THE iDOLM@STER Stella Stage Gameplay Thread

[nyachan]

- There IS a penalty for running any of the 13 idols down - if you run any one of them down far enough, you will be forced to skill the following week. This means that the penalty only really applies if you have a schedule to keep (Namely, hitting the 6 majors)

- There are events that won't list on the calendar - All the idols have their own special events, which are locked by Song/participants. Some will list (Haruka's will, as well Iori/Ami/Ritsuko) as they have items attached to them for (EX)clear. Others will not - Chihaya's special event (month 12, week 1) doesn't have anything attached to the event, apart from a nice CP boost.

I imagine there's others, but I haven't seen them.

Speaking of the titles, you have to basically do and clear all the lives attached to them to get them yeah? So the 4 for IE, IU, SD, 3 for SOF, and 2 for IA and IR? (unless I miscounted/there are ones not on the schedule)

If you remember the details about the limited idol events, I can add those to my sheet as well! Might add a personal schedule planning chart for those interested... though I'm sure you could also take the top row from my first sheet and make your own as well

[Setsuna]

That is correct - each event on the left side (marked by a symbol) is associated with a major title. The other events are effectively qualifiers - fail to clear (or EX, not sure) them, and you won't be allowed to enter the next one.

Chihaya's is the only one I stumbled over - You need to have that idol as lead that week for it to show up on the SP list.

I'll note that with the unique events, that you need to find the first to do the second, and so on. They need to be EX Cleared to reveal the next one in the chain.

I've been grinding CP, since well, see previous point about bursts, before I can move onto my next phase of working. If I see others, I'll note them down.

[Setsuna]

Oh right, almost forgot, the important point, which matters for lategame stuff.

All non lives in the game (Lessons/Promotions) give temporary bonuses - they no longer level up a stat.

The non lives improve money gain and fan gain respectively (You pay for the fan boost promotion) and the lessons provide burst scoring bonus, memory appeal bonus and chain combo bonus respectively. The strength will determine how many weeks the boost is for (Spend more, get more)

First things first: there's a bug (we think) where the game won't give you the lesson bonus for burst or memory appeal if you're maxed out on the stat.

This can be fixed by abusing this next point - You can have MULTIPLE lesson bonuses running at the same time. If you have the max chain lesson active, then do the others, the bonuses will correctly calculate.

This makes using the lessons near mandatory for the three S ranked permanent SP events available (where you have to perform a typeless stage and where you cannot use trending to tilt the board in your favour) if you want to EX (And if you're under level 65, even just pass!) and get the accessories they have.

Edit: Found a second undocumented Live - Iori/Ami/Azusa - Smokey Thrill, month 1, week 4

[dogmatix]

Hi, I am about a week into my first idolmaster game and im having a great time so far (S-ranked everyone / EX cleared nearly everything / cleared Makotos CP board / have 2 outfits left to buy)

firstly i have another unlisted live for you - Haruka and Miki have an S rank duo in the 4th week of october (READY!)

I have a question about the burst skills - particurlarly in the DUO tree there are a lot of seemingly useless very expensive burst skills (5 and 7 come to mind i think) that dont actually lead to any other skills - do you need all of 1 to 7 for any reason other than you might like the look of them better than 8 if you arent on the edge of clearing a live score wise?


Thanks

[Setsuna]

Hi, I am about a week into my first idolmaster game and im having a great time so far (S-ranked everyone / EX cleared nearly everything / cleared Makotos CP board / have 2 outfits left to buy)

firstly i have another unlisted live for you - Haruka and Miki have an S rank duo in the 4th week of october (READY!)

I have a question about the burst skills - particurlarly in the DUO tree there are a lot of seemingly useless very expensive burst skills (5 and 7 come to mind i think) that dont actually lead to any other skills - do you need all of 1 to 7 for any reason other than you might like the look of them better than 8 if you arent on the edge of clearing a live score wise?


