THE iDOLM@STER 2 Gameplay Thread

[BT2]

You sure do, I missed the stuck on first playthrough part.
Personally I wouldn't bother too much with complicated stuff on your first playthrough, you'll be wasting tons of time on stuff you'll be able to breeze through in a latter playthrough.

[Shijou]

Yeah, it seems like I'll be settling for the Good End this playthrough. Thanks for your advice

[Cael K.]

Yeah, it seems like I'll be settling for the Good End this playthrough. Thanks for your advice

... Some of the amulets whose effects aren't revealed by the game may help. I still have to experiment with some of those, though. Novem@s has been taking up my time instead of Im@s2. ^^;

I'm never really too sure about the whole, play the game and get uber-equipment for wrecking the game in later playthroughs thing. (Or rather, getting the best rewards is practically impossible unless you've got previous saves under your belt rather than pure skill.)

It's only a slight nagging, 'cause I can see why you would want equipment to play a part in the numbers game, but it still gets at me in terms of game design.

Autosave is indeed turned on by default.  And mines is actually on, hmm -- I guess I don't mind missing a couple of weeks.  Eventually I'll get a hang of where is appropriate to stop playing.  orz

I think you may have been hit with a continue. I think the game will rewind to certain checkpoints if you fail certain auditions/fests.

Does anyone know if this compatibility thing is good for anything? Cos it seems like you can just randomly pick any three idols (and I pick them entirely based on stats and bursts) and manage the unit's moods just fine.

I'm guessing this compatibility thing come into play when you switch leaders?

I think the page said that there were no gameplay effects that were observed, at one point in time (keyword being observed). Honestly, I think it's just flavor.

[TweenDoriru]

Do the appeals (or burst appeals) during performances have any effect on the number of fans you get afterward, like they did in iM@S1 and SP?

I meant to ask that like a week ago and forgot. x_x

[BT2]

Does anyone know if this compatibility thing is good for anything? Cos it seems like you can just randomly pick any three idols (and I pick them entirely based on stats and bursts) and manage the unit's moods just fine.

I did mention basing teams based on compatibility's rather pointless because if there was an effect on the game it'd be neglectable.
Though it might be a fluke or a big coincidence but I have a harder time getting to any positive mood from neutral with a non-compatible team and I seem to drop more easily from neutral to a negative mood as well.
Keeping a positive mood is easy enough so even though it might or might not have an influence on dropping it, it would be pointless to try and meassure this imo.
Same thing for raising from any negative to neutral, you'll get out of it with 2 correct choices.

Do the appeals (or burst appeals) during performances have any effect on the number of fans you get afterward, like they did in iM@S1 and SP?

An interesting question, but the answer is no.
You'll get the exact amount of fans as mentioned when you're scheduling unless you use one of the two reporters that raise fan gain.


Also, something I've observed.
If you're aiming for a reporter or don't want a new one because you want to keep your current one:
Though normally the chance of succesfully getting the reporter in a region to notice you is random, the chance you get a reporter if the game gives you extra event after a song seems to be a lot lower:
- The game asks you if you want to do another encore after a live, if you select no you'll have a higher chance getting a reporter
- Your guests succesfully arrived for your quintet live, if they don't you have a higher chance to get a reporter
- You meet a Jupiter member after an audition, though random they will disrupt the chance to get a reporter.

[Maka]

What are some examples of good/bad compatibility? Do certain idols [coughchihayacough] not get along with anyone, or do certain idols go well together? [I was going to say Azusa and Chihaya if Azusa was still playable lol]

[BT2]

What are some examples of good/bad compatibility? Do certain idols [coughchihayacough] not get along with anyone, or do certain idols go well together?

Would this be considered as a compatibility listing?
SOURCE:  http://www44.atwiki.jp/idolmasterim2/pages/19.html

[Cael K.]

The response you give right before a live/audition/fest seems to only increase Danketsu.

Dance Appeal, Kirame Kirari, No reporter, Normal mood (not that it matters, as long as both were under the same conditions).
On a correct response, Normal x1.0 gave 100 points, Burst x3.0 gave 330 points.
On an incorrect response, Normal x1.0 gave 100 points, Burst x3.0 gave 327 points.
One can conclude that a correct response gives 1 point of Danketsu. Either that, or one can conclude that you take a 1% hit to your Burst score, which doesn't seem likely. I suppose you could test for that too, but I'm pretty confident in the first.

A previous experiment showed no difference in the number of Perfects to full Voltage.

Also, a little tidbit about Voltage gain and songs. i (140 BPM) took 44 beats to a full meter (Normal mood, no reporter), Kirame Kirari (180 BPM) took 57 beats (Normal mood, no reporter). Coincidentally or not, 140 / 180 ~ 44 / 57.

EDIT: Reloaded my save, tried again. It does not affect Memory Appeal gain (both were 43 to a full bar after the appeal), multipliers seemed to increase and decrease at the same rate. I honestly don't think picking the wrong choice affects anything at all, except a point of Danketsu.

One thing I've noticed is that the lower you run the multiplier, the harder it is to get it back up. I think at around x0.50 or so, the multiplier was increasing at a good +0.01 ~ +0.02 (okay, that's not good), while at the higher multipliers (above x1.00?), I was pushing +0.03 ~ +0.04.

EDIT 2: Okay, now I'm confused. What does Mail Boost do?

EDIT 3: Okay, here we go. Waranappe the 10th, Kashimashi: 57 Perfects OR Memory Appeal + 33 Perfects = Full. Same amulet, Mail Boosted Dancing: 57 Perfects OR Memory Appeal + 31 Perfects = Full. Maybe there's a really small Voltage boost you get, it's hardly noticeable if there is. Various old stuff deleted to save space and confusion.

