Finding Miranda

Finding Miranda (FM) is the third adult game set in the Elsaverse. It was initially released for Tora Productions patrons on December 10, 2016, in HTML, and officially released for the general public just five days later due to piracy issues. The game was officially ported to Ren'Py in 2021, to be included in the Elsaverse Omnibus Vol.1 bundle released on August 5, 2021. FM story is intertwined with Redemption for Jessika (2016) events, and it takes place simultaneously to Darkness Falls (2018-2019) first season and the AAA (2018) novella, although it isn't directly related with this last title.

During the development process, and after deciding FM would be the third game of the saga, Tlaero looked for fan's input again, this time on whether people would prefer some kind of branching that would enhance replayability, thus risking having a shorter overall story with a big chunk of common content that would need to be repeated in different playthroughs, or a longer but more linear structure, where players would get the same overall content but with less choices, thus limiting "player freedom" and reducing the game's replayability value. Users from the Sharks's Lagoon forum went broadly for a branching structure, and that was the option finally implemented. The result is, probably, the most complex game in the Elsaverse in terms of design and gameplay. Some questionable choices were made while looking for an almost impossible balance between replayability, player agency, storytelling and game difficulty, leading to a bit confusing gameplay mechanism.

Storywise, FM is also a turning point, in which Morland is unveiled as the main villain in the Elsaverse, and Chloe changes definitely her role in the overarching story, going from villain to victim and undercover hero.

Premise
The player becomes Lucas, a brilliant coder who is still hurting after the traumatic ending of his first marriage a couple of years ago, and is now trying to suppress his feelings for Miranda, his attractive and eccentric co-worker. As he is encouraged to finally move on and start a relationship with her, Lucas will learn that Miranda herself is going through her own personal drama, while being involved in an incredible fight against evil in which, much to his surprise, he was already tangentially involved.

Canon Path Summary
Finding Miranda starts with a flashback scene in which Xara, the mysterious blind woman already introduced in previous games, visits Miranda to ask her what she thinks the evil plans of her mysterious enemy are. With just a few inputs from Xara, Miranda quickly tells her that this enemy will try to cause a riot at Jessica's concert to get her depressed, and Xara rushes off to try to warn the singer; from Redemption for Jessika, it's known that she wasn't exactly successful on that mission.

The game then jumps to the introduction of Lucas as player's character. He is a brilliant coder who, a couple of years ago, suffered a severe blow which nearly drove him to both mental and financial misery, as he lost his loved one and also his promising job in the process. Players are presented with 3 consecutive choices that will shape Lucas character out: storywise, they can choose whether that blow was the death of his wife, Karen, or her infidelity. His friend Ismael, who helped him to get through the hardest times, is pushing Lucas to drop his current lifestyle and start a relationship with the eccentric Miranda, their attractive co-worker.

After a tense work meeting, in which a belittled Miranda exposes a critical security breach in the company's new code, she pushes Lucas to ask her out, as she also feels attracted to him. During that dinner date, Miranda comments that she's unnaturally good at solving problems and, after Lucas tells her what happened with Karen, she confesses her own traumatic secret: she suffered an accident that put her in a coma for more than a year and, several months after waking up, she's still struggling with the physical and mental consequences. She then offers to help Lucas to get closure. If Lucas is a widower, Miranda phones Elsa, who, thanks to her Dream Master skills, makes Karen appear in Lucas' dreams so that they could say goodbye to each other. If he's divorced, Miranda asks him for some data about Karen to try to know how life's going for his ex; but that same night Karen shows up at Lucas' apartment begging him to take her back: Lucas realizes that he's in a much better position than his cheater wife and throws her out. Either way, he ends the night feeling way better than he has felt in a long time, and ready to start a proper relationship with Miranda.

The next day, the same Friday when the game Redemption for Jessika starts, Lucas and Miranda work together to fix the security breach she detected, and then go to have lunch together. While they are chatting, Xara shows up to ask for Miranda's advice again, as her mole in her enemy's organization has shared some info with her that she doesn't quite understand. Lucas observes dumbfolded that cryptic exchange, which is cut short due to a strange incident: a man with a gun threatens a woman who was sitting in the foodcourt near them. Calmly, the blind Xara is able to convince the armed guy not to shoot, and the police tackle him down.

