RF Generation Message Board

You voted on it, and you got it. Join us starting February 1st for the survival horror Parasite Eve. Check points will be posted once we begin.

CHECKPOINT #1 - Take a carriage ride in the park with Eve. Stop and save after long, dramatic cut-scene - Day 3 - "Selection". (approx. playtime - 2.5-3 hours)

CHECKPOINT #2 - Play up through Day 4 and save at the Day 5: Evolution title screen. (approx. playtime - 2.5-3 hours)

CHECKPOINT #3 - On Day 5, play through Chinatown first and then complete the Warehouse. Save at the police station before entering the Museum. (approx. playtime - 1.5-2 hours)

CHECKPOINT #4 - Finish Day 5 by starting at the library. Continue through Day 6 and finish the game. Good luck!

Participants:
Fleach
singlebanana
EngineerMike
techwizard
GrayGhost81
Disposed Hero
Raidou
SirPsycho
Stigzilla
JerryGreenwood
Crabmaster2000

Achievements:
- Obtain the "Junk" gun
- Defeat optional warehouse boss (Day 5)
- Unlock and beat EX Game mode for true ending

Sign me up for this one. Very exciting to play this.

Sign me up too. Will try my best to follow through for the whole month.

i'll give this one a shot! count me in

Put me on the list please. I'm going to either juggle Kingdom Hearts and this game or finish KH and jump ship to the retro side. I've been wanting to play this game for years, and I recently acquired a minty nice copy from our friend Disposed Hero in a trade.

Obviously I'm in on this one.  I really enjoyed this game and haven't played it in a really long time, so I've been wanting to revisit it.

I'm down for this.

I purchased this when buying stuff from the US was cheap(ish), and I would play it late at night with the lights off and a can of booze.  Stopped playing around chapter 5 and I don't recall why.

Player list update. Looking forward to this. :)

I'm going to join in on this, I actually own this game after all and need to play it.

I'm in to play this one, though I'll see what kind of progress can actually be made, since I'll be only playing it on weekends when I go to a friend's.

Awesome! Glad to have you aboard.

I'm in. New title for me  :)

Checkpoint #1 is up boys and girls. :)

finished the first checkpoint already! some creepy stuff but it's all pretty interesting so far, and the gameplay is good (though difficult on the bosses).

So far done Day One, and man, this game sucks you in in the first 15 mins.

Glad to know that people are progressing through the game well. About how long did it take you techwizard?

I played all the way up to the first checkpoint on Saturday.  Took about 2-2.5 hours.  I wanted to keep going but decided I'd hold off until next week and get started on Kingdom Hearts.

I'm glad to say that this is definitely not one of those games that I remember fondly but doesn't hold up so well today.  I'm enjoying it just as much now as I did when it was first released.  I like that the battle system requires both "twitch" skills and strategy.  The soundtrack is awesome too.

I'm also pretty sure that Daniel = Danny Glover

Played up to the beginning of Day 2. I think it took about an hour because I didn't realize that objects that look like you can't interact with are the exact things you need to examining.

So far the game is off to a great start! I'm enjoying the battle system and look forward to seeing the story evolve.

Planning on getting some time in on the game tonight.......after the Bachelor..........don't judge me, I'm married.......

The sacrifices one makes to maintain a happy marriage. ;)

She lets me buy video games and have pinball machines. I can't complain. Also got to do a little pre-Bachelor gaming while she put down the kids.

Made it to the first save point tonight and realized that my off-brand PSX memory card would not format... Regardless, I decided to press on a bit to get a better handle on the gameplay and mechanics. I finished the first story and made it to the beginning of Christmas Day. I'm really enjoying it so far and it will take no time to get back to Part 2. I know my local store has licensed cards, so I should be back in the saddle in no time.

Any readers out there? Parasite Eve was originally released as a novel and adapted into two manga books as well as a film. The game is sequel to the events of the book.

Parasite Eve (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasite_Eve)

Movie (http://www.gooddrama.net/japanese-movie/parasite-eve-1997)

oh right i meant to recommend singlebanana include those in the original post, interesting that the game is a sequel to the book.

also it took me 2 hours 31 minutes to get to the start of day 3, so good estimate on the time there.

Would have been pretty neat to read the original book while playing the game this month. Oh well, hindsight.

Beat Eve in around 2.5hrs, then the disc wouldn't load to Day 3.  I'll try again tomorrow :(

Just a thought, but doesn't it seem odd that there is so much ammo lying around the opera house? Apparently mutated rats are known to frequently have it on their person as well. :)

Well I'm snowed in, so I'll start this up here in a bit.

There should have been a save point right before that  battle Raidou. Hopefully you saved there, since Eve isn't all that difficult it should be easy to pick up close to where you left off.

Yeah, I saved there, and Eve gave me no trouble.  More worried this means my disc is failing (took 2 attempts to load my save file, cut scenes during battle were choppy) or worse- my PS1 is remembering that it's supposed to be region locked!

