THE iDOLM@STER 2 Gameplay Thread

[TheTanStar]

The locations are randomized for each week as far as I can tell. Also, you can't really manipulate positioning/events as there are only two possible combinations if manipulated (I tried that before).

[Naryoril]

I have two questions...

1.  Okay, I'm on Week 11 and I'm trying to get the amulet that is suppose to appear in the Nagano region.  However, there aren't any concerts that are in that region.  In what week does a concert in Nagano appears?

2.  I don't understand the image level.  If the max is 16, so does that mean I have to raise all the stats to the max? Or do I only raise just one stat? I don't understand.  The Guide was not clear on this.

1) See TheTanStar's answer. What it means for you: just play on normally, you'll get a concert in Nagano soon enough. In the meantime try to get the other 2 multiplier amulets as well.

2) The image level is just a "categorisation" of your total stats and to get to image level 16 you don't even need to max 2 stats, let alone all 3. Basically the only thing the image level really does is it affects your producer assessment. If you are playing normal mode there is no reason to go past image level 14 just for the sake of the image level, since you'll get the best assessment anyway in this category. See here for reference: https://sites.google.com/site/imas2strategy/produce/producer-assessment-and-rank
If you are having trouble winning stuff or reaching other goals and need higher stats that's another story of course. But in later playthroughs this shouldn't be an issue.
What you usually do stats wise on later playthroughs if you'r going for the dual appeal strategy is raising your main stat to max (beware, max is not a full bar, see here https://sites.google.com/site/imas2strategy/unit-statistics/image-level ) and then raising your secondary stat until your image level is 14.

[mariokirby]

Okay thanks!

1.  Okay.  So I want to win the Idol Academy Award in each region to get the best ending.  The requirement is that I need fan count of 100,000 or more in each region.  The problem is that if I concentrate on one region, then in the next week the attention rate and fans decrease in the other areas.  Should I worry about this?

2.  I'm not sure if this is correct, but does the song that you pick affect your stats?

[Daverost]

1. Focus on no more than two regions at a time. Go back and forth between them.

2. Yes.
https://sites.google.com/site/imas2strategy/reference/list-of-songs

[Cael K.]

1.  Okay.  So I want to win the Idol Academy Award in each region to get the best ending.  The requirement is that I need fan count of 100,000 or more in each region.  The problem is that if I concentrate on one region, then in the next week the attention rate and fans decrease in the other areas.  Should I worry about this?

You'll also need to beat the special audition in that area. It'll probably be rough your first time through.

[TheTanStar]

Don't even attempt to get a True ending on your first run. It'll require so much luck manipulation that it simply isn't worth the effort to attempt. Just focus on learning the fundamentals of the game.

[Naryoril]

Don't even attempt to get a True ending on your first run. It'll require so much luck manipulation that it simply isn't worth the effort to attempt. Just focus on learning the fundamentals of the game.

/signed

just do what you can and get used to the game on your first playthrough. i think i got the 2 regional awards and the grand award in the first playthrough. you'll have plenty of additional playthroughs to get your true ending.

[mariokirby]

Thanks for the help everyone!  I really appreciate it.

1. Which amulets are good for those festivals?  They say pick the ones that have the voltage up, but still which ones should I be getting?

2. Okay, after week 13, I got an event after the evening conversation where you go to the store and you see Chihaya.  How do you get those After Communication events?  I really want to see those other After Communication events that Chihaya is in.

3.  During that same After Communication event, I picked the choices the guide told me to pick, but I didn't get any increase in the memory level.  In fact, I didn't get a message that tells me whether I got a Perfect Communication or a normal communication.

[Naryoril]

Thanks for the help everyone!  I really appreciate it.

1. Which amulets are good for those festivals?  They say pick the ones that have the voltage up, but still which ones should I be getting?

2. Okay, after week 13, I got an event after the evening conversation where you go to the store and you see Chihaya.  How do you get those After Communication events?  I really want to see those other After Communication events that Chihaya is in.

3.  During that same After Communication event, I picked the choices the guide told me to pick, but I didn't get any increase in the memory level.  In fact, I didn't get a message that tells me whether I got a Perfect Communication or a normal communication.

1. The best choice would be the Mushaharu's Secret Charm. There are several catches to getting this one though:
a) You only get the opportunity to buy it once in a playthrough. The only chance to buy it is after winning the area festival in the capital region.
b) Winning the festival in the capital region requires you to unlock said festival by accumulating 100k fans and bringing a song to the top 20. Even after unlocking it, it is the second hardest festival in the game (after the Vesperia festival, which you shouldn't even attempt to beat if you don't know exactely what your are doing. I devoted a full playthrough to beat that festival). It's on the same level as the Kansai area festival, which is the hardest of the award festivals.
c) It's also quite expensive. Make sure you have 50k to spare when you beat the festival.

All that said, i managed to get the charm during my first playthrough, so it might be hard, but it's possible.

An alternative which is much easier to get (and preferred by some people over Mushaharu's Secret Charm) is Sugamo-chan's Amulet. You get it in Tokyo. You can also try to use it to get Mushaharu's


2./3. The Non-Story-Related After Communications seem to be entirely random and can occur with any idol of your unit. The Story Related ones appear at given dates and only for your lead idol. You can look here when the story related ones show up. Only the Story Related ones increase your memory level. The others might have some influence on your unit status, but i'm not sure about that.

[mariokirby]

Thank you very much for the response Naryoril!

I think I should try to get that Sugamo-chan's amulet first since it seems to be easier.  Might get the Mushaharu's Secret Charm later on.  However, for the Sugamo-chan amulet, the Guide says that it will Decrease your Burst Appeal Score by a Large amount.  Isn't that a bad thing?

[Naryoril]

it decreases your burst appeal score to around 10% of it's original value. the point of using sugamo is to try to prevent the opponent from bursting himself as much as possible. if they burst more than once you'll most probably loose.

That's why i prefer the secrest crest. But just give it a shot and see how well it works for you. Iirc i did the festivals on my first playthrough with the normal dual appeal amulets, though i had to retry several times to find good spots to use my memory appeals, since your opponent uses his memory appeals at set points in time.

[Daverost]

The Secret Charm is a lot better. The gain isn't quite as much, but it's still very large and it doesn't gimp your score. Even if you're trying to keep your opponents from bursting, you still need a higher score than they have, so getting less points was never an attractive idea to me.

[mariokirby]

Okay, so I want to install this game into the PS3 Hard Drive.  However, I go to the option and I don't see an option to install game to Hard Drive.  Does the game automatically installs when you start the game for the first time?

[TheTanStar]

The game requires an install. It installs on the first run.

[deadsnake]

hi everyone, I'm kinda new here

I was wondering, if log into PSN and check the online score rank for each song inside the game/im@S2 I notice some people score up to 99999? how is that even possible?

not all songs have a high score of 99999 but I assume that's the max score you can get when performing a song in auditions and lives.
reaching 76500pts is already very hard for me, my scores seem to hit the wall around 65000pts...

what did I miss?? is there a very specific configuration to go pass through the 65000 score barrier?

right now I'm on my 7th play through, with a unit of hibiki-chihaya-miki. I have the three appeal-rate-decay-slowdown amulets, I have the capitol region amulet(but I can't seem to get it to use somehow, still trying to figure it out) is there any other amulet I should have to help me getting higher scores?

thx b4