La Pucelle: Tactics: Miracle FAQ by A I e x

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|                   Author: A I e x                                          |
|                   Began: May 24th, 2004                                    |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
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Note:  This FAQ is spoiler-free, so please read and enjoy every 
bit of this non-game spoiling information, with my thanks.

Also I would just like to begin the guide with an extra special thanks to 
TeenageCatgirlInHeat, creator of the miracle information topic on the La 
Pucelle message board, and without whose help this guide would not have 
been possible.
___________________________________________________________________________

Version History:

1.00 - I wrote the whole guide.  Yeah.

1.01 - Added version history and stream priority sections, along with a 
couple new diagrams.  Spelling erros fixed which added even more names to
my long list of credits.

1.02 - Updated my email
___________________________________________________________________________

Introduction:

A couple years before Disgaea: Hour of Darkness hit store shelves, a game 
that took strategy RPG fans by storm, Nippon Ichi released another SRPG by 
the title of La Pucelle (or La Pucelle: Tactics in North America.)  Thanks 
to the fine localization work done by the people at Mastiff  LLC, we've 
finally had a chance to experience it here in NA.

Disgaea brought us an innovative twist on the classic SRPG battle system 
with its "Geo Panels." Well this FAQ is designed to assist in the 
understanding,  manipulating and combo-ing of La Pucelle's answer to Geo 
Panels, the dark portals.  These little coloured streams of energy you'll 
find in virtually all levels can be a bit intimidating at first, but with 
practice, setting up purification streams and circular streams known as 
miracles, can provide not only huge benefits to your equipment and 
weaponry, but it's also a lot of fun too.  :)

Good luck.
___________________________________________________________________________

Table of Contents:

I - Basics of Purification
	i - What is Purification?
	ii - Purifying Those Coloured Portals
	iii - Portals and Their Elements
	iv - Directing the Stream
II - Basics of Miracles
	i - Requirements for a Miracle
	ii - Effects of a Miracle
III - Specifics of Miracles
	i - Mass Miracles
	ii - Setting up Your Own Mass Miracle
	iii - Variables and Bonus Multipliers
	iv - Advanced Setups and Tactics
IV - 600,000 Prica and Counting
	i - Alex's Step by Step Mass Miracle Supreme!
V - Legal This and Legal That
VI - Credits and Thanks

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             Section I - i
                         What is Purification?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Many of the characters that will join you in the world of La Pucelle have 
the ability to "purify" evil.  This ability can be used in two ways, one 
is to persuade fiendish creatures to abandon their evils ways, and fight 
bravely at your side.  As well as recruiting monsters, purification can 
also be used to set off the many coloured portals you'll find among each 
level you visit.  The latter is the focus of this guide.  But first of all 
how do you purify, who can, and why should you do it?

Well most of the human characters who join you have the ability to purify 
dark portals.  The one exception to this is Homard.  None of the characters 
who join with Homard will every be able to purify either.  Monsters however 
can attain the ability to purify.  When a monster achieves a happiness 
rating of 10 (through training) that monster now has the ability to purify.  

Why should you bother purifying?  Well you may be familiar with the item 
world in Disgaea, which provides the means to level up your items.  Not so 
in La Pucelle, the method of levelling items in this game is Purification.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             Section I - ii
                     Purifying Those Coloured Portals
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

You should already be familiar with simply purifying a portal, as the game 
forces you to partake in a tutorial almost immediately when you enter the 
first map.  For those who have forgotten, or simply didn't care, here's a 
quick recap.

Each character has a number representing the power of his/her purification.  
This number is displayed when your character chooses the purify command.  
If this number is greater than the HP of the portal you wish to purify, 
purifying that portal will cause it to disappear and send an attack down 
the length of the stream going out of it.  If your purification power is 
less than the HP of the portal, purifying it will lower the HP of the 
portal by an amount equal to your purification power.  Pretty simple huh?

Once the portal has been purified all equipment that character had equipped 
will receive a certain amount of experience.  This experience is roughly 
equal to the amount of "bonus" you received from the purification, with a 
minimum in around the 7 - 8 exp range.  This bonus value can of course be 
multiplied in numerous ways, which is of course where things begin to get 
interesting. However lets not get to far ahead.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             Section I - iii
                       Portals and Their Elements
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

You will notice that each portal has a specific colour which represents 
their element.  Though there are only three primary portal colours (red, 
green and blue), through combinations of these colours, the streams can be 
a total of seven different possible colours.  These seven possible colours 
and their elements are:

Red (Fire)
Green (Wind)
Blue (Ice)
Yellow (Lightning) - (Red + Green)
Cyan (Healing) - (Green + Blue)
Magenta (Aid) - (Red + Blue)
White (Holy) - (Red + Green + Blue)

(Thanks to TeenageCatgirlInHeat for the colour combinations)

All of the above purification stream will damage any enemy who stands on 
them with the exception of the Cyan (light blue) coloured stream.  Any ally 
who stands on this stream will behave a certain amount of HP restored.  
This stream will have no effect on enemies.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             Section I - iv
                          Directing the Stream
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Characters have the wonderful ability to direct the flow of a dark energy 
stream.  When a character moves into the flow of such a stream, it will 
behave differently depending on the direction of the character.  The 
character can block the flow by facing the opposite direction it is flowing, 
he/she can leave it unaffected it by facing in the same direction it flows, 
or turn it 90 degrees left or right by facing in those directions 
respectively.  To change the direction of a character simply hover the 
cursor on them, hold square and press a direction on the d-pad.

