Talk:Parasite Eve (video game)

Categorisation
Since Parasite Eve (and its sequel) have different endings in each game mode, I'm not sure whether to classify it as having multiple endings. What do you think?

Parasite eve 2 ending
Parasite eve is a two ending game, but Parasite eve 2 not really has 2 endings only show the ending on different levels, i don`t think is really a multi-ending game Zidane tribal 21:41, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Boxart
I added the boxart of the game Zidane tribal 20:00, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

GUN BLADE
Down the page for one of the PE2 villains there is a link to a page list of FF weapons. Page no longer exist redirects you to Common FF Things which has no mention of gun blade. If we have to assume that gun blades only exist in square games I suggest a link to squall that wont get erased. Else I would link to an actual article on guns with blades. Or at least a gallery of known historical gun blades. Its not like square invented this. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v405/NinjaNerd321/Gunblades/

REfs
found this. not so sure if it can be used. but from what i an gather it holds some sales and the port to PSN.Bread Ninja (talk) 18:42, 23 February 2011 (UTC)

Survival Horror? No.
I put links to a number or reviews of Parasite Eve. Each of them mention that this is a console-style RPG, some indicating that it uses a modified version of the FF7 engine. One made a few passing references indicating that the enemies appeared similar to the Resident Evil games. But none of the reviews went so far as to indicate relation to the "survival horror" genre.

Survival horror implies that your survival is at risk. Typically, weapons and ammunition are severely limited, and your character is in some way notably weaker than the enemies. A playthrough of PE indicates this is not the case. Yes, the enemies look like creatures out of RE. But ammunition is handed out like water. Weapons upgrades come frequently enough, and modifications are also plentiful. The story indicates that your character is mutated specifically to help you survive the onslaught from Eve and her minions. Although the horror elements are there, survival is no more of a threat than in any other console-style RPG.

Dawynn (talk) 19:53, 18 June 2011 (UTC)

Agreed. There's not precedent for this involved categorization; the term 'action role-playing' fits PARASITE EVE almost exactly. See ZKILTH (talk) 22:55, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

Cleanup needed
The last paragraph of the plot section has gaping plot holes. ZFT (talk) 05:31, 28 April 2015 (UTC)

Game's Genre Classification
Parasite eve is not an action RPG, but rather a traditional ATB-based role-playing game. Altough you can move the character freely at some times during combat and that may give an impression of the game having action elements, this movement feature is much more geared towards tactics than action, since it's there mostly for positioning and skill-range calculations. Enemies and player characters still perform actions in turns.

Also, this is not original research. While one may argue that "sources" (which?) state the game is an action RPG, There are many reliable sources that classify the game as a regular RPG than an Action RPG, including multiple pages cited as sources for this page like |Metacritic and |Moby Games and additionally |The game's own FANDOM wiki page and The Japanese Wikipedia page for the game. Also, |This IGN Article clearly states how the game's combat is derived from Final Fantasy VII's ATB battle system, and |This archived RPGamer review contemporary to the game even go as far as classifying the game as a "Cinematic RPG". AlexionStar (talk) 14:45, 28 December 2022 (UTC)
 * It's not up to use to define the genre based on our own interpretations. as for your citations, Metacritic states it's "Role-playing" but also "general", so I'm not sure how serious which should take that categorization from a source that can't contribute an author. It doesn't really matter what other wikis say (as for the Japanese one). The IGN source also says it's a "Cinematic RPG" and that it is "more of an adventure game than a role-playing title". I wouldn't just do a "google what I belive it should be, and use that". we need to take into several sources and see what the general discussion is, particularly on this game which seems to span several genres. Andrzejbanas (talk) 15:17, 28 December 2022 (UTC)
 * I fully agree with your considerations about citing multiple sources and not using our own interpretations into the matter. The "Cinematic RPG" categorization seems to have come from the Takashi Tokita, the game's director himself, as per |this 1UP.com article. Also, both Metacritic and Moby Games distinguish between RPGs and action RPGs when categorizing games, as demonstrated by their pages on Kingdom Hearts (a game that can be unarguably categorized as an Action RPG) |Here for Metacritic and |here for Moby Games. How do you suggest we move forward with the discussion? AlexionStar (talk) 15:32, 28 December 2022 (UTC)
 * I mean, we don't just hunt for genres, we have to do research and take into consideration of all sources. (for example, IGN said it was more of an adventure game) and the other source I mentioned above that "there isn't a lot of role-playing". I prefer to go into sources that discuss genre in the prose than just citations that just state "Genre: Action/Adventure" or whatever, because it just becomes some source with like 19 citations back against it that doesn't really help anyone understand anything. I'll go through some sources and see what we can pull and post findings here. Andrzejbanas (talk) 15:39, 28 December 2022 (UTC)
 * What I really wanted to find but couldn't, maybe you'll have better luck than me, is an official primary source from Squaresoft/Square Enix itself as to how the game is officially classified by them. The closest I could find is the 1up.com article I cited above stating that the director claimed it was a "Cinematic RPG" but in all honesty this sounds much more like a buzzword than a serious categorization. Unless I'm wrong. AlexionStar (talk) 15:49, 28 December 2022 (UTC)
 * That would be them pushing it as a "Cinematic RPG" and i'd agree with you on "buzzword" as that hasn't really caught on to measure and sort of "cycle" of game genres. I don't actually like using the creators idea, because in general, that comes down to marketing. It's up to audience and critics to establish how the film is receive/perceived. Either way, on the site, for subjective things like genre, we need third-party sources. (although, I don't think we should ignore how the game was promoted, that should probably never be the end all and be all.)

