Non-spoiler Producer Talk

[Setsuna]

I'm not sure if I should laugh or not. I wasn't expecting Hyper mode to be so difficult. I guess after Normal mode, I was half expecting to be disappointed.

They added another two levels of rank, and although I deliberately rushed my way up With a top 20 on the 3rd song (Spent about half a million on paid promotions) I had trouble at idol level 13 to beat a level 11 national audition. (I made the minimum 5th spot by a whole 13 points after extending my notes with a Chihaya bust, with a full combo)

Lesson to learn: DO NOT attempt to do a level 11-12 audition of any kind without being level 13 or 14 unless you have godly gear (which I don't) and particularly if you're only in week 28 or so.

It makes the game an actual challenge though, when you HAVE to do some absurd risks to get anywhere. Can be nerveracking, but fun. Although I have to get 200k sales to get number 1? Yikes.)

The pay's also good, 50k minimum per action when you hit the top 20. If you can manage it that is...

Claimed my first IA regional in week 34 (Northern Japan) which is a rank 10. Gunning for my second and that's an 11 in week 35. I'm uh... idol level 14.

Edit 2:

I'm now the proud owner of 3 of the 5 IA regional awards... and we haven't actually been nominated for any of them yet. They're something scary, but I'm well on my way to having my army of a million fans.

[animagic4u]

Hey guys.
AndyP here.

First playthrough:
Unit Name- PeaPod
Idols- Haruka (Leader), Yayoi, Miki
Song- Ai like hamburger

I literally just got off "THE DEBUT". I'm not that fast. I really love the dance minigame though. It's so much easier in this game.

[Funkies]

FunkyzP
Unit Name: WinterCATS (ThunderCats popped in my head for some reason)
Members: Takane (Leader), Yukiho (2nd), Mami (3rd)
Song #1: Do-Dai

2nd Normal playthrough, I did manage Top 20 by week 9... yay!  I like this crew, they're making things much easier this time around.  I hope it's smooth sailing from here on out.  Getting idol mail is amusing, so I can dig it.  Anyway, let's see where it goes!

EDIT: Finished 2nd playthrough!

Song #2: Kosmos, Cosmos
Song #3: shiny smile
Song #4: My Best Friend
Song #5: MEGARE!

Ended with a Level 16 Visual/Dance unit.  I tried out a Super Break on the 2nd and 4th releases.  The 2nd made it to #3, the 3rd made it to #2, and the 4th made it to #1.  I spent a little too much of the time trying to prop up the releases, so I stopped doing that when the 5th release was in the promotion phase.  Managed to nab all the IA awards with about 3 weeks of messing around left.  All in all it went very well!

I think I'll stick to Normal for one more playthrough, then I'll see if I can't make a dent in Hyper.

[JNiles]

Not sure if I should be posting here because I play more like a stumbling drunk than a producer, but whatever.

First order of business was to try out Stage 4 U and fiddle with the sound balance- I turned everything up to maximum, and I couldn't quite get rid of the weird muddiness in the sound that made it hard to make out the voices- perhaps it was just mimicing stage acoustics.  I did indeed have to delete my producer data because I overestimated the number of spaces for the producer name.

After all the agonizing, I wound up going with a default unit of Haruka as leader with Miki and Chihaya as flankers (unit name: Heartless).  I would've chosen someone other than Chihaya but I needed someone who could provably balance out the other two's voices.  It was a dumb move, because the unit's mood is constantly in the dumps.  I want to put all the blame on Chihaya, especially, since she Chihijacked some night events (I thought only the leader has events?) but the mood problem belongs to everyone.

Playing the PSP games has only made things harder for me, because the menus behave differently and the strategy of grinding lessons and memories to win auditions does not apply here.  I had to start reading the Gameplay thread before I could win an audition, and it will take a while to digest the entire thread.  (Pressing all 3 appeal buttons at once was the first mistake I made)

I got past the week 21 match with Ryuuguu Komachi after failing once and screwing up the Hell Training too, though I'm not sure how I managed.  Having to outrace the opponent to a burst drives me batty.

Gonna mess with the Options menu to see what the remaining options do.

[mallory627]

I'm RoseP
Unit Name: 765Fantasy
Members: Makoto (Leader), Hibiki (2nd), Takane (3rd)
Song #1: Ai Like Hamburger

I'm on my 2nd playthrough right now!!!! WOOT!!! I'm going to try to get some awards but I'm probably going to not get any again.

I'm on week 32 but I can't start cause my twin sister won't stop doing S4U! already!!!!

She won't give it back now!!!!

[Corinth]

My copy finally came in!   

I'm こりんP and my first unit is Haruka, Yukiho, and Chihaya aka Milk☆Tea.  Their debut single is Shiny Smile, my favorite song from Dearly Stars.
 