Another item called a change up has the same effect.  Once placed it can 
direct the flow of dark energy the same way a character can, and can be 
rotated as such as well.  At only 50 prica per change up, I would recommend 
hanging on to quite a few of these at all times, they can come in quite 
handy and are an absolute necessity for the most complex of miracles.

There is one important thing to note about change ups, whether it's a 
glitch or not isn't for me to decide, but either way it's a great help.  
You can alter the direction any dark portal points its stream, anywhere 
on the map with very little effort.  First go to item and select a change 
up. Hover this change up over the dark portal you would like to change 
the direction of, even if it is out of range.  Simply by pressing square 
you can change the portal's direction, and it will remain in that direction 
even after you've canceled the change up.  No item is used in this process 
and it's a great way to change the direction of those out-of-reach dark 
portals.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             Section II - i
                       Requirements for a Miracle
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

What is a miracle?  The simplest answer is that a miracle is a purification 
stream that at some point, loops around and intersects itself in the 
process.  Again you should have the basic idea since the game virtually 
sets one up for you in the Devil's Stomach.  There are a few requirements 
to note for a miracle:

- To perform a miracle, a dark energy stream must intersect itself at some 
  point

- This stream, including the portal itself, must be a minimum of 15 panels 
  long

- With the exception of the healing stream, miracles only occur if an enemy 
  is inside the loop

(For the healing stream a teammate must be inside the loop)
(Being on top of the dark stream also counts as being "inside the loop")

If all these conditions are met, purifying the dark portal should cause a 
chain that ends in a miracle.  Take for example this situation:

D>>>>>>>>V
  ^      V
  ^   E  V
  ^      V
  <<<<<<<<

The D represents the dark portal, and the arrows represent each one panel 
of the energy stream.  The E is an enemy.  In this situation a miracle will 
occur if the dark portal is purified.  The stream is 23 panels long, there 
is an enemy within and the stream intersects itself.  All conditions are 
met.  The following are two cases that would not set off a miracle if 
purified.

D>>>>>>>>V
  ^      V
  ^      V
  ^      V
  <<<<<<<<

This has no enemy, and thus will not perform a miracle.

D>>V
 ^EV
 <<<

This tiny little one contains an enemy, but is far too short (only 11 
panels long) and will not perform a miracle.  One other thing to note 
is, while the loop itself may not contain more than 15 panels, as long 
as the stream does a miracle can still occur, to illustrate:

D>>>>>>>>>>>>>V
          ^ E V
          <<<<<

Despite being a tiny loop, the total stream contains more than 15 
panels, the above diagram will cause a miracle when purified. 
(Thanks to bearsman6 for this)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             Section II - ii
                           Effects of a Miracle
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now that you know purification is the means to raise the levels of your 
items, what's the purpose of miracles?  Miracles have numerous effects, 
all which can be very beneficial to the player.  First unlike purification 
miracles damage every enemy within a loop, not just the ones on the energy 
stream.  This damage is also much higher than the damage from a simple 
purification. Second miracles have the wonderful ability to dramatically 
multiply the bonus you receive, and in turn drastically increase the amount 
of experience your weapons receive.  Third miracles can really bring in the 
big bucks.  Not sounding too bad is it?

When you want to start your miracle, there are a few things to consider.  
First what is the element of your miracle?  The element of the miracle, is 
taken from the colour of the dark stream when it intersects itself.  Take 
care to note this, the colour of the portal does not matter, all that 
matters is the colour of the last panel of dark stream before it intersects 
with itself.  The miracle
that will be performed is as follows:

Red - Armageddon (Damages enemies)
Green - Requiem (Damages enemies)
Blue - Gospel (Damages enemies)
Yellow - Testament (Damages enemies)
Magenta - Ultimate Insanity (Damages enemies/cause negative status effects)
Light Blue - Evangel (Heals allies)
White Ragnarok - (Damages enemies)

(Again thanks to TeenageCatgirlInHeat for this list and damn posting limit 
for information about magenta stream status effects)

The damage the enemies take has the same element as the miracle, so a fire 
element monster would take little damage from an Armageddon, but a lot of 
damage from a Gospel.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             Section III - i
                              Mass Miracles
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

This point marks the true beginning of this guide.  A guide that includes 
the basics of purification and miracles is always handy, but this guide was 
created in mind of the people searching for the more advanced techniques 
and rewards miracling has to offer, and that's just what I intend to 
provide.  First I'd like to begin with the simple premise of multiple 
miracles.

While miracles have the ability to damage all enemies within them, they also 
have one other important property to them.  They act as purifiers for every 
dark portal contained inside them.  Portals inside are purified regardless 
of HP immediately after the primary miracle ends.  Now one may think that is 
you were to purify a portal inside, could you not possibly create a miracle
with that portal as well?  Indeed you can, and indeed you will.

Now lets say we have a set up like this.  Don't forget the D's represent 
Dark portals, E's enemies, and C's characters.

