Played this recently, and I was shocked at how different PEII is from the first game:>Overhauls I’s gameplay into a RE style tank control game with RPG elements.>No returning characters other than Aya.>Drops the body horror for a more conventional military sci-fi thing.The visuals are amazing and really push the PS1 hardware. The first game does not look bad, and I actually prefer the art style of I, but II is on another level technically. The gameplay was very fun. I would love to see another RPG + Resident Evil hybrid, but I doubt that will ever happen.It feels like an Alien vs. Aliens situation, where the same basic idea gets given to different people who create very different end products. I found it disappointing as a sequel, but can appreciate it as its own thing and definitely enjoyed my time with it. That being said, I is just way more SOVLful. Eve is a better villain and New York during Christmas is a much more interesting setting.
>>12875295>II is on another level technicallyIt probably is, to this day, the most any game's made out of pre-rendered backgrounds. Everything is there, you have panning, mirror effects (glass or floor), FMVs embedded within the backgrounds, smoke, day/night variants + destroyed variants of backgrounds, particle effects, etc not to mention Aya having something to say about everything you can check in the backgrounds. They just did everything to make the backgrounds come alive.If you like this game you owe it to yourself to play the 3 extra difficulty settings, you'll find an ever greater appreciation of the gameplay mechanics. By Nightmare you really need to know what you're doing, like getting the best ending, saving the dog, picking up the armory card, or knowing what the stuff you pick up from the motel safe does. The only real flaw is weapon availibility being so fucking bad in Nightmare (and Scavenger too but it's less of a problem then)also it's a small thing but I really appreciate the Calico M950 in the game, after the same weapon being left unfinished and unused in RE2
first game is one of my favorite games ever and I'd give this like a 4/10 if I'm being generous. One of the most disappointing sequels of all time.
>great story and characters replaced with forgettable fanfic slop>great and unique setting replaced with a boring fucking desert>great and unique battle system replaced with shitty sluggish RE combat>incredibly fun gun customization system just gone now>every rpg element besides leveling up some spells just gone nowfuck this game and every retard who defends it
>>12875295What happened is that Squaresoft was planning a TPS as a Parasite Eve spinoff, not even Aya was going to show up, the MC was Kyle, they couldn't get any ideas going, the Resident Evil lore writer, Kenichi Iwao, had joined Squaresoft and after finishing their first game in the company, he was looking for a new project with his team, after being invited to join the project, he pitched his idea of bringing Aya back and calling it Parasite Eve 2. But contrary to popular belief, there was never a PE2 project with ATB gameplay, it was always going to be a TPS with Kyle or Resident Evil with Aya.But to this day you will still find PS1 spergs who claim PE2 had ATB and the Resident Evil dude removed it and also that Hideaki Sena revoked the rights from Squaresoft because of it, their claims are all bullshit of course.
>>12875307The difficulty would probably be my biggest complaint, so giving it a second go on scavenger mode when I am in the mood wouldn't be a bad idea.>>12875313>>12875315I wouldn't go as far as to say its "bad" but I really am confused at how this was approved as "Parasite Eve II." >great story and characters replaced with forgettable fanfic slopThe oprahouse scene alone mogs anything that happens in II. >great and unique setting replaced with a boring fucking desert.The Desert stuff is roughly 1/3rd or less of the game. I get what you mean though.>great and unique battle system replaced with shitty sluggish RE combatAgain, it is insane that this was a numbered sequel to Parasite Eve and not some side/spinoff. That being said if you like RE style games and take it as its own thing, its pretty fun.>>12875323I did read that it was originally supposed to be a spinoff starring Kyle, which I think would have fit the game better.
>>12875323Haters love to cling to development ideas as if that meant anything. Every single game goes through a similar process of ideas that never came to be and which never mounted to anything, the only difference is that in some rare cases people are made aware of some of those ideas and then haters make a big deal out of that and make it seem bigger than it probably ever was. It's like RE3 haters going on about "Hunk on a boat" or, similarly to PE2 "it was supposed to be a spin off" and other dropped ideas which for all we know never amounted to anything but 3 lines on a piece of paper before any real development began. These people to me always come off like they have no fucking idea what they're talking about and they're just extrapolating on and misinterpreting a line from an interview to fit their pre-concieved hatred.>>12875329>The difficulty would probably be my biggest complaint, so giving it a second go on scavenger mode when I am in the mood wouldn't be a bad idea.Bounty and Scavenger are fun to learn more about how the game works; and Nightmare is the real test of everything you've learnt. Early in the game everything kills you in 1-2 hits and you really need to know all (or most of) the game's secrets and mechanics, even properly using battle items comes into play.
