THE iDOLM@STER 2 Gameplay Thread

[KIRBYSIM]

Because I listen to 2ch trolls!!

I'll try your beginning strategy this time.. I really don't understand how people are expected to beat this game without resorting to a guide.

I didn't realize it kept track of the looping.. not surprised.

The problem with this game is that it just didn't tell you a lot of things upfront. Only halfway through my first playthrough, at abut week 28 or so, did I realise that getting into top 50 and subsequent top 20 lets you unlock harder auditions - which are obviously necessary if you want to get all the awards. Seriously, if they told me that you can unlock harder auditions this way - I thought as the weeks go by they will naturally unlock - I would have realised that you need to get to top-20 as soon as possible; not just at week 36.

Anyway, despite realising that late, I was still able to finish my first playthrough with the IA grand prix award and 2 out of 5 special category awards. I could have gotten 4 out of 5, but since I can't get them all I decided to just grind for money and get the special Namkyara amulet instead. Overall producer rank was B though, a little disappoint (I finished the game with Lv12... didn't know it played a part in the overall producer rank!)

Besides, even if you get into the top-20 within the first 10 weeks, it doesn't mean the rest of the game is a cakewalk; it isn't. Because you still have to do a lot of lessons to get to the point where you can clear the Lv8/10 national auditions. In the meantime, you won't be able to raise the Awareness levels of every area simultaneously just because you can't clear the national auditions - leading to huge drops in number of fans ever week.

Suffice to say, on my second playthrough by the time I cleared the special conditions for all IA awards, I was left with only one extra week to do whatever I want (did lessons to level up from 13 to 14). It was too close for comfort; I almost thought I wouldn't be able to make it! If the game decided to not grace my unit with that reporter who gives you extra fans, I would not have achieved a true end in my second playthrough (and looking back, if I did the same thing and went for that reporter, I would probably have achieved a true end in my first playthrough).

[Cael K.]

So, just wondering...

With the dump -> Danketsu strategy, what's the general breakdown of your scores (as in total score, points from combo bonus, points from burst appeal)? It'd be great if these numbers would assume a full Perfect combo, but eh...

Also, numbers for Revival? I assume it continues the same 1.00 -> 0.75 -> 0.50 -> 0.25 -> 0.00 trend.

[airgeneralpong]

Can anyone please tell me, I have some questions;
1) How can I unlock Ryugu Komachi clothes and Ritsuko?
2) How many clothes shops are there, and how to unlock those shops?
3) How can I gain the other rewards from Idol Academy?
4) Is there a way to edit the song singing in S4U mode similar to L4U ?
Thank you.

Anyone, please... 

[Elixir]

ok, so I managed to get myself into the Top 50 on week 8, but there's no way I'm getting into the Top 20 at this point, without grinding for amulets. So it's settled, I'll just grind Festivals for money on this run.

Yes, I'm going to use an entire playthrough to grind for money, but it beats resetting.

[KIRBYSIM]

ok, so I managed to get myself into the Top 50 on week 8, but there's no way I'm getting into the Top 20 at this point, without grinding for amulets. So it's settled, I'll just grind Festivals for money on this run.

Yes, I'm going to use an entire playthrough to grind for money, but it beats resetting.

If you want to, make sure you don't get too crappy a rating at the end of your playthrough. Otherwise your producer rank can actually drop.

Also, on your second playthrough onwards you can leave auditions/lessons to your idols (don't have to play them). Whether you beat auditions or not depends on your high score. (45,000 is enough to beat the utahime/utaouji audition which pretty much means you can beat just about all of them except for VESPERIA which takes like 65,000).

But if you leave stuff to your idols and always tell them to go at it with their full force, you'll find that they get tired eventually and have to use 1 week to recuperate at home.

[RitsuFan]

Kirbysim, can you say exactly what you mean by 'True' ending? I am afraid I do not understand. I am still working on my How To Play, and want to get terms correct in it.

What does True ending mean? what are the exact requirements?

[KIRBYSIM]

Anyone, please...  