DC>>>>>C
 ^     V
 ^   E V
 ^     V
 ^     V
 ^     V
 C<<<<<C

Now when the dark portal is purified we will have ourselves a miracle.  No 
problem right?  Well imagine this setup:

DC>>>>>C
 ^     V
 ^   E V
 ^     V
 ^ D   V
 ^     V
 C<<<<<C

What we have inside is another dark portal.  As mentioned previously, 
miracles will automatically purify if they are inside the loop of another 
miracle.  So once the first miracle went off, this dark portal in the middle 
would become purified as well.  Now imagine it had a stream coming out of it 
like so:

DC>>>>>C
 ^     V
 ^   E V
 ^     V
 ^ D>>>C
 ^     V
 C<<<<<C

Now you will see that once the first miracle is set off, the 
second will go, but assuming there are people at each corner directing 
the stream, the second one will circle around and perform another miracle 
(assuming at least one enemy survived the first), and that right there is 
the premise of mass miracles.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             Section III - ii
                     Setting up Your Own Mass Miracle
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Got all those change ups I told you to buy in section I - iv?  Didn't think 
so, but regardless now is when they'll start to come in handy.  Also going 
to the shop and buying four pairs of sneaker will be a great help when 
trying to accomplish this, each increases your movement by one and four can 
be equipped at one time.  

Find yourself a map with some weak enemies to start.  What you want to do 
is find a dark portal near the outer edge of the map, and go over and stand 
on it.  Make sure enemies are near too, for this particular test, I recommend
the first level in the Devil's Stomach, using the two bats near the base 
panel.  Make sure that along with these bats another dark portal will be 
inside the circle. Point a dark portal away from the base panel with a 
character who has a purification power strong enough to set it off.  With 
another character move further down and try to curve the energy stream 
behind the enemy,  in the case of these bats it may look something like this, 
with C's being characters:

         D
         V
         V
      D  V
  E   E  V
         V
<<<<<<<<<C

Now move another character to curve the stream again to something like this:

^        D
^        V
^        V
^     D  V
^ E   E  V
^        V
C<<<<<<<<C

And finally one more character to loop it:

         D
C>>>>>>>>C
^        V
^     D  V
^ E   E  V
^        V
C<<<<<<<<C

Now take a character or use the change up trick to point the dark energy 
stream towards your base panel.  You may have noted before that the 
shorter stream will intersect and cut off the larger one.  The prevent 
this use a character or place a change up where the inner stream and 
outer stream collide.  Point this character in the direction of the outer 
stream at he/she will act to curve the inner stream while maintaining the 
outer stream.  In this case it would look like:

         D
C>>>>>C>>C
^     ^  V
^     D  V
^ E   E  V
^        V
C<<<<<<<<C

With the character facing to the right.  Now when this miracle is set 
off, if the bats survive, the inner dark portal will purify and go 
again around the circle performing a second miracle.  This same tactic 
can be applied on a much larger scale to set off three, four, five and 
even six miracles in one turn!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             Section III - iii
                       Variables and Bonus Multipliers
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once you start to get the hang of miracles, you're going to want to know 
how to get that bonus meter to keep climbing and climbing.  Well that's 
what  I (and everyone who contributed in Catgirl's topic) are here for.  
There are so many things that affect the bonus you receive from a miracle 
chain, so many that I believe many of them are still unrecognizable, but 
there are still many that can be utilized and manipulated to ensure you 
get the biggest bang for your miracle buck.  The following section will 
take you through everything that effects how big your bonus will be:
___________________________________________________________________________

	Purification streams:

When you set off a purification stream, the simplest bonus counter counts 
by one point for every panel an energy stream occupies.  So for example, 
including the portal itself, if a stream is 10 panels long, you will get a 
bonus of 10.  Now this isn't the amount of experience, this is just the 
bonus.  (I find that the experience you get for your weapons is 
approximately equal to three times the amount of the bonus when unaffected 
by any shop wishes.)  

Another thing to consider is the level of the stream.  If two green streams 
meet each other, they will join together and create what is known as a 
"level 2" stream.  The level of stream can be ascertained by hovering the 
cursor over the stream itself.  Unfortunately it cannot exceed level 2. 
Level 2 streams, when purified will count by two instead of one.  So again 
a level 2 stream of length 10 will net you a bonus of 20, twice as much as 
a level one stream.

Enemies on the purification stream will add to the bonus when damaged as 
well.  For each damaged enemy 10 will be added to the bonus meter, 
increasing by 10 for each additional enemy.  For example a stream of length 
10, with two enemies on it might go something like this:

Bonus: 1, 2, 3, (hits enemy) 9*, 10, 11, 12, (hits second enemy) 23**, 24, 25

*First enemy adds 5 to bonus and, it still increases by one for going to the 
next panel 

**Second enemy adds 10 to it, and one for going to the next panel

A third enemy would add 15 and so on.  So this stream gives you a total bonus
of 25, much better than a length 10 stream with no enemies.

Killing enemies doubles the aforementioned bonus as well.  If an enemy is 
killed instead of damaged, the amount added to the bonus increase by 10 not 
5.  Thus the same stream with the enemies killed instead of damaged would go:

Bonus: 1, 2, 3, (hits enemy) 14, 15, 16, 17, (hits second enemy) 38, 39, 40

As you can see it adds 10 for the first enemy killed, 20 for the second, then 
30 and so on and so on.  The total here is 40, much better than the original 
10 bonus.  You can see now how taking these factors into effect can 
drastically increase the bonus.  We've only covered the smallest of 
multipliers, and already our sample stream gives us a bonus that's four times
bigger.

