How good is Miraculum and is there a walkthrough available?

[gbapalyer]

has anyone ever played miracalum and how is it?
is there a walkthrough available for this game?

[SamIAm]

Here's a walkthrough of it in Japanese that you could probably plug into google translate or whatever:
http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~comefx99/mc.htm

I'll avoid posting the stuff from the more negative Japanese reviews and just say that everyone says it's extremely orthodox.

EDIT: You may be interested to see a rip of the soundtrack that's up on niconicodouga:
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm14865600

(note: you have to have an account to watch videos there)

[gbapalyer]

what do you mean by orthodox? aint the game as great as startling odyssey 2? i would like to read some japanese reviews and comments on this game. it looks awesome.

[SamIAm]

Orthodox was the word they used, but I think it means that it follows only the most widely accepted design philosophies of games that came before it, and doesn't really try anything new. A less charitable way to describe it might be "generic" or "bland".

If you can read Japanese, knock yourself out:
http://yotsuba.saiin.net/~heart-of-haa/reveaw-m.htm#%E3%83%9F%E3%83%A9%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AB%E3%83%A0
http://pc-fx.moemoe.gr.jp/soft01.html#21
http://www.geocities.jp/geo_pj/gc/gl-3mirac.html
http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~comefx99/fxreviewmiraculum.htm

Some people like it, some don't. I've only played it briefly. It seems like a clone of SNES RPGs. At best, it could be great, like a combination of the best ideas from the previous era. At worst, it could be uninspired and dull because the creators possibly didn't have a lot of passion/good ideas for what they were doing.

A few things bug me:
-The areas seem redundantly large in proportion to the characters' sizes and speeds. The reviews often mention that the dungeons are just too big, and I can see where they're coming from.
-There's a lot of prerendered 3D that was obviously done with 1995's bottom-rung 3D software, and done in a hurry at that. Maybe some can find this charming, but it's hard for me.
-It's apparently a 30-40 hour game, but there are only about 15 short music tracks.
-Apparently, when it comes to the story, there's not much of an arc, it's predictable and not very sophisticated, and it's unabashedly town-dungeon.

However, here are some good things they mention:
-It's still basically a well-rounded, full-sized game with no major faults.
-It's got everything you'd expect to find in an "orthodox" RPG in terms of things like different areas, airships and submarines, a love sub-plot, and a group of unlikely heroes saving the world from a big bad guy.
-It doesn't have an obnoxious encounter rate.
-The battle system is fun.
-The dungeons have some neat logic puzzles if you're into that sort of thing.
-The main character isn't a whiny androgynous pseudo-goth pretty-boy like in so many other RPGs.

I might give it some real hours and see how I feel about it. I've been meaning to play a new RPG these days.

Has anyone here beaten it?

[gbapalyer]

thanks for your post, sounds fine to me and like its going to be like startling odyssey 2, maybe even better.

does the game have ingame anime cutscenes?

[SamIAm]

...

...Oh PC-FX...

One hour into Miraculum, and already there's been an anime cutscene where the main character saves the love-interest character from being tentacle-raped.

I guess that answers your question, eh gbapalyer?

[gbapalyer]

awesome.

[tpivette]

This sounds like a good game to start with when my system arrives. Can't wait to start playing!

[kazekirifx]

I played pretty far into it long long ago, but got stuck eventually, and was not aware of any FAQ at the time.

Honestly, I thought the game was all right, but not amazing. It's just nice that there is at least one decent traditional RPG on the system. There are other RPG's, but this is the only one that really fits the traditional mold.

[SamIAm]

Honestly, I thought the game was all right, but not amazing. It's just nice that there is at least one decent traditional RPG on the system. There are other RPG's, but this is the only one that really fits the traditional mold.

Yeah, this is definitely a 100% standard RPG, pre-FFVII anyway.

I'm about two hours in. The random encounter rate is just right, and there's nothing in the game design that makes me ask what the hell they were thinking. It's definitely low-stress to play.

On the other hand, I'm really not feeling any sort of impact yet. Things like the characters, the setting, the graphics and music etc, seem both mediocre and lacking cohesion. I'll give it another hour or two, but if doesn't draw me in or charm me a little more, I'm moving on.

[kazekirifx]

I think I'd still like to go back to this one and finish it some day. At the very least, there is a certain charm to pre-FFVII JRPG's that I enjoy, and this one seemed decent enough. My higher level of Japanese ability and the FAQ would probably make this game a lot less daunting were I to try again today.

[gbapalyer]

is it as good as startling odyssey 2? i bought miraculum on ebay for 25$.
i wil try to get a pc-fx maybe in november during my 3 weeks japan trip.

[neofan]

Bah! why use google translator, when you can read my walkthru in all it's wonderful, english, glory!

http://pwp.att.net/p/s/community.dll?ep=87&subpageid=353740&ck=

"it's enough to get you started"

of course I did it back in the 90's and like all my walkthrus...I have tons of notes to update it, just haven't.
As long as you can figure out the menus a bit, this is a very fun game! The anime scenes are a real treat, as noted earlier. It is very long, and the world is very very big. Yes, some of the dungeons are way too big. I remember leaving my pc-fx on pause while I was at work so I wouldn't have to restart some of them
Comparing what else we got on the system, this game was my favorite RPG, hands down.
If you have liked any of the other Rayforce RPGs you need to play it!

I was able to beat it, just using basic "talk to everybody, search everything" methods that most 90's RPGs like this had you do, so good luck!

-scotty
ps, if you've read this far down...I do have a very complete update for Boundary Gate that I think I'm ready to post, it will be able to get anybody thru the game with a good idea of what's going on

[gbapalyer]

@neofan: totally awesome. ^^
i´ve ordered the game tigether with alshark for 40$ on ebay. now the only thing i need is a pc-fx system, but maybe ill get one cheap in japan this november.
do you also have menue translations?

[gbapalyer]

bought the game at ebay now.

is anyone through the game now and can tell me how long it is?