From what I heard about Tonari ni..., it sounds like the BPM could have been set to double time (goes from 88 to 176). Kind of reminds me of an idea I had when iM@S2 was still releasing DLC (the time I had hopes that Yakusoku would be released and set to double time) Sadly, I don't think that was the case for 9:02pm since I still have yet to see it used in actual gameplay (68 could have become 136, which still isn't too good considering iM@S2 standards).
Still, I wonder about Futari no Kioku (easily my favorite Iori song). From what I've seen on videos, the speed didn't change (still 117 BPMs), but it sounds like the recent balancing allows it to score/combo a lot better than My song could have in iM@S2.
They made two mistakes.
The first is the fact they probably doubletimed it, to make it straight up the fastest mechanical song in the game.
THEN they forgot to code the AI to be able to deal with the doubletimed speed.
In short? It's entirely possible to just note rush your way up to burst with this song without the AI even noticing half the time. It's weird, but the song does something very strange to the AI.
It's straight up broken as a song, and I'm fairly convinced it's deliberate, as a little bit of irony.
And I've just hauled multiple idols (all leapfrogging their 2 and 1 divisions) to rank A. Funnily enough, it doesn't get easier after you get someone to rank A3 to get someone else from B3 to A3.
... And the amount of power you can unlock at rank A is absurd. There's a very, VERY good reason why they made it so hard to break through (Okay, I imagine if I had B1 supports instead of B3 supports, and I actually didn't fail so hard at communications it wouldn't be so nailbitingly hard. And maybe not trying to get in winter 2nd year might help too.)
It makes double and triple bursts practical, and once you get special skills to max level, 2 appeals can net you a burst that has 3 idols effects all at the same time. (A duo burst will also do it for 2, but you need them in the right order and the scoring bonus is less.)
As an example, Azusa + Takane + anyone else at rank A skills on a triple burst will literally have a 12% chance per burst note to get back an appeal (Max 3 at any time), and Takane's burst attack restores a set amount of your bar after your burst is done. (At max level about 33%)
I haven't figured out what everyone else has for burst skills, but I can already tell that it could get very, very bad if you manage to burst first with a triple. Or if I could figure out a third person with a scoring specific one, to use her and basically massively score my way out of everything.
Anyway, off to bed, and probably going to start getting more idols to A3 (I have 3 at A3 already, and all of them require nailbiting.)
It IS annoying that even though I'm way past needing lower ranked stuff, my producer quests involve doing C rank stuff. I have E ranked idols (well one, since most of them are B3) eating those alive.