	Loop Number:

The amount of miracles you do has a profound effect on the amount of bonus 
you receive, and I'm not referring to the miracles themselves.  The "loop 
number" referring to the number of miracles you have set off in one combo 
can be an great multiplier itself.  

As you know, a purification stream will add to your bonus by one for each 
panel.  Say you have a miracle set up with a dark portal inside, as it goes
around the circle your bonus will increase by one and your miracle will go 
off, setting in motion your second miracle.  This is the second loop of 
your miracle and it will add two to your bonus for every panel.  If you 
have a third miracle it will add three to your bonus for every panel and so 
on up to six miracles.

Now these loop numbers are also multipliers.  On your third miracle, it 
will count by three for each panel.  However if you are on your third loop 
and it's counting around a level 2 stream, you've got a multiplier.  Your 
3x multiplier from your loop number and your 2x multiplier from your level 
2 stream combine forces to become the 6x multiplier!  This particular will 
count by 6 for each panel as it goes around. 

This not only affects the counting bonus but also the enemy bonus, if this 
particular loop were to hit and kill an enemy, instead of a bonus of ten 
your 6x multiplier would mean an extra 60 added to your bonus for that one 
enemy, 120 for the next and so on.

These are the multipliers you want to work for.  A fifth miracle loop 
working its way around a level 2 dark energy stream will be adding a 
whopping 10 points to your bonus for each panel.  Imagine a miracle loop 
100 panels long that's 1000 bonus!

	Miracle Bonus

The factors which influence the size of the miracle bonus are admittedly 
unknown to me.  The primary factor that seems to influence it is the 
length of the dark stream that creates the miracle. When a miracle goes 
off you receive a pretty substantial bonus to your bonus counter, which 
increases for each miracle in your combo.  From information gathered and 
the work of Catgirl again, it would seem that a miracle bonus remains the 
same through each miracle, but if largely affected by the loop number 
multiplier, thus at the beginning of a huge miracle combo, you may get a 
few hundred bonus, but by the sixth one, your bonus may increase by a 
factor of a few thousand.  Such specifics are not important, what matters 
is the amount of miracles you're able to pull off, think of it simply as 
more is better, not more damage is better, which is why most people prefer 
to have as many Evangel miracles as possible in their combos, as they do 
not deal damage and thus will not wipe out the enemies, preventing further 
miracles.
___________________________________________________________________________

There are variables to take into consideration when building mass miracles 
as well.  These do not necessarily have an effect on the bonus you receive, 
but still if considered from an early stage can be used in your favour to 
ensure your miracle is a big as possible:

	Stream Priority

When two streams meet often you may wonder why one is absorbed and the
other continues.  Thanks to TeenageCatgirlInHeat for noting that this 
is based on the length oh each stream.  The shorter of two dark streams 
will ALWAYS continue in the same direction when coming into contact with a 
longer one.  This can be used to your advantage when creating mass 
miracles, but more often than not you'd rather be safe than sorry and use 
a change up just in case.

You also may be wondering which stream takes priority if they are the
same length?  Well I've done numerous tests and haven't found anything
to show any reason why one particular stream would absorb another or
vise versa.  It's best just to use your discretion.

	Activation Order

When setting off a large miracle there is a specific order in which the 
portals activate inside a loop if there are more than one (thanks to 
TeenageCatgirlInHeat for first noticing this.)  In most cases it will 
start on the opposite end of your base panel and move towards it, however 
this may not always be the case so it's best to experiment in maps you play 
most often and note the direction it moves.

	Thewholeshebang's Theory of Delayed Inclusion and Disorder

The name given by "Thewholeshebang" himself for a theory put forward about 
special activation of portals in miracles.  The premise is that when given 
a small miracle that opens up to a larger miracle after the first is set 
off, portals that are newly included in the larger one will activate prior 
to ones that would normally have activated first in accordance with the 
expected activation order.  This diagram illustrates.  The numbers represent 
the order in which dark portals will activate (C's are characters again just
to emphesize where they were and weren't used):

C<<<<C<D<<C<<<<C
V    ^    ^    ^
V    D1   ^    ^
V         D2   ^
V              C         C
V    E         ^
V              ^   D*
C>>>>>>>>>>>>>>^         C
               ^
               D**

Assume purification order in this case goes from top to bottom, so you would
think after purifying D**, D1 would purify next.  Now let's say D** was 
purified, note there is no character at the intersection point between D**'s 
stream and the loop.  It will go around, do a miracle and disappear leaving 
it to look like this.

C<<<<C<D<<C<<<<C
V    ^    ^    ^
V    D1   ^    ^
V         D2   ^
V              C<<<<<<<<<C
V    E                   ^
V                  D*    ^
C>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>C

Now even though as we stated, D1 should go next, the idea here is that since
D* is newly included, it will purify before D1 despite being near the bottom.
Hopefully the diagrams make it easier to understand this idea.  Situations 
like this rarely come up, but on occasion, it is something to keep in mind.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             Section III - iii
                        Advanced Setups and Tactics
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just a fancy name for all the miscellaneous information that still remains 
an absolute staple of miracle performance, but just doesn't belong anywhere 
else.