During the weekend, Lucas and Miranda meet again for another date. There are four mutually exclusive dates for the player to pick from, with each date unveiling a different aspect about Miranda's character and the overarching story. Either way, by the end of the weekend they are officially a romantic couple, and on Monday they are given a week off as a reward for their good job fixing the security breach. Miranda takes Lucas to "El Rey Casino", where they meet the casino's owner, Morland Reyes, a dark character who is introduced as the father of Miranda's best friend in high school. They seem to have quite a bitter relationship now, with Miranda using the money she ordinary wins at his casino to help people he hurts in his business. The next day, Miranda asks Lucas to meet her at Elysian Books, where Lucas is told to keep Xara company while Elsa and Miranda talk about him. That's how Lucas learns that Xara's enemy is actually Morland, and that she's struggling to lead a group to chase him down. Meanwhile, Marc shows up at the bookstore and, after meeting him, Miranda decides to actively help Xara out, despite being initially against it. She then devises a plan for the evening: she'll go with Lucas to a rock concert so that they can prevent Chloe from hurting Marc and Jessica.

However, when Miranda and Lucas arrive at El Cuerpo, the bouncer, Vince, changes their plans and, as soon as Marc and Jessica step out of the club, he orders Lucas to covertly escort them back home, while he helps Miranda to incercept Chloe. Lucas does as he is told and then, on Wednesday evening, he visits Miranda, as he hasn't heard from her in the whole day. That's how Lucas learns that his new girlfriend has actually kidnapped Chloe, and keeps her sedated at home. Worried for Miranda's sanity, Lucas stays with her but makes her promise that she will talk to Chloe in the morning and free her. Vissibly distraught, Miranda agrees, and then confesses to him that she hasn't sleep at all since she woke up from her coma almost a year ago, and seriously needs Lucas help to keep herself sane.

But, despite all what they've talked during the evening, when Chloe wakes up on Thursday morning Miranda agressively threatens her with a sword, and Lucas is presented with the whole background situation. It turns out that Chloe is Miranda's high school best friend, and Morland's daughter; but she's also the one who, while doing a job for his father, caused the accident that put Miranda in a coma. As Morland can foresee the future consequences of his acts, he must had known that Miranda would be a collateral victim, and she just doesn't believe that Chloe didn't knew that too. Chloe denies her accusation, claiming that she wouldn't have done it, had she known her friend would be injured. She also adds that her father abuses her everytime she fails on a mission: after having failed on Tuesday night due to Miranda's intervention, she really fears this could be the end for her, and seems willing to accept Miranda killing her with the sword, if that helps her old friend to feel a bit better. Shocked, Lucas also learns that Morland was the mastermind behind his own trauma, as Karen was actually one of his minions: he used her to mess Lucas up so that his former company would fire him, thus allowing Morland to purchase that company some time later at a much lower price.

After all those revelations, Lucas asks Miranda to let Chloe go, which she eventually does. Chloe runs away, and the couple spend the rest of the day trying to forget everything that has happened to them in the last hours. Then, late in the evening, they watch a news report on the terrorist attack frustrated by Jessica that afternoon, and Miranda quickly phones Xara to ask her if Morland was responsible of it. When she hears the answer, Miranda tells Xara that she'll be joining her group on a permanent basis. Finally, in the post-credits scene, it's revealed that Chloe was actually Xara's mole in Morland's organization, but she has been severely punished for this last failure and won't be able to keep helping her.

Alternative Dates
On Friday, players can choose between four weekend dates with Miranda, all of them being mutually exclusive. On each date, Miranda unveils a different aspect about herself, and in one of them players will also learn a bit more of the overarching story. Dates also offer different details about Lucas' own character, and each one ends with a different sex scene.


 * Icy: Lucas can take Miranda to an ice rink managed by a friend of him, a guy who wanted to be Lucas' teammate in their high school ice-hockey squad, but wasn't accepted due to his homosexuality. While learning how to skate, Miranda tells Lucas that, despite her current sexy looks, in high school she was an unattractive and unpopular girl, and had only one real friend.


 * Moto: Lucas can suggest Miranda to go on a motorbike trip up to the mountains surrounding Sangrive, to a hotspring he used to go with his mother when he was a child. On the road to the mountains, Miranda rides her bike in a suicidal way, and Lucas asks her if she really wants to die, to what Miranda replies that sometimes she wouldn't mind it. She then talks a bit more about the constant pain she still suffers after her coma, and how she's afraid of eventually losing her sanity.


 * Cross: Being an amateur motocross rider, Lucas can invite Miranda and their colleague Ismael to a race he takes part in. While waiting for his heath to start, Miranda remarks that she has learnt a lot about mechanics because she has a lot of spare time, as she doesn't sleep; her friends take it as a joke, but she is indeed saying the truth. During this date, it's also hinted that Takadas sisters, Lucas rivals in the race, have some kind of superpower.


