THE iDOLM@STER Stella Stage Gameplay Thread

[mariokirby]

@Harusagi

Thanks.  I found out what memory video I was missing.  Also, discovered I was missing a valentine text which I eventually got. 

Edit: There seems to be a couple mistakes on the text messages list on that website. For example, for Chihaya there's a certain text message has a picture, but the website lists as no picture.  So, be aware there might be mistakes.



More questions.

1.  I guess the valentine chocolates increase your memory meter just like in PS (although it's really easy to get 5 hearts).  But, what do the Christmas chocolates do?  Is that basically the same thing but for all idols?

2.  In one of the day off scenes, there's a small shrine?? where the idol stands while the producer is talking.  But, I noticed there are 4 variations (based on the idols expression) of that same day off scene.  What's the significance of that?

3.  There are 2 items in the shop that help you with lives.  I remember seeing them from PS but I forgot what they do.  One has the circle/triangle while the other has a star.

[Naryoril]

1. Your guess about the christmas present is correct, altugh i don't know if the strength of the effect is the same

3. With the first you can get 5 Bads without breaking the combo, with the second you don't lose the burst double score bonus on a normal

[mariokirby]

@Naryoril

Thanks, for your help.


Even more questions.

1.  I noticed that doing Hell's training increases your idol's appeal by about 1-2 points for each session.  Since I've started in January and working my way down the year, can I redo these Hell's training next year thus getting permanent appeal increases without a limit?

Apparently, I made a mistake.  It was the level up that increased the appeal.

2. I noticed certain levels like 35, I think there seems to be a jump in your idol's appeal points (not just the usual single 1 point) (My idol went from like 137 to like 162 after a level up after Hell's training, and I can't explain otherwise why it happened.  Are there other certain levels where there's a jump in appeal?

3. And, for any answered question from my previous post, if you all know the answer.

Thanks.

[Setsuna]

@Naryoril

Thanks, for your help.


Even more questions.

1.  I noticed that doing Hell's training increases your idol's appeal by about 1-2 points for each session.  Since I've started in January and working my way down the year, can I redo these Hell's training next year thus getting permanent appeal increases without a limit?

2. I noticed certain levels like 35, I think there seems to be a jump in your idol's appeal points (not just the usual single 1 point) (My idol went from like 137 to like 162 after a level up after Hell's training, and I can't explain otherwise why it happened.  Are there other certain levels where there's a jump in appeal?

3. And, for any answered question from my previous post, if you all know the answer.

Thanks.

1. How scoring is calculated in Stella Stage is different from Platinum Stars - before your score per note was decided by (effectively) appeal score/ idols present *difficulty level modifier, meaning that the more notes a song has, the higher score you'd get.

In Stella Stage, they standardize by calculating how much you can theoritically score (with a formula similar to PS, but with some sort of multiplier that's hidden and constant), then divide that score by the number of notes in the song, regardless of difficulty. Any skills gained from CP that affect appeal are added after this calculation is done.

The final number is rounded up, incidentally, which effectively means you can score very slightly more in Master compared to pro, but it's only ~1-2k difference, assuming full comboing both.

Since the Hell Training song has the most notes in the game, the rounding up becomes VERY apparent, and if you kit out your 5 with the unit quintet skills (They count) your score jumps up significantly.

Also, the costume is set for Hell Training (red headband and training tracksuit/swimsuit) and the appeal level of those items will count for that song.

tl;dr - Same 5 units + 5x quintet +5 appeals +leader with all the quintet skills + level 7 training uniform/swimsuit + level 7 red headband = easier time to full clear due to higher appeal score.


2. There are breakpoints where you will receive more points than normal.

Not sure for level, but I think they're level 35 and 65 respectively. For Burst and Omoide, they're level 10 and level 15. They give substantial jumps to their respective score, but in Burst/Omoide's cases, they also then require a very high amount of exp to get to 11/16 (As in 150+ uses).

Generally, you should be able to FC any stage (with a little lesson boosting) once you're level 70 15/15 for leader with a properly kitted out leadership tree and 50 10/10 for the supports with a full support tree for the type you're doing.

The previous question - the changing idols/poses are just fluff.

[Naryoril]

@Naryoril

Thanks, for your help.


Even more questions.

1.  I noticed that doing Hell's training increases your idol's appeal by about 1-2 points for each session.  Since I've started in January and working my way down the year, can I redo these Hell's training next year thus getting permanent appeal increases without a limit?

2. I noticed certain levels like 35, I think there seems to be a jump in your idol's appeal points (not just the usual single 1 point) (My idol went from like 137 to like 162 after a level up after Hell's training, and I can't explain otherwise why it happened.  Are there other certain levels where there's a jump in appeal?

3. And, for any answered question from my previous post, if you all know the answer.

Thanks.

To actually answer your first question: Yes, you can redo hell training every year. Btw the appeal increases because your level increases, the hell training gives a ton of xp, even more so if you ex clear them.

About what Setsuna said: Your levels don't need to be quite as high. I ex cleared all events with a leader around lvl 65 (with lvl 15 burst and 20 omoide) and the other girls between lvl 35 and 45 (usually with burst and omoide around 10), there was only 1 or 2 events where i needed a burst lesson for the ex clear. Ok, i didn't ex clear the August hell training yet, because i did the SoF ex clear this year (the last SoF event is on the same week), but the score i got during the previous December hell training was over the necessary score to ex clear the August hell training.

[Setsuna]

To actually answer your first question: Yes, you can redo hell training every year. Btw the appeal increases because your level increases, the hell training gives a ton of xp, even more so if you ex clear them.