Research
So I've done some tabulating on how the game was received from a genre perspective:
 * IGN:
 * "From a gameplay standpoint, Parasite Eve is more of an adventure game than a role-playing title"
 * " the game may turn away a majority of the hardcore role-playing public with its striking departure from Square's "norm,"". here.


 * GameSpot:
 * "gameplay blends action and horror with traditional RPG elements to create a game that is all too easily described as the marriage of Final Fantasy VII and Resident Evil."
 * "Battles pop up out of nowhere much like in Final Fantasy VII [...] The end result is that combat plays out more like an action game than an RPG."


 * GamePro
 * * "breaking some new ground in the field of cinema-influenced role-playing games."
 * " Another diversion from the traditional role playing elements is the fact that you can outrun or dodge your enemies' attacks."
 * GameRevolution
 * * "Combat is done in real time [...] you don't even really have to pay much attention to your vital statistics because your hit points, strength, etc. increase in fairly fixed intervals."


 * Gaming Age
 * * "Parasite Eve gives gameplayers a chance to experience an RPG with a focused, concise story without the hassles of side-issues or pedantic character management options to distract you from the situation at hand."
 * * "You can investigate things like doors and closets to reveal items like health bars, power-up items, and other such RPG-related paraphernalia to help build up your general abilities such as HP, PE (Parasite Energy, which is really just MP to the seasoned RPG fan), speed, power, defense, and so on. In many respects, the exploration gameplay elements are very similar to the Resident Evil games in that there is a great deal of exploration;"
 * * "Parasite Eve, in my mind, is not just a cinematic RPG, but an interactive movie with RPG elements."


 * Official U.S. Playstation Magazine
 * "unusual approach to the role-playing genre"..."approach Parasite Eve as an interactive sci-fi/horror story and you won't mind a bit."
 * "Plays like a strange mix of Final Fantasy VII and Resident Evil"


 * Absolute PlayStation
 * "Best described as a cross between Resident Evil and Final Fantasy VII, Parasite Eve has elements of both games. The RPG elements come out with ability to advance levels and learn new skills and the action elements of Resident Evil combine well in the game but other elements conspire against this definition. This game is more of an interactive movie where you become the main character and control everything that happens."

I'm sure we could find more (surprisingly, I found very little published retrospective talk). The main points seem to be:
 * Generally an RPG, but a very untraditional one.
 * this ranges from stats existing, but not really something that requires to be managed, battles are action oriented. Reviewers commented that the game felt like a hybrid of Final Fantasy VI and Resident Evil or resembled an interactive movie or adventure game.