 * Low-Key: If Lucas decides to just buy some pastries and visit Miranda on Saturday morning, he finds out that she lives in an refitted warehouse and seems to occupy her spare time with an endless list of activities, including martial arts, which Lucas practiced too, back in his college days. He also overhears a phone conversation with Xara in which Miranda explains why is so important to protect Marc in order to help Jessica: she may trust him more than her other friends, despite them also being immune to her singing, as she wouldn't link him with the riot. It's important to note that this conversation takes place several hours before Marc actually meets Jessica at the bar on Redemption for Jessika canon path, showing again that Miranda's ability to solve problems can be seen almost as a foreshadowing skill.

Non-Canon Paths
In Finding Miranda there are only a couple of bad endings, and none of them could be really considered a non-canon path. The first bad ending is only available in the divorced routes, when Karen shows up at Lucas' apartment: if the player decides to kiss her and take her back, they make love right away, but Karen reveals her true colors at the end of the scene, confessing that she has just poisoned Lucas; it's fair to assume that Lucas actually dies. The other bad ending can be triggered when Lucas discovers that Miranda has kidnapped Chloe: if the player refuses to get involved and storms out, Miranda just leaves Sangrive and Lucas will never see her again.

Achievements
In Finding Miranda, players can get up to 12 different achievements. They are designed to maximize replayability, according to the game's structure, and reward completionism. A full playthrough, plus at least 4 different partial playthroughs until Monday scenes, and 1 short deviation from them to explore Karen's bad ending, are needed to get them all.


 * "Low Key": Choose the simple date with Miranda.
 * "Icy": Choose the date on the ice rink.
 * "Moto": Choose the date of the motorbike ride.
 * "Cross": Choose the date of the motocross race.
 * "Timid Widower": Get to the Monday scenes after playing as a widower who hasn't had any relationship after Karen's death.
 * "Aggressive Widower": Get to the Monday scenes after playing as a widower who has had many casual flings after Karen's death.
 * "Cheating made me timid": Get to the Monday scenes after playing as a man who hasn't had any relationship after getting divorced.
 * "Cheating made me aggressive": Get to the Monday scenes after playing as a man who has had many casual flings after getting divorced.
 * "Reconciliation with Karen": Accept Karen's proposal (bad ending on divorced paths).
 * "I'm in": Reach the game's canon ending.
 * "Back door": Convince Miranda to try anal sex.
 * "Multisexual": Watch all of the sex scenes in the game.

Getting all of the achievements unlocks a bonus scene.

Post-credits Scene
Finding Miranda post-credits scene takes place shortly after the end of the game, probably just one or two days later. Miranda is at her home at night, in a lot of pain, when she is surprised by Crow, Morland's bizarre bodyguard. Crow offers her to work for Morland in exchange for a powerful sedative that might put Miranda to sleep at last; when she refuses, Crow modifies her offer: they will give her the sedative but also Chloe, so that Miranda could do with her anything she wants, as she keeps failing her missions and disappointing her father. Miranda seems to hesitate. Then the scene changes and Chloe is shown completely alone in a small room (the same one in which the non-canon ending of Redemption for Jessika takes place), typing something on a laptop with her left hand, as she seems unable to use her right arm due to the new punishment she has suffered. Under the nickname of "Yellow Fever", Xara's mole in Morland's organization, Chloe is sending Xara a message saying that she will not be able to help her anymore, because Morland no longer trusts her.

Bonus Scene
Unlike previous games, the bonus scene in Finding Miranda, that players can unlock by completing all 12 achievements, is not explicitly sexual. In this scene, Chloe recalls a conversation she had with Miranda a few days before her eighteenth birthday, and in which she confessed to her friend that, after having scared her boyfriend Paul away, Morland had ordered her to lose her virginity on her birthday, with one of his potential business partners. A then unattractive Miranda suggested that Chloe's first sexual experience could be with her, as she was also inexperienced, and the scene ends when the two teenagers were about to kiss each other.

Sex Scenes
Sex scenes in Finding Miranda are explosive, passionate and fulfilling, as is to be expected from two sexually experienced adults who felt physically attracted to each other since long before becoming a couple, and who are just releasing all that pent-up desire in their first encounters.

Finding Miranda has no gallery of scenes, so there's no way of replaying those sex scenes outside the actual game.

Characters
''This section tries to explain characters' involvement in the game's plot. For a full profile on them, please checktheir page on Category:Elsaverse Characters.''