UPDATE:  Finally got to Day 3.  The battle was even easier the second time around, but it took 6 attempts to start the game up properly.

Wow, I never knew about that.  I'm not much of a reader, but I'll probably try to at least find a summary of the novel.  Might have to check out the movie too if it has English subtitles.

So I purchased a memory card yesterday, played through to the second day while saving along the way. Read my kids some bedtime stories, can back and turned my game on, and the saves were faulty......... I ended up taking my PSOne with LCD screen and played downstairs last night until I got back to the Central Park entrance. This is literally the 3rd time I've played Day 1. I'm not sure what the issue is with saving on my PS2 with a PS1 memory card, but it really doesn't want to cooperate. I'm going to hook up the PSOne to my TV tonight or tomorrow and push through.

Expect the Week 2 goal on Friday. Since the month ends on a Friday, the 28th, I'll set it up so that we finish in 4 weeks. Excited to hear what people think about the game after the first week.

MITOCHONDRIA DON'T WORK THIS WAY!

I sure this game screwed up a lot of Biology grades.

I beat Day 2. The gameplay is pretty fun so far and the strategy is pretty simple. Just run away from enemies, let them attack, dodge it, them shoot them in the face. Upgrading weapons and armor seems like a cool system of customization, but I've only found Defense+ items for my armor. The last boss dropped a bunch of them so I'm saving them for the Day 3 armor. Been using the ever trusty M16A1.

Yes. The movie is subtitled.

And Rich is right about the bad biology stuff in this game. Maybe med school drop outs were on the consulting team?

Finished Day 2 tonight in 2 hours 1 minute. Guess all those redos made me quicker. So far I've found a ton of mods and tools, but I have yet to use any, just storing them since my M16 seems to be effective. Anyone know if there is a strategy to save them and do a big modification at the end? Just curious for those who have played before.

i'm playing the opposite way, using things pretty much right away. we'll have to see how it pans out with the different style of play.

Same here.  I just don't have enough inventory space to hold on to everything.

It's all about ditching the unimportant things. Like meds. :)

I'm playing the middle ground here. I keep a weapon I like, and tweak certain things eventually.

Might put more time into the game over the weekend. I'm not too far from the first checkpoint so I doubt I'll lag behind everyone.

Yeah, I've had to resort to that.  They're not really necessary when you have healing powers.  I've been trying to keep the 'junk' items since I read you can unlock some special items if you collect enough of them.

Wow, really? I'll have to look into that.

I do know that you have to play through the game a second time to get to the "final battle." I thought that might be too much of a push for the playthrough, especially since a lot of people really wanted to play both games this month.

Really?  I had no idea.  I might actually do that once I finish this playthrough.

Yeah, Rich is right. Once you beat the game you unlock a new mode called EX Game.

http://shrines.rpgclassics.com/psx/pe/exgame.shtml

Ah, I knew the EX mode was essentially the New Game+, but didn't know about the extra 'dungeon' area and the proper final boss fight.

I'll add achievements, beat EX Game and obtain "junk" gun. Of course I think it would be cool for people to get the real ending, but I also want to be able to discuss the game as we play through it together and prefer that people don't play ahead. Maybe some of you can go back after the month is over.

No problem, I'll wait until March to do the second playthrough.  It's probably better that way since I'm also playing Kingdom Hearts this month.

There's an optional Warehouse area that is accessible at the start of Day 5.  Not sure if it's really achievement material, but I figured some here would like to know about it.  It's missable, and I believe there's some good loot inside.

I'll read up on it. Thanks.

Optional boss in Warehouse on Day 5. Added to achievements.

Checkpoint #2 is up. :) Let's talk about the game so far. Thoughts?

Hard to really discuss the plot having only played up to Day 2 (I'll play some more tonight or tomorrow), but I like the twist on biological science the game takes on. I'm reminded of movies like The Andromeda Strain which I really enjoyed.

I like the action and combat which are more hands-on than Final Fantasy, but use a similar waiting/turn based approach.

Yeah, the combat style is interesting for sure. I do like it, and appreciate the various screens for combat. Some are tougher than others and I do get a little agitated at times when the enemies are large and the space is tight. There seems to be a different strategy for the different enemies, so that's a really nice touch.

I LOVE the cut-scenes on this game. They are really detailed for such an early system and make New York come to life. It's too bad I didn't know this game was set around Christmas or we would have played it around then. Probably best that we are playing it now though, since something so involved is really tough around the holidays.

I'm still a little stumped about the weapon upgrades at this point and actually haven't done any. There is kind of a quick description, but it's not very detailed.

Just got my Parasite Eve copy, gunna start it tonight. I've heard great things and looking forward to the fun!

ARGH I've wanted to play this but with my internship I don't think I'll have the time :P

I think we are actually ahead of schedule on the game, and it doesn't appear to be that long. It would be pretty easy to catch up at this point. Lots of dialogue and mediocre action so far.

