The ARPG where summoning frogs and having a knack for cooking go hand-in-hand.

Japanese Game Front

The World of Fillip Side

Madoka and Mui

You may have looked at the old "advice banner" that was at the top of the advice section of this site and saw a cute girl on it. I'm not talking about Grandia's Feena (The green haired lass on the left of the banner), but the girl on the right. She is Madoka, and along with your adorable pal Mui (the yellow bunny...uh...thing), you will cook up some adventure in this action RPG. The game starts with Mui and Popuri (a pink bunny with a ribbon. Looks similar to Mui) running along until they come across a strange area with a magical emblem on the ground. The two look up into the sky to find a beautiful girl descend to the ground in a radiant glowing orb. Eventually, Madoka (the girl from the light) awakens and she is in the home of the old Fillip Side inhabitant, Muu. "Fillip Side" is the name of the world in this game. Anyway, setting some details aside, you will end up saving Fillip Side from utter disaster and you will need to become a great chef to do so.

Graphically speaking, Purumui Purumui is no technological marvel. The game uses basic 3D models and the graphics are fair. I think that some of the backdrops are cool because they look somewhat realistic while at the same time, they are imaginative and give the feeling of a fantasy world. On the other hand, the graphics technique the developers used to make the game left the environments looking a bit fuzzy. The special effects are relatively simple, but the game did try to make certain things have some sparkle but the overall design is basic and looks like an early Playstation RPG. The sound is also quite nice, though the audio quality is somewhat lacking. The music is simple but very hip and to the point. It's upbeat and gets you ready to play, but also has some cool darker tunes as well and the rhythm is cool and consistent. The sound effects are mostly standard fair, and there is a small amount of spoken Japanese dialogue. To be frank though, most of the spoken dialogue consist of simple words and phrases. You may know what I'm talking about if you've played Skies of Arcadia..."Aye, Aye!" or they may groan or make some sound. PP is the same. Mui generally just says "Mui, Mui!"

The game dubs itself a "Morphing" RPG, and you will be doing a lot of that. Throughout the game, you will find recipes and gather ingredients to make several dishes. They can be used for a number of different things, but the important recipes create items that allow Mui to change his shape! Mui can become a rocket, bridge, and other unusual objects to help Madoka progress through the story, but he can only transform at morphing points. The game also functions like an hack-n-slash action RPG. Madoka will gather several power medals which allow her to change her persona. She can become a knight and a mage as well as other forms. When Madoka changes, so does Mui, giving Madoka a variety of different abilities she can change on the fly. Madoka can even summon special creatures to aid her. The effectiveness of her various forms change based on the scenario present, but you must watch how many Star Points (SP) you use because you can only carry a few items at a time. She also has a charge attack that deals more damage than her normal attack.

You may be wondering...why does it come off as if I'm being somewhat generous? I will tell you why. Culture Publishers didn't publish too many games until they stopped publishing games altogether...at least under the name Culture Publishers. I don't know if they have an alternate name (at least as far as game development). The game is also very cheap. It originally retailed at 3000 Yen, the equivalent of about 24 or 25 U.S. dollars. The reprint is said to go for 1500 Yen, but I only have the original. The game in actuality is fairly low budget. This was one of the only interesting sounding games from F2 and Culture Publishers that I had seen, and considering that, I'm okay with this. The packaging is pretty cute and the manual is in color. The game itself is decent considering the company that made it (I've never even heard of F2). As good as I make the game sound, some may consider it dated for 1999, and I wouldn't blame you, but this game has a charm all its own and the music is good (I congratulate the music composers). Once you get past the beginning, the game can be cute and quite enjoyable...or maybe it's just me? Either way, the lack of information on this game is rather sad and I intend on getting the word out. NOTE: Culture Publishers still exists and sells DVDs and videos. Hooray!

- Written by Vyse the determined -