>>12875351PEII is a pretty huge departure from the original so I can’t be too mad when someone says they hate it. In a perfect world, Square would have made a more traditional sequel and released PEII as “Parasite Eve Mojave” or something like that. But who knows, maybe that hypothetical ATB game would have sucked and people would be bitching about that instead. Whenever these dev ideas are discussed, people assume that the resulting game would have been good, but that is never a guarantee. As far as I am concerned, if Square didn’t want to make an ATB game, it’s for the best that they didn’t. Say what you want about PEII, it doesn’t do anything to retroactively ruin the original game. Both exist solidly on their own.
>>12875295PE2 is a god damn masterpiece and nearly everything about it is perfection. I could not love a game more, I even bought the Japanese Limited Edition.
>>12875295>drops the body horrorUmmmm... no it doesn't?That lady that transforms in the beginning, the weird horse people?The thing is the actual storytelling in the 1st game is shit. They tell you everything the moment you meet the Japanese scientist and then there's no mystery left. 2 is mysterious up until the end. I think 2 has better writing too.
>>12875938I agree, 2 has a much better story and great writing. The only thing I don't like is Aya's DNA being used, although it's easily explainable how she'd bump into that it still feels very coincidental, but that's also the story of twist movies or books would pull at the time that I wouldn't like then either.I consider PE2 kinda like like FF8, they came out at the perfect timeframe during which Squaresoft made stories not assuming the playerbase consisted of retards (unlike PE1). As a random example I'll just point out that they never outright say that the wounded guy by the soda machine at the start of the game is Kyle, the game just assumes the player will figure it out even if not on his first playthrough. The entire way the game is built on replay value, and every little thing that you can change to get a better story (like saving the dog or saving Pierce), feel like moments where the player could genuinely just guess and know there is something better he can do there, with it feeling organic rather than being a simple "yes/no" binary option or something completely random like some of the stuff in Resident Evil 1 or 3.
>>12875938>the actual storytelling in the 1st game is shit.The storytelling is arguably the strongest aspect of PE1. The initial hook is amazing, and a great deal of time is spent building up the lore, characters, the mystery of what Eve is, and Aya's connection to Eve.>They tell you everything the moment you meet the Japanese scientist and then there's no mystery left.This is just untrue. You are being given constant new information until the final scene with Dr. Clamp, which is in the last dungeon of the game. Maeda gives exposition and explainers behind what is going on, but in the beginning these create as many questions as they answer.
>>12875295I never played PE1, so I only ever appreciated PE2 as a very good evolution of the Resident Evil formula. I also read the manga, which to be honest is probably my favorite manga of all time.It has also been turned into a neat video for the 1995 radio drama:https://youtube.com/watch?v=yilM07LXDdQ>>12875307>the most any game's made out of pre-rendered backgroundsHeart of Darkness probably does more in this regard (but isn't a particularly good game)
>>12875295>Overhauls I’s gameplayi dont think it counts as an overhaul when its feels so terrible in comparison, controls in pe2 are so bad that i cant play the game for more than like 1 minute. it is infuriating. PE1s control scheme was perfect
>>12876043>I never played PE1If you like the source material and you like 2, you should probably try 1 out. It left quite an impression on me>the mangaLooks cool, I will have to check this out!>>12876049I didn't meant it as negative or positive, just that it is a great change from 1. That being said, this was my first tank control style game and it took me like 20 minutes to get used to it. Really was not as big of a deal as I was led to believe. I am going to try out Silent Hill after this.
>>12876065>this was my first tank control style game and it took me like 20 minutes to get used to it.you can get used to it but they never feels good its jsut an awful control scheme. same reason i dont love tombraider on ps1. enjoyable game but the controls never feel good the entire time
I've heard for a long time that the rough outline was an unused idea for a Resident Evil sequel. I have no idea how true that is, but I can visualize it pretty easily. You can just find/replace mitochondria with T-Virus and GOLEM with Tyrant and you're already 90% of the way there.
>>12876042>the initial hook is amazingYeah, it's front loaded. That's not good storytelling. That's just a hook.>a great deal of time is spent building upkey me stop you right there. no it's not. They dump the whole fucking plot on you the moment you meet the Japanese guy, which is very early in the game.No, they don't create new questions. He just fucking tells you EVERYTHING about what's going on. The only "mystery" left is about Aya's past and they lay it on so fucking thick that it's extremely predictable so there's pretty much no mystery whatsoever the moment you meet the Japanese scientist. From that point on, you're just chasing eve around.
>>12876049the controls in 2 are great.You're just retarded.>>12876295nah. You're retarded.
