THE iDOLM@STER 2 Gameplay Thread

[Daverost]

I hit top 20 on the first single. It fell to 21, but I'm still set for IA, right? Just as long as it was there historically?

[satty]

I hit top 20 on the first single. It fell to 21, but I'm still set for IA, right? Just as long as it was there historically?

I don't know, actually, since that never happened to me. I made sure I was at least above #20. I'm guessing it registers, though. You should get another song to top 20, just to be sure.

[Daverost]

Hey, guess what? More questions.

Is there a penalty for retrying if you lose a festival? That doesn't count against your producer ranking does it? Only the rewinds when you lose a story event that make you do hell training?

[satty]

Hey, guess what? More questions.

Is there a penalty for retrying if you lose a festival? That doesn't count against your producer ranking does it? Only the rewinds when you lose a story event that make you do hell training?

Yep, retries don't count. And even on the story festivals; they only count when you actually continue on to hell training.

[Daverost]

You guys love my questions, right? Right.

So if I'm playing Hyper (which I totally am) and I'm trying to push Paid Promotions + Lessons on a two-area schedule, what do I do if I can't get a promotion to show up in one of those areas by reloading? Should I take a normal promotion just to keep interest rates up and build some money back or should I take a paid in another area? Also, is it advisable to do one in the same area twice in a row if that's my only option or should I do a normal to maintain interest rate or something?

If it were Normal, I'd just do a Festival or something that week and try again the next week, but with Hyper it's important that I'm keeping up with my lessons...

[Funkies]

I used to reload and retry... even answering negatively to the trio in order for the Paid Promotion I needed to show up in a specific area.  Then the last run I just went with the flow, taking Paid Promotions wherever they showed up.  Unless they were in the capital or already highly attentive areas, then I'd reload and try for somewhere else.  I found it worked quite well in the long run.   The Utahime/ouji Festivals were finished by Week 40, opening up the last 12 weeks to finish out lessons and go for regular Promotions money.

I've been doing it on the current playthrough as well, and it seems to still be working.  It feels as if Hyper is built in a way that you're concentrating on all areas instead of just two or three.

I could be wrong, but so far it's worked A-OK in my experience.

[Daverost]

Wait, wait. That's news to me. The way the morning greetings affect the idols changes how/where promotions show up?

Also, what's the downside to ticking off idols, anyway? I mean, I know it affects a few things, but what's the worst that could happen? Could morale drop or fights start or something?

[mariokirby]

I myself also have a some questions.  I know you can skip Iori's Vending machine scene, but does the decision to skip or not to skip happens every single week?

Second,  There are 3 methods: Raising all three Stats, Raising just one stat, or Raising just 2 stats.  Which method is the best way to get a high score in the Concerts?  I do want to raise all three stats, but I am worried that I will not get a high score in the Concerts.

[JNiles]

I myself also have a some questions.  I know you can skip Iori's Vending machine scene, but does the decision to skip or not to skip happens every single week?

Second,  There are 3 methods: Raising all three Stats, Raising just one stat, or Raising just 2 stats.  Which method is the best way to get a high score in the Concerts?  I do want to raise all three stats, but I am worried that I will not get a high score in the Concerts.

It's one-time only.  Good god, I would hate to repeat that request every week.  You're the producer, not her personal servant.

It's standard practice to raise 2 stats, because of the amulets that decrease voltage decay for 2 stats.  You begin concerts by hitting the button for the third stat to pump up one of the other two, then work from there (since the other two stats will decrease more slowly, you wind up with a net gain).

[Funkies]

@Daverost

It's based upon what they say and how the Producer responds, to some degree at least.  I've tried it on a reset binge a few times before, and at the very least the Promotions and National Auditions follow this pattern.  I haven't kept track of every event before though, so there may be a deviation in there I've not paid attention to.  The schedule information is probably in this topic somewhere, though this is a pretty meaty beast of a thread.

The lovely strategy site has some info on affection/intimacy and unit status.  Try not to be exclusively positive or negative to one idol.  Being so to one isn't always a bad thing if she's had a lot of attention lately.  It can affect Unity (and Burst Appeal scores), so try to keep the three as even as possible.  Love 'em all, love 'em equally!

