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59-641: In an ATB system, each character and enemy has their own "internal clock", distinct from previous turn-based systems that proceeded in alternating turns of player, then enemy. This is usually determined by the character's initiative, or speed, stat. The clocks proceed in an independent fashion, though they can be sped up using magic like Haste. In Action mode, even menus do not stop the ATB bars, allowing characters to be attacked and die while choosing an action. Additionally, actions may take longer or shorter depending on how powerful they are. Being attacked while preparing to cast

118-510: A naval vessel, the Ultimate Being is born and attacks the surrounding ships. Aya does battle with the Ultimate Being, but its mitochondria causes it to evolve at an alarming rate. Aya sets the vessel's boiler pressure dangerously high, so as to destroy it with the Ultimate Being on board. In the initial ending, Aya, Daniel, his son Ben, and Maeda attend the opera at Carnegie Hall, where Aya's mitochondrial powers allow her to resonate with

177-529: A "fresh start" for the series as its first PlayStation 2 game. Battle system director Toshiro Tsuchida decided to remove the ATB system entirely, making the game strictly turn-based, but adding the ability to switch out onscreen characters for others in the party. The mechanic, however, returned in its sequel, Final Fantasy X-2 , which also added mechanics such as timing, player positioning and dresspheres that granted characters new abilities. Richard Eisenbeis of Kotaku wrote that while he initially turned off

236-582: A Voice Asking Me to Awaken" was an arrangement of Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme , BWV 140 by Johann Sebastian Bach . The two-disc album Parasite Eve Original Soundtrack was released through DigiCube on May 21, 1998 under the catalog number SSCX-10020 . Later, due to popular demand from fans, a reprint was issued through the Square Enix label on January 26, 2011 under the catalog number SQEX-10222/3 . The music received generally positive reviews from music critics, and helped establish Shimomura as

295-456: A beast and flees into the sewers, declaring that her name is now Eve. The next day, on December 25th , Aya and her partner, Daniel Dollis, go to see a scientist at the Museum of Natural History named Dr. Hans Klamp. He teaches the protagonists about mitochondria, but they do not find his information useful since it does not explain the previous night's events. Later that day, they hear that Eve

354-404: A career as a theater actor, but working on Final Fantasy IV made him decide to become a "great creator" of video games. He was one of only 14 people working on the game. Tokita feels that Final Fantasy IV is the first game in the series to really pick up on drama, and the first Japanese RPG to feature "such deep characters and plot". He also felt that Final Fantasy IV was so good because it

413-401: A different project who sported short hair: he got confused while designing them and accidentally combined the two designs, creating the then-current Aya. The original concept for her was to have her as strong, sexy and "bewitching". Her name was taken from Sakaguchi's daughter Aya. The names "Daniel" and "Maeda" were taken from members of staff. A video demo of Parasite Eve was displayed at

472-409: A more "emotionless" approach. She felt that this would best represent the game's atmosphere and Aya's stoic attitude. Ultimately, she felt that Parasite Eve was an experimental work in many ways. Due to its prevalence in the story, Shimomura used opera music, but as typical opera music did not translate well into battle themes, Shimomura added different rhythms: these rhythms were inspired when some of

531-458: A new game in the same style. He was the lead developer on Final Fantasy IV: The After Years . His greatest inspiration was Dragon Quest II , since it emotionally engaged him like no game he had played before. Between 2003 and 2007, Tokita was the head of Square's Product Development Division 7. Currently, Tokita is a senior manager and producer in Square Enix's Business Division 8. Parasite Eve (video game) Parasite Eve

590-528: A pausable real-time combat system along with several role-playing elements. Parasite Eve was SquareSoft's first M-rated game, and the first major American and Japanese game development collaboration for the company. It was produced by Hironobu Sakaguchi and directed by Takashi Tokita . Music for the title was composed by Yoko Shimomura who was widely acclaimed for her work to create an "inorganic" and "emotionless" soundtrack that saw two album releases. Parasite Eve received positive reviews; critics praised

649-506: A popular composer with western video game fans. Parasite Eve Remixes is a ten-track album, featuring remixed versions of themes from Parasite Eve . The remixes were done by Shimomura, Tamaru, Hidenori Iwasaki and Keichi Takahashi. Multiple DJs also contributed, including Tomo, QUADRA, Dan K, Tribal Masters, Kay Nakayama, and Dummy Run. According to Shimomura, the album came about when someone suggested to her creating full remixes of themes rather than making simple rearrangements. Shimomura

