The follow up to the excellent Parasite Eve duology, and the very thing that killed it so badly it'll likely never come back.
Which is a real shame, because the PE games are incredibly fun and unique, and are perhaps one of the earliest, if not THE earliest, official examples of the extremely rare Survival Horror JRPG fusion genre. Worse still is that the gameplay ideas and enemy design is actually not too shabby (I actually really like the design of "the Twisted"), but the story, core gameplay execution, and intentional design of the characters and scenarios tear up what little good will this game has. Especially the story, which is a wet SHART of a time travel mess with an exceptionally insulting ending to boot.
Let's put away the fact the story is terrible for now, and talk about what it was as a game and why it was almost worth trying to enjoy, up until it showed it really wasn't worth the effort. The game more or less does away with the Survival Horror JRPG root the first two games have and opt for a much more third person shooter perspective, with the twist of body hopping to dart around the battlefield and potion for "focus fire" or reach harder to reach locations. This is bad enough, as the survival horror elements with JRPG mechanics really gave the series it's identity (even if the second one is more action oriented), but, It gets worse and more difficult to enjoy when the soldiers you are stuck with tend to die off due to the staggering and ever ascending difficulty spike after the first major time loop. This isn't even getting into the fact that the core gameplay very quickly boils down to keeping as much distance as possible from foes and "focus fire as much as possible" on singular targets and very slowly move forward, with very little desire to engage in larger groups or one-on-one encounters. While I understand the idea of the concept, trying to crate a squad based approach in a psudo-tactical RPG, its execution is nothing more than a repetitive slog with very little room for experimentation.
This game honestly irritates me. Every now and then, I have the very strange desire to give it a go again, because something deep inside keeps saying "No, Parasite Eve was amazing. Just give '3rd' a chance. it may be better than you think", and like having a piece of candy corn once every Halloween, I'm very swiftly reminded that doing THAT was a mistake. I so, SO badly wanted to like this game. Especially since its release prompted me to try and get the first two games (out of a genuine interest and of irritation). Yeah, 3rd Birthday was my first PE game. Laugh all you want, but at least I learned to travel back in time and play something better. Can't wait to play Parasite Eve once again at the end of this year. Maybe I'll make a fresh file this time.
Which is a real shame, because the PE games are incredibly fun and unique, and are perhaps one of the earliest, if not THE earliest, official examples of the extremely rare Survival Horror JRPG fusion genre. Worse still is that the gameplay ideas and enemy design is actually not too shabby (I actually really like the design of "the Twisted"), but the story, core gameplay execution, and intentional design of the characters and scenarios tear up what little good will this game has. Especially the story, which is a wet SHART of a time travel mess with an exceptionally insulting ending to boot.
Let's put away the fact the story is terrible for now, and talk about what it was as a game and why it was almost worth trying to enjoy, up until it showed it really wasn't worth the effort. The game more or less does away with the Survival Horror JRPG root the first two games have and opt for a much more third person shooter perspective, with the twist of body hopping to dart around the battlefield and potion for "focus fire" or reach harder to reach locations. This is bad enough, as the survival horror elements with JRPG mechanics really gave the series it's identity (even if the second one is more action oriented), but, It gets worse and more difficult to enjoy when the soldiers you are stuck with tend to die off due to the staggering and ever ascending difficulty spike after the first major time loop. This isn't even getting into the fact that the core gameplay very quickly boils down to keeping as much distance as possible from foes and "focus fire as much as possible" on singular targets and very slowly move forward, with very little desire to engage in larger groups or one-on-one encounters. While I understand the idea of the concept, trying to crate a squad based approach in a psudo-tactical RPG, its execution is nothing more than a repetitive slog with very little room for experimentation.
This game honestly irritates me. Every now and then, I have the very strange desire to give it a go again, because something deep inside keeps saying "No, Parasite Eve was amazing. Just give '3rd' a chance. it may be better than you think", and like having a piece of candy corn once every Halloween, I'm very swiftly reminded that doing THAT was a mistake. I so, SO badly wanted to like this game. Especially since its release prompted me to try and get the first two games (out of a genuine interest and of irritation). Yeah, 3rd Birthday was my first PE game. Laugh all you want, but at least I learned to travel back in time and play something better. Can't wait to play Parasite Eve once again at the end of this year. Maybe I'll make a fresh file this time.