Can anyone please tell me, I have some questions;
1) How can I unlock Ryugu Komachi clothes and Ritsuko?
2) How many clothes shops are there, and how to unlock those shops?
3) How can I gain the other rewards from Idol Academy?
4) Is there a way to edit the song singing in S4U mode similar to L4U ?
Thank you.

Sorry, I saw your post while eating but I forgot to reply to it. -__-;

1) You need to have good communication with her and RK everytime you speak to her (or just at week 30/40, I can't remember). I unlocked her and the RK clothes the first time without even realising it, simply by picking the most polite response everytime... will have to get back to you on what the responses are though. It's somewhere on the Japanese wiki I posted.

Once you unlock Ritsuko for quintet live, finishing that playthrough will give you the RK costume.

2) Two shops. Lucky Rabbit and BK Maniac. If you buy enough stuff from Lucky Rabbit/visit Lucky Rabbit enough in one playthrough (not sure which) you will unlock BK Maniac in the upper center area. It's two tabs to the left of the capital/Lucky Rabbit area.

3) Have 100,000 (10万) fans in one area to unlock the 歌姫・歌王子 Fes. Clear that to unlock the the special award for that area. There are 5 special awards (Snow White, Forest Green, etc) meaning there isn't one for 首都/capital.

However, if you get 100,000 fans in the capital area there is also a 歌姫 Fes there. Clearing that will give you the chance to buy the Namkyara Dancho omamori (Namco Character leader amulet) for 50,000yen.

Is that what you mean by "IA special rewards"?

4) I'm producer rank 4 and I still don't have it, so I'm guessing, no.

You cannot

So, just wondering...

With the dump -> Danketsu strategy, what's the general breakdown of your scores (as in total score, points from combo bonus, points from burst appeal)? It'd be great if these numbers would assume a full Perfect combo, but eh...

Also, numbers for Revival? I assume it continues the same 1.00 -> 0.75 -> 0.50 -> 0.25 -> 0.00 trend.

I never recorded my auditions so I don't know the exact breakdown, but my total score from week 30 onwards is about 40~45,000. End game is 55,000.

Using that strategy I described, my Dance appeal gave me like 170 per appeal, and I use Dance to bump up my Visual to about 1.30, which gives me like 350 per appeal. During Burst the Vocal Burst with 3.00x is 1000~1200, can't remember.

Just make sure you hold your second burst until near the end of the song and you should get a high score easily. On my first playthrough there were times I couldn't clear the Lv10 National Auditions. But that was because I didn't use the Burst Appeal at the end to "extend" my score.

Don't know what the revival numbers are, but I've had it happened twice now. And each time it's always been roughly 1.00, 0.75, 0.50, 0.25.

[hotsoup]

Can anyone please tell me, I have some questions;
1) How can I unlock Ryugu Komachi clothes and Ritsuko?
2) How many clothes shops are there, and how to unlock those shops?
3) How can I gain the other rewards from Idol Academy?
4) Is there a way to edit the song singing in S4U mode similar to L4U ?
Thank you.

1. I am not 100% sure that every step I am mentioning is required, just telling you what worked for me.
- You have to answer the questions asked by Ritsuko on week 8 and week 30 correctly.
- Between week 8 and week 30, make sure you invite all three 竜宮小町 members to your quintet live at least once.
- If everything goes well, you should be able to invite Ritsuko to your quintet live after week 30.
- I think they have to actually show up to your live to count.

2. 2 shops. Not sure how I unlocked the 2nd shop actually..maybe it has something to do with buying enough stuff from the 1st shop.

3. For EACH area except Tokyo, gain 100k fans, then win the 歌姫・歌王子 Fes that shows up.

[KIRBYSIM]

1. I am not 100% sure that every step I am mentioning is required, just telling you what worked for me.
- You have to answer the questions asked by Ritsuko on week 8 and week 30 correctly.
- Between week 8 and week 30, make sure you invite all three 竜宮小町 members to your quintet live at least once.
- If everything goes well, you should be able to invite Ritsuko to your quintet live after week 30.
- I think they have to actually show up to your live to count.

2. 2 shops. Not sure how I unlocked the 2nd shop actually..maybe it has something to do with buying enough stuff from the 1st shop.