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708-408: A relatively short game. The combat was compared unfavorably to Final Fantasy VII by Game Revolution , which featured a dynamic camera instead of fixed one. The novel's original author Hideaki Sena approved of the game, stating that he was "actually impressed how well the game makers translated the novel." The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences named Parasite Eve as a finalist for

767-578: A single line trading attacks" an outdated system. Colin Stevens of Hardcore Gamer called ATB "both elegantly simple and unendingly complex", noting that it "creates tension in a genre that had long been about a more drawn out and thoughtful series of encounters", and stating that it created an "impending sense of urgency". Edwin Evans-Thirlwell of Eurogamer explained that "most Final Fantasies circle back to ATB in some way, striving to rebottle

826-427: A spell, for example, would cancel the spell outright. Active Time Battle mechanics were initially created out of a desire to add additional realism to games, with the patent stating that typical turn-based games were "static". In an interview, designer Takashi Tokita stated that the initial version of Active Time Battle simply had characters attacking based on who had the fastest speed. He claimed that Ito came up with

885-604: A week before release. Parasite Eve was Square's first game to be rated Mature by the ESRB and the first to be released under the Square Electronic Arts joint-venture. The game was released in North America on September 10, 1998. Before The 3rd Birthday ' s release in 2010, both Yoshinori Kitase and Tetsuya Nomura discussed the re-release of Parasite Eve and Parasite Eve II . The release

944-577: Is a Japanese video game developer working for Square Enix . He has worked there since 1985, and has worked as the lead designer for Final Fantasy IV as well as the director of Live A Live , Parasite Eve and Chrono Trigger . Tokita joined Square in 1985 as a part-time employee, not becoming full-time until the development of Final Fantasy IV . For the first three Final Fantasy games, he worked on graphic design, testing, and sound effects, respectively, before becoming lead designer of Final Fantasy IV in 1991. Tokita wanted to make

1003-587: Is a 1998 role-playing video game developed and published by Square . The game is a sequel to the novel Parasite Eve , written by Hideaki Sena ; it is the first game in the Parasite Eve video game series. The story follows New York City police officer Aya Brea over a six-day span in 1997 as she attempts to stop the Eve, a woman who plans to destroy the human race through spontaneous human combustion. Players explore levels set in areas of New York while utilizing

1062-552: Is being evacuated, a Japanese scientist named Kunihiko Maeda manages to sneak into the city, witnessing a police officer combust into flames in the process. Aya awakens in an apartment in SoHo , with Daniel and Maeda at her side. Maeda reveals the origins of Eve: A scientist tried to culture the cells of his wife after she was involved in a car accident, and the mitochondria in her cells took over her body. Maeda believes that Eve may be trying to give birth to an "Ultimate Being". The next day,

1121-476: Is in Central Park , and to make matters worse, an audience has gathered at the park's theater intending to see a performance that Melissa Pearce was to give. Aya enters Central Park alone as Daniel is unable to pass through the entrance without spontaneously combusting. She makes it to the theater, but is too late to stop Eve, who causes the theater audience's mitochondria to rebel against their hosts and turns

1180-404: Is performed by Shani Rigsbee. The score met with great critical acclaim, using influences from both opera and electronica . Shimomura stated that she tried to compose "inorganic" music for the game, what she described as "something unique" for the game. A separate Parasite Eve Remixes album was also released, containing 10 tracks remixed from the original game by various artists. The idea for

1239-407: The " world map " (which is a map of Manhattan ) is limited to specific destinations. Upon the player walking over a "hot spot", there's a chance of a random encounter . Enemies materialize and attack players on the same screen that they move Aya around on, with no battle mode or screen being used. In battle, the game uses a pausable real-time combat system with an Active Time Bar (ATB) that sets

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1298-483: The "Console Game of the Year", " Console Action Game of the Year " and " Console Role-Playing Game of the Year " categories during the 2nd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards . In 2000, the game was ranked number 16 by the readers of Famitsu magazine in its top 100 PlayStation games of all time. In 2010, GamesRadar chose it as one of the "Top 7... '90s games that need HD remakes ". In February 2011, Parasite Eve

1357-494: The "tune-up" option, choosing the weapon that will be altered and the weapon from which the attributes or effect will be taken. Weapons have many different properties, including special effects like "acid", which causes enemies to continuously take damage. One of the principal role-playing elements of the game is that experience-based levels are present. Each time the player's level increases, their attributes go up and Bonus Points (BP) are given. These points can be distributed to

