 days so it's very nostalgic seeing video footage of artists working in front of their PCs at the time. We create assets an entirely different way today with a lot less limitations, but there was a art to creating models that were aesthetically pleasing with very limited polygons, bone count and texture map sizes. Fun times

Man, I never played these games. But I will never forget walking in on my cousin playing this with my brother, and I saw that intro sequence of people spontaneously combusting as Eve sings. A sequence so haunting that I ran out of the living room crying and unable to sleep that night.

I played parasite eve and PE 2 in middle school and they still sit on my shelf to this day, it is so insane to me all these years later they fumbled a premise like this so badly in the end.

Parasite Eve was my first love, this game literally made me the biology freak I am today. At one point, all i did was playing Parasite Eve 2 over and over again, I remember crying when my memory card died and my 16 completitions save got deleted. Man those where the times, thank you

You've really got a knack for taking a comprehensive, deep dive into a game's history, without making the end result feel bloated or superfluous. 👍

I've had a love for this game since I was a child. I was born in 1993, and I was exposed to PE before I could even read. My mom used to play it for me and would read the subtitles for me so that I could enjoy the story. During a time where there weren't that many female leads to look up to, Aya Brea quickly became my first love for a video game character. To this day, Aya is still my number one favorite, and PE is still my favorite game/story. I would love nothing more than to see it get a remake or a sequel that it deserves. The Third Birthday was such a massive let down, and nothing broke my heart more than being forced to literally kill a character that is so special to me. Thank you for your review, and for giving something so beloved to me some attention that it deserves.

Parasite eve 1 to this day is still my favorite game of all time

The thing I like most about Parasite Eve is that the game rejects the novel's take on organ donation. The novel hews towards traditional Japanese biases against it, and the characters are ultimately punished for their role in the process of donating organs. The game, however, says that Aya's donated organ is a GOOD thing, and in fact it is the thing that makes her a superhero who can save the city. This is a SCALDING hot take from a Japanese company in the 90s and I'm still surprised that they went that way, 25 years later.

Man, I remember all my friends pre-ordering Parasite Eve. We got it at the midnight launch and drove home. We cooked popcorn and grabbed our soda and slimjims, turned off the lights and melted our faces until we passed out. Those were amazing years man and I will never forget the first game.

I think the horror of parasite Eve is so good because it's like "The thing" it can be anywhere, be anything, and you can't even stop it getting people

I literally never heard of Parasite Eve until now but I feel sooo frustrated by how the series ended.

The amount of work you put into these is beyond amazing to me. I'm simultaneously nostalgic for when I first played PE, and also really intrigued by the stuff I didn't know about, like the book and the movie.

Daniel jumping on flames is one of the greatest scenes in videogame history.

I was such an innocent baby when I played this game that I remember being shocked once I figured out what Eve had broken into the hospital for.

The museum is so astonishing and I love how they played with New York as a setting. Creepy dark central park, seeing the burning Chrysler building in the distance. So good. Excellent chunky video!

God being reminded of just how awfully Aya got done is such a crime. It's so sad that one of the best female characters in gaming has been hidden away because we don't want people to see the 3rd birthday and how it really is the worst angle. I would absolutely love a remake of the parasite eve games but like any game series there needs to be a champion and a prospect of actual sales to warrant the cost. Super well done video. Subbed.

Late 90s to beginning of 2000's game output by squaresoft is probably something we will never see again in gaming! At least in major AAA studio releases anyway. So much creativity and blending of genres to make something truly unique and interesting it just makes me yearn for an era of gaming long behind us.

If square was really wanting to go the remake route with some of its classics, they really should consider Parasite Eve as a contender in a possible future remake.

youtube where am i

"Aya Brea is too good of a character to be left in the PS1" Nomura: Brings her back and completely annihilate her character

I LOVED Parasite Eve. Second one was pretty good too. I'd love to see a third one day.

I think that if Capcom owned it, we would already have a full remake if not another full new story.