Finding Miranda has an extense cast of characters.

Main Characters

 * Lucas is the player's character (PC). It's noticeable the effort put into building a deep and likeable male protagonist, in response to the main criticisms received by both Jason and Marc in the previous titles. Lucas is a bit older than them, and is a man with a complex past, who is obviously smart and undeniably attractive (Miranda states that he's both the most intelligent and handsome man in their company). His life doesn't evolve just around work and the main love interest, as he also has many hobbies: among other interests, Lucas is an amateur motocross rider, he was an ice hockey player in high school, practiced kung fu in college, and likes dubstep music. In addition, he has a real best friend, Ismael, who sincerely cares for him and with whom he shares experiences and confidences. It is even mentioned that Lucas has a mother and keeps in touch with her, which is a first in the Elsaverse. Then it's up to the player to decide whether he is a widower or was cheated on by his former wife, as well as the effect this issue has had on his approach to relationships with other women since then. In any case, Lucas is an understanding, supportive and caring man, and the grade of maturity he shows when he learns from Chloe the truth behind Karen's situation is also remarkable. All of these traits eventually help Miranda to find in him the support she needs to cope with her own problems.


 * Miranda is the only love interest (LI) in the game. She is clearly an intelligent and physically attractive woman, who is introduced at first as a flamboyant and confident character who actively scares people away with her eccentric attitude; later on, Lucas will learn that, behind that facade, she hides a broken woman on the verge of insanity due to a strange medical condition, and who no longer knows who she actually is. She is portraited with a different hairstyle, outfit and makeup in each scene, a reflection of one of the many activities to which she devotes her free time to try to disconnect her brain, as she hasn't slept for almost a year, since she woke up from a coma: she also practices martial arts (Xara is her master), makes her own clothes, paints, fixes her own motorcycle, meditates and basically do whatever she can imagine to try to cope with her constant pain. A childhood friend of Morland's daughter, Chloe, they grew apart because Chloe was the one who caused the accident that put Miranda in a coma, and Miranda doesn't accept her apologies, as she can not believe Chloe didn't know what would happen. Since waking up, she has been trying to help other people Morland hurt, by giving the money she periodically wins at his casino to a mysterious "Project Phoenix". Miranda has the supernatural ability to immediately find solutions to the problems she faces, which is why Xara constantly turns to her looking for advice on how to respond to Morland's moves. However, she keeps refusing to be a part of Xara's "band of misfits", in her own words, at least until the final scene, when the bombing makes her realize that they should be fighting together against their common enemy.

Also starring

 * Chloe is the villain that Xara asks Miranda and Lucas to stop, in order to prevent her from hurting Marc and Jessica. But the climax scene at Miranda's actually portraits her as a victim of abuse by her own father, living a miserable life in which she's forced to do bad things like the one that put Miranda to a coma, and for which she seems sincerely sorry, despite her former friend not believing her. She also explains Karen's role in Lucas' life, and express her fears for what could happen now to her after failing this last mission. Then, in the post-credits scene, it's revealed that she is precisely the mole who was feeding Xara with info about Morland's movements, which starts paving the road towards her own redemption.


 * Ismael is Lucas' co-worker and best friend, and he is depicted as a fun and positive guy. Ismael was always there for Lucas in hard times and even recommended him for his current job. At the beginning of the game, he tries to convince his friend to drop his current lifestyle by encouraging him to ask Miranda out on a date, as every other men in the company are afraid of her, despite her attractiveness. He has a sister, Luana, who is visiting him those days.


 * Karen is Lucas' former wife. Player can choose at the start of the game whether she died on a strange incident or just cheated on him. On the divorced paths, Lucas admits to Miranda on their first date that he secretly expected Karen to pay for what she did to him, but never got the nerve to actually keep tabs on her to see how she's doing. Miranda steps in, quickly discovering that she's actually working for Morland, and tries to warn Lucas, but Karen surprisingly shows up at his apartment, asking for a second chance. In canon paths, Lucas realizes that his current situation is far better than hers and quickly dismisses her; in a non-canon ending, though, Karen uses a poison she wears on her lips to kill his former husband. Alternatively, on the widower paths, Lucas is specially hurt because they couldn't say goodbye to each other, and Elsa helps him to get closure: although it's not explained whether the Dream Master actually can invoke Karen's spirit or she just created a facsimil of her using Lucas' memories (which seems more likely), Karen appears on Lucas dreams and they talk about their happy days together and the effect her death has caused on him. Karen lovingly asks him to move on, and Lucas finally understands that this is for the best. On this widower path, he will discover later on that she was actually working for Morland and her job was to mess him up, but she fell sincerely in love with him and refused to do her job, thus causing Morland to order Crow to kill her. No further details about her are unveiled in other titles, so Karen's current existance and whereabouts are unknown.