1416-399: The ATB, item capacity, or attributes of a weapon or armor. Once the game is completed, a new game plus mode is available called "EX game". It is different from normal play in various aspects; the player has access to every item stored in the police station, the game begins with the final weapon and armor the player chose before ending the first game but returns to level one experience, and

1475-632: The Active Time Battle system in Final Fantasy games because it was difficult to navigate the spells in time, he later came to enjoy the combat of Tales games more for their pure action mechanics. He argued that RPG battles could not be captivating unless they either had an additional strategic layer, such as positional manipulation in Radiant Historia , or a means to keep the player active akin to ATB, calling "standing in

1534-499: The Eve persona. Maya eventually wins, purging the Eve persona from herself, and protects Aya by preventing the original Eve from taking over her. Aya leaves the building after telling Maya to return home together. The video game Parasite Eve is based on the Japanese novel Parasite Eve released in 1995. Plot-wise, the video game serves as a sequel to the book, referencing various events therein while also stating that Mariko Anzai,

1593-648: The September 1997 Tokyo Game Show , consisting of full motion video with no gameplay footage. Parasite Eve was released on March 29, 1998 in Japan for the PlayStation. Television ads featuring the full motion video present in the game were aired in the United States in the run-up to the game's 1998 release. In a shipping mixup, over two hundred copies of the game were shipped to Best Buy retailers

1652-416: The Ultimate Being failed, the purebred would remain. Aya speaks with her sister for a while but Eve soon takes over and they both engage in battle. After the purebred is defeated, the mitochondria inside Aya's body begin to rebel against her. It is explained that Aya's mitochondria have now reached a higher evolutionary stage than Maya's, but Maya's personality has suddenly become dominant and begun to fight off

1711-414: The Ultimate Being. When they arrive, they find that Eve is already there. Eve takes the sperm and escapes. The next day, Aya sees the orange mass of people from the park enter the city water supply. She goes to Dr. Klamp one more time, and discovers that Dr. Klamp has engineered special sperm for Eve so that she can create the Ultimate Being. He then spontaneously combusts. Aya finds Eve in another part of

1770-519: The United States. An additional team of thirty were based in Square's Hawaii studio. U.S. artists Steve Gray and Darnell Williams were in charge of most of the CG work. Different concepts for the game's opening were considered, including different designs for Aya and Melissa transforming into Eve on stage during the opera. Book author Hideaki Sena did not know the title's plot until it was completed, since

1829-469: The audience members, their eyes ominously glowing. After completing the game once, the player can access the Chrysler Building and have access to the true final boss, who takes the form of Aya's sister, Maya. She explains to Aya that Klamp cultivated the liver cells of the original Eve to analyze. When Melissa was giving birth to the Ultimate Being, she created a nest there. In case Melissa and

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1888-452: The battle. If the player chooses to attack, the battle briefly pauses and a dome/sphere symbolizing the range of the weapon appears, allowing the player to target an enemy within range. PE recharges during battle but the more players use it, the slower it refills. When not in battle, the player has the option of altering the weapon and armor attributes and effects with tools and super-tools, which are limited in number. The player selects

1947-451: The bonus points (BP) given to the player at the end of the game are now available to use. The items, weapons, power-ups and enemies are more powerful, as are the enemies the player encounters. However, the biggest difference from the normal game is the addition of the Chrysler Building , a new location with 77 floors (containing mostly randomized content), leading to a final boss battle with Aya's older sister, Maya. The player takes on

2006-404: The company had unique combat mechanics. Contemporary reviews from GameSpot and Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine described the game as a hybrid of Final Fantasy VII and Resident Evil . Parasite Eve ' s game's director, Takashi Tokita, described the game's style as a "cinematic RPG", with its look and feel strongly alluding to an interactive movie-like experience. Movement in

2065-476: The crowd into a slimy orange mass. Aya chases after Eve and is knocked unconscious after a fight with her aboard a horse-drawn carriage. Daniel discovers that his son, Ben, was at the park, but had left the audience at the Central Park theater when he began to feel ill and when his mother began to act strange. He also learns that Manhattan is being evacuated due to the threat that Eve poses. While Manhattan