	Zig Zag Technique

Bigger, longer dark energy streams means bigger, better bonuses right?  
Well you might be saying "But I'm restricted by the walls of the level, how 
can I make a dark portal stream larger than the outer edges of the level" 
and I might say "Good news my friend, thanks to Arkady's idea of the zig zag 
method."  Simply put your biggest miracle chains can be increased 
drastically in size, by running them up the level and back down again.  If 
you fancy yourself a visual learner, take this for example:

D>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
 ^                             V
 ^                             V
 ^                             V
 ^                E            V
 ^                             V
 ^                             V
 ^                             V
 ^                             V
 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Above you see you have quite a large chain, perfect for a huge miracle, but 
assuming the confines of the level are just outside these boundaries, how 
can you make it bigger.  Simply do
this.

D>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
 ^                             V
 ^      <<<                    V
 ^      V ^                    V
 ^      V ^       E            V
 ^      V ^                    V
 ^      V ^                    V
 ^      V ^                    V
 ^      V ^                    V
 <<<<<<<< <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

As you can see, it still includes the enemy, still intersects itself, and is 
substantially longer.  Add more than one of these and you'll find your bonus 
will increase substantially.  Arkady has also kindly provided a diagram to 
better illustrate the technique.

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/2222/Ark1.gif

	Elemental Weapon Bonuses

If you receive a large bonus, your equipped weapons may jump from level 0 to
level 10.  A reasonable jump when considering a good sized miracle.  With 
the right elemental combinations it is very possible to increase that jump, 
from the same miracle to upwards of level 20.   

Weapons with an element that matches a miracle, will receive a generously 
large boost of experience in addition to what they would have normally 
received.  Say for example two green elemental miracles (Requiem) boosted 
your Manly Fist from level 0 to level 10.  now say that manly fist also 
had a green element of 5.  Now from these two requiems the manly fist 
would likely jump to level 15 from the same two miracles.  A green element 
of 10 could cause it to jump above level 20.  The idea is that matching an 
element on your weapon to the element of a miracle you create, will give a 
boost of experience.  If you find yourself performing miracles of a 
specific element fairly often, you will find it may be a good idea to plan 
ahead and use weapons with that element, so they become stronger when you 
want to level them up.

	Tricking the Portals Into Purifying in the Loop

This idea was brought to light thanks to Thewholeshebang.  The idea is that 
you can trick a portal into thinking it's in the loop, even when your loop 
exists elsewhere, this is obviously best explained with a diagram:

<<<D<<<<<
V   V   ^
V   V   ^
V D V E ^
V   V   ^
V   >>>>^
>>>>>>>>>

Despite the lone dark portal not being included in the loop on the right, 
the main portal is tricked into thinking the loop covers the whole area 
and as such, will purify the portal, or damage any enemies in that area.  
This trick can come in handy when one only has a small area in which to try 
and create a large loop.

	Shop Surveys and Tripling Your Bonus

While in the Rosenqueen shop, or any other shop in the game there is a 
random chance you will be asked what your greatest wish is and have it 
granted.  Two of these wishes are "Triple Money" and "Triple 
Purification Experience."  While you may be strapped for cash, when 
mass miracling there is no reason to choose the first.  Triple purification 
experience multiplies your bonus once your miracle is completed, and since 
you bonus is directly tied to the amount of money you receive, you receive 
triple the amount of money as well as triple the experience from choosing 
the second option.  When you are planning a large miracle, it should always 
be preceded by purchasing cheap change ups at the shop, and taking survey 
until you get the chance to wish for triple purification exp.  This wish 
applies until your first purification, so you are free so fight battles, 
save, reset etc and it will remain in effect until your first purification.

	The 14 length Miracle

This game counts the point of intersection twice, once as it goes along, 
and again as the last panel in your loop, so it is actually possible to 
get a miracle with only 14 panels, like this:

D>>>>>
  ^  V
  ^  V
  >>>>

Counting the portal, it is only 14 long, but that particular instance 
will still create a miracle.  That is as short as possible however.

	Lower Purification Power, Bigger Bonus

Thanks to Cacticus for this simple, yet extremely helpful bit of 
information.  Enemy damage from dark energy streams and miracles alike, is 
directly proportional to your purification power, thus if you're having 
problems with enemies always being killed before you're miracles complete, 
train a small bit up to ten happiness, and have him set off your miracle.  
Weaken the portal as necessary with other characters first.  Using this 
simple technique it becomes quite possible to chain up to six miracles in 
one combo!

	Recruiting Monsters Effortlessly

Thanks to Tygell for noticing that Evangel may not actually have zero 
effect on monsters, it seems that Evangel acts as a purify command for 
all monsters within the loop, most likely with equal the strength of 
your purification power.  Many have noted the more Evangels in the 
combo, the more often they find monsters in their party they don't 
remember recruiting. :)

	Stronger Enemies, Larger Payout

While not directly affecting the bonus or experience in any way, the 
stronger the enemies on the map you're playing on, the larger the money 
payout will be at the end of the level, so people looking to rake in the
cash, may find they look for stronger enemies, rather than bigger, more
open maps.

Also don't forget if you were to do say, a mass miracle with five portals, 
before clearing the map it would be best to purify that last sixth portal, 
even if it made little effect.  At the end of each map you receive a cash 
bonus based on the size of your purifications, and if you purified every 
portal in the level, you receive another cash bonus of equal size,simply 
for clearing the whole map.