I always felt the museum was a great choice for the last stage in PE1. Such a good setting to go with a game about evolution of beings from prehistoric era. A fantastic video! I'll check out more!

One of the things I miss in games nowadays are the detailed and vivid descriptions of the environments. This is one thing I will remember forever: in PE 2 when you get to Ark there is a place with a lot of cages. The cages contain monkeys that were experimented on, and every single one has a different description. Ones I remember particularly well were one where a monkeys eyeballs popped out of their sockets and he is eating them, and one whose brain was exposed, dripping blood because he was scratching it constantly. Those are just some throwaway lines of dialogue, but are still better horror than 95% of the stuff that comes out today.

My god Square was amazing in the late 90s. I loved just about everything they made.

The good ole days when literally everything that came out of SquareSoft was straight fire. Now, we'd be lucky if we get anything a quarter as good as what it used to be.

I fell asleep watching RU-vid a week ago and in my dream I heard this video playing and I was a little freaked out lol. When I woke up I watched the movie and started taking an interest in the games. I found a franchise I like from falling asleep with RU-vid on. Thank you!

4 hours of my life I'll never get back... and I wish I could give you again. This is a banger of a retrospective and had me hooked from the first second. Top tier production.

Rare to find a reviewer who takes the time to really understand why PE2 stands on its own. This is good shit man.

bro i fell asleep to this wdf is happening

There was a girl at my high school who looked EXACTLY like Aya Brea (the game, not the film) and every time I saw her walk by, I liked to imagine there was some mitochondrial monster roaming the halls.

absolutely fantastic video. the fact that you didn't just list off the synopsis of the plot and give a list of gameplay features, but actually gave us the history of the series and contextualized various things about each game made this such an enjoyable watch. can't wait for your next video!

Really sorry to hear about your bout of surgery and very glad to see you are doing better. I remember watching my cousin play the opening to Parasite Eve 1 and the opening stayed with to this day, though I could never remember what it was, so thank you for this deep dive into its history. The tale of the 3rd Birthday actually really annoyed me, as they seemed to entirely miss the concept of their own idea and just utterly ruin one of the rare examples of a female video game character done right, smart, strong, willing to fight her corner and clearly professional, it's a shame she was reduced to KH character waiting to be saved by the big strong hero, or being manipulated and salivated over.

These retrospective series are the best thing I found on RU-vid in a long time! Love the documentary format they are presented in with so much additional information. Well done, sir. Very well done!

Thanks for this phenomenal review. I was a young child watching my dad play, dino crisis, resident evil and parasite eve. He passed two years ago but man this brought back so much nostalgia. Also the breakdown was top tier.

Parasite eve 2 is my favourite game on the PS1, great story, great graphics, loved the battle system, and it’s replay ability is fantastic.

Glad to see someone actually reviewing Parasite Eve 2 for its own merits, it's a great game but usually underated just for being different to the first game.

I keep falling asleep with RU-vid on auto play and this is probably the 10th time I've woke up to find this video played all the way through again.

Let's not give up hope. There is always hope Parasite Eve and Aya will get the revival she deserves.

Oh ho!! I've been waiting for this one! Just finishing up the very depressing (but amazingly made) Prince of Persia video. This is my new favorite channel!

the way the third game treated Aya in the attempt to explore the character honestly reminds me of how Metroid Other M ended up. Hell, both came out the same year.

I haven't played any of the series you've done retrospectives on but the level of effort and presentation are incredible. They keep me engaged the entire time. Incorporating information about the various developers and designers makes it really feel like a narrative of the franchise rather than just reviewing games.

The cinematic cutscene/camera in Parasite Eve 2's opening was also done in Final Fantasy 8 (the scene where the 2 gardens battle it out)

If Parasite Eve gets a good remake it will be due to great videos like this putting it in the spotlight.