2124-501: The first half of 1998, which made it the country's third-best-selling game for the period. The game had shipped 1.94 million copies as of February 2004, with 1.05 million in Japan and 0.89 million in the rest of the world. In Japan, it was the 6th-top-selling game of 1998 with 994,000 copies sold. The game was re-released in North America under Sony's Greatest Hits label. Parasite Eve received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic . IGN praised

2183-596: The game for its beautiful graphics and cinematic sequences, as well as its mature tone, but noted, along with other reviewers, the game's linear plot structure. Game Informer cited the games "exquisite" backdrops but bemoaned its long load times each time players enter a new environment or engage an enemy. GameSpot said the game had a cinematic look, and had an "astounding" level of detail for real-life locations in New York City . The lack of any voice acting or singing, however, hindered dramatic scenes such as

2242-422: The game was a collaboration between Square and his publisher. Aya Brea was created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and designed by Tetsuya Nomura . Aya was originally being designed by someone else, but the original sketches did not satisfy Sakaguchi, who had wanted a long-haired character like Aerith Gainsborough , a central character from Final Fantasy VII . At the time, he was creating another unspecified character for

2301-592: The game was to be set in Tokyo and act as a more direct sequel to the novel, but Sakaguchi suggested setting the game in New York City. The game was built on a modified version of the Final Fantasy VII game engine . In contrast to previous Square titles, the development team for Parasite Eve consisted of both Japanese and American staff members, with a large part of the production taking place in

2360-592: The game's American staff took her to a nightclub and she heard the background music there. The music recording took place at the Andora Studios in Los Angeles . Parasite Eve was the first of her projects to include a vocal theme, the ending theme "Somnia Memorias". This was because the PlayStation system was the first to have sufficient processing power for this to be possible. For the vocalist, Shimomura avoided using someone well known. "Somnia Memorias"

2419-401: The girl whom Eve had chosen to become her host in the novel, is Aya's biological mother. The game was produced by Hironobu Sakaguchi and directed by Takashi Tokita of Square . Development lasted roughly two years, including the pre-planning phase. Sakaguchi created the story outline, not watching any movies so he would not be influenced by them. During the first six months of production,

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2478-458: The graphics and gameplay, but found the overall game too linear and with little replay potential. The video game adaptation was part of a resurgence of popularity in Japanese horror sparked by the original book, and was released alongside a film adaptation and two manga comics; one based on the book, the other on the video game. The original title was followed by two video game sequels: Parasite Eve II in 1999 and The 3rd Birthday in 2010, and

2537-542: The idea for the final version of Active Time Battle while watching Formula One racing , in which some cars were behind on laps. This gave him the idea that fast characters could attack more than once per turn. The system was first used in Final Fantasy IV , one of the first games with preset character names, classes and biographies, reflecting the newly expanded storytelling within the game. It continued to be used until Final Fantasy X in 2001, which represented

2596-477: The lightning", calling Final Fantasy VII Remake "an exquisite but flawed attempt to blend the rhythms of the old FF7 battle system with [...] action movie choreography". He noted that "ATB obliges you to think of party members as individuals, dancing to their own beats", stating his opinion that it was "an appropriate development, given the increasing elaborateness of Final Fantasy 's writing". Square Enix's Final Fantasy VII Remake , similar to later entries in

2655-483: The museum, where the orange mass has surrounded her, forming an impermeable shield to protect her while the Ultimate Being gestates within her. After several failed attempts to attack Eve, the military asks Aya to attack her from a chopper, as she is the only one who can get close without combusting. The plan works, but Aya has to personally finish the fight on a now-wrecked Statue of Liberty , where Eve finally succumbs to necrosis due to her unstable cells. As Aya rests on

2714-472: The opera and subsequent mass combustion of the entire audience at the game's start. The game was sometimes compared to the Resident Evil series, though GamePro said that Parasite Eve had deeper gameplay with multiple weapon upgrades and hidden areas to discover. Reviewers also cited that though the game broke many RPG gaming conventions, it suffered from having little replay value and being

2773-466: The role of Aya Brea , an NYPD rookie, attending an opera at Carnegie Hall with a blind date in New York City on December 24th , 1997. During the opera, everyone in the building spontaneously combusts , except for Aya, her date, and an actress on stage named Melissa Pearce. Aya confronts Melissa onstage, and Melissa says that Aya's mitochondria need more time to develop. She flees backstage, with Aya giving chase. Backstage, Melissa then mutates into

