Nightmare Mode...I Am Your Master

"Victory is mine. Victory is mine. Great day in the morning, people. Victory is mine!"
(Josh Lyman, The West Wing, S1 Ep2)

I have BEATEN the infamous Nightmare Mode of PS1 game, Parasite Eve 2. Yes, I have. Victory is, indeed, mine. I am truly awesome.

For many years - actually, three - it was my strongly held belief that I would never be able to complete this most arduous endeavour. I did not believe that I possessed the required skill and commitment to achieve such glorious excellence. I documented my Nightmare Mode ineptitude in an earlier post, and since that time, I have lived with the vanquished understanding that winning Nightmare Mode was a life experience that would never be mine. Until now, because now it IS my life experience; mine, mine, mine! And so I must, again, quote from fellow glory-seeker, Josh Lyman (S1, Ep2):

"I drink from the keg of glory, Donna. Bring me the finest muffins and bagels in the land."

"Someone give me a river to forge, a serpent to slay."

And I did slay. There was much slaying. For the last 3 months, I have devoted myself to unbridled slayage. My mantra has been: slay, slay, slay! I slayed that damn Knight Golem in the Akropolis Tower. I slayed those floppy, marionette Brain Stingers (and their giant master, the Puppet Stinger). I slayed all the lackadaisical Mossbacks (who always seem kind of relieved when they die). I slayed those adorable jelly-blobs. I killed the absolute crap out of those really annoying Black Beetles. I slayed/exploded all the mutant, exploding babies. I kept slaying, up until, and including, my final battle with Eve. And Eve threw everything at me. Yes, she did. All her deadly, and quite noisy, spells; her crazy screen-wobble chant, her full body torpedoes, her multicoloured balls of pain, and finally, her slap-happy clones (pro-tip: kill the clones before they trap you in a 'slap-lock' - this is pretty much checkmate on Nightmare Mode). I faced everything Parasite Eve 2 - Nightmare Mode - could attack me with, and I won!!!

I am now a victorious person. An achiever. I can walk among society with a champion's demeanour. I can regale ordinary citizens with tales of my video game heroism. Nothing can stop me! Though, okay, sure, there is that whole "pride comes before a fall" business to consider, and I am feeling very prideful right now. So, I will enjoy and celebrate my greatness for as long as I can before I am devastatingly conquered by my next challenge and plunged into rabid ungreatness.

Parasite Eve 2 as Allegory For Inequality

Let it NOT be said that these past few months of obsessive devotion to the playing of the Playstation games (as evidenced by recent blog postings) has been in vain. Or a waste of time. Or that, surely, I could find something more worthwhile to do with my time. I say, not so!

For, whilst I was embedded in manic hours of console madness, I discovered a remarkable revelation.

Indeed, it came to my attention, during the desperate throes of trying (unsuccessfully) to beat the Knight Golem in the Akropolis Tower in Nightmare Mode of Parasite Eve 2, that I was doomed from the start of the Nightmare Mode game. Doomed. And why was I so doomed? Because Nightmare Mode imposes a set of impossibly harsh preconditions upon the player, which are incredibly hard to overcome. In fact, you can't actually ever overcome them  - the enemies are always super strong and Aya (the player's character) is always super weak. As a result of the imposition of such, um, austerity measures (it's as though Aya were allowed but one gold coin to pay for necessities which cost, like, a gazillion gold coins), Aya is destined to die, die, DIE!

It is my contention, thus, that Parasite Eve 2 (and its multi-gameplay-mode system) provides a comprehensive parable/allegory - or parabellegory - for social, economic and cultural structures which allow inequality to flourish. [However, I do not intend to write a thesis about it. This blog post will (more than) suffice.]

Parasite Eve 2 has four unlockable modes of play (ie these modes can only be accessed after the player has completed Normal Mode). The four unlockable modes are: Replay/Bounty/Scavenger/Nightmare.

Replay Mode is like being born into a safe and wealthy family, living in a safe and well maintained neighbourhood, going to a safe and well funded school, having a safe and well paying job, and rarely being discriminated against or oppressed.

Here are the gameplay specifications for Replay Mode (mission level: easy):

The modes become progressively more difficult - mission levels: normal (Bounty), then hard (Scavenger):

Until the most evil, Nightmare (mission level: forget about it, aka very hard)(note: there is no exclamation mark at the end of the blurb - as there is for the other modes - not very encouraging):

Nightmare Mode is like being born into an unsafe and poor family, living in an unsafe and poorly maintained neighbourhood, going to an unsafe and poorly funded school, having an unsafe and poorly paying (and probably crappy) job, and frequently being discriminated against and oppressed.

I know which mode I would want to play/be born into.