 * Morland Reyes is the owner of El Rey Casino, and in Finding Miranda he is unveiled as the main villain in the saga and Xara's mysterious enemy. He's introduced as a distinguished, wealthy and young-looking man, accompanied by a colorful bodyguard named Crow. However, his full background remains a mistery: it's only stated that he's Chloe's father and that he has the unnatural ability to foresee the consequences of his acts, which he uses to reach his business goals with more than questionable methods. He turns out to be the mastermind behind the sad event that caused Lucas' depression, as he needed him out of the company for which the protagonist worked, in order to be able to buy it later at a bargain. He was also the man who ordered Chloe to cause the accident that put Miranda in a coma as a collateral victim, for another business-related minor goal. And, obviously, Morland is the ultimate responsible for the bombing at the Mayoral rally, for which he tried to take Jessica out of the scene on beforehand, as he knew she could prevent a big tragedy. Some questions are raised, though, not only about his final intentions but also about the real scope of his power, since it seems that things didn't work out exactly as he had envisioned: Jessica indeed prevents a tragedy, which he should have known she would do either way, yet he still punishes Chloe for failing on her mission, as if he thought she could have actually accomplished it and this actual result was her fault.


 * Xara is another character already known in the Elsaverse but who takes on a greater role in Finding Miranda. In this game, the name and the power of her mysterious enemy are finally unveiled, and a little more about her own personality is also shown. Xara is presented as an expert martial arts instructor, despite her blindness, and an effective negotiator to defuse critical situations, but she is also a person with acknowledged emotional and social skills shortcomings. During her conversations with Lucas at Elsa's apartment, she explains that she has been extensively trained to be a soldier, but now has to lead a group to chase Morland down and find it difficult to convince those people to follow her. Lucas offers to be her teacher to help her overcome these social limitations, and she eventually agrees. Xara has a mole in Morland's organization, called "YellowFever", who has been feeding her with information about Morland's next steps, but she doesn't seem to know that Chloe is the one behind that nickname.

Other minor characters
Listed by alphabetical order, these are other characters that play a minor role in Finding Miranda.


 * Crow is Morland's bodyguard and right hand. She is a tall and thin woman, with outlandish makeup and a bizarre personality, as she demonstrates with her lewd gestures after meeting Lucas and Miranda at the casino and, specially, in her appearance in the post-credits scene, when she tries to buy Miranda's will with a sedative.


 * Elsa has a brief appearance in Finding Miranda. First, in widower pats, she helps Lucas to get closure by making Karen appear in his dreams. It's stated that, to achieve that, she needs Miranda near him to act as a bridge, and also some Lucas' very high-detailed recollections of Karen, which seems to indicate she just creates a facsimil of Lucas' late wife from his own memories. Elsa officially meets Lucas in person on Tuesday afternoon, when he comes to Elysian Books at Miranda's calling. There she ushers him to go upstairs with Xara so that Miranda and herself can share confidences about him, but that conversation gets interrupted by Marc when he enters the bookstore looking for a book for Jessica, in a scene that was presented as optional in Redemption for Jessika and that now becomes canon.


 * Erika is the waitress at "The Old Town Tavern", the pub where Lucas and Miranda go to dinner on their first date. Miranda notices that she's longing for Lucas.


 * Joe is a random guy who, on Friday evening, is trying to convince Miranda to not date Lucas. Miranda messes with him and then points to a girl who seems interested in him, so that he lets them alone.


 * Luana is Ismael's sister, who is visiting him in the days covered by the game. She appears in the motocross date, keeping Ismael and Miranda company while Lucas races, and is depicted as a bubbly young woman who seems pretty excited about almost everything.


 * Lucile is the blonde woman who is pointed with a gun on Friday's incident at the foodcourt. She is saved by Xara's intervention to placate the gunman.


 * Mikhail Romanov is the director of security in Lucas and Miranda's company. He's the man on charge of the initial meeting, in which he rudely misjudges and belittles Miranda due to her looks, but ends up totally embarrassed by the breach she detects on the company's code. He then seems unable to properly excuse himself even after admitting that both Miranda and Lucas did a good job solving the issue.