Mediocre? I really like the action in this game.

What I mean is that there seems to be an ample amount of cutscenes and dialogue in ratio to the action. Just wish there was a bit more action. The gameplay is great, that just kind of came out wrong.

So I went ahead and started on the next chunk of the game and have already hit checkpoint 2.  Took about another 2.5 hours, bringing my total game time so far to right around 5 hours.

I found out that any upgrades you give to weapons or armor can be carried over to new ones by using a tool and adding the stats in the 'Plus' column to the new weapon.  Since any weapon upgrades get added to the 'Plus' stats, you can essentially carry these upgrades over from weapon to weapon.  Pretty nice, and eliminates feeling like you need to stock up on upgrades to add to your endgame weapons.

Also wanted to add a tip that should help some from having to replay a certain boss fight.  Not really a spoiler, but I'll put it in spoiler tags anyway:

Spoiler (hover to show)

Immediately after the boss fight at the end of Day 4, you're told you need to leave the area quickly.  Most people (including myself) usually end up trying to run to the top area of the screen, which results in a game over and having to start from the last save point.  You actually have to run to the bottom left area of the screen.

I too have already made to to Day 5 after playing last night and a little today. I have to say that I am really enjoying the game and the boss fights have gotten a bit more complex and fun. I've longed a little less than 4'45" so far and still haven't done any weapon upgrades. Ha!

One thing I really like about this game are the weapons. I'm a little partial to range over power and number of bullets, since it gives me a better chance to be mobile and fire further from enemies. Rifles fire a little slower, but knowing the enemies and firing at the right time is key.

Range also effects damage- shooting from point blank seems to do more damage than from further away.

@Disposed Hero: Yeah, it took me 3 attempts to avoid that trap (last time I played)!

the manual explains that and also adds that shooting up close increases the chances for a critical hit

Whew! After reading this, it seems I just got lucky.

Hey Retro buddies! I finished KH on the modern side and am going to start PE tomorrow night. Is anyone playing on PS3? I'd like to but I want to make sure there are not any bugs/glitches, as there sometimes are with PS1 discs in a PS3. A quick google search didn't turn up anything, so I think I'm safe.

I can't wait. I've always wanted to play this game!

Are you using the original game on the backwards compatible PS3, or the downloaded version? Either way, I doubt you'll encounter detrimental bugs or glitches.

I'll be using the actual PS1 disc in a PS3.

I'm playing my disc on my PS3. No problems so far. Virtual Memory cards ftw!

Fleach. All PS3s are backwards compatible with PS1 discs. They only removed PS2 emulation.

Awesome! Glad to have you Ghost.

Really? I thought the original PS3 was the only one that played Playstation games.

Yes. I only have an 80GB Slim model and its played every PS1 disc I've tried. PS1 emulation is software based, and the PSOne Classics would not work without it (outside of a full port). The PS2 emulation they got rid of is hardware based. It was basically a PS2 on a chip inside of the launch models.

been watching my friend (Stigzilla) play it this weekend and there's been no problems that i've noticed. the only thing is if you're playing on an LCD with the PS3 it adds black bars to the left and right to keep the aspect ratio of the original. which is good but at the same time a little annoying, if you were to play it on the PS2 it stretches to fill the screen which i kind of prefer.

If you hit the PS button on the controller you can change it to stretch to fill the screen, as well as check out some other cool options. I also enjoy that stretched out mega-pixely look ;)

Got up to Day 2 last night. Not a lot to complain about.

I love the battle system, I usually don't care about stories, but it grasped me in the first minute and I'll actually pay attention to it, and I really like the setting and atmosphere.

I also like the difficulty. I've died 3 times and it doesn't hold your hand with a checkpoint every other screen and items don't have a neon sign indicating that you can pick it up. (But I guess the coddling of gamers really started after the PS1.

I've heard from a few people, but how is everyone else coming along in the playthrough this week?

I started the game tonight and got through the first day and started the second. Even though I'm not that far in, I love the combat system. I can't wait to play further tomorrow and I'm going to have to really be careful not to blow through this title, I'm eating it up already!

I never played RPGs until about two years ago, and this game always intimidated me, even in my PS1 glory days. I didn't play RPGs, and a Horror/RPG hybrid was so intimidating to me! Even so, it had a mystique that made me always want to play it.

So just think, in 2014 that we can take a game from 1998 that sets out to blend Survival Horror and RPG elements on the PS1. The chances of it being near-unplayable were high in my mind. But I'm finding out just like you guys that this game hold up amazingly well.

If only it weren't so unintentionally funny it would almost live up to that mystique that scared me away from it in high school. Oh my, those pre-rendered cut scenes!

I like the cutscenes actually but what makes me laugh is the way everyone walks

I'm surprised to find out you've only been playing RPG's for only a couple years, Ghost. You have a great knowledge of the games and the developers I assumed you were a long-time fan.

I'm a Square fanatic so any game they make will never look dated in my eyes. I love how they do new things with every game they release.

