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The Third Birthday AYA IS BACK!


Hyperion5182
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They're finally bringing this over, huh? About time! I hope it's good, because Parasite Eve 2 got extremely boring after the first area. Too boring to finish, even, which was disappointing, as the first game was spectacular.

I'd be willing to give this one a try.

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  • 6 months later...
They're finally bringing this over, huh? About time! I hope it's good, because Parasite Eve 2 got extremely boring after the first area. Too boring to finish, even, which was disappointing, as the first game was spectacular.

Quite the contrary in my case. I really enjoyed PE2, more-so than the first. Appreciated that the sequel was more real-time and had more "survival horror" elements infused to the RPG base.

Speaking of which, who's going to download the original PE on PSN? Even though I prefer the sequel, I still wanna re-live the original again. Haven't played it in YEARS so I don't remember a thing other than Mitochondria. :P

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Quite the contrary in my case. I really enjoyed PE2, more-so than the first. Appreciated that the sequel was more real-time and had more "survival horror" elements infused to the RPG base.

Speaking of which, who's going to download the original PE on PSN? Even though I prefer the sequel, I still wanna re-live the original again. Haven't played it in YEARS so I don't remember a thing other than Mitochondria. :P

already played it not a week ago on my PSP 8)

going through PE2 right now

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Having finished the jap import version a few weeks ago, here's a few pointer as to what to expect.

And don't worry, this will be spoiler free. ;)

The 3rd Birthday, much like PE 1 & 2 is a pretty unique experience, in that it only takes the basic concepts/main characters and create a completely new game.

They gave Aya her anorectic look from PE1 back, with the familiar (yet refined) weapon loadout, but minus the body armor/vest and tool customization.

Biggest change is in the Parasistic powers which are now handled by tweaking your own DNA with Materia like orbs that you have to combine in order to create more powerful or completely new abilities. But aside from one particular ability, there is no way to 'use powers' like in the previous games.

They're more of a latent thing that activates when you meet certain conditions in battle.

The main focus of the gameplay has been shifted on typical run & gun play (including suppressing fire, evasive moves and mid-height cover) and Liberation, which is Aya's very own Limit Break.

The best and most honest way I can describe how this third game in the serie feels is: it's Prototype meets Chaos Legion and Gears of War.

I cannot elaborate on that without giving spoilers so I won't.

This chapter in the saga is really the result of intense west-washing aka the desire to appeal to western audience with military focused action.

But the fans shouldn't worry, as the basic setting and elements of the prior games are still in there somewhere.

They're just hidden under the top-notch chara-design, the 'through-the-roof' prod values and the stunning cutscenes. ;p

At least Yoko Shimomura brought back the A-game with a fantastic soundtrack full of beauty, scares and of course familiar tunes as well.

Oh, and one very important thing before you guys play the game: Contrary to what it seems, Aya has not been given the 'Metroid Other M' treatment.

Do not let Aya's voice acting / seemingly wimp-personality ruin your experience. There's a reason for this that will be explained during the game.

Enjoy your third birthday! (or your first if you're new to PE) :D

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already played it not a week ago on my PSP 8)

going through PE2 right now

Oh, you sly dog, you. :P

Just played a few hours of PE1 on the PSP. Not bad. That intro cutscene still kicks ass...and the music is simply amazing. I always had some tracks memorized in my head, particularly the police station one.

The gameplay sort of resembles Vagrant Story in a way, only the enemies attack you in real-time as opposed to you attacking in turn-based fashion.

Can't wait for The Third Birthday, though I can't believe Square-Enix are releasing two PSP games in the same month. Not a good idea. I would prefer to give Aya's return more breathing room.

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  • 2 weeks later...
They ruined Aya Brea.

they already "ruined" her in PE2 imo

speaking of which I beat it tonight and not a moment too soon

I was initially averse to the RE style movement but it wasn't too bad once I got used to it. Good game.

super ultra fucking excited for tomorrow

stoked.gif

also I guess europe already got it last thursday but you guys are lazy bums who don't bump anything

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copypasted from my other internet haunts because you all are buttfaces that need to play this:

I beat it this morning so I feel adequately prepared to give it a decent review now.

The Third Birthday is basically what would happen if a Metal Gear Solid game took out the stealth elements, featured Parasite Eve characters, and was directed by a Tetsuya Nomura with a large dose of MGS envy. It became apparent to me that my earlier loose comparison that I made with MGS was more apt than I initially thought the further I got into the game, as the plot definitely tries to emulate the intrigue of those games. The biggest reason I say that is that the biggest plot twists don't happen until after you beat the last boss. The funny thing about the attempted emulation of MGS intrigue is that the underlying premise of the game is just as silly as the first games, so it just kind of gets lost in the surreality. Unfortunately, game doesn't afford you enough time to get to be attached to the characters, so most of the emotional scenes tend to fall flat (Which in itself is somewhat paradoxical because I put more time on the counter in my first playthrough than both PE1 and PE2 combined: 4 hours on PE1, 6 on PE2, 13 on T3B.)

The graphics are some of the best I've seen on the PSP; I know that saying that these days doesn't have all that much impact, what with 7 year old hardware; but still it manages to look really nice (even on my TV) while maintaining ~60 FPS until one of the last boss fights where you're fighting like five of the giant Twisted all at once, and even then it doesn't dip below 30.

Now, about the gameplay: I honestly think the game does a fantastic job of being playable without having a second analog stick. The camera does a fairly decent job looking where I want. Aya is pretty nimble and the controls are fairly snappy. It was honestly a lot better than Portable Ops where I was having to fight with the completely static camera for a good view of anything.

Missions are divided up really well for a portable game with each one taking ~30 minutes to an hour the first time you play through them and save points generously scattered through the missions for easy break points. The fact that you can go back at any time and revisit past missions, and even just portions of missions to grind BP and/or practice a section of a speed run is pretty great.

As a game, it's chock full of the goodies that I enjoy in a good game. One of the things that got borrowed from the MGS games was the relatively large arsenal that you can acquire during the game: you have numerous handguns, rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, and special weapons, all of which can be customized for better performance. Whoever was in charge of game balance did a great job of only allowing you to unlock just enough of the weaponry though so that you're not completely overpowered until you've beaten the game at least once. New Game+ really is where the unlockables start showing up, things like the better rifles and also a minigun. Also I love that they put in unlockable cheat codes; I fucking love cheat codes. So yeah, tons of unlockables is a major plus in my book.

So in short, I fucking love this game and it's definitely one of my very favorites for the PSP.

also holy crap this is the longest post I've written in ages heh

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  • 2 weeks later...

Its been a while sense I've last been on. the sadness of not being able to use a computer... well anyways to get on topic.

The 3rd birthday, or Parasite Eve 3 in my opinion It had pretty good remixes of the 1st game. the gameplay was good for the PsP but the story was a bit of a letdown for me.

I'm pretty sure this game was an attempt to kill off the Parasite Eve store. cause there was no parasites even mentioned and furthermore.... and the ending! oh that ending. I just can't except it! Why did they have too do that of all things?! well if you understand what I mean. sense I'm not the greatest talker, I'll cut it short. I was disappointed in the story.

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