Parasite Eve (sans 3) was one of the defining games of my childhood. I definitely played the game too young (8/9 on a PS1 demo disc, then for some reason my parents BOUGHT it for me) so it left a huge mark on my psyche. Loved 1 and 2 so much even if they were such different games

Your style of presentation and thorough critique of each series intrigues me so much I've even watched a couple of your videos of game series I've never played before (Jade Empire and Dino Crisis). You go into so much detail and provide examples without pointless tangents padding the runtime. Keep up the excellent work! And you, IFAVG, I will watch your channel with great interest.

I'll never forget the despair I felt when symbiogenesis true identity was revealed, this series is one of my fondest memories and it deserved so much better. That said, I think you're right, loving and remembering PE for what it is and was, rather than the timeline we never got is the best thing we can do for it.

Parasite steve - the flatmate who eats your food

Aya's characterization in 3rd birthday really gives me Other M vibes...

Damn. these long videos are insanely well done. Takes me weeks to listen to each one all the way through but it's amazing. Keep up the great work.

I knew the final boss of PE2 was a nightmare and this video confirmed it. One of the toughest fights I´ve encountered in any video game I´ve ever played; so hard, that I could never beat it. Still haunts me after all these years.

Nowadays I often only listen to videos as I'm doing something else on the background, but in your case, I can't help but stay glued to the screen. It's almost visible the passion you have not only for the work you put into your videos but also the franchises you talk about here; Panzer Dragoon being another that I honestly loved watching through as well. It's so refreshing to see someone in this day and age not chasing trends and delivering such amazing and emotional videos on this platform. You have my thanks for that

guys who does best long reviews did my favorite game series ever. Thank you! Also I hope you get fast recovery.

The way you explaining franchise of this game from the novel until spin off with no stone unturned really fascinate me. And your opinion is also just and fair. Consider me as one your fan and waiting for your other essay video man.

Great video! Glad to see such in-depth content on some of the PlayStation's finest games. This video seems to have a lot of comments so someone has probably told you this already but Brahman's beam attack is actually avoidable if you keep moving around the area clockwise or counter-clockwise the entire time except when you are shooting. Brahman rotates slightly slower than Aya's movement speed so as long as it is not facing you directly when it starts charging the beam you should be able to avoid it.

The best I thing I can say about the ending of 3rd is that it effectively recontextualizes Aya's stark change in personality. The worst thing I can say is that all of that clothes ripping absurdity and gross leering has been targeted at a ten year old girl trapped in an adult woman's body. What on earth were they thinking.

As a cellular biologist, the book's focus on the lab work was interesting to me because of its accuracy but the line about the actin cable literally made me laugh out loud while reading it. The stuff I couldnt stand and ended up literally skipping was all of the academic and college topics. That actin line though lmao.

As someone born in the late 90s, i missed out on a lot of these early Square games. I had only really heard the name in passing over the years and had no knowledge of the game play or story. I'll definitely be giving this a playthrough now. This video really peaked my interest in the series and I hope that it can see the light of day again.

I have heard that the scripts of Parasite Eve and Xenogears were drafted for FF7. When they got rejected, they were given approval to be made into their own games. This video suddenly clicked with me that Jenova is very similar to Eve. A foreign alien that corrupted and altered genetics of the animals and humans of the planet. The idea that Jenova's cell were put into humans for experiments to create the ultimate being, hence Sephiroth. Perhaps Parasite Eve novel influence FF7 more than we realized.

Holy shit, the entirety of that Parasite Eve II explanation felt like an extended "but wait, there's more" bit

You can see Eve is smiling as she melts, knowing the failsafe and the Ultimate Being will clean up what’s left.

The most unrealistic part of the first Parasite Eve game is the NYPD being portrayed as competent

I've watched many PE retrospectives, as I enjoy seeing different perspectives on my favorite game franchise, and I have to comment to say this BY FAR is the most comprehensive and detailed analysis I've seen. Truly deserving of the absurd number of views for a Parasite Eve video. Thank you for your hard work. Also chiming in to say if you have not heard of RetroAchievements, look it up! I recently did a 100% achievements run of PE2 and it was such a fun and daunting experience. Going to tackle PE1's achievements soon.

