Contest Entry: Game Villain(s) You Would Like to Kill Again

There is only one villain that comes to mind when I read game villain(s) you would like to kill again from this contest post. That would be Truebred Eve from the Parasite Eve Trilogy. After several years from finishing it’s first game PE1, it still amazes me how much the game went undervalued during its time. I guess you can call it my bias for loving the game as an entry level for horror games. It’s not all horror but there are scenes in the game that would give the creeps from the unsuspecting.

Parasite Eve became the first game I truly thought I finished only to realize a few years after I got it all wrong. This has largely to do with the existence of Purebred Eve in the game. This link would explain everything you need to know about the super boss but that’s not what this post is about. The post is about why this villain led me to change my approach when playing rpg games in general.

Summary of the Post:

Some background of the game [Warning: Spoilers]
Backstory of the Mistake
How I discovered the mistake
Redemption and Lessons
Sources of Images
Footer

---

Background of the game

Eve is the main antagonist of the game, but it’s not a person but a sentient evolved mitochondria that plans on extinction of the human race. For simplification reasons, we’ll just refer to Eve as a she. She is able to control the mitochondria of other cells to produce more ATP (biochemical energy) in her victims causing rapid acceleration of cell metabolism on crazy levels that people experience their bodies spontaneously burning. The antagonist of the game is the parasite that lives in Melissa Pearce.

Backstory of the Mistake

I was a kid making the most of my summer back then. I got a fresh stack of Playstation 1 games to play and a few weeks left of summer to finish them. You’d know by now that I’m playing to finish as many games as I can and Parasite Eve was one of them.

I wasn’t the type of gamer that would ask for help with my games. I played all of my games with the intention of solving the obstacles on my own. Not that the internet would help me back then, I was a kid who had no access to the internet or even knew of it’s power back then. I’m talking about the beginning of the 21st century living in a developing country.

I’d grind my way if I have to just to ensure that I’ll defeat the boss with the first try (this one took me 5 or 6 tries). Grinding was time consuming but it did lessen the difficulty of a boss in the late stages so it actually saves me more time and less headaches.

In Parasite Eve, the final boss was the Ultimate Being, born from Eve’s cells and a sperm containing no mitochondria. As a superboss, it’s supposed to do 1 hit KO or two if lucky on you. AND I CAN’T BELIEVE I MISSED IT.

How I discovered the mistake

Call it a beginning gamer’s mistake but after clearing the game, it’s common to unlock the secret levels. And silly me not knowing this mechanic all along. It was only after a few years when I unboxed my PS1 and saw the disc that I took a trip back to memory lane. But this time it was different, because before even starting the game again I had internet to share some stories with me.

You can piece up together by now that I learned about Truebred Eve during some searching more about the game. I never really finished the game and that was a hell of a shocker after. It’s like finding out your pride as a gamer was never built on solid foundation, not cool.

But no one needs to know right? Nobody in my social circle even knew the game exists and I failed to kill the real boss, but I did.

Redemption and Lessons

I didn’t mind reliving the memories as I walk through the game chasing Eve. I don’t know if any gamer has experience this feeling or if I could express the right words to describe the mix of frustration and excitement of playing the game again.

This game was the first game I thought I cleared and I am doing it again but there was no shame. I wanted to screw around with the enemies that made me take one step forward and three steps back when I was a kid. The game had some scenes that featured horror themes in them and my eyes weren’t used to gore elements.

It’s funny to see how your perspective changes through time when playing your first real game again after several years. Melissa Pearce, the game’s antagonist and host of Eve, was surprisingly relatable than I knew her back then. I just thought she was just crazy mentioning figurative deals with the devil just to get the show running. But this was a person that wanted to do anything they can to fulfill their ambitious goals.

I realized how mature I became after being able to relate to the characters in depth. Parasite Eve did felt like a linear storyline/game but there were moments when characters did what any normal people would actually do in that that world’s situation. You see a monster, you run. See something you don’t understand, you run. Think you have powers to defeat the monster, you fight because you’re the only one capable of getting the job done and you’re a police officer (referring to the protagonist’s role in the game). Point is, it’s that change of perspective in a few years that lets you be more engaged with any game’s universe.

Maturity to accept the story as it is even if you raise your eyebrow at how ridiculous it can be. If it’s a game you love, it doesn’t really matter if it disobeyed the laws of physics like Cloud’s gravity defying hair, because if the game helps you put your skeptic side on pause, manages to help you lose tract of time, be challenged and chill, then it’s already a game worth playing again.

Ok so back to the Villain Truebred Eve.

Needless to say it was a pain to do trial and error but surprisingly worthwhile as it did tested my wits to the limit. Fighting Truebred Eve felt like fighting a force you were meant to feel cheated on and small. You have to time your skills, dodge and then make every turn count because one false move and you’ll be back on loading your game from the checkpoint.

Like seriously, the Chrysler Building in the game didn’t allow you to save until you reached a specific floor number but you have to go throught several floors with mini bosses that were overwhelming to fight during your early levels.

I love Truebred Eve because defeating her gave me satisfaction of completing my first game (discarding the retro games). She is a symbolic villain that I never met. She is the villain I failed to kill just because I lacked the insight to find her. I most likely didn’t deserve to meet her the first time because I’d end up unprepared and unable to appreciate the art of the game as a whole. Parasite Eve will have a special place in me.

Long story short, always revisit every nook and cranny of the game you finished or trying to finishing to make sure you never miss an Easter egg or a great event.

---

Sources: 1234

---

Steem Gaming Community

art and flair courtesy of @PegasusPhysics