History VideoGame / ParasiteEve

* {{Homage}}: A possible one-- the dog transformation sequence holds some similarities to the infamous "kennel scene" in JohnCarpenter's ''Film/TheThing''.

* BadassNormal: Daniel.

* BishonenLine: Eve's final form is a lot more humanoid and angelic than her previous forms.
* BizarreHumanBiology: Aya possesses a more benign/passive form of the "evolved" strain of mitochondria serving as the franchise's BigBad, which are not only ''a self-aware HiveMind'' that can [[BodySnatcher hijack their "hosts"]] and act like TheVirus, they possess actual ''superpowers'', which include [[PlayingWithFire spontaneous combustion]] and BodyHorror transformations!

* CursedWithAwesome: Aya's mitochrondrial powers seem to be lacking the villainous insanity and BodyHorror that other people in this series go through--she received the "special" mitochondria when she was still a child, and unlike Melissa, Aya's mitochondria evolved to the point where they are symbiotic with her body and work with her instead of taking outright control. However, they also keep her body younger than she really is, since a youthful host is advantageous.
-->'''Aya''': I saw a movie once [[Film/{{Highlander}} about a man from medieval times who was still young in the present day]]... [[WhoWantsToLiveForever I don't want that]]... [[IJustWantToBeNormal I just want one, normal life]]...

* FetusTerrible: [[spoiler: The final boss of the default game, Eve's "son", the Ultimate Being. He's born after Aya [[KilledOffForReal kills Eve off for real]], in the womb laid at the base of Liberty Island.]]

* IJustWantToBeNormal: Aya's stock flavor of angst, coupled with IAmAMonster when Aya freaks out about becoming Eve.
* IllGirl: Melissa Pierce.

* {{Jerkass}}: Dr. Hans Klamp is a total snob to Aya and Daniel in the beginning of the game and dodges their questions while acting all high and mighty. Even when Daniel later on finds his ex-wife and son's name on Klamp's computer and threatens to kick his ass, Klamp coldly tells him and Aya to leave.
** He has his reasons for blowing them off: [[spoiler: he's actually helping Eve give birth to the Ultimate Being, which becomes the final boss of the game]]. Which really makes him a jerk, to put it lightly.

-->''One of them is a police officer. The other is an ancient evil threatening all life on Earth. The horrifying bond between them will continue until something dies''.

[[quoteright:108:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aya-psvg.png]]
[[caption-width-right:108: Aya Brea, as she appears in the original video game at Carnegie Hall]]

** Take a closer look at the backside of the 3rd form of the final boss. It has a giant ballsack hanging off the base of it's tail.

* BizarreHumanBiology: The protagonist Aya possesses a more benign/passive form of the "evolved" strain of mitochondria serving as the franchise's BigBad, which are not only ''a self-aware HiveMind'' that can [[BodySnatcher hijack their "hosts"]] and act like TheVirus, they possess actual ''superpowers'', which include [[PlayingWithFire spontaneous combustion]] and BodyHorror transformations!

* ChekhovsGun: Maeda's handgun that he gives to Aya halfway through the game. [[spoiler: It can shot bullets that cause a ton of damage to the Ultimate Being.]]

* FetusTerrible: [[spoiler: The final boss of the default game, Eve's "son", the Ultimate Being. He's born after Aya [[KilledOffForReal kills Eve off for real]], in the womb laid at the base of Liberty Island]].

* TheGhost: Lorraine, Daniel's ex-wife, who he keeps going on and on about, but whom we never see once, [spoiler: assuming you do not count the giant orange blob Eve makes her a part of.]]

In 1998, [[SquareEnix Squaresoft]] released a video game called ''ParasiteEve'', a sequel to [[Literature/ParasiteEve the 1995 novel of the same name]]. It was unique among [[RolePlayingGame RPGs]] available at the time because of its blend of RPG, ActionAdventure and the then still new genre SurvivalHorror.

The story revolves around Aya Brea, a New York City police officer whose mother and sister were killed in a car accident when she was a child. While Aya was attending an opera performed at Carnegie Hall on Christmas Eve in 1997, all hell breaks loose when both the actors and the audience burst into flames. The only survivors are Aya, her date (who runs away never to be seen again after the fire), and the lead actress, Melissa, who just so happens to be harboring a primordial horror inside her body known as Mitochondria Eve. Aya discovers that contact with [=Melissa/Eve=] has granted her strange powers, called "Parasite Energy", and so she teams up with Daniel Dollis (her partner) and Kunihiko Maeda (a Japanese scientist and MrExposition for the novel's events) to figure out Eve's motives and stop the strange mutations sweeping across Manhattan.

* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Not just that but it's only ever a few inches deep. Even more grating since the games take place in New York City.
* AnAssKickingChristmas: This is a great example of getting to watch the good people of Manhattan celebrate Xmas 1996 through spontaneous combustion and mass melting.