Thanks

If you use Stage for You, the only selectable bursts (If you use them) are the ones that character unlocks. You can't use a burst that hasn't been purchased on the CP board, even if you're playing S4U.

Other than that, unless it's in in the way of another skill you do want, you don't need to, apart from clearing the board with one idol once for an achievement, if you're into that sort of thing.

[dogmatix]

Thanks for the response

oh btw that Huruka/Miki duo stuck around till the 2 second week of november which is handy because 10/4 is the final of Idol Ultimate.
Also the Chihaya solo live seems to be active as early as 11/3.

p.s. the makoto/haruka cutscene with Yukiho sticking her head around the wall is the best cutscene in any game.

[nyachan]

I'm looking at the first chunk of title lives, and there's some big chunks like Feb-April and Jul-Aug that seems a bit hard to schedule around, get boosts for, and keep mood up to keep going through. Aside from brute forcing with high levels, is it possible to basically have "teams" for each title? Example: Ritsuko does IU (Solo), Haruka(Lead)/Miki/Chihaya/Yayoi/Iori do IE (Quint), and Yukiho(Lead)/Makoto do SD (Duo)? Then you'd only have the IR (All Star) to make sure everyone is at least "ok" for. The titles are company-wide and not per-idol this time, correct? I assume you'd have to keep the lead the same to keep challenging the next step in the title as well, but correct me if I'm wrong on that.

edit: also, if anyone's figured out how long it takes for an idol's mood to deteriorate to the point the game forces you to take an off, that'd probably be good to know for planning as well. I'll try to keep track and hopefully get it figured out.

[Setsuna]

I'm looking at the first chunk of title lives, and there's some big chunks like Feb-April and Jul-Aug that seems a bit hard to schedule around, get boosts for, and keep mood up to keep going through. Aside from brute forcing with high levels, is it possible to basically have "teams" for each title? Example: Ritsuko does IU (Solo), Haruka(Lead)/Miki/Chihaya/Yayoi/Iori do IE (Quint), and Yukiho(Lead)/Makoto do SD (Duo)? Then you'd only have the IR (All Star) to make sure everyone is at least "ok" for. The title are company-wide this time and not per-idol this time, correct? I assume you'd have to keep the lead the same to keep challenging the next step in the title as well, but correct me if I'm wrong on that.

You work as a 13 idol team - it doesn't matter specifically WHO out of the team claims the qualifier (or the major) just that someone does. There's a reason why it names the squad, not the individual members, for successful partipation.

Levels don't matter much - your progress on the Coaching grid, your costumes/accessories and how much you feed your idols cookies and help them with candles matters much more. Your level only affects your base note value.

It's very unlikely until ultra late game (where you're so OP that you can throw anyone at the job) that you'd have more than one team of specialists for a certain section anyway, because they ramp up in difficulty.

ie. If you had to throw Ritsuko, Takane and Miki at a Trio, it's probably cause they were the best trio team you have (because EX Clearing these events gives you LOTS of CP) and the next one in the line has a higher bar.

[dogmatix]

So ive done some experimenting and think i've worked it out. The unlisted lives dont seem to part of the schedule at all (probably why they are unlisted haha).

The Chihaya solo one appeared for me the week after i cleared the Haruka/Miki one - and never went away. I couldn't clear it as I had never put any CP into Chihaya solo skills, but it stayed on the list whenever i chose her as leader for the next 6 months.

I checked all the other girls frequently and none of them had any special lives (including the Iori/Ami/Azusa smoky thrill one mentioned). I finally got around to putting point into Chihaya and EX cleared it in July - the very next week Iori had the Smoky Thrill Trio live. (Nobody else had one)

In conclusion, they are in some kind of sequence.

[TheBluePhone]

How do you unlock the other medleys? I've cleared two idols routes and didn't even know there was more to unlock until a friend told me. 

[darkthunder]

How do you unlock the other medleys? I've cleared two idols routes and didn't even know there was more to unlock until a friend told me. 