I'm playing ahead of course since I am working out the checkpoints in advance. I will say this, the game is good at the beginning, and it gets even better as you move through it. I finally started modifying my gear on Day 5.....holy hell I'm packing some heat now! Just a heads up that next weeks checkpoint will be a little shorter and should allow for some of you to catch up.

Thanks. Although I avoided the genre for so long I dove in head first and have been obsessed ever since.

I saw you guys were talking about which items to keep and which to ditch. Is there any reason to keep old weapons or armor when you get new ones? Yes I would store them at the station whenever possible but in a pinch I think I already discarded the first gun and vest. I like the idea of not lugging around medkits either, the PE cure power is sufficient it seems.

Looks like we might have a snow day tomorrow here in Satan's Butthole (Northern NJ) so I should be able to catch up.

In addition to which items should be kept, is "Junk" worth keeping? I have the Tool sub-menu, but haven't spent much time modifying my items and weapons.

YES! You need to keep your weapons and vests in storage. Using the "Tool" you can move attributes from one weapon/vest to another, but once you move that attribute, the weapon you removed it from will go away.  I suggest saving before making any upgrades just in case you have an issue with making these changes. When using the "Tool," you have 2 options: (1) transfer the stats to another weapon/vest, or (2) transfer one "special" attribute (burst, add poison, resist slow/poison, etc.) to another weapon/vest. Once you transfer stats or an attribute, the weapon/vest will go away and you will not be able to transfer the other, so plan out your upgrades and reset from save if you screw up.


Personally, I do not keep "Junk," but it does have a purpose in the game. See below if you so choose:

Spoiler (hover to show)

Junk can be turned in with Wayne at the police station. Once you have turned in 300 junk, you will receive the "ultimate weapon," which is basically a choice between a really good rifle, machine gun, pistol, etc. There is really no way to get 300 junk in the course of playing the game, so there is really no reason to keep it over other more essential items. However, there is a way to farm Junk, which you can seek out on YouTube if interested. Hope this helps.

I finished off Batman Arkham Origins a couple days ago so I decided to pop in Parasite Eve and see if I could play catch up with you guys. Didn't make it very far, but I'm liking it very much from the get go. Very dark!!!

Nice Crabby! Glad to have you along.

Spent a lot of time with the game this morning (snow day!). Made it to day four. Really loved the Central Park stuff, especially the battle on the horse carriage. How awesome was that?

Banana, thanks for the heads up re: gear tune-ups. I think I have the hang of it now. Really leaning on the M16 still and using most of my tools to make my armor better. Seems to be working well.

Taking a little break but I have nothing but time on my hands so I'm sure to take another nice chunk out of the game in a few hours from now.

Day 3 is kicking my butt. Any tips? It's really the tight spaces that are forcing me to take damage from enemies.

EDIT

I found a save point after the spiders which helps restart the level when i get a game over, but the boss is still giving me trouble.

I read some walkthroughs and they all say that enemies should be dropping good restoritive items, but I haven't had such luck.

Are you using your PE heals?

Also, make use of Barrier and Charge Shot on the boss.

Never used either if those PEs, but Haste is essential since I removes Slow and helps you avoid attacks better.

Checkpoinit #3 is up. I decided to dial it back a little this week for a few reasons. (1) If you are caught up, we are making really good progress through the game and I didn't want the remainder to be too short, (2) if you are behind, this is a good time to catch up and end the game with the rest of us, and (3) there isn't really a good midway point for us to save in the final area.

I know that I originally included the extra area, the Warehouse, as an optional achievement. However, this area is really short, it has some great items, a fun boss fight, and will help increase your level in preparation for the last area. BE SURE that you go to Chinatown before entering the Warehouse. You will need the extra levels and gear to survive the latter. I have heard of people getting stuck in the Warehouse for this reason.

Anyway, good luck this week and if you have any questions regarding the playthrough or any areas that you are having trouble with, let me know.

Weapon Upgrade Hint (if you so choose to look at it):

Spoiler (hover to show)

There is a weapon feature called "Burst" you can pull off of the the shotgun you find in a chest only a few screens into the sewer that allows you to hit multiple enemies in a spread area with one shot. If you have trouble locating this, let me know. It makes the game much easier.

Just finished Day 4. The hospital was awesome. Damn, this whole game is flippin' awesome. I feel like I'm really keyed in as far as the tune-up system and my Aya is a tank right now (I didn't really grind at all, I promise!).

Handled the boss on top of the hospital rather easily. Then for a split second I had a moment of "Oh shit! Where am I supposed to go??" Then I remembered Disposed Hero's advice and went the right way. One of the many reasons these group playthroughs are so great.

Also, is it just me, or don't you love when Aya does this at the end of a battle? So triumphantly badass.