** Oh god...no....Take a closer look at the backside of the 3rd form of the final boss...it has a giant ballsack hanging off the base of it's tail...wait it's tail- NO. AUGH!
*** In all fairness, it's suggestive, not explicit. These are beings of morphic flesh and mere carriers for their mitochondrial masters. For that matter, the ribbing/tail exttending down from around Final Melissa's legs are actually the skeleton from her now-jettisoned ovipositor, as it [[spoiler:had just finished implanting the rapidly-developing Ultimate Fetus into the remnants of the Concert Blob on Liberty Island]] and was thus no longer needed.

* BodyHorror: You are fighting sentient '''''Mitochondria''''' for gods sake.
* BonusDungeon: Climb the Chrysler Building. The enemies certainly wouldn't be out of place among the LegionsOfHell, but the Chrysler building itself isn't very hellish. The Chrysler building is more creepy than anything else, especially with its level design and the fact that no {{Eldritch Abomination}}s are in plain view, like every other area in the game. A few bloodstains here and there, but after the BodyHorror that Aya encounters everywhere else in the game, it's fairly tame. Just dissonant. [[spoiler: Now, the last level of the Chrysler? That qualifies. Sweet Jesus does it qualify.]]

* TheCavalry: The US military eventually intervenes.
* ChekhovsGun: Maeda's handgun. It makes an appearance as a strong late-game weapon in the sequel as the "Mongoose".

* EliteTweak: Tools and Super Tools offer all sorts of weapon and armor customization possibilities...if you're willing to put up with their rarity and the regular Tools' destruction of donor equipment.
* [[spoiler: FetusTerrible]]: [[spoiler: The final boss of the default game, Eve's... son, the "Ultimate Being". He's born after Aya [[KilledOffForReal kills Eve off for real]], in the womb laid at the base of Liberty Island]]. This game is so awesome.

* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler:In the normal ending, while attending an opera with her friends, something...happens with the mitochondria in Aya's cells. It has an effect on the people around her, causing the eyes of everyone in the audience to glow.]] [[WordOfGod The developers]] stated that "best" ending, [[CanonDiscontinuity and not this one]], is the ending followed by the sequel.
* TheGhost: Lorraine, Daniel's ex-wife, who he keeps going on and on about, but whom we never see once.
* GreyGoo: It's the "pink" variety- the kind made from people. It's also everywhere!

* IJustWantToBeNormal: Aya's stock flavor of angst, coupled with IAmAMonster when Aya freaks out about becoming Eve in the first game and saying how her powers can scare people in the second game.

* InterfaceScrew: Result of the Confusion status ailment, which makes Aya move in random directions.
** Subverted if you know how, in that it gets you ass backwards; you move the opposite direction from where you point the controller. This is still a vast improvement over the spinning uselessness experienced by the enemies ''Aya'' Confuses..

* ItsUpToYou: Justified. As Aya is the only person unaffected by Eve's aura (which causes everybody else to burst into flame), the military gives her the task of [[spoiler:[[NukeEm personally delivering a tactical nuclear warhead]] to Liberty Island, where Eve is giving birth.]] This doesn't stop them from sending a [[RedShirtArmy squadron of helicopter gunships]] to [[TakingTheBullet Take The Bullet]] from the random combustions that await as Aya closes the gap toward her destination, though.

* {{Jerkass}}: Dr. Hans Klamp is a total snob to Aya and Daniel in the beginning of the game and dodges their questions while acting all high and mighty. Even when Daniel later on finds his ex-wife and son's name on Klamp's computer and threatens to kick his ass, Klamp coldly tells him and Aya to leave. He has his reasons; [[spoiler: he's actually helping Eve give birth to the Ultimate Being, which becomes the final boss of the game.]]
* LittleBlackDress
* LivingBodysuit: Mellisa Pierce.
* LoadBearingBoss: So you've [[spoiler: finally shot the Ultimate Being to death with half a magazine of Maeda's special bullets...]] But wait! [[spoiler: Not only is it still alive, but now A) you're in standard navigation mode, B) you have to escape the ship because it has a TouchOfDeath, and C) it automatically kills you if you forget to overload the boiler on your way out]].

* MoreDakka: Machine Guns in the original game usually had attachments that let this be effective on all your firearm types.

* NukeEm: The government resorts to this.

* PixelHunt: Annoying in the first game where most good weapons and items are not in a box and have to be found by mashing X at random pieces of scenery, particularly in Soho. Made more aggravating by the fact that on a real PSX, the low resolution of [=TVs=] makes this worse. [=PS1=] emulators can heighten the contrast and increase the resolution to the point of making this much less severe.

* SavePoint: Aya uses telephones to contact [=NYPD/MIST=] headquarters to save her progress.
* ScratchDamage: Getting your armor's defenses high enough will result in this, but making your armor even stronger beyond that will make you ''immune'' to damage.
* ShoutOut: There is a Chocobo banner hanging in front of the Museum of Natural History (and a stuffed Chocobo just before the [[BossRush Back To Back Bosses]]).

* TearsOfBlood: The ''Statue of Liberty'' looks like it's crying blood, just before [[spoiler: the reconstituted and nuked cells of the Central Park patrons knock it over]].