[AweOfShe]

Well, after blasting to my Platinum trophy last Monday, I decided to take a snap of my Produce record, for the heck of it.
My favorite idol to use is painfully obvious. There was never a run she wasn't in. XD

I still have some stages to unlock, so I decided to do another playthrough, to try to get the rest of them.
Producer name: レインP
Current Unit: Takane, Yayoi, Chihaya

[nyachan]

Started up my first run with Miki/Hibiki/Chihaya (プレゼント％), finished it a little bit ago. Doing another run on Normal to get a bit of a better handle on things, then I intend to move up to hyper mode and once again readjust with a different unit.

So this is my current run:
ニャロンP (nyaronP)
Unit name: ハイパー*ボイス (Hyper*Voice)
Unit Members: Yayoi/Mami/Makoto
Songs: READY!

Just sped my way through to the debut because it's 3am and what am I still doing awake geez.

as for how Present% went, well, it went pretty badly overall, but as it was a first run, I suppose it wasn't too bad. Barely hit the Top 20, but only AFTER the week requirement (like, by two weeks, my luck huh), however I did manage to get the northern- and southern-most region's Utahime Fes, so that was good. Had to do Hell's Training for the obvious reason, but that's alright since I wanted to grab the trophy anyways, haha. Unfortunately though, I derped on Week 8 and chose the wrong second option for Ritsuko and didn't unlock her yet. *sigh* Ah well, this time I'll remember! The one thing I was pleasantly surprised with was how not-too-shabby I did with the communications. I could follow a good portion of it and with a bit of kanji look-up sometimes, I was able to get decent commus. I even somehow managed to get a Perfect Commu on the tutorial one with Yayoi for Hyper*Voice! Was pleasantly surprised by that~ xD

I spent pretty much ALL DAY playing, so yeah I'm really enjoying it, haha~

[BadBoy25]

Just finished my first playthrough (my first iM@S experience also *__*)
Unit Venus: Takane (leader), Miki and Makoto
Songs: Meisou Mind, relations, READY!!, My Best Friend, The iDOLM@STER 2nd Mix
Producer rank C, good ending (I won just the IA. I also unlocked the Ocean Blue festival but I didn't manage to win it.)
Best DoTop Ranking: #1 @ week 49
Top score: 31k (achieved it in the final battle, for the win :p)
In the end it was a very good run, I mastered the gameplay only in the second half otherwise I could do much better. I'm looking forward to my second run (Haruka, Yukiho and Chihaya. Maybe), this time I'm aiming to the perfect run.

[MissDeidara]

I finished my 2nd playthrough on normal mode, and it went pretty good I must say! (Better than my first time, anyway) The facts that I equipped some of the best amulets really helped.

This time my team was Yayoi, Yukiho, Miki (Same as my first one except now Yukiho was my leader) and the songs I produced in order were:
-My Best Friend
-Ai LIKE hamburger
-Megare!
-Nanairo Botan
-Shiny Smile

So I managed to win the Ocean Blue, the Forest Green and the Grand IA awards. I didn't have to do any Hell Training, and I could beat Jupiter on week 54 on my first try (thanks to the amulet which boosts the voltage bar 8D). Oh and more important, I got in the top 1 with "Shiny Smile"! It might not sound that impressive but, I'm just happy I could get a good ending on my 2nd time ever playing the game xD

Now, I'll do one last Normal playthrough before I try Hyper Mode.
My team will be Yayoi, Mami, Miki.

[Funkies]

Unit Name: 100%Sweet
Members: Yayoi (Leader), Chihaya (2nd), Makoto (3rd)

Song #1: Me ga Au Toki
Song #2: Little Match Girl
Song #3: Kiramekirari
Song #4: Ai LIKE Hamburger
Song #5: MEGARE!

Third Normal playthrough, Hyper after this perhaps.  Another Visual/Dance unit, seems to work A-OK.  1st release managed #19 by Week 8.  5th unexpectedly went to #1 at Week 41, I'm still not sure how that happened.  Three of five other awards so far at Week 42, so another six weeks at most for the other two!  I shall shop, promote, fest(?), and enjoy what's left!  Glad I saved Yayoi as leader until now, having her out front is endlessly amusing.  I have a bit more appreciation for Chihaya and Makoto's characters, which is always nifty.

I kept forgetting to switch system language over to Japanese, then changed my mind anyway when it came time to name the unit.  Ah, and for once I wasn't ditched at a Quintet Live.  Started with inviting Miki and Takane, switched out Takane for Iori when it was possible.  I still can't manage to not screw up Ai LIKE Hamburger, I think I only had one performance I didn't break the chain on.  It always gets me when I switch for a final Burst, even if it matters little at that point towards a win.  At any rate, I can still dig it.