	Ordering Your Chains For Maximum Payout

Thanks go out to TeenageCatgirlInHeat again for much work put into this 
subject, and while there isn't a lot of specifics that can be addressed on 
this matter, there are some simple things to keep in mind when trying to 
choose which portal to begin your combo with.

One of the most important things is that if you know for sure your miracles 
will clear every enemy on the map before your combo is complete, to try and 
save your most damaging miracles until as close to the end of your combo as 
possible,  so when all the enemies are killed, you're on as high a loop 
number as possible giving your biggest miracle the largest multiplier you 
can. The best advice I can give is to experiment with colour order, and 
stick with what works best.

	
	Best Maps for Mass Miracling

This question has two answers, and neither is right or wrong.  Simply put, 
if you're still playing through the main game, Hall of the Dead in the 
Devil's Stomach in the way to go.  You may remember this map from the 
miracle tutorial, it's big, expansive and perfect for setting up those huge 
combos and zigging and zagging them in all directions.

Once you reach the end of the game I find the first Cave of Trials map is 
the way to go (Training Cave 1.)  You will likely find the stronger enemies 
will not increase your bonuses by a particularly large amount, but you 
reward money should skyrocket when compared to the same mass miracle in Hall 
of the Dead.

	Enemy Damage and Additional Bonus

In the final part of this section I'd like to acknowledge Catgirl's ongoing 
work, sticking to the idea that the damage an enemy receives is somehow 
related, whether as a multiplier of a single bonus to the total bonus you 
receive from a combo.  I have never been any to find any such relation, but 
admittedly enemy damage is an obscure variable to work with, so I invite 
anyone who finds any relation, and has proof to email me, and I'll gladly 
add it to this guide, full credit included.  Any other information can be 
e-mailed to me, but the ideal spot to discuss it is on the La Pucelle message
board, preferably in TeenageCatgirlInHeat's topic while it still remains.
That will be my primary source of further information while I still feel the 
need to update this guide.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             Section IV - i
                   Alex's Step by Step Mass Miracle Supreme!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following is a comprehensive guide I wrote awhile ago that walks step by 
step through the process of achieving a miracle worth over 600,000 prica and 
20,000 bonus.  It also includes some helpful information regarding the 
process of miracling in general, definitely worth reading if possible, so 
without further ado:

	Alex's Step by Step Mass Miracle Supreme!

Due to my multitudes of updates on my last guide, and the fact that I've near
doubled the bonus you get out, it seemed best to simply make a separate topic
for it. As the title explains this will walk you through what should be a 
not-to-easy at first, but simple once you get the hang of it guide to the 
biggest miracle bonuses you've ever seen.

The idea is that when you save and reload your game on the world map, and
immediately go to the first Cave of Trials level, the portal setup will 
always be the same. This guide is based off that setup. Be sure there are 
two blue  streams coming down the left, and two greens in the middle, one 
meeting a red and becoming yellow and moving toward the front of the 
screen.  First the basics: What you'll need

16 Change ups (You'll use them ALL)
Minimum of 4 pairs of shoes
Angel Shoes (Recommended - Defeat the whale in chapter 4)
(Also as I'm writing this guide, I return to this point to say these are 
virtually REQUIRED)

Also for best results (not REQUIRED) you'll need a weak character who can 
purify at range. What you're looking for here is someone with a purify power 
of about 50 (you can level the character a bit if the value is lower) and a 
range of 2-3 panels or more. So hopefully one of your story characters 
hasn't levelled too much. Also, this is easier, get a character with less 
than 20 purification power, as this will be the character to set off your 
miracle. The low power means low damage and you can do more miracles, 
getting larger bonuses.

From here, the one more thing you'll need is a character with a ranged 
attack, possibly a spell or a level range ability with enough power to 
take out one of the shrooms in CoT1 in a single turn. Minimum range of 4, 
5 is recommended. (I always use Prier's batter Up ability if you need an 
example.) This character should also have movement no less than 6.

(A quick note about the 50 and less than 20 power purification characters. 
I say these powers because the average HP for the portal is around 65 or so. 
Your best bet is to check the RED portal at the top left area to see it's HP. 
If it was 80, you'd need a 60 purification power character, to go with your 
20 character, so then 60 character can weaken it enough for the 20 character 
to set off.)

Now you should have everything you need, onto the guide. 

Turn 1:

Diagram for turn 1:

http://www.angelfire.com/empire/wasteofspace/turn1.JPG

Take out your range attack character. If they have a range of 4 attack, 
move them to spot (2,2), if 5 attack range, then spot (3,2). (3,2 
would mean right three and up 1, simple x,y coordinates.) Now equip 
that character with your most powerful equipment and take out that damn 
shroom at (3,6). He's the only enemy that gets in your way.

Next get one of your best movement characters, equip them with shoes if 
you need to and move them to (1,1), the bottom left corner. Make sure to 
unequip the shoes. Now this character or the next one SHOULD be your 
story character with about 50 purification power. If you do not have one, 
then this part doesn't matter. Just use any character. The next character
should be put at (3,1) and should be your really weak monster with less 
than 20 purification power. Again ignore this if you don't have the 50 
power story character.

Next you want one more character, who doesn't matter, to be placed at 
position (4,1). Your characters should be setup like the ones at the 
bottom left of the diagram.