PE2 is better than PE1's semi-disguised Final Fantasy ATB jarpig combat system, lot of cope in this thread. Great replayability with the various items you can get and path choices as well as gameplay modes although you'll see all paths and endings etc. long before you unlock everything. It's just a very good Resident Evil knockoff with more combat options
>>12876295What happened is that the Resident Evil writer and lore creator (he did way more than just writing by the way, he was even responsible for the weapon selection and how much ammo they hold and things like that, the mansion design, etc), Kenichi Iwao, he left Capcom and went work for Squaresoft which he considered a much superior company, but he left a lore book with all the world building that went beyond the stuff we see in Resident Evil at Capcom, including the ideas for the eventual sequel with drafts so the story can keep going with consistency, he just reused his ideas for the Resident Evil sequel in Parasite Eve 2. His colleagues from Capcom that went to work with him in Parasite Eve 2 also brought a lot of stuff over. The Calico M950 is not a coincidence...
>>12876710>His colleagues from Capcom that went to work with him in Parasite Eve 2 also brought a lot of stuff over
>>12876650>the controls in 2 are great.no, they're ass. The fixed camera kills the actions momentum. You only get a sense of control when you memorized the layout of the arena you are fighting on, and even then it's painful. Locking the target also kills the momentum. RE3 and Dino Crisis 2 do the job well, PE2 fucks it up on first impression and punishes you without giving you the chance to anticipate your movement if you stepped on a new map for the first time. It's retarded. The weapons are really fun, so I can kinda give it a pass, but calling the controls great is downright lying.
>>12875329>Again, it is insane that this was a numbered sequel to Parasite Eve and not some side/spinoff.No series has ever gotten fucked as hard as Parasite Eve. The "third" game had even less to do with the first one than the second did. It's a shame because the first game is one of my all time favorites and there's really nothing else like it.
>>12876648>front-loading is when the game starts with an interesting premise and then builds on it.>plot dumping is when one character has one scene where he gives the lore from the source material, and connects the game to the events from the book.I just cant agree with this critique. I found the whole thing to be very interesting and engaging. The scene where Maeda "explains everything" is little more than a catch up for those who didn't read the book. I played PE1 like a week ago, and these scenes with Maeda were brisk and fairly well written. It helps that the concepts discussed are unique and interesting sci-fi too.
>>12876746>The fixed camera kills the actions momentumWhat the fuck does this even mean
>>12876773Now you're just pretending to be fucking stupid and incapable of reading.Front loading is even the REST of the game does not live up to the beginning.There is ZERO mystery after Maeda. And the fact that the info dump is just the plot from the book, does not excuse but in fact exposes the big problem with this game, it's a total fucking rehash of that book.You seem like the kind of dumb ass stoner gamer that talks about how great something is, but you were high the whole fucking time so you had your brain turned off.
>>12876791>ad hominem>ad hominem>ad hominemlol. Thank you for your concession.>Front loading is even the REST of the game does not live up to the beginning.Well I think the rest of the game does live up to the beginning, wachu think about dah?>it's a total fucking rehash of that book.Have you read the book? If you had you would know that is not the case at all. The book is about a grieving man who tries to play God after his wife gets in a car accident. Its closer to a a Japanese take on Frankenstein, with the twist being that in this story Frankenstein's monster was the mastermind behind the whole thing.In Parasite Eve (the game), Eve orchestrates a new plan and is not going to make the same mistakes again. This does feel like a natural extension to the source material IMO. Did you see the "IMO" at the end of the previous sentence? That means it was an opinion, so you do not need to make a 4th autistic reply about how "There is ZERO mystery after the Japanese guy tells you EVERYTHING." I am aware of your thoughts about this.Thank you for your attention to this matter
>>12875295It's graphically and technologically amazing but it's so fucking boring to play.
>>12876835you're seething you fucking faggot.i definitely hit the nail on the head eden I called you a dumb stoner
>>12875307>It probably is, to this day, the most any game's made out of pre-rendered backgrounds.I love PE2 but Resident Evil 3 and Dino Crisis 2 have vastly superior backgrounds to it, both in terms of amount of details (RE3) as well as gorgeous art style (dino kino 2).
>>12876962nta but you're clearly seething, take your tampon out, nancy
>>12876975I was talking in terms of special effects used with the backgrounds, in that regard RE3 has some stuff but not nearly as much as PE2; and I don't remember DC2 doing anything of the sort to make the background feel like something other than the static pictures that they are
>>12877053Oh that's what you meant. Well even then you have games like Fear Effect that used proper animated FMVs instead of static backgrounds.Like I said, I do like PE2 a lot. Dryfield is an iconic location and its a shame not more games went for that 80s/90s feeling Americana bumfuck nowhere small desert towns.
>>12877093>that used proper animated FMVs instead of static backgrounds.yeah, in a low quality letter box that looks like total shit.
I've only played the first game recently. Thought Aya Brea was a believable character. The battle mechanics reminded me of Vagrant Story.
>>12875470Enjoy your perfume
>>12878029It's actually an empty perfume bottle. You're meant to fill it yourself.