For this blog post, I conducted primary research into the Parasite Eve 2 inequality parabellegory phenomenon. My methodology involved extensive interviewing with a regular Parasite Eve 2 player (aka me), with special attention to the intellectual, physical and emotional responses experienced whilst engaging with (aka playing) Parasite Eve 2. I have compared and contrasted these responses (via two insightful statements) with explicit regard to Replay and Nightmare Modes:

Statement 1: "I have just finished playing Replay Mode (again - I've played it 3 times now! it is awesome) and I had the best weapons and ammunition and health and all the asshole creatures got massively killed and I am great."

Statement 2: "I kept getting killed when I attempted to play Nightmare Mode and this sucks and I had crap weapons and ammunition and no health and I didn't have the energy to keep playing and I turned off the console and I went to bed and I am not great."

Nightmare Mode Beckons at Me

But its deadly invitation is not so readily heeded.

Having completed Scavenger Mode (Parasite Eve 2 ), I am now eligible to undertake the dastardly torture that is Nightmare Mode. (Nightmare Mode mantra: "You start off sick and things get worse in this most difficult mode").

HOWEVER, I don't think I'm gonna do Nightmare Mode. 'Cos it looks too frickin' hard. And I am no overachiever. Scavenger Mode was difficult but still (mostly) enjoyable. Nightmare Mode is just psychotic. And I haven't attempted Bounty Mode yet, which is actually unlocked before Scavenger Mode, but some (internet) people say it's harder than Scavenger Mode. So maybe I'll have a try at Bounty Mode.

Or maybe not, because I think I need to read some books and watch some films, and maybe even talk to some people, like I (sometimes) used to do before I pulled out the Playstation console. Playstation console has an uncanny ability to absorb my mind, body and soul.

But (and ignoring the previous paragraph), before I do anything else, I will be going back to Replay Mode (easy mode - extra items and awesome weapons, and Aya is much stronger - ie harder to kill) for some cathartic blasting of some of the asshole boss monsters who gave me hell in Scavenger Mode. In particular, I am looking forward to using the Hypervelocity gun (which I am now able to access having raised my level ranking by completing Scavenger Mode):

I will take especially great joy in using the Hypervelocity gun on the Puppet Stinger (aka the Giant Bowman). Here he is in Scavenger Mode, being an asshole:

Scavenger Mode Beckoned at Me

And, like a neo-mitochondrial moth to a flame, I heeded its parasitic call.

Scavenger Mode (Parasite Eve 2): This mode can be unlocked either by completing Bounty Mode or by obtaining above 69001 exp points on Replay or Normal modes. In Scavenger Mode decent weapons/ammunition and items are mostly unavailable or extremely expensive to purchase. Basically, most things are acquired by either finding them or after beating some enemies - hence, you are expected to scavenge. Also, you lose health points ALOT quicker in this mode (those adorable, flappy neo-mitochondrial moths can actually kill you here).

And, finishing Scavenger Mode unlocks Nightmare Mode!!! (Nightmare Mode combines the worst - hardest - aspects of Bounty and Scavenger modes for a raucous journey of getting killed lots - good times!).

The point I'm trying to make here, is that my Playstation addiction continues. Despite my belief that I was only going to 'have a look' at my old playstation games when I pulled them (and the PS console) out of the deepest darkest reaches of the wooden chest in my loungeroom, they are now (re) consuming me. However, in fairness to Parasite Eve 2 (and myself), I had not realized that I could unlock all these other modes after finishing the original game. In reality, when I packed this game away, 13 or so years ago, I had only completed a fraction of the gameplay it offered.

My brain, therefore, is currently devoted to Scavenger Mode battle strategies. I am honing my tactics and manoeuvres, testing various combinations of firepower, along with parasite energies (earth, wind, fire, water), with a goal to obtaining the best possible outcomes in each of the - progressively freaking harder - enemy configurations I must face. And, so far, I ALWAYS win (except for when I die - but then I can reload the game until I WIN).

Most importantly, playing Scavenger Mode is allowing me to actively avoid the real world, and any battles contained within the real world that I might encounter - and which, most likely, I would NOT win.

The Giant Pink Mutant Baby is Dead!

It has only taken me 13 years to beat the 2nd(!) last boss of Playstation game, Parasite Eve 2. Though in fairness to myself, for the majority of those 13 years I had discontinued playing PE2 (or any video games) in the belief that I would never be able to kill the hideous pink baby. But a restless spirit and a desire to kill fictional mutant babies have led me to triumph. Persistence, incredible skill, and advice from the internet, have paved the way for my glorious victory.
(Gameplay hint: When the creature's core opens keep shooting at the core with grenades, and keep maxing out Aya's health - blasts from the core are deadly).

I have documented my greatness below-

Giant pink mutant baby at beginning of battle:

The battle has been bravely fought and won. Victory (and Ringer's Solution) is mine:

Giant pink mutant baby is toast. Or, more correctly, it's a puddle (the white-pink area at bottom right of screen is what remains of the baby):

Now I just have to kill the super final boss, Parasite Eve... gah!...see you in another 13 years...