Next take a high movement character, he'll probably need shoes, and send 
him to the bottom right corner, position (18,1). next send another 
character to (17,1) and another to (16,1). The person at (16,1) may be 
in danger of being attacked if the nearest shroom has 5 movement. If so 
instead of (16,1) give him LOTS of shoes and send him to (18,2). Now 
before anything else, you should have 8 characters in approximately the 
positions of the diagram. For example here's what I have setup.

Dark Eclair, Alouette (my 50 purification person), a bit (my >20 
purification person), Homard with Prier above the bit and she killed the 
shroom. This is at the bottom left corner. At the top I have Father 
Salade, Papillion and a bear going from right to left, 18, 17, 16 positions.
Now for change ups. Use the four characters at the bottom left who have done
nothing to put change ups at (1,1), (2,2),(3,3), and (4,3), just look at the
diagram. Their direction doesn't matter now. At the top you want change ups 
at (18,1),(18,2), and (18,3) like the diagram. Thus ends turn 1. :)

Turn 2:

Diagram for turn 2:

http://www.angelfire.com/empire/wasteofspace/turn2.JPG

Ok lets start on the right side, there's barely anything to do. Take your 
character at (18,1), equip him some shoes and move him up to (18,13), for 
that he'll need at least  11 movement. Shoes'll take care of that. Unequip 
the shoes and go back to the other two characters. Use them to put change 
ups at (16,5) and (17,5) like the diagram. Now to the bottom left people.

Equip a bunch of shoes on your 50 purification person and move them to 
position (2,11) this should be three panels away from the red one. Use 
purify on it, make sure you don't set it off, this character is meant to 
weaken it. If you don't have a weak purifying character, still send this 
character up, but forget about purifying. Next take another of your bottom 
left characters (doesn't matter who) and equip them with shoes and send 
them to about (1,11) or (1,12). Somewhere up the side where they won't be 
attacked is all that matters. Now for the remaining characters at the
bottom.

If you plan on using a weak character to set off the portal then go to 
that character now. It's likely this character will only have a 
purification range of 1. Make SURE you have the character in a position 
where they can equip all the shoes you have and still be able to make it 
one panel away from the red portal. For example my bit with only 4 
movement, even with angel shoes and 3 sneakers can't make it beside the 
red portal from the bottom row, he has to move up once on this turn. 
Just be sure he doesn't move within attacking range of the shroom, and 
you still need him to set a change up so don't move him too far up. This 
is the only part that may get a bit confusing, I'll try to explain as 
best I can.

Take your >20 purifying character, or anyone if you don't have one and 
(assuming you have the angel shoes) move them to (3,2). Even with a 4 
movement stat, with angel shoes and 3 sneakers they can get beside the 
red portal. Now have this character use a change up at position (6,3), 
should be on the same row as two on the left and have a blue stream going
through it. Now here's where you have to be careful.

Check the two closest shrooms movements. If either are 5 KEEP that in mind. 
I can't give you every possible circumstance, you just have to use your own 
judgment here. You NEED change ups at positions (7,3) and (8,3) as well. 
Since you have two characters who haven't done anything at the bottom left, 
those are who you'll use. But to get in range to put change ups there, you 
risk getting in the way of 5 movement shrooms. Use your discretion. (5,1),
(7,1),(8,1), and (10,1) are good examples of possible places to move to. 
One more thing though, you NEED one character with at least 5 movement at 
position (8,1) OR a character with at least 6 movement at (7,1). The reason 
will be clear next turn. If both nearest shrooms have 5 movement both these 
panels are unsafe. Tough luck I dunno what to do, it's never happened to me. 
If so just move there and hope they don't kill you or block your stream.

I've put people in the positions I used in the diagram, since this turn can 
vary, not all your people may be in those exact places, but ALL the change 
ups should be identical, the people should be similar, and when you end turn
NO enemy should move. Now... check the diagram... and end your turn.

(Note I put a little yellow line from the people this turn and where they 
set the change ups)

Turn 3:

Diagram for turn 3:

http://www.angelfire.com/empire/wasteofspace/turn3.JPG

Start this turn again on the easier right side. Take your character at 
(18,12) (guy far up right side) and move him to (18,18) top right corner. 
Now take one of your other bottom right characters, hopefully with good 
movement (I use Papillion) equip some shoes and move all the way to 
(17,13). Now unequip the shoes and use a change up at (16,12) and check 
the diagram to make sure first. Now move your last bottom right character 
back into your home base.

Note: Don't do any of the stuff marked by the stars you aren't planning 
on using a weak character to set off the portal. You can still get a 
big bonus even if you don't. (Note, read it anyway and use the change up 
glitch to point the GREEN stream down, but don't touch the red one)

******Now would be a good time to do the change up glitch so go to item, 
and choose a change up, don't PUT it anywhere just do the following. Move
it up to the red portal at (4,12). While hovering over it, press square 
enough times to point it shooting the stream to the left, then go off of 
it, noting it remains in the direction. Keep in mind if you accidently 
mess up the direction of another one on your way, use this trick to fix 
it. Now go down to the green portals, one is facing right, change it to 
face downward and you're set. Cancel out of the change up.

