Hello there : )

[mylastgg]

Hello everyone! I'm a nerdy guy from Italy who would love to be able to play iM@S games, in particular Platinum Star since I only have a ps4! I would like to ask you guys some question about importing the game from Japan to Europe and so on

But first, let me introduce myself!

Personal Info:

Real Name: Davide
Sex: Male
Country of Origin: Italy
Age (upon joining): 28
Hobbies: programming, video games, music (metal/djent) and japan! (pretty obvious stuff here >.<)

=Q&A=

Q: How did you come across this site?
A: I was looking for some info on Platinum Star and this website came out!

Q: Why did you join this site?
A: I'm actually a newbie with iM@S and I joined to ask people questions about the game mechanic and such! Also, I would love to know more about iM@S universe : )

Q: Do you play it?
A: Sadly no. I never played any iM@S game, but I'm panning to and that's why I'm here!

Q: Do you wish you could play it?
A: Yes. I fell in love with Platinum Star the moment I saw it and I would love to play it

Q: Who is your fave idol?
A: I'm a little bit ashamed, but I never watched any series or played any game from iM@S, so I cannot really tell Purely from images and trailers I would say Hoshii Miki and Kisaragi Chihaya, but again, I have no clue unfortunately Forgive me.

Q: Why is your username "mylastgg"?
A: Old nick name from Broodwar (the RTS) era, nothing special!

Q: What are you in to right now?
A: Learning Japanese (just got JLPT n5, but again, nothing to be too proud of! Aiming for n4 next year)

Q: Do you have any expectations from this site?
A: I hope to learn a lot about iM@S

Q: What is your motto?
A: "Nobody heals from his childhood"

Q: Who's your favorite singer(s) right now?
A: Well, not a singer, but a band from Japan (Toe) and a band from the UK (TesseracT)

Nice to meet you all!

[Naryoril]

Welcome fellow European P (Swiss guy here )

To answer the question you already asked:
To buy the game 2 of the most widely used sites to buy games and such are:

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/
http://amiami.com/

They both accept European credit cards and ship world wide.

[Teddie]

Welcome to the forums!

[mylastgg]

Thanks everyone!

@Naryoril
Thanks for the websites, I'll take a look today.

One more question about playing iM@S (and imported games in general): will I be able to download DLCs and redeem promo codes if I used the game with my EU account? I happen to have an imported game already (Natsuiro) and I could not redeem the codes inside. I read online that that's common with imported games, but I also read that for Platinum Star it's different and you can actually download DLCs and redeem codes from the EU account.
Is that correct? If not, would you recommend opening a second JP account and play the games from there? I heard that iM@S games are all about DLCs and monthly events and so on, and I would hate to limit the experience because of the EU account!

Best,

Davide

[Naryoril]

at least for im@s you can use the DLC on your EU account, you have to download and install it with a japanese account though, and the japanese as well as the european account must have your PS4 set as primary console.

So you can download the DLC or use the promo codes with a japanese account, and then switch to the european account and use these DLC. There is an exception though in platinum stars, it's the p drops. It's DLC that grants you some random  rewards when used ingame, you also get these without P drops, you just get more with the P drops. And they are quite expensive for what they do so imo it isn't a big loss.

I am playing the game on my European account as well, and i am using the limited edition bonus costume i had to download with a promo code.

[mylastgg]

Thanks Naryoril for the very detailed information!

I had a chance today to take a better look at the gameplay and read comments on the game in the forum. It seems that people either love for being so well done or hate it for being too much grind-oriented and unfair (having to pay a lot to progress). Is that true? What's your opinion on it? Would you recommend it to a newcomer?

Thanks!

[Naryoril]

Having to pay for progressing is simply wrong, the only thing in that direction would be the P drops, but they just increase the chance for the special items from the DL event.

As for grind-oriented: not for me, at least not yet. But i imagine it will be very grindy if you are going for the platinum trophy. I'm at the point now where the grind begins, but that is after the credits (although there is still much to do)

About newcomers: It's certainly not bad for a newcomer. There is less communication with the idols than in the previous games, but depending on your level of japanese this might be a disadvantage or not. It also has a real rhythm game gameplay, which probably make it more interesting for people who don't understand Japanese. The gameplay focus in the previous games was more on the strategy than the actual rhythm skill in gameplay. I won't say one is better than the other, it's just different, i like them both.

[mylastgg]

Thank you so much again for all the detailed information.

About the grinding, I would love to go for the platinum but I doubt I'll have the time to do that, so I'm fine with an average completion score. I could easily spend 50-60 hours in the game.
My Japanese level is actually pretty basic and the fact that there is less management and more rhythm skill involved I think suits me more. I love rhythm games.

That being said, I'm going to buy it today : ) I will never know unless I try anyway, right?

Thanks for your precious help!

Davide