3. For EACH area except Tokyo, gain 100k fans, then win the 歌姫・歌王子 Fes that shows up.

I can confirm you don't need to invite them to your quintet live between 8 and 30. The only time I ever did a quintet live in my first playthrough was at week 48, and I invited Ritsuko and Azusa.

The important thing is the communication part. I think if you unlock Ritsuko for quintet live you should be able to get the costume.

Kirbysim, can you say exactly what you mean by 'True' ending? I am afraid I do not understand. I am still working on my How To Play, and want to get terms correct in it.

What does True ending mean? what are the exact requirements?

From what I understand there are four endings. However, I've only seen the Good and True Ends:

Good End = Win the IA Grand Prix award + some of the special category awards (Snow White, Green Forest, etc)
True End = Win the IA Grand Prix award + ALL of the special category awards (Snow White, Green Forest, etc)

For the Good and True Ends, they're pretty much the same EXCEPT True End has one more cutscene after the credits finish, entailing what happens after you leave Japan for Hollywood.

Ending spoilers:
In Chihaya's case, it's that you come back after one year and takes her to Hollywood.
In Miki's case, she takes another flight to Hollywood immediately after seeing you off, and SOMEHOW makes it to Hollywood before you. She basically wants to be your lover/wife and be here with you all the time, so you figure you might as well producer her in Hollywood.

******

The other two ends (let's call it Bad End and Normal End) happens when the following conditions are met:

Bad End = Don't win anything
Normal End = Win some of the special category awards (Snow White, etc)

I have never seen these before, so I can't comment on what they're like. But I hear that the Bad End is more commonly referred to as the "A Capella" end, and in the Normal End something happens to the producer's flight.

[RitsuFan]

Someone above asked about the Awareness and fans drop. The translation is correct. If awareness (the most smiling face) is not at the highest level, the number of fans in that area will drop.

Note that "number of fans" and "awareness" are not connected - you do not get a smile just because you have many fans. They are two different attributes.

[RitsuFan]

I have a question.

What are the correct things to say at 8 and 30 weeks to get the rival costumes? I got them, but do not know why, and want to tell others.

Oh I found them!


＞→８週目「アイドル時代？」「すごく魅力的だから」
＞→３０週目「そうだよね」「アイドルに戻りたい？」

[Elixir]

Is there any reason to continue a lesson if it's perfect + bonus? What's the difference between perfect and what does bonus add?

[KIRBYSIM]

Is there any reason to continue a lesson if it's perfect + bonus? What's the difference between perfect and what does bonus add?

Doesn't seem so. There's talk that once the bar is maxed out, that's it.

Perfect + Bonus just means it's maxed out I think. Since when you attain a Perfect lesson, it doesn't necessarily mean that the meter is maxed out.

Also there doesn't seem to be a difference between normal and super lessons.

************

Btw here's a video with descriptions on what you need to do to get to top 20 by week 8. If you don't know which are the three super awesome amulets you need, you can see it in the video.

If you don't have the right amulet just keep buying them. The better ones won't show up unless you keep buying crap ones. It's a fixed order for each separate area, I think.

[Elixir]

Thanks, that's going to save a lot of money now that I don't need to do Super Lessons unnecessarily.

Are there any unlockable songs in this, besides SMOKY THRILL?

[BT2]

If you don't have the right amulet just keep buying them. The better ones won't show up unless you keep buying crap ones. It's a fixed order for each separate area, I think.

Actually they're based on prefectures.
If you want one specifically you should aim for auditions etc in a certain prefecture; you have some control over getting what you want.

Someone linked to this map before so I will use this one.
http://i.imgur.com/HvFea.jpg

The Vi one is in 14, Vo is in 20 and Da is in 36 at 27.9k money each.

Also, one could look at the prices; charms with similar effects have the same cost and charms who don't all have different costs.


There's also the list on the JP wiki for reference
http://www44.atwiki.jp/idolmasterim2/pages/15.html

[Edit]
Fix'd incorrectly associated stats and charms.
It was 3am when I was typing that  :|