[mariokirby]

So for the Decay amulets do I want the one that says "General appeal multiplier decay UP" or "General appeal multiplier decay DOWN"?

I'm only on week 4, so should I go to the shop?  Apparently it takes up 2 time slots. 

[JNiles]

So for the Decay amulets do I want the one that says "General appeal multiplier decay UP" or "General appeal multiplier decay DOWN"?

I'm only on week 4, so should I go to the shop?  Apparently it takes up 2 time slots.

Down.

I don't think you have the cash for anything useful at week 4.  You should be able to get by for a while.  Honestly, my main concern in the early game was figuring out that you press one button at a time, not all three.  -_-

The amulets are sold after competitions, not in the shop.  Each prefecture owns a particular amulet, so you'll need to visit the right one.  We have a listing on one of the threads.

[mariokirby]

I have a few questions

1.   Do I get a higher score if I DON'T let idols do the festival by themselves?

2.   What is that 3-choice decision, it happens after you choose to let the idols do it themselves for a festival.

3.  For the Lessons, Do I get a higher score if I DON'T let the idols do it themselves?

4.  I want to get all the scenes with my leader Chihaya, I am worried that if I make it to the Top 20 too soon, I might miss those scenes and decision that happen if you are in the Top 50.

[Daverost]

2.   What is that 3-choice decision, it happens after you choose to let the idols do it themselves for a festival.

4.  I want to get all the scenes with my leader Chihaya, I am worried that if I make it to the Top 20 too soon, I might miss those scenes and decision that happen if you are in the Top 50.

2. I've never let the idols do it themselves, but if it's the same as the other options, it's about whether or not you want to do one of three things: Re-arrange the unit positions (I think just swapping the members), picking an older song to perform instead of the current song... and I forget the third. Just going with the current song? I don't remember. I never go for revivals, so I don't really do anything with the older songs.

4. You'd be hard pressed to get every scene. The ones that happen at the end of a week are random and you're lucky to see even one of them per playthrough. If you focus heavily on doing normal promotions for the other scenes, you're probably not going to have a successful run. I mean it's doable, but it's not easy. You'd probably be all over the map and wouldn't be generating a lot of fans or money.

[Funkies]

1.   Do I get a higher score if I DON'T let idols do the festival by themselves?

Ideally if you're good at performing a song and know how to manage your appeals, bursts, and memories... then absolutely you will.  Making your idols work by themselves fatigues them, and you risk negative effects by using it too much.  If it continues they'll eventually take a week off by themselves.

3.  For the Lessons, Do I get a higher score if I DON'T let the idols do it themselves?

Even if you tell the idols to work as hard as possible, they will never come out with a Perfect + Bonus.  At most they'll get to the very end of Perfect.  So yes, if you can reliably get to the "Bonus" status in any lesson it's better for the Producer to manage the lessons.  Telling them to handle it themselves also causes fatigue.

There are ways of circumventing fatigue to some degree.  I believe if you get them to the point they will take a week off, but the next playable week is a story-related week, they won't take the week off.  I've never tried it, so I'd experiment a bit to see what works before relying on it too much.

4.  I want to get all the scenes with my leader Chihaya, I am worried that if I make it to the Top 20 too soon, I might miss those scenes and decision that happen if you are in the Top 50.

Daverost is absolutely on the money.

If you're worried about Promotions, then this is a possible outcome.  I wouldn't worry about activating all of Chihaya's scenes from the get go.  There will be chances in later plays where she can be selected for Promotions, even if she's in a support role.  If you concentrate solely on Chihaya the rest of your unit will quickly start to feel alienated.

That or you could simply reset after doing Promotions and select whatever else is available!  It won't count in the long run, but if the aim is to see... that'll do the trick.

If you're worried about non-story After Communications, there's a real possibility you  may not see all of them in a particular play through.  If they do appear, they may be centered on your support instead.  I won't say they're random, but I have no real idea how they come about and what the triggers are.  It wasn't until recently that my leader had all of theirs occur in a single game (all three in a row), and my support only had one each the rest of the game.

I suppose it's their way of encouraging using the idols repeatedly in your units, be they your leader or support.