I love PE 1, and I play it every year for Christmas. I'd love to see more PE, but I don't trust Square currently to make a good one.

Mate I just want you to know how much I appreciate your hard work. Despite the health issues, which I'm grateful you got over, you were still able to produce top quality content as always. Thank you for everything you do!

The sheer amount of time and effort you've put into this retrospective is awe inspiring and I enjoyed every moment of the journey into these nostalgic games, and came to appreciate the series even more with your analysis. Thank you!

what a beautifully made video. the work put into this clearly shows. i threw it on as background noise but was immediately drawn into it and ended up watching the whole thing. great work and this channel will be my new obsession i cant wait to dive into old videos and eagerly await what new amazing content you will put out.

I've heard about this series a ton of times but I always assumed it was 'Parasite Eve' like 'Christmas Eve' but it turns out to be a much more interesting title. Fantastic video as always, appreciate the work a ton.

This is one of my favorite channels on the RU-vid. Thanks a million Youfinishedavideogame !

im so glad you pointed out how tetsuya nomura, motomu toriyama, and hajime tabata may have been given a little too much creative freedom coupled with square enix’s money hungry tactics as of late… I wish square enix wouldn’t be too scared to innovate again. Parasite Eve 1 was a fun innovative experiment and we need more games willing to take some risks.

The immense effort and wonderful delivery of this entire video is truly impressive. Thank you so much for what you do!

It’s genuinely unbelievable that Nomura is still writing.

And here I thought only Nomura wrote stories like an angsty 12 year old that just found his father's Hustler magazine. Seems he has allies in the company.

This is a gem to find! So mamy memories brought back watching this and your attention to detail is refreshing. Thanks for posting!

These videos are SO good my dude. You are on another level!

Pe is one of my favourite psx games. It was so amazing when I was a kid.. No wonder I fell deeply in love with square.

I'm so glad this video was recommended to me, especially when not many people talk about Parasite Eve. EVERY POINT you made (from the good and bad ones) earned a 'HELL YEAH!' from me. I'll likely rewatch all 3:53 hours of this again during my next art sessions lol, since hearing you address each games felt therapeutic to me. I was so upset with the Third Birthday and, for the longest time, felt I was completely alone since so many Nomura stans were willing to forgive it. It's disgusting what they did to Maeda, especially when you read the emails and in-game details (from Maeda installing a roofless shower to allow him to watch Aya while she showered, to acting like Dr. Hojo when he discussed Aya's biological insides to an unknown email recipient). "...overly complex try nonsense..." - This really is Nomura in a nutshell. He overcomplicates things - a telltale sign of an inexperienced writer who doesn't have faith in their story/skills as a writer (and therefore has a need to cram a lot of shit into that story to make it sound more 'interesting'). But I think Nomura's worst offense (and why Third Birthday was doomed from the start) comes from his bad habit of prioritizing Style over Substance. I remember all the interviews leading up to 'The Third Birthday' release. This all began purely as an aesthetic-based experiment; Nomura had this cool visionary image in his head of seeing Aya in a wedding dress, ala 'Kill Bill' style (no surprise since Kill Bill was all the rage back then). You can see this 'concept' in The Third Birthday's initial teaser trailer, btw (featuring Aya in that wedding dress shooting SWAT members down). Like in Kingdom Heart 1's secret ending, though, Nomura had no fucking game plan. He just liked how 'cool' it all looked in his head. This is why the Third Birthday (along with a majority of Nomura's recent works) feel forced, out-of-place, and unnecessarily complex. He works BACKWARDS. He builds his story AROUND the 'cool image' he sees in his head rather than write a story that naturally leads up to it. And because Nomura isn't as experienced of a writer as people think he is, he repeatedly has to resort to tropes he's used in the past for the story. For instance, there is always some sort of time-parallel/time-travel nonsense inserted in the plot (something we're seeing with the FF7 Remake). And there are ALWAYS two fractions related to the human psyche involved in the conflict. In Kingdom Hearts, it's the Shadow and Heartless. In Third Birthday, it's Twisted and High Ones. And now in FF7 Remake, it's the Whisperers and Harbingers. I honestly feel Nomura was given too much on his shoulders too soon. I also feel this man has no sense of recognizing his personal limits until it's too late AND easily checks out when he's no longer 'inspired' by the project (hence, why he takes on so many projects, only to flake out and dump the responsibility on someone else). I'm so tired of seeing Nomura stans defend him because we're seeing this same shit literally play out with the FF7 Remake. Nomura has taken this story so far out, the development team now has to do DOUBLE the work in both adapting the original material AND implementing the new changes. Nomura literally is the equivalent of J.J. Abrams. Both men are talented. But they're also obsessed with the Concept more than the Execution of their respective stories.