Apologies if it just seems like I'm just too concerned over stuff that doesn't matter much... and dang this got long. Sorry.

[kasmichan]

hello everyone^^ I'm new here and I'm kinda new with the 360 version of the game since I only have PSP before..didn't manage to play the xbox360 version of Im@s..

Finished my 1st playthrough with bad ending since I've been focusing on lessons like what I did on the psp though I'm happy I've beated jupiter with 52k score^^ since I've read here that jupiter throws 34k-42k score depending on how you fight them..now I've ended my 2nd playthrough trying to get a true ending but I only manage to pull 3 awards(3rd award pulled after beating jupiter) and the IA award..I guess I still don't have enough items to pull a good way around lvl 8 and 9 fes though I manege to pull my way out of the special fes's that I've won...I manage to beat it in unit lvl12 using project fairy costume, those star acc and smiley earring + anko amulet(please correct my spelling)..can't change the earring because it boosts 2 stats..anybody know the effect of kotori's headgear( I think that's the one that costs 700k+ in lucky rabbit store) and the tiara? I'm aiming for the 500k costume on my 3rd playthrough but I'm also thinking of getting those 2..now I'm wondering which I'll get first..

anybody knows the effect of kotori's headset? I know I'm very very far on getting those..and I think I'll just focus on the good ending for now and start aiming for the true ending when I have the right parts..

[BT2]

Yasuko's incom and the tiara aren't really worth the money if you use the dual appeal route charms even if they're the best head accessories in the game.
Tiara  5 6 5. Best Vi headgear ingame, but way too expensive.
Incom 6 5 5. Best dance, and costs like 490k with a 30% discount.

Assuming one goes with the Da/Vi route it's more viable to use the 36k ballroom eyemask with its 5 6 2 stats, it should give pretty much the same results as the tiara.

The 500k/300k costumes in the game also aren't worth their cost.
The texture swap ones only have a total base stat of 14 whereas the best extends of their kind have a base of 17; 7 main+ 2x5.
The reason why the dance extend outfit isnt a viable option if you already play with Visual and/ or you're poor is because the Da/Vo route is the weakest one in the game out of the 3 specialised accessories strategies; Miki has a 5/3/2 burst whereas the other two can use Hibiki or Chihaya for 6/2/2.
Also, the strongest extends for the other two can be obtained for free.

[Edit]
Assuming one only looks at the total stats of every piece of gear the Vi/Vo route has the lowest amount of total statpoints because Vo doesn't have an extreme headgear with 6/5/5 stats.

[kasmichan]

well..I'm using the DA/VO route and didn't have any problems beating fes and lives..fes though is a pain if I don't have at least 2 mem appeals since there are fes where your opponent uses an appeal if they saw your burst gauge nearing to max..I haven't got the amulet for the DA/VI yet so I'm holding my odds for the DA/VO one..

Just saw the Ryuugu Komachi outfit after my 2nd playthrough and I found that my DA/VO are already half way after the debut audition using the same set of accessories unlike my second playthrough usin the 961 outfits..I guess the incom is my friend since I'm using the DA/VO route..and I think any stat comination is nice depending on how you'll handle it..I don't find DA/VO to be weak..I just need some lessons to cover for the VI stat..

[kasmichan]

oh yeah I wanna ask something..this might sound stupid or already answered but if I loose to jupiter during our showdown on fireball...how many weeks will be given before another showdown? and will my fan count return to it's original count if the week will be reverted after loosing to jupiter? I wanna see what's going to happen since I might use that to get some awards(I don't care about the producer rank for now)..I haven't loose to jupiter on my first and second playthrough and I'm currently in week 11 on my 3rd playthrough (got rank 18 in week 7 accidentally so I have to train to beat lvl 8 fes >.<)..

[BT2]

Fireball's the one in week 54 right?
If it is you'll only get one, you'll be sent back to w53, and you'll be forced to do hell's training and, your fans will stay the same as before the showdown so you don't have to worry about deterioration.
Mood, stats and memories will be carried over but the stats and memories gained wouldn't exactly help one getting awards or achievements.

[kasmichan]

i see..then I guess I better hit the publicity when it's available instead of hitting on promotions to gain some fans and memory..I find publicity to be available often so I keep getting it since it gives 9k fans and I can do one lesson afterwards..now I finally understand why it's there..if I don't want to go to any fes or live since I need training, I only need to wait for a week that had a publicity available..now i need to get that reporter that gives 40% or 20% additional fans to aid my fes/lives which I'll be guessing where and when it'll appear..

thanks for the help^^

EDIT: I've been doing publicities and I'm at week 16  now unit lvl8..I don't know what happened but I got automatic perfect communication 2 times on the TVCM publicity..dunno how it happened..I just lol'ed since I've used 2 weeks doing the same publicity getting auto perfect on both..I wonder if the 3rd time will be the same if it's still available..does producing all members of the unit in a certain area grant this? or random? I have produced the 3 in the same area before this happen so i'm assuming that's the reason behind the auto perfect communication..

[TweenDoriru]

I think someone asked something similar a bit earlier, but...-what- is the deal with the "trust" or whatever between you and the other members of 765Pro?

Basically...how the heck do you get them to stop ditching quintet lives? :|

(Also, what exactly is the main contributing factor to CD sales? Sometimes before the 5-weeks-after-a-CD-release time hits, my CDs get stuck and won't go any higher in the charts)