2832-491: The series, utilized an action battle system, but retained the original's game's ATB mechanics in a reversed way, allowing players to fight in real-time but optionally pause the game once the bar had been filled to choose special actions from a menu. The company continued to make spin-offs that utilized Active Time Battle in a more traditional form, such as World of Final Fantasy . Takashi Tokita Takashi Tokita ( 時田 貴司 , Tokita Takashi ) (born 24 January 1965)

2891-449: The three go to see Dr. Klamp again. After examining cell samples from that of Eve and Aya's, Maeda concludes that based on selfish gene theory , Aya and Eve's mitochondria are in an evolutionary race for survival. Dr. Klamp suddenly appears and asks a few questions of Aya in a hostile manner. The three leave and head for the St. Francis Hospital , where Maeda thinks Eve may try to get sperm for

2950-404: The time that must be waited till the player can take their next action. While waiting for her turn, the player character Aya can be moved around to dodge enemy attacks. Upon each turn, the player may choose between attacking with their equipped weapon by pressing the attack button, using Parasite Energy (PE) for defense, assistance, or attack, using items, changing a weapon or armor, or escaping

3009-410: The various subplots to the game. Following that title, he was also involved in the production of Final Fantasy VII . He handled the game design for Parasite Eve and wrote the game's story. He considers the later games in the series as having been "handed off" to others. After the successful remakes of Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV , there was a desire by the team to make

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3068-786: The work came from a simple suggestion to Shimomura that the game's music be remixed rather than rearranged . "Somnia Memorias" was also included on the Square Vocal Collection in 2001. Yoko Shimomura would later become a well-established video game composer through her work on the Kingdom Hearts series. Additional arrangements were done by Shigeo Tamaru . Despite her previous work as lead composer on Super Mario RPG , Parasite Eve became her breakout project and garnered her international fame. During her work on Parasite Eve , Shimomura spent time in America, which

3127-642: Was announced to arrive on the North American PlayStation Network . It was released on March 15, 2011. The Parasite Eve video game was inspired by a popular Japanese original book, and was a part of the " J-horror " phenomena along with other fiction such as Ring , and led to two video game sequels and a manga adaptation based upon the video game universe called Parasite Eve DIVA . In an interview conducted by Kenny Omega with Yoshinori Kitase in March 2020, Kenny asked if there's

3186-565: Was being held up partly due to the series rights being co-owned with Hideaki Sena. The game was later released in both Japan and North America on the PlayStation Network in 2010 and 2011, respectively. In 2018, the game was included in the Japanese lineup of the PlayStation Classic . Yoko Shimomura composed the game's soundtrack including the main theme, "Primal Eyes". The ending vocal song, "Somnia Memorias",

3245-443: Was in charge of extending and remixing "Aya's Theme", which was the main theme for Parasite Eve . The album was released through DigiCube on July 30, 1998 under the catalog number SSCX-10023 . Reviews of the album were mixed, with critics saying that it would not appeal to many and finding some of the remixes odd, repetitive or overly chaotic. According to Weekly Famitsu , 956,461 units of Parasite Eve were sold in Japan during

3304-401: Was re-released on the PlayStation Network in 2010. The first two games, Parasite Eve and Parasite Eve II , had shipped over 3 million copies worldwide by 2010. Like other role-playing video games made by Square for the PlayStation, Parasite Eve was made during a period that Peter Tieryas of Kotaku described as an "experimental period" where nearly every role-playing video game from

3363-403: Was sung by Shani Rigsbee , while the vocals for the orchestrated versions of "Influence of Deep" and "Se il Mio Amore Sta Vincino" were provided by Judith Siirila. "Somnia Memorias" was translated and adapted from Japanese into Latin by Raul Ferrando, while "Se il Mio Amore Sta Vincino" was translated by Daniella Spagnolo. The lyrics for all vocal pieces were written by Shimomura. The track "I Hear

3422-510: Was the culmination of the best parts of the first three games. Chrono Trigger is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1995. Director credits were attributed to Akihiko Matsui , Yoshinori Kitase and Takashi Tokita. Tetsuya Takahashi had the role of graphic director. Additionally, Takashi Tokita, along with Yoshinori Kitase wrote

3481-494: Was where much of the game's staff came from. Because of this, Shimomura remembered the game as her most challenging project. She wanted the music to be experimental, not falling into ambient or techno classifications. One of her main goals was to create something "inorganic" and recognizable as a product of Square . Until Parasite Eve , Shimomura had written music in a straightforward manner that reflected her then-current state of mind, but this time she restrained herself and took

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