[img width=700 height=393]http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h32/grayghost81/IMG_20140215_083701_115_zpsedb78a49.jpg[/img] (http://s60.photobucket.com/user/grayghost81/media/IMG_20140215_083701_115_zpsedb78a49.jpg.html)

I'm glad that tip helped somebody out.  I actually quit playing this game back when it first came out (I was about 11 or 12) because I couldn't get past that part.  I've always been so convinced that you're supposed to head to the stairs at the top of the screen.  Even during this playthrough, I did it again and got a game over.

Anyway, played a little more of this.  I'm right at the end of the Chinatown section.  I've gotta say, that sewer part was my least favorite part of the game so far.  Very bland and repetitive area with annoying enemies (damn those bats!).  Kind of a let down considering how awesome the game has been up to that point.

I think that the sewer is a little aggravating because it is the least linear part of the game. You're given a lot of freedom in this area and as a result, there is a bit of backtracking and repetitive encounters. The bats can be annoying, but there is usually enough room to move to avoid their beam. You can gain a really great ability off a weapon down there that can obliterate those bats. The boss battle down there is also a little lackluster compared to the others, but still a great game.

Hooray!

Whatever was affecting my PS1 seems to have resolved itself- no loading problems or jittery fmv playback.

Have just finished Day 3.  


UPDATE: So, up to Day 5 in the Sewer control room.

Made it to the current checkpoint. Got my ass handed to me by the boss of the warehouse, but I got through thanks to having two revives in stock. I hated to use them, but I had two more at the station.

Thank you Banana for the pro-tip of using the Burst attribute. It really does spread out the damage dealt.

Got up to day 3 yesterday. I thought I'd be a little further but it took me FOREVER to find the Zoo Key. Just one of those things I missed and I started to check the other areas and I was searching every bench and garbage can in Central Park.

I like how the fighting picked up in day 2. I still haven't upgraded my equipment much. I threw out my first gear set and I've only found 2 tools. I'm sure that will pick up soon too.

I'll put a big dent in it today.

Woke up at 3:30 and couldnt sleep this morning so I popped in Parasite Eve and made it to Day 2. Saved when you first enter the Museum right now.

Good to see everyone progressing. Stay with it and if you get stuck, don't be afraid to ask for tips. I actually finished it a few days ago, since I have to set up the checkpoints. It's good to the end and worth the time.

I got my first Game Over at the end of day 4 right after the boss fight. Kept running around like a ninny looking for the right place to go.

You haven't really been following this thread, have you? ;)

What levels are you guys by the time to finish the game?

I'm level 13 or 14 at the end of Day 3. I feel I need to be stronger for what lies ahead.

I've read anything over 30 is good for the end of the game, which I got to naturally without grinding. I've also read that after 35 (I think) the amount of XP required to level up jumps dramatically, so even though the level cap is actually 99 most people get stuck in the mid 30s.

I've been wondering, is anybody else using all of their BP on Active Time? I have and I don't regret it for a second. I haven't really missed the extra inventory slots and I'm typically ready to shoot again as soon as I pump off the first turn of shots.

I finished the game at Level 34 without any grinding. I actually never used my BP on active time and put all of it toward the attack of my end game weapon. ATK power ended up around 109.

I made it up to this week's checkpoint over the weekend.  I had a rough time with that Warehouse boss.  I wasn't aware that my armor had an effect that automatically uses healing items when my health gets low, so I blew through all of my healing items except for a couple of revives.


I've been splitting my BP between Active Time and Inventory slots.  I actually just added an effect to my current weapon (First strike?  something like that) that lets me start every battle with a full Active Time bar.

The first strike add-on is great and one of the 3 I used on my endgame weapon, this can be taken off the weapon found on the first screen before going into the Warehouse. I also used "burst" which has been talked about in previous posts (and was part of the last spoiler I posted, if you need to locate it) and is highly effective (especially on the Warehouse boss). The third add-on is from a weapon off a certain boss in the Museum (next section of playthrough). I won't give anything away here.

Here are some hints for the Warehouse boss if anyone needs them:

Spoiler (hover to show)

The crab boss in the warehouse is known as probably the most difficult in the game, but I think it is pretty easy if you have the right technique and weaponry. As I mentioned in a previous spoiler in this thread, there is a "Burst" add on that is essential for making your playthrough much easier. Find this in the sewer and attach it to your endgame weapon. The crab has 3 parts, the main body and claws and the burst will allow you to hit all of these parts at the same time. The crab moves in a counterclockwise fashion and the best way to defeat him is to keep up your "Haste" ability and run around with him staying close to his left (your right) claw. Standing beside this claw, you will not be hit by his bubble attack and only have to worry about his eye beams. You can outrun the eyebeams in haste once you figure out the pattern or just heal when needed. Take out the left claw first and then the right (if you use Burst, these will probably go away at the same time), then attack the body. Not a bad fight once you have it down. Good luck!

Yeah, I took your advice and added the Burst effect to my weapon also.