EDIT: Yayoi's True Ending really surprised me... in a hilariously good way.  I'm a little disappointed though, VESPERIA should have a trophy as it took a fair mount of juggling to beat it.  Four Memory Appeals, Jun Ataka following, and a coincidental Mail Boost helped to win by ~800 points.  Oddly enough it was Sugamo-chan that made the difference, as long as Haruka only had one Rival Burst.  For her one Burst, it took three of my own to make up the difference.  Victory was oh so sweet.

I realized that you could have your own PVs on the DoTop 100 listing if you saved a performance video during the game.  I shall enjoy this fact in future playthroughs!  Hyper next, probably with Miki at the helm.

[JNiles]

Unit name: Snowdrop
Yayoi (leader), Yukiho, Mami

Songs:
1st: READY!
2nd: Kiramekirari
3rd: Ai Like Hamburger
4th: Shiny Smile
5th: Do-Dai

Second playthrough, using Visual/Dance build.  I had a much easier time this time around, thanks to the translated wiki, getting a better grasp of the gameplay thread, and a little experience under my belt.  I planned on using Yayoi and friends as cannon fodder for a gear/cash run, but they exceeded my expectations both in performance and personality, so I ran with it.  I started with 30k and some middling gear from the first playthrough, but once I picked up the Waranappee the 10th/Niku-Wan amulets it was smooth sailing (except for a few FESes I couldn't handle).  Success breeds success, I guess.  It's amazing what a little momentum will do.

I wound up with two regional awards and the IA grand prix for a Good End.  When I qualified for the IA, I got overconfident, then checked the forum around week 44 and discovered I was falling short of actually winning it.  Fortunately, the power of burgers and a Revival put me over the top.

The Good End is actually a little bland compared to the Bad end.  I'm not sure I feel confident enough to pursue the True End yet- need to get off to a faster start.  I'll probably try and unlock more gear from the extra episode- hopefully the Japanese wiki has the perfect commus.  After that, I'm not sure if I'll recreate the dance team from Episode 12 or pick a high-powered vocal team starring Chihaya and Takane.

[ninjamitsuki]

Mitsuk-p (It cut off Mitsuki, lol)

My unit is named Moonlight. The leader is Takane, with Yukiho and Chihaya.

I'm still only on my first song, Little Match Girl.

[DereDereAngel]

Just finished my first run.

Producer Name: アンドリューP
Unit Name: ナムコエンジェル (Yes, I took the generic one.)
Members: Hibiki (Leader), Miki, Yayoi

Songs:
1st: i
2nd: Do-Dai
3rd: Shiny Smile
4th: My Song
5th: Ready!!

Awards Won: None. >.<
Producer Rank: C

So, I think I did ok for a first try. At the end of the game I had four songs in the Top 100. I managed to get 'Ready!!' into the #3 spot after winning the FIREBALL festival. I ended the game with about 60,000ish, but managed to buy quite a few costumes and accessories throughout the game. Not exactly sure who my next group will be, gonna do the Ryuuguu Komachi episode first!

[JNiles]

Playthrough: 4th (1st)
Unit name: Heartless
Group: Takane (leader), Miki, Chihaya

As I lamented earlier, my producer save was obliterated by that accursed bug, so I did a quick run to get back on my feet.  I wasn't in the mood to mess around, so I reloaded whenever I couldn't beat an audition, which let me fit more into my playthrough but cost me a lot of real time and some of the feeling in my wrist.  I picked the only idol I hadn't used through my 3 previous playthroughs, Takane, as leader, with Miki and Chihaya as support.

Everything was fairly uneventful up until the last several weeks when I realized the special FESes were either a little too hard or needed more fans than I could scrounge up, so it looked like I might win no regional FESes.  I finished with something like the following, after reloading a million times:

- Fail dozens of auditions, reloading after each one.
- Train on my secondary stat (Dance) that was causing me to fall short in auditions.
- Buy the last piece of the Mecha set that I wanted badly.
- Bag the voltage-boosting reporter.
- Beat the Tokyo special FES.
- Buy the ultimate amulet.
- Realize that fan numbers do indeed decay, causing me to fall just short of 100000 fans.
- Accidentally execute a Break while chasing a national audition, rocketing my fifth/last song up to #1.
- Win a national audition in hopes of boosting 2 regions over the qualifying limit for special FES so that I could choose between them, but fall short on one.
- Win the southernmost FES (Ocean Blue).
- Beat the game.  Good End = Bad End as far as I'm concerned.

It's almost Thanksgiving and I won't have access to Idolmaster 2, so Ai, Eri, and Ryo will have to keep me company in its place.  I might play through Stage 4 U, because I've neglected to enjoy the actual videos.