Clear all medley in 765pro live tab

[Treemotan]

Haven't been able to play as much as most people (got the game a few days late and my work schedule is hell), but I've managed to S-rank with Ritsuko and I've got a good chunk of the costumes and accessories unlocked. Holy heck is this game leaps and bounds better than PS. Like I'm having just as much fun with it as I did OFA, though I will say the lack of commus does sadden me a little as well (even with my horrible, horrible Japanese I still enjoy them).

And Shika holy heck what a cutiepie, protect this little dear (ha) at all costs. Even though I know it won't be likely given her deal (jerk friend accidentally spoiled me on her plot stuff before I even got the game), I find her so sweet and endearing and I'd really like to see her in a future game.

Honestly I'm kind of waiting on the six major lives for the time being, wanna rank a few more of the girls up (since I focused almost entirely on Ritsuko... oops.) and clear most of the other listed lives first (probably a horrible way to go about things, but I like completion to be relatively orderly and follow some semblance of a sequence).

Kudos and thanks on that event list though,  that'll seriously come in handy when I decide to take on some of the other more time-sensitive lives.

EDIT: I will say though once again, I wish the rhythm game was a little more difficult. Like it's largely not the point of iM@S, but being used to Project Diva's rhythm game On Extreme, MASTER difficulty feels stupidly easy. Like unlike PS I actually have fun playing some of the songs, but still... if you're going to make the actual Live gameplay that of a traditional rhythm game, seems like you'd put a little more time into making it somewhat challenging seeing as it's going to be a big chunk of gameplay.

[mariokirby]

Just started playing this game.  I know a lot people use chat groups to ask questions about the game.  But, sometimes the answers get lost and difficult to find.  So, I'll try to post questions here so that everyone can benefit.

I might ask too many questions.  Please, bear with me.  I don't know much Japanese.  But, I appreciate all the help you can give me.


1. Does it matter which song I pick in terms of scoring?  In platinum stars, high beat songs get you more points through chain combo.  So, is there something like that here, or are all songs pretty much equal.


2.  Sorry, how do I turn off encore again?  Unless someone already did a quick menu translate in the options.

3. In the first unpaid promotion, it seems the perfect is random among the choices.  Like, I pick one choice and get a bad.  But, I pick the same choice and get a perfect?  Why is this so?

[darkthunder]

Just started playing this game.  I know a lot people use chat groups to ask questions about the game.  But, sometimes the answers get lost and difficult to find.  So, I'll try to post questions here so that everyone can benefit.

I might ask too many questions.  Please, bear with me.  I don't know much Japanese.  But, I appreciate all the help you can give me.


1. Does it matter which song I pick in terms of scoring?  In platinum stars, high beat songs get you more points through chain combo.  So, is there something like that here, or are all songs pretty much equal.


2.  Sorry, how do I turn off encore again?  Unless someone already did a quick menu translate in the options.

3. In the first unpaid promotion, it seems the perfect is random among the choices.  Like, I pick one choice and get a bad.  But, I pick the same choice and get a perfect?  Why is this so?

1. It seems like it doesn't differ much

2. Should be first in Option menu.

3. Sometime 3 choice are bad and another 1 will be perfect/good. Sometime 2 is bad, 1 normal and 1 perfect/good.

[Nakiame]

1. Does it matter which song I pick in terms of scoring?  In platinum stars, high beat songs get you more points through chain combo.  So, is there something like that here, or are all songs pretty much equal.

2.  Sorry, how do I turn off encore again?  Unless someone already did a quick menu translate in the options.

3. In the first unpaid promotion, it seems the perfect is random among the choices.  Like, I pick one choice and get a bad.  But, I pick the same choice and get a perfect?  Why is this so?

1. Kosmos on debut is bugged and gives you abnormaly hight score. All other songs seem to be the same score-wise.
3. Perfect choice is always different and depends on your idol's mood. You have to pay close attention to your idol's behaviour to get it right, she gives you a hint. It's kinda hard to guess on your first try, but once you memorize the pattern you can get perfect 100% of the time.