Do you remember what weapon and armor you ended up using as your endgame gear?  I looked at some weapon stats, and looks like the SG550 and G3A3 are the best rifles without having access to the Chrysler Building.  There are more powerful handguns, but I didn't want to sacrifice the range that a rifle offers.  I've been sticking with the SG550 and applying all my upgrades to that.

I used the G3A3 for endgame. I agree, range is super important in this game and so I also stuck with a rifle. I also prefer the single shot as it doesn't slow me up from moving quickly after the shot is fired. Saved all of my upgrades until Day 5 and then applied them. I believe I used the N Suit (can be found early in Museum, next section of playthrough) for endgame armor.

Been pacing myself out quite a bit for this game. Just got to day 5 this morning.

You're on a good pace then. As I said before, this week's playthrough is a little shorter and includes the optional Warehouse.

Just finished the game. I know, naughty boy. That's one of the perks of being a playthrough committee guy.

I'm not going to say anything about what's beyond the checkpoint for now.

I will leave this tip behind:

Spoiler (hover to show)

You will eventually get a spell called Liberate. Use it in boss battles. It is your friend...in a game-breaking way. Game-breaking almost to a point where all this talk about endgame weapons and armor and whatnot almost becomes moot.

I'll write more about this later in the month, but I just want to say I absolutely adored every minute of this game, and I'm so glad the community chose it and that I was able to visit the retro side of the fence to check out this masterpiece. Talk to ya'll later, enjoy the rest of the game!

Got it saved at the start of Day 3 now. The park was really creepy, really reminded me of Silent Hill with all the grey. I'm at level 14 right now Fleach so I'll see how this day goes since I'm at about the same level as yourself.

Glad you enjoyed the game GrayGhost. I think it's a pretty tough title to put down. I agree with your "spoiler" message and this will be something good to talk about later.

Nice work Crabby! Hope you are still enjoying it.

Yes, I am. I just started Day 4 and I don't have any problem with my inventory. I chuck all my Medicines and Cure P's, etc. and all my Junk goes to storage.

I haven't upgraded or modded too much of my stuff as I haven't had any trouble fighting since I died in Day 1. I'm assuming the Junk Gun is either hard to find or you need a lot of Junk and Tools and Mod Permits to get it, so I'm saving all that stuff just in case.

I've only found 1 Normal Trading Card and 0 Rare Trading Cards. Maybe it's coming up, maybe I missed some, just putting it out there.

I have a two questions that I'll hide here

Spoiler (hover to show)

1 - In Day 3 a dying cop gave me his locker key. I'm not sure if I found his stuff. The only thing I can think of is there was this room on the 3rd floor and there was a small door in a storage room that led to an armor (can't think of what it was called, but it had the highest defense so far). Did I find his locker/stuff? 2 - Maeda has given me 2 charms. What do they do?

Well I know the first one:

Spoiler (hover to show)

That locker key is for a locker in the locker room, far end of the room, opposite the door. You'll get a trading card that you can give to Wayne eventually.

As for the second question, I would also like to know the answer to that one.

In answer to your questions Mr. Greenwood...

Spoiler (hover to show)

The storage key opens the storage room at the end of the hall on the same floor as the weapons shop at the police station. The locker key opens a locker in the locker room on the main floor near the offices. It has a Trading Card in it, which it sounds like you probably found that. You should find more cards on Day 4. I'm not sure what the charms Maeda gives you do, but I put them in storage, except the last one I got Najirita(?) or something like that. I know that he gives you something special later in the Museum on Day 5, but not sure you have to have the charm to get it or not. Also I think rare trading cards are only on the second playthrough.

In response to question number two...

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I've read that the charms do absolutely nothing except take up inventory space

Good to know Disposed. I'm sure you're probably right, though that is rather unfortunate....... :( sad panda

Yay for gameplay discussion and using the spoiler tags. ;)

Damn Warehouse Boss! Going to come back to him after grinding out a bit at the museum.

Spoiler tag on page 7 with a strategy if you need it Mike. Good luck!

i think the charms are just there to hint at a love interest that Maeda has for Aya.

finally caught up to the end of the week 2 checkpoint, now onto week 3! should have that done tomorrow.

it just keeps getting better, i'm really happy i'm playing through this one finally. getting way more use out of the PE powers now (before i mostly just used the weapons). that hospital boss on the roof was really annoying though, i died once on it because i was unprepared, and the second time because i didn't know what to do during the cutscene that followed. what a stupid death that was, i looked up a walkthrough after the next attempt because i didn't want to go through it all over again over something that should have been so simple, they really don't give you a lot of time to explore at that point.

Roof boss hint:

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Trapped in webbing? Use Haste to instantly free yourself.

i managed to beat it eventually, but i agree that hint in the spoiler tags is really useful, used it a lot myself.

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Cure-M works too if you're low on PE but it's a poor second choice because it only brings you back to normal movement instead of speeding you up like haste does.

finished week 3! beat the optional warehouse boss i think, it was the

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giant crab boss

right?

That's the one.

Holy metal rocks, Batman, that was intense!!