 * Oliver is an old friend of Lucas who currently manages an ice rink in Sangrive, and kindly agrees to close it so that Lucas could take Miranda out on a special date. When the couple arrive there, Oliver greets them and then runs to a date with his own boyfriend. Lucas explains to Miranda that he taught Oliver how to skate because he wanted to play for their high school hockey team, but someone outed him and he wasn't allowed to join the team.


 * Patrick Bower is the gunman who points Lucile with a gun on Friday's incident at the foodcourt. He is convinced by Xara to not shoot her, and then gets arrested by the police.


 * Takadas sisters are Lucas' only rivals on his motocross race. They are Reiko, Sumiko, and Yukiko, from oldest to youngest, and nobody else wants to race against them, apparently because they are women and always defeat every men. Lucas, however, says he doesn't mind and that he actually learns from them, and they respect him for that. When they learn that Lucas has a new girlfriend, they offer to let him beat at least one of them in order to impress his girl, but he refuses. It's hinted that their magisterial driving has something to do with superpowers, as Miranda quickly asks them if they have ever met Xara.


 * Unnamed Croupier is the cute croupier who leads the baccarat table in El Rey Casino. She agrees to play along Miranda's role-playing spy game and even hit not-so-subtly on Lucas. Her name is never disclosed, but she gets generously rewarded by Miranda, as they seem to know each other from Miranda's previous visits to the casino.


 * Unnamed VP is the vice-president of Lucas and Miranda's company, who presides the initial meeting in which Miranda is belittled by Mikhail Romanov. He also seems to misjudge her at first, but quickly realizes her value and lets her name the hacker attack she detected (she chooses "The Floozie Attack"). Then, on Monday, he offers Miranda and Lucas a week off as a reward for their great work fixing the issue, while remarking that Miranda's singularities are a great asset for their company. During that second meeting, Lucas realizes that he doesn't know this VP actual name.


 * Vince is the bouncer at "El Cuerpo" nightclub, where Marc and Jessica go to a concert on Tuesday evening. In FM, Lucas and Miranda also go there to protect them from Chloe. Vince confirms that Chloe is already inside, and then talks to Lucas while he waits for her to come out. The bouncer, who is a friend of Jessica and also Xara's pupil in a martial arts gym, comes across as a friendly and nice guy, who is also a dubstep DJ who has just had his first gig. But, after Lucas tells him why they need to stop Chloe, he gets serious and decide to help too, changing Miranda's plan. When Jessica and Marc steps out of the club all over each other, he calls them a taxi and then orders Lucas to follow them convertly and make sure they get back home safely. Then he enters the club to help Miranda to deal with Chloe.

Structure and Paths
From a designing point of view, Finding Miranda can be divided into two different parts. The first one covers the initial steps of Lucas' relationship with Miranda (from Thursday to Monday, in the story), and uses a "sorting hat" structure, in which some events depend on the path chosen by players at the start of the game. In Lucas' introductory scene, players get to choose whether he's a widower or a divorced man; then, they have to choose whether the traumatic experience that changed his marital status made him totally shy with women or turned him into a real Casanova who enjoys uncomitted flings and one-night stands; finally, players need to decide whether Lucas is happy with his current lifestyle or is starting to regret his choices. This complex setting translates into eight possible characterizations for Lucas (divorced-timid-comfortable; divorced-timid-regretful; divorced-aggressive-comfortable; divorced-aggressive-regretful; widower-timid-comfortable; widower-timid-regretful; widower-aggressive-comfortable; and widower-aggressive-regretful). However, in order to simplify things a bit, this characterization system actually works at two different levels:


 * The "Marital status axis" creates two different world realities, one with Karen still alive, and another one without Karen, which have a slight impact on the story. For once, some conversations obviously change to take this info into account, but the main effect is seen on Friday night, after Lucas' first date with Miranda: if he's a widower, he gets to see Karen again in his dreams, thanks to Elsa, and his late wife is portraited as a loving partner (Chloe will say at the end that Karen fell in love for him for real and refused to do her assigned job, thus leading Morland to order her execution); if he's divorced, his ex-wife shows up and literally tries to kill him, as she's still working for Morland.
 * The "Lifestyle matrix" is used as the gameplay key element, with players needing to tune Lucas' answers to their defined characterization: timid-comfortable; timid-regretful; aggressive-comfortable; and aggressive-regretful. However, the actual implementation is far from easy and sometimes even unintuitive, and the achievements system only adds to the confusion. More on this topic can be found on the next segment, Gameplay.

This first part of the game is culminated with the four mutually exclusive weekend dates. Ideally, in order to maximize the game's replayability value, players are expected to go on a different date on each one of the four playthroughs needed to get all of the achievements; in fact, those achievements are unlocked just after finishing this first part of the game, by going to work on Monday.

