Parasite Eve II

• Other than the story, there's not much tying it to Parasite Eve 1. The mechanics are completely different.

• Brush up on your annoying PS1-gen Survival Horror control scheme skills, it's surprisingly hard.

• Refer to a FAQ if you want the best ending (and it's also the most rewarding ending). Like most Japanese multi-ending video games it requires you to do a laundry list of arbitrary and easily missed actions or else you miss the chance. One requires you to beat a boss in a certain time, another has you returning to an area you'd never think about visiting and the window of time they give you is small... it's really stupid.

• If you're going to play more than once, don't use a guide. There's a few ways things can turn out, some of which are very interesting.

• Don't buy spells/upgrades immediately, save the points and upgrade spells when you're out of MP after a battle, and heal fully (using the heal spell) first if possible. Whenever you get a new spell it raises and refills your MP. Doing this will really help stretch out healing items.

• Also the area of effect attack spells are still good against certain enemies, or to clear out a room quickly if you can spare the MP/items in the late game.

• Some enemies have certain weaknesses to ammo types even if that ammo is weak.

• Some enemies can be crippled (blown off shield) if you happen to hit them when they are in certain animations. Enemies can react differently to sound or movement.

• Watch out for cliffs.

• Try to score high at the shooting range early game and you'll get some helpful items. Aya also keeps progressively better equipment in the trunk of her car. At the beginning of each chapter be sure to check her trunk for magically reappearing stuff.

• The best spells are metabolize, healing, lifedrain (really, really good because enemies love swarming you), and antibody. Like the first game, attack abilities are wholly useless because you can deal more damage over a fixed amount of time and energy will save you from having to horde healing items.

• When the stealth golems are appearing and disappearing all around you, if you turn music off and sound up a bit you can hear a buzzing sound when it's the real guy, holograms don't leave a sound.

• After you reach the church at the top of the tower there's a locked emergency exit, I believe it's behind the podium or altar. Check it TWICE to get a key that unlocks some useful gear in the Shelter. It's your only chance, so be sure to get it or you'll have to make another run through the game.

• When you complete the game, the game rewards you with bonus points according to all the items you stockpiled in the various storage bins and on your person. Key items also count towards this total, so if you can help it, pick up everything and stow it somewhere. This will net you a fairly good score to unlock special weapons. Which in turn makes the next run easier.

• Don't attempt Nightmare mode until you learn how every enemy moves and how to avoid each of the attacks they do. Between your low hp and the enemies increased damage you need to be dodging essentially everything.

• In addition to the Black Card referred to in other tips for this game, you should also try to find most of the gear in the first area. Sure the plot takes the gear itself away from you, but the compensatory items are pretty damn good as well.

• There are four items in the game that have ???s for their use/attach effects. Their attach effects are better than the use effects, full stop.

Bounty Mode

• Starting out, you can't power through the levels because your weapons suck and Stealth, grenade launching, and lightsaber Golems show up. I believe you will be armed with your Beretta M93R, MP5K and possibly the Sig P220 after you finish the church section. I know you find the MP5 on a dead SWAT guy, but I think the Sig is a drop from the first few Golem fights.

• Each of these unit types has a method/technique to defeat. The difficulty comes in how to handle multiple types in the same battle, along with the regular enemies.

• Stealth: Keep your back to a wall, when he appears, shoot him with the Beretta. I found the damage per round to be better than the MP5. It also crits a lot more. If you don't shoot him after he appears, you risk him reappearing from afar to do a rush attack. He can sometimes drop holograms, so be wary. Don't shoot them, for the same reason. Just wait for the real version to appear. Should go down after a few full magazines of your Beretta bursts.

• Grenade: He tends to stay away from you, shooting at you. Depending on his type, he'll do either the whole salvo or half of it. Keep track, and hit him when he's cycling a new salvo. These are great in a fight, since they can attack other Golems . Lure others into the cone of fire and save bullets.

• Lightsaber: He will make a straight beeline for you, every time. You always want to be running perpendicular to his path. He will try to compensate at the last minute, but practice avoiding the slash. Just fire a quick burst or two before he makes another run for you. Preferably, shooting from afar.

• Use your baton on downed Golems . You WILL run out of ammo. Also, exploit the use of the Flashlight. It will can damage and sometimes instantly kill some nocturnal creatures. I recall bats and moths disintegrating. Any weapon with recharging features, save up for those. Taser attachment is worth its weight in gold since it will work just like a shotgun blast on those beetles. I don't use the Flamer or Laser Lance, they are either too slow or have fewer shots. Every discharge of the taser is useful for stunning or flipping pesky enemies.

• The rest is just the same, get that Cardkey that I mentioned earlier, found in the Church. Some of the more sneaky Stealth and Grenade guys will start the fight by inflicting a status ailment on you. Shake your controls if a Stealth one grabs you at the start. Should minimize cheap loss of life for these early stages. Expect to expend most of your ammo after a few encounters, so make lots of trips to top off your ammo.