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Have just beaten the Warehouse crab, and it cost me dearly!  All of my Medicine 3's and 2 Revives @ level 27.  

The crab is hits hard, but all of its attacks have a blind spot, so even when I expected to die (which was most of the fight) it never felt "cheap".

Back to the game, I just came in to confirm where the checkpoint is.

EDIT:

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The rocket launcher is awesome.

Is it possible to get more rockets, or is 18 all you get?

Oh, and yes, Burst was veeery helpful against the crab.

Yes, Raidou. If you completed Chinatown and the Warehouse, you have reached the checkpoint. Congrats! :)

Remember, you can pretty much spam medicine in the weapons arsenal at the police station. The back right corner has a chest that constantly refills. You will also get a bunch in the next area, as they drop often. Due to this and PE heals, you have no need to worry going into the end.

Also..........

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Never used the rocket launcher during my playthrough. Glad to know that it was effective. I think that a few items are around for the purpose of using in the more intense EX game (second playthrough) and this might be one of them.

Daaaammmmnnnn. I DID NOT KNOW THAT. Luckily, as hairy as things got during and immediately after the crab, I was able to pull through, but damn I wish I had known about this.

Ammo on the counter replinishes too, but I never found a need for more of it.

Ah, I knew about the ammo box, but not the medicine box.  Like others here, I'm pretty low on meds after the Warehouse boss, so it should come in handy.

While we're throwing out tips and tricks, I'm not sure if it has been mentioned yet but

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Your PE meter will refill faster if you change your armor in battle, so have a backup and just switch back and forth to unleash those PE powers!

didn't know that GrayGhost, will have to try it!

The final checkpoint is up. Good luck finishing the game!

i finished the game! what an epic finish, and some really creepy moments too. i have to agree with GrayGhost's earlier tip about

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liberate

that made most of the boss fights infinitely easier.

Awesome, so besides myself, techwizard, and GrayGhost, has anyone else finished?

I havn't had a chance to play again yet. Hoping to sneak in an hour or two tonight.

I finished Parasite Eve over the weekend.  I didn't find the game to be very difficult in the first place, but the endgame was very, very easy.  

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Using Liberate with the Two Commands weapon addon is ridiculously overpowered.

I'm probably gonna hold off on doing an EX mode playthrough, although I want to do it eventually.

Anyway, I'm really glad I finally got a chance to revisit this PS1 classic.  It still holds up really well today.

Awesome Disposed! Glad you finished it and I, like most others, agree that the endgame is not very difficult at all. I'm with you on the EX mode, I would like to do it sometime, but right now there is just too much ahead of me.

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beat the ultimate being. died in the boiler room.  

UPDATE:
Beat the game.  Hooray.  The final boss was great.  Died several times because I didn't know I could get Medicines from a sailor.

Technical problems aside, I really enjoyed this game.

Don't be embarrassed. I did the final battle three separate times because of silly screw ups on my part.

..for me it ended up being six (or thereabouts), but thanks for making me feel a little less sucky. :)

Glad you enjoyed it Raidou and yeah, we all had our moments in this game.

I've been stuck for a few days. I can't figure out how to get off the rooftop after defeating the boss. If I can't get it by tonight I'll check some spoiler posts.

Yes, it is in the spoiler posts. I would go ahead and check it, to avoid the aggrevation and get on with the game. Only a few days left on this one and I'll hope you'll finish.

Just figured it out my first try after that post. I also just figured out how tools work. I know it's not rocket science, but I was reluctant to mess around.

I will say this - it was confusing. I think the whole weapon system was poorly displayed.

*I wrote a big paragraph about the display, but it disappeared. I'll just bullet it.

- I don't like the transparent display. It made it difficult to see and understand the Added Effect slots. Imagine if Final Fantasy 7 did that with materia. Instead of designated slots for materia, it was just a blank canvas. Not good, just add a little grid or something.
- When moving parameters, the numbers are displayed in yellow, gray, or red. I don't know why they did this. Red means bad. I assumed red would hurt my weapon.

These are MINOR flaws, but it's a little sloppy and could've easily been avoided. I shouldn't be confused by a menu, especially due to graphical design. I'm not sure if anyone else felt this way, but I'm sure it threw other people off at some point.
,

I agree, the menu system is pretty confusing and there isn't a really good tutorial for how to use it. Once I got use to it, I didn't mind it at all, but it takes a little tinking with. I basically saved my game at the start of Day 5 and had a separate file for that save that I never wrote over/erased in case I screwed up my weapon adjustments. I also did this later when I upgraded my armor. I agree that it's a little "sloppy" and could be improved upon, but I think that the idea behind the upgrading is fairly complex and allows for great freedom, which I really think is a strong feature of this game.

I like the weapon/armor upgrading system quite a bit as it does allow for a lot of flexibility.  I think it's great that you can keep adding stat upgrades to your current weapon and then add those stats to a new weapon if you get something better.  The extra effects allow for a lot of customization also that can have a pretty big impact on your play style.