Then, once Lucas and Miranda become officially a couple, the second part of the game is totally linear, as the story unfolds in the same way no matter how the player initially chose Lucas to be. There's no other path than canon, and the only relevant choice players can make in this last part of the game, storywise, is to step out of it after knowing Miranda has kidnapped Chloe, getting a bad ending as a result.

Lastly, the sexual scene in the casino spa is worth a special mention: it's designed as a branching scene that players can't fully explore in one single playthrough. The original idea was, again, adding more value to replays, as each new playthrough could be used to get some still unseen parts of that scene; however, preventing players from viewing an erotic scene in its full length does not seem a fortunate decision for an adult game.

Gameplay
From a gameplay point of view, Finding Miranda represents a great change from previous titles in the Elsaverse saga. Although the basic elements are still the same (conversational choices that add relationship points to a scoreboard), failing a checkpoint only means missing the subsequent sex scene; and, except for a couple of bad endings after specific choices, all players can get the game's canon ending no matter their performance. This way, the story takes precedence over the traditional gaming elements, in a perspective shift that will become the norm in later games. However, this doesn't mean that gameplay is easier in FM: quite the opposite, as it can be argued that this game is probably the hardest one in the saga, scoring-wise.

In Finding Miranda, players are usually presented with just two alternative answers, instead of three, like in previous games. Those answers are aligned with one of the four possible positions on the "Lifestyle matrix": sometimes the player needs to choose between a timid or an aggressive option, and sometimes between a comfortable or a regretful answer. As in Dreaming with Elsa, the game rewards consistency, and points are earned by choosing the answer that better fits with Lucas' current characterization. And this is where difficulties appear: wording is not always as precise as it should be to clearly identify the nuances that place the options in the timid/aggressive dicotomy or in the comfortable/regretful one, and on certain occasions it's even hard to tell apart a timid response from an aggressive one, in the game's context. In addition, the fact that achievements differentiate between widower and divorced paths, but only between timid and aggressive attitude (disregarding the comfortable or regretful side) makes easier for the player to lose perspective on what to answer. At least, both player's score and Lucas' initial characterization are always displayed on screen.

However, this confusing scoring system disappears in the second part of the game, once Lucas overcomes his trauma. From that point on, supportive answers are the ones that increase the score. But the bulk of the available points in this second part can be gotten on Monday's casino scene, where Lucas has to humour Miranda by playing his "James Bond" role right, in the spy game she comes up with. This role-playing mechanism, which adds some variety to the usual scoring system, is also used in one of the weekend dates.

In the original HTML game, certain scenes also include clickable areas or hotspots, sometimes as an alternative option to the usual choice menu for answers. When those hotspots are available, the scene shows a yellow frame, and player can spot them by moving the mouse cursor around the screen, as a tooltip will become visible when hovering that clickable area. Hotspots can add points to the player's score, but the main use for them is to help Lucas pick the weekend date, in a mini-game in which he goes around his apartment looking for ideas for a date. This point&click gameplay element adds a little more complexity to the game. However, in the 2021 edition made with Ren'Py engine, these clickable options disappear and become menu choices like regular answers, this slightly simplifying the gameplay.

Technical Aspects
The game was originally created with Tlaero's own software, "Adventure Creator", and released in HTML format in 2016. Pictures could be displayed in 3 different sizes, according to player's preferences, and rollback was not allowed. Ren'Py version (2021) incorporates this engine's usual mechanisms, like rollback (specially welcome in this game) and unlimited save slots (the original HTML version only included 3 save slots plus a quick save slot).

Visually, the screen is divided into three areas. Over a black background, the exposition text and dialogues appear in a classic narrative prose style, above the pics. Images take the screen's centre, while the lower part of the screen is reserved for player's choices.

The game has no sounds at all.

Related Stories
As Finding Miranda is the turning point in the Elsaverse saga, there are many stories related to it and its characters. For more details about these stories, please check each title's wiki page.

Redemption for Jessika
As it has been said, Finding Miranda is intimately intertwined with Redemption for Jessika (2016), the second game set in the Elsaverse. It tells the story of Marc and Jessica, the couple Xara and Miranda are trying to save from Chloe, in order to hamper Morland's plans. Ideally, it should be played before Finding Miranda.