Deep bruh, deep. You’ve done lots of work & research on this, and it shows very well. Amazing work, keep on keeping on.

Having watched and enjoyed all your videos multiple times, I think I can call this one your definitive work so far. Your analysis of the franchise across multiple mediums is just brilliant and you awaken a huge desire in me to not only go back and play the games once more but to see the original film for the first time.

Just got done cleaning my house, got 4 hours till anyone's home - absolutely perfect time for this to drop

Thank you so much for this. I've only recently found your channel and after Dino Crisis I thought "oh I wonder what he thinks about Parasite Eve"... Cheers!

Using mitochondrial powers to manifest "Parasite Eve Remake" ✨🙌✨

I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed this whole video. This started auto playing after I finished an episode of Dropped Frames and after letting it play on for about 5 minutes, I was hooked. I’ve never played Parasite Eve, and hadn’t really known what it was before seeing this. Your style, delivery, and thoroughness made this something I just wanted to keep watching. This is essentially what I feel is what I would get if the History channel had well produced and well written series on video games. I love what you did with this and admire the effort and passion it must have required to create this mitochondrial monster of a video. I will definitely be checking out your other stuff.

I bought the Third Birthday when it came out and got frustrated with the gameplay. I told myself I would go back to it when I had time and that was 13 years ago. Thank you for closing this permanently open sidequest I've had in my life.

Parasite Eve (along with Metal Gear Solid) was one of the first games I saw that had more of a cinematic feel and deep story, where it felt like it would be the start of a big series. I love how you manage to pick these series that are just in my line of interest. I actually picked up Alpha Protocol for the first time because of your video! Love seeing these long deep dives!

this is such an amazing video, its full of effort and passion and honestly, it convinced me to get into this series

I have been a very long-time fan of Parasite Eve and recently bought a retro handheld to replay all my old favorites and this series was one of them. I want to thank you for making such a great video on the series. I enjoyed every minute of it.

They could've fix the issues with slow walking speed by possibly only adding a run button when you're NOT in battle. It would probably seem odd that she magically loses the ability in battle but itd probably be worth whatever damage to immersion that causes. Fantastic video essay as always, I can't wait to watch all of it

Man, I’d be super curious to hear a critique on the whimper of a game, which is “Left Alive”. I feel like you’d have more to say about it than anyone could possibly expect!

This series got blessed by so many talented composers

Man, your writing and the structuring of your videos are so damn good. Keep it up! You just got a new subscriber. Can’t wait to see more of your work!

There's always poison in the ink whenever Nomura is involved, I've learned to stay far away from any videogame where he has any involvement in character writing or storytelling

Im hoping to one day see a retrospective about the legacy of kain from you. Your vids are just great.

I had no clue about this series until I watched this video. You explained these characters and this world in such an engaging way. I feel as though I have nostalgic for this series, even though I haven't played a single game. Amazing video, keep up the good work.