I think we could generally leave it as an "RPG" in the article, but should clarify that this is really non-traditional as stated above. Thoughts? Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:44, 28 December 2022 (UTC)

Some more
 * Kotaku
 * "Square wasn’t pulling punches when they developed their very first M-rated survival horror game...Parasite Eve‘s horror elements are set dressing for a modern JRPG."
 * "The PS1 was an experimental time for Square in which almost every JRPG had a creative twist when it came to combat mechanics. Vagrant Story, Chrono Cross, Front Mission 3, Final Fantasy Tactics, and even Final Fantasy VIII showcased a variety of differing battle systems."
 * "combat that nicely balanced turn-based combat with real-time action." Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:54, 28 December 2022 (UTC)


 * That is a very good chunk of data, congrats on your research!
 * Yeah, I believe your assessment is good. Seems like many sources indeed concour with the "cinematic" characteristics of the game, tracing a parallel with a movie-like experience. This, as I see it, actually matches the director's vision of classifying the game as a "Cinematic RPG", and also lot of sources establish a parallel between it and Resident Evil. Maybe it's informative to include that in the description. Here's a quick draft of what I thought, feel free to build upon it before we make the edit (I thought this could be the new beginning of the "Gameplay" section of the article):
 * "Parasite Eve is a traditional japanese-style role-playing game, drawing gameplay elements from other classic RPGs of its time like Final Fantasy VII, and survival horror games as Resident Evil (ref links to Gamespot's article and your Absolute Playstation source). The game's director, Takashi Tokita, calls it a "Cinematic RPG" (ref link to the 1UP article), with the game's look and feel strongly alluding to an interactive movie-like experience (ref link to your sources from GamePro, Gaming Age, Official US Playstation magazine and Absolute Playstation)"
 * What do you think? AlexionStar (talk) 18:17, 28 December 2022 (UTC)

Ahh had to re-write my sentence here based on what you had. haha.

I was originally suggesting the following:
 * "Using some of that Kotaku article, i'm thinking of replacing that blanket "THis game is a so-and-so genre with such-and-such elements" with:

"Like other Role-playing games made by from Square for the PlayStation, Parasite Eve was made during a period that Peter Tieryas of Kotaku described as an "experimental period" where nearly every RPG from the company had unique combat mechanics. Reviews from GameSpot and Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine

Not too different than yours, but I would like to WP:STICKTOSOURCE, almost none of the sources refer to game as survival horror "only the Kotaku article I found calls it that, and that's one against several." They also don't say JRPG or Japanese rpg, they just say "RPGs" from Square. (the JRPG thing wasn't really a common term back then either.). Also let's not use peacock terms like "classic" as we aren't reviewing those games in the article, they are major titles, but whether or not one finds them to be classic is up to them. I like your addition of Tokita's description. How about what I wrote above, but we can include your 1up article, (probably don't need the others in there at the moment.). Andrzejbanas (talk) 18:37, 28 December 2022 (UTC) Thoughts ? Andrzejbanas (talk) 18:37, 28 December 2022 (UTC)"


 * Got it. Yeah, your assessment makes a lot of sense, and thank you for the feedback on my wording. I just didn't quite get the end of your paragraph, what's supposed to come after "Reviews from GameSpot and Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine"?
 * And yeah, Your wording above with the inclusion of Tokita's description seems like a good blend of both of our researches that paints a more solid broad picture of what the game is about. So, something like this at the end, maybe?
 * (...) with game director Takashi Tokita calling it a "Cinematic RPG", as the game's look and feel allude to an interactive movie-like experience"
 * What are your thoughts? AlexionStar (talk) 19:02, 28 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Looks good for me. I'll try and add it now and see how it flows. Feel free to copy-edit make further suggestions after! :) Andrzejbanas (talk) 20:04, 28 December 2022 (UTC)
 * And done. Thanks for working this out. So rare to get genres actually discussed on the talk page without a major edit war. Andrzejbanas (talk) 21:27, 28 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Indeed. And thank you for all the feedback. I'm still getting the hang of editing wikipedia, having feedback from a seasoned editor is always very helpful See you around! 2804:14C:4C:914A:300B:F15A:2DA4:450B (talk) 22:41, 28 December 2022 (UTC)