The 3rd Birthday Final Thoughts: Dead End

Posted on by vgj2008

The 3rd Birthday is a game that is best enjoyed for its gameplay. Ultimately, this is a game that is held back by the limitations of its platform, and its questionable concept.

The plot is a mess. It’s a monument to all of Square Enix’s worst sins and excesses in creating complicated plots. Every time I think that I understand it, my brain thinks up something else that doesn’t make sense, just to question it.

It didn’t need to be a mess. The original Parasite Eve games had epic scales and conflicts, but they did not descend into supernatural time travel mumbo-jumbo.

Several took issue with Aya’s meeker characterization. It is justified in-game with the revelation that it’s actually Eve in Aya’s body (since Aya is currently soul-challenged at the moment, and apparently exists in a limbo state). However, to be blunt, no one played a PE game to play as anyone but Aya Brea.

Some compare Aya’s characterization negatively to Samus’ characterization in Metroid: Other M. Both games were released in 2011.

Probably the best moment in the story is Eve and Aya’s reunion at the end. Continue reading The 3rd Birthday Final Thoughts: Dead End

The 3rd Birthday Part Three: Aya’s Counterattack

Posted on by vgj2008

June 5, 2011: There are varying degrees of mutation. It ranges from A (normal), to B (Benign), to C and D (Malignant). You can splice the malignancy out of corrupted OE chips…

On the field, I discovered something useful: If you activate Liberation just as you suffer a fatal blow, it will restore your health to full after the meter’s dried up!

June 6, 2011: Operation Red Fog! I finally got past the subway train section. Beyond that? Scratchers. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

I don’t really have a plan for my OE Boards. I definitely want to keep Odds Up on them. 😛

June 7, 2011: Once again, Aya’s attempt to enter the past altered the present. Thelonius vanished from the timeline. Blank realized what was happening and ran to Thelonius as he vanished, only to completely forget why he went to the rooftop in the first place.

Aya remembered seeing Kyle dressed as a groom at the altar, only to be shot offscreen. Kyle appeared before her at the Twisted nest again, and she begged him to protect Eve. He pledged his guardianship over “our little princess”.

Episode 4: The Moment of Truth

October 1, 2011: Chipping away at Operation Blue Hail. Let’s find Kyle Madigan. Continue reading The 3rd Birthday Part Three: Aya’s Counterattack