FM: Alpha
FM: Alpha (2017) is a visual short story that explains the odd incident that happens on Friday in Finding Miranda, when a gunman interrupts Xara's conversation with Miranda and Lucas on the foodcourt. This story depicts how a mysterious man convinces Patrick to kill Lucile to teach her a lesson and even hands him the gun; then, he walks to the police office in the business center and pretends to be a worker filling in a report, probably in order to have an alibi. But, while being attended by Sylvia, he watches on the police CCTV how Xara defuses the situation, although he doesn't know who that woman is. Frustrated, the man sneaks back to an empty room while the agents bring Patrick to the satellite police office, and then he phones someone else. That's when the mystery is unveiled: the man is Charles, and he's calling his father Morland, as Lucile is an accountant targeted for unknown reasons. Upon hearing what has just happened, Morland orders her son to start investigating the short, blind woman who have just dismantled his plans and hinting that he may know her, saying that Crow will deal now with Lucile. FM: Alpha is intended to be read right after playing FM.

Saving Chloe
Saving Chloe (2018) is the fourth game set in the Elsaverse, and means the end of its first story arc. In this game's canon path, Chloe is hiding herself, sincerely fearing for her life after her last failure. When they realize, thanks to her former boyfriend, Paul, that Chloe was actually the mole in Morland's organization, Xara's group helps her to get free from his father influence and finally put Morland's criminal activities to an end. Along the way, Miranda and Chloe fix their broken relationship, and Miranda finally gets to sleep again thanks to Crow's sedative. Saving Chloe is intended to be played after reading the short story Dream Master (2017).

Other related stories
Dream Master (2017) is a text short story that shows Xara's first visit to Sangrive's world, many years ago, when she could have learnt about the treason Morland was already planning against their people but was still serving her king without second guessing herself. It's advised to be read after playing Finding Miranda, as an introductory title for Saving Chloe final revelations.

Demon Guard (2019) is a text short story that follows Xara immediately after accomplishing her mission of bringing Morland and Crow to their world's justice. It's advised to be read after playing Saving Chloe, and before playing Darkness Falls.

Darkness Falls (2018-2019) is the fifth game set in the Elsaverse. During its first season, it shows how the police deals with the foodcourt incident's aftermath, as well as with the bombing at Mayoral rally. Miranda is introduced as an acquaintance of Detective Blake, the player's character in Darkness Falls. This game should be played after Saving Chloe, and preferably after having read Demon Guard.

Elsa's Nightmares (2019-2020) is a visual short story that takes place an undefined time after the events in Saving Chloe. In this story, Miranda helps Elsa to realize what's actually going on in her dreams. It's also stated that Miranda is again experiencing some sleep deprivation issues.

Miscellaneous

 * During the early development phase, Tora Productions members, Tlaero and Mortze, were considering to give the player's character role to Ismael's model. Finally, Lucas' model was the chosen one.


 * Lucas' name originated a wrong but plausible theory among the fans of the Elsaverse saga, as it turned out that there was a sequence in the initials of game's love interests and player's characters names: (J)ason was the PC in Dreaming with Elsa, and (J)essica, who made a cameo in that game, was the LI in Redemption for Jessika; (M)arc was the PC in RfJ, and (M)iranda, who also make her first appearance in that game, was the LI in Finding Miranda. This led some people to think that the fourth game's love interest would have a name starting with "L", as Lucas, and that she had probably appeared in Finding Miranda as a side character as well, which reduced the possibilities to just 2: Ismael's sister, Luana, and the victim of the foodcourt incident, Lucile. Albeit being a totally wrong theory, as the whole saga was planned since the start to end with Chloe's redemption story, Tlaero found it legit and amusing enough to write FM: Alpha as a follow-up game on it, with Lucile being the "love interest" and leaving to fans to try and guess whether the next game's love interest would have a name starting with "C", as Charles, or with "P", as Patrick.


 * Tuesday's scene on Elysian Books makes Marc's visit to the bookstore canon in the Elsaverse, despite being totally optional in Redemption for Jessika.


 * It's still unknown why Xara knew that Tora's actual name is Stalker, as it was unveiled in Beginnings'' (2016).


 * In Finding Miranda, Tlaero and Motze make a cameo during the Tuesday evening scene at "El Cuerpo" entrance: the woman who goes to the concert with her son is Tlaero's vitual avatar, and the guy with a Stormtrooper helmet and two girls by his side is Mortze's.


 * The last sexual scene at Miranda's apartment was even longer and kinkier in Mortze's first draw, and Tlaero decided to shorten it significantly and tone it down before the official release. The raw, hardcore, eliminated images were released for Patrons as a monthly perk, on January, 2017.