However, I do have to agree that the interface is pretty confusing when you're not familiar with it, and there's not much of a tutorial to explain it to you.  It requires some experimentation to get a firm grasp on the whole thing.

I hope I didn't come off as offensive to the game. It's very good and I'm happy to be playing it. That's why it's especially frustrating. If it were a bad game it would be expected. In a way, it's a compliment. I can't think of too much wrong in this game...a menu display bothers me the most.

if you have the original manual that helps with the menus, but otherwise tinkering is all you need to do. it probably wouldn't have been so bad for you if you experimented earlier on.

@raidou I died a lot on the final boss too, I agree that once you knew the patterns it was fairly easy, but I wouldn't say it was a "very easy" end fight, unless you had all over-leveled.

Not offensive at all. I think it's a valid concern with the game and others also probably feel that it's not very user-friendly as well. We all don't have to agree in our opinions for each game and the dialogue is what makes it intereseting, fun, and thought-provoking. I enjoy talking about the games in this way and ultimately, that is what we are doing these playthroughs for.


My original copy of the game did not have a back insert or a manual, so I'll be the first to admit that had the manual been there, it would have been easier. I bought a nice copy of the game a few weeks ago to replace my original, since this is a game I really enjoyed and wanted a good copy of. Cheap copy if someone knows anyone who wants it. ;)

I don't think that when people are saying that the ending is "very easy" that they are referring to the ease of a "normal" battle. If you check the spoilers, they are referring to a certain ability spam that does indeed make the battles very, very easy. If you don't use this ability, then yes, the fights are more challenging. I didn't use it myself because I didn't know what it did until after reading about it after I finished. Still, I didn't think the fights were overly difficult and this might be the result of overpowering my endgame weapon and armor (since all of my upgrades went to them).

Beat the warehouse boss this AM. Now messing around in the sewers.

Yep. I got caught up in trying to save my tools for the end of the game. Plus I didn't have any trouble defeating enemies, until those "spider crickets" in the warehouse.


I agree. But I tend to bring up the negatives more than I talk about the positives of a game. It may come off as I don't like a particular game or I'm being too harsh, but that's usually not the case.

Beat this yesterday, and managed to beat the Warehouse boss!

Congrats! Interested to hear your thoughts on the game.

Really awesome game, I loved every bit of it, and that paired with the ending (not the true ending) makes me want to get and play Parasite Eve 2.

Glad you liked it and I believe that is the consensus all around. Please note that PE2 is a very different game, much more survival horror than RPG. Be sure you watch some video before making that pricey purchase.

Oh, thanks for letting me know. I'm more interested in the story than I am worried about the gameplay, although I'm always excited by survival horror. :)

Finally beat it yesterday!

I was very impressed with the story. The whole time I was thinking 'this could be a movie.' Then I see during the (insanely long) credits that it was based on a book. Makes sense, it was a very smart story. "Humans are a parasite" blew my mind. I've never considered that we're all parasites and Earth is our host. It actually makes me feel ashamed that our race is such a drain the planet. What a powerful message.

Very quickly, I'd like to defend the 2 biggest complaints I've read about this game.

1) Too short - I had no problem with the length. It never got stale for me. It progressed smoothly. I'd rather have half-short and twice-strong than filler and fluff to make it longer. Plus, I still have another 15-20 hours in EX mode.

2) Lack of music - I think music in some places would really hurt the atmosphere. I thought they used music and silence in the appropriate places.

PS - If they do make a movie, Aya would be played by Kristen Bell (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Medium), Daniel by Reginal Vel Johnson (Family Matters, Die Hard), Eve by Kate Winslett (Titanic), Ben by Jaden Smith (Will Smith's Karate Kid), Navy Admiral by Ed Harris (the Navy guy in every movie).

Glad you finished and enjoyed it. Dig the casting. How appropriate for Oscar night. :)

Grrrr!! Tried to continue on playing tonight and I couldnt get the game to recognize my save data. Anyone playing on the PS3 have any troubles? I could load it up fine, go the continue screen, it would show that something was in slot 1 (or slot 2 if I reassigned the data), but it wouldnt let me select it. I really wanted to play some more tonight, but after messing around for 45 minutes and not being able to load my old game I give up :(

were you signed into the same PS3 account that you used when you originally made the file? when stigzilla was trying to load his file at first on my PS3, i'm pretty sure he accidently signed into my account at first and it did what you described, showed something in slot one but wouldn't load it.

Yeah I tried the other account on my system and had the exact same problem with it as well.

I had a problem loading the EX game. It says "Please load disc 1", but disc 1 is already in.

That sucks Crabby..... You really need to finish the game. It's worth it.

just remembered that while playing Final Fantasy XIII-2 i noticed a similarity in one of it's songs to some Parasite Eve music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTWPdcXm0Iw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LllKhVV1ELk&list=PL1ABF2EE23EC6F8F4