* TooDumbToLive: The woman who plays host to Eve. Prior to her performance, she was taking her medications in extremely high amounts in fear that she might get ill and be unable to play her part in the opera. The problem with that? Her meds were IMMUNOSUPPRESSANTS, meaning that they make her immune system weaker, so she was increasing the likelihood of becoming ill, not reducing it. From the description given in her journal, she was taking enough that a minor infection would have been fatal to her, let alone something like Eve.

* UniversalAmmunition: The only weapon that doesn't share ammo is the rocket launcher. So, is your 7.62x51mm battle rifle running low on ammo? Just borrow a few rounds from your 9mm service automatic and your 40mm grenade launcher. Especially since what normally are considered ammo properties are attached to the guns..and transferable..

* WeCanRuleTogether: Eve's stock offer to Aya throughout the first game...until she discovered Aya was the ultimate subversion of herself, where that pretty much ceased.

* BonusDungeon: Climb the Chrysler Building. The enemies certainly wouldn't be out of place among the LegionsOfHell, but the Chrysler building itself isn't very hellish. The Chrysler building is more creepy than anything else, especially with its level design and the fact that no {{Eldritch Abomination}}s are in plain view, like every other area in the game. A few bloodstains here and there, but after the BodyHorror that Aya encounters everywhere else in the game, it's fairly tame. Just dissonant. [[spoiler: Now, the last level of the Chrysler? [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel That qualifies.]] Sweet Jesus does it qualify.]]

-->'''Aya''': I saw a movie once [[{{Highlander}} about a man from medieval times who was still young in the present day]]... [[WhoWantsToLiveForever I don't want that]]... [[IJustWantToBeNormal I just want one, normal life]]...

The game has two sequels, ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve2'' and ''VideoGame/{{The 3rd Birthday}}''. The series is also available on the PlaystationNetwork.

* AnimeAnatomy: Eve's last couple of forms ([[spoiler:and the Ultimate Being's third]]) sport a distinct lack of auxiliary sexual characteristics. Whether to chalk it up to maintaining a rating below Adults Only or to the [=PS1=]'s limited rendering capability is a toss-up.
** Oh god...no....Take a closer look at the backside of the 3rd form of the final boss...it has a giant ballsack hanging off the base of it's tail...wait it's tail- NO. AUGH!
*** In all fairness, it's suggestive, not explicit. These are beings of morphic flesh and mere carriers for their mitochondrial masters. For that matter, the ribbing/tail exttending down from around Final Melissa's legs are actually the skeleton from her now-jettisoned ovipositor, as it [[spoiler:had just finished implanting the rapidly-developing Ultimate Fetus into the remnants of the Concert Blob on Liberty Island]] and was thus no longer needed.

In 1998, [[SquareEnix Squaresoft]] released a video game called ''ParasiteEve'', a sequel to [[Literature/ParasiteEve the 1995 novel of the same name]]. It was unique among [[RolePlayingGame RPG]]s available at the time because of its blend of [[RolePlayingGame RPG]], ActionAdventure and the then still new genre SurvivalHorror.

The game has two sequels, ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve2'' and ''VideoGame/{{The 3rd Birthday}}''. The series is now available on Playstation Network.

* [[VictoriasSecretCompartment Victoria's Secret Compartment]]: Where Aya keeps her badge while dressed for a night on the town. Where she keeps her gun in that outfit remains a mystery.

* UselessItem: Lampshaded by Maeda's 'charms', which he hands over to Aya throughout the game. They each fill an item slot but serve no purpose. In the finale, Maeda tries to deliver the EleventhHourSuperpower to Aya, but Daniel drags him away, [[CryingWolf assuming it's just more mojo crap]].

* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler:In the normal ending, while attending an opera with her friends, something...happens with the mitochondria in Aya's cells. It has an effect on the people around her, causing the eyes of everyone in the audience to glow.]] WordOfGod marks it CanonDisContinuity, and the game's "best" ending is used for canon purposes instead.

* GameBreaker: Upgrading a gun's ammo capacity and range to high enough levels can let you attack monsters from any spot on the battlefield (unless they fly/dig off screen) and never having to reload.
** Adding the shotgun effect to regular rifles or handguns makes the things effectively fire flechettes for full effect in a cone, neatly breaking the rate of fire problem noted in AwesomebutImpractical.
** Guns that have the "Enter 2 (or 3) Commands" effect can offset the rate of fire problem described above, allowing you to shoot multiple times but have the attack power be based on a single bullet per shot instead.
*** Even moreso, you can and do use a Power as a command, meaning that that mod can have you fire off multiple powers, possibly mixed with gunfire.

* DidIMentionItsChristmas: This is a great example of getting to watch the good people of Manhattan celebrate Xmas 1996 through spontaneous combustion and mass melting.

The game has two sequels, ''Game/ParasiteEve2'' and ''VideoGame/{{The 3rd Birthday}}''. The series is now available on Playstation Network.

The game has two sequels, ''Game/ParasiteEve2'' and ''Game/{{The 3rd Birthday}}''. The series is now available on Playstation Network.