Now take your weak >20 purification character and move him ALL the way up 
to (3,12) just to the left of the red portal. He should now be able to 
change directions and send the red stream anywhere. Leave him for now, 
he'll be the one to set it off if you're doing it this way.****** 

Now you should have two characters halfway up the right side (not counting 
your weak >20 purification character.) Take one of them and send them to 
the top left, position (1,18). Take the other and move them close, to 
position (3,17). Now have them use a change up beside themselves at (2,17). 
Like the diagram. Good.

Now go back near your base, equip all your shoes on your character at 
either (7,1) or (8,1). If he's at (7,1) move him up all the way up to 
(7,13) and (Unequip the shoes don't forget), use a change up at (8,12). 
If he's at (8,1) do the opposite, move him to (8,12) and use a change up 
at (7,13). My guy was at (8,1) so that's what the diagram is. For you it 
could be switched. 

Almost done.

Now move your other character at the bottom who was near the one you just 
moved, and put them at position (12,3) a green stream should be hitting 
them. Have them use a change up at position (10,3) for the red stream to 
hit. 

Remember that character you put back in the base? Bring them out again and 
put them and position (9,3) in front of the final green stream.

Now here's a note for people who aren't weakening a portal, just setting 
it off with one character.

******Since you didn't move someone beside the red portal, they should 
still be at the bottom, send them back into the home base. Now bring them 
out again and put them at position (10,7) and face them downward. They will 
be purifying this red portal above them, and the red one on the other side 
is best left facing in no direction.******

Now all your characters and change ups should be set. Obviously it's time 
to point them in the right directions, you will likely be able to figure 
this out yourself, but use this diagram as a guide. (I turned the people 
into arrows so you know which direction they are facing) this only applied 
to the weakening and purifying portal way. For the other way, it's 
identical but instead of someone at (3,12) you have them at (10,7).

http://www.angelfire.com/empire/wasteofspace/final.JPG

If you're ready, use your weak character (don't forget to equip the stuff 
you want levelled) at (3,12) to set off the red portal. Or using the other 
way, use your character at (10,7) to set off the OTHER red portal. The first
way I can almost guarantee you if your purifier was weak enough ,6 miracles, 
20,000 bonus, 600K no problem. The other way used to net me a nice 500K with
12 16,000 bonus depending on if the last green kills Catoblepas or not. 

(In fact I've been setting this up as I write it, so I'll set it off now and
give you an example of the exact stats for the method in which you use a 
weak  purifier. My "Bit Enigma" will set it off, with a purification strength
of 11.)

Length: 1115
Bonus: 20, 228
Battle Bonus: 37,212
Purification Bonus: 333,762
All Purification Bonus: 333,762

Good luck and happy miracling.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             Section V
                      Legal This and Legal That
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

This document is copyright (c) 2007 by A I e x.

I am no longer active writing guides for video games, and thus I will no
longer any questions or update with any corrections sent through email.  It
is likely that after this point this guide will never be updated again.  I am
aware that there are errors occasionally and I apologize for those.  Please
do not email me any corrections, or ask me for any help with this particular
game, as I will not respond.

It is also not necessary to send any email to thank me for the work, I will
say right now that you are very welcome.  

Furthermore, please do not contact me about hosting this guide on your website,
I will not grant permisson.  I am still willing to take action if I find this
guide being hosted anywhere other than GameFAQs.com, IGN.com, or a very small
number of other select sites.

Finally, if you need to contact me for some reason that is not covered above, 
then you can reach me at StarOceanDC(a.t)gmail(d.o.t)com.  

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             Section VI
                         Credits and Thanks
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

First of all I'd like to thanks the following people for their work that was
included in this guide:

- TeenageCatgirlInHeat
- Thewholeshebang
- bearsman6
- damn posting limit
- Cacticus
- Arkady
- Tygell

Second I'd just like to thank everyone who posted in Catgirl's topic, who 
whether it was proving information, asking question, or posting for no 
reason,  all made it possible for this guide to come to be, they are (in 
order of appearance):

TeenageCatgirlInHeat, Thewholeshebang, Receipt, Rion999, Arkady, VeghEsthar, 
Corlanthis, F0rever Drag0n Zer0, bearsman6, drakkhen, damn posting limit, 
ngkircheis, Meru, holydivineknight, Tygell, Tioaz, Prrcyval, Zenthor, 
beotwork, lemaster666, Talith, Mauler OoR, MCIYB, LoZeRX, sansjason,
Cacticus, AE86 Trueno, iceknight jd, Captain Lavander, Slayer1, jsol5, 
Jamic77, jbacc, Fulgore 7575, Crazy Shoehand, yug eman yuG, NjzFineztEva, 
Smee, Sariel, thebannedbirdhouse, Sisustorm, ThisNameIsTaken... whew

Sixth Ghost, miniver, and Knight of Aquamarine for picking up those
little errors I never would have found myself.

As well as thanks to Crimson Phantom for having little to do with this guide, 
but creating a great one for the whole game itself.

Thanks to CJayC for continuing to keep GameFAQs running smoothly, and the same 
to Sailor Bacon.  Thanks to Sean, Mark and Jeremy here at the University of 
Guelph, thanks to everyone in the GameFAQs FAQ contributor community for being 
great people, and thanks to everyone who takes the time to send feedback.

Thank you very much finally, to anyone and everyone reading this walkthrough.

___________________________________________________________________________