About what Setsuna said: Your levels don't need to be quite as high. I ex cleared all events with a leader around lvl 65 (with lvl 15 burst and 20 omoide) and the other girls between lvl 35 and 45 (usually with burst and omoide around 10), there was only 1 or 2 events where i needed a burst lesson for the ex clear. Ok, i didn't ex clear the August hell training yet, because i did the SoF ex clear this year (the last SoF event is on the same week), but the score i got during the previous December hell training was over the necessary score to ex clear the August hell training.

The other big one is the solo/duo/trio S rank SP events that aren't timed - they will set your scoring to its limit for an EX clear because you aren't allowed to use trending to boost your score. Trying to get 60+k without any multipliers is in fact very, very hard and you should not expect to clear them pre 60 even with lesson modifiers. You might do it better if you can EX clear a Master song, but it's pretty hard, as far as it goes.

It depends how good you are mechanically (namely, if you can reliably FC songs as per the trending) to see how much levelling you'll need to do. You can do it earlier with the right setup and you get a song you're good at, or you can compensate for the stats. Also note that the beatmaps for each of the hell training variate, so if you're counting in the Full clear bonus, you may not actually score it (because one of the hell trainings is flat out evil in its map.)

[Naryoril]

The other big one is the solo/duo/trio S rank SP events that aren't timed - they will set your scoring to its limit for an EX clear because you aren't allowed to use trending to boost your score. Trying to get 60+k without any multipliers is in fact very, very hard and you should not expect to clear them pre 60 even with lesson modifiers. You might do it better if you can EX clear a Master song, but it's pretty hard, as far as it goes.

It depends how good you are mechanically (namely, if you can reliably FC songs as per the trending) to see how much levelling you'll need to do. You can do it earlier with the right setup and you get a song you're good at, or you can compensate for the stats. Also note that the beatmaps for each of the hell training variate, so if you're counting in the Full clear bonus, you may not actually score it (because one of the hell trainings is flat out evil in its map.)

I forgot about those, i think i also needed the omoide lesson (on top of the burst lesson) to ex clear them, or at least some of them. The song i used probably was eden on master, but i'm not sure.

As for the full combo on master difficulty: If i know i need a full combo to get an ex clear, i use the target support (the one that allows 5 bads and you still get a full combo), sometimes i need to restart a live (looking at you "kimi wa relations mix medley" or whatever you are called exactly). For events that require you to play 3 songs (namely the final event of IE, the quintet title event series), i used the pro version of the songs, because restarting at the 3rd song makes you restart from the first song on.

If you are just shy of ex clearing, boosting a song to rank 10 with magazines helps as bit as well, i'd say the difference between rank 1 and 10 is about 2-3k, but i never really tested it.

About the hell training: I am pretty sure there is one note chart for August and December (the ones labelled as Pro) and another one for the other 10 hell trainings, i did hardly anything else for a year or 2. But yeah, don't expect to get a full combo on those, especially not the pro ones. One time i somehow managed to FC the normal one, but that was more luck than anything else.

[mariokirby]

@Setsuna

Thank you, for the explanation on scoring mechanics, and the advice on how to score higher on hell training.  I should of realize you could upgrade the camp wear and banana as well.

1.  I'm also assuming you can do lessons to further increase score on hell's training, correct?

2. By the way, can you use magazines on the Kohauku Ouen song for hell training?  I tried using the magazines but that song does not appear in the list.


@Naryoril

Thanks, for correcting my mistake.  Yeah, I guess it was the level up that did it.  I probably wasn't paying attention to my level.

It seems I can full combo the normal hell training (well, not consistently), but the Pro one's is really difficult (and unfair).  Hopefully, I can raise my stats more so that I can compensate for unable to get the full combo bonus for the Pro versions.

I've been hording my money, cookies, and candles.  So, maybe at some point I'll need to start using them. 




I guess for those S rank SP events I should do the lessons.  Burst and omoide lessons I can score a full complete at Lv. 3.  But, that chain combo lesson is really hard (maybe I'm doing it wrong? But, I use the pause method to get around it to complete it, but not sure if it's worth the trouble doing that lesson in the first place.)

[Setsuna]

@Setsuna

Thank you, for the explanation on scoring mechanics, and the advice on how to score higher on hell training.  I should of realize you could upgrade the camp wear and banana as well.

1.  I'm also assuming you can do lessons to further increase score on hell's training, correct?

2. By the way, can you use magazines on the Kohauku Ouen song for hell training?  I tried using the magazines but that song does not appear in the list.


@Naryoril

Thanks, for correcting my mistake.  Yeah, I guess it was the level up that did it.  I probably wasn't paying attention to my level.

It seems I can full combo the normal hell training (well, not consistently), but the Pro one's is really difficult (and unfair).  Hopefully, I can raise my stats more so that I can compensate for unable to get the full combo bonus for the Pro versions.

I've been hording my money, cookies, and candles.  So, maybe at some point I'll need to start using them. 




I guess for those S rank SP events I should do the lessons.  Burst and omoide lessons I can score a full complete at Lv. 3.  But, that chain combo lesson is really hard (maybe I'm doing it wrong? But, I use the pause method to get around it to complete it, but not sure if it's worth the trouble doing that lesson in the first place.)

Cookie and candle feeding matters - Try to get everyone to at least 10/10 since averaging that will greatly boost your performance in Medley 13/ASLs, due to how it's calculated, and ideally, make sure everyone gets the ASL +5 appeal. Make sure your team for 7s gets the Sept +5 appeals, and your quintet team gets the +5 appeal for Quintet etc, etc.

The reason why 10/10 is a good point is because it costs like the entirety of 10->11 to go from 1->10. 12->15 is a lot cheaper than 15->16, so if you need a higher average for larger performances, you get more bang for your exp by spreading it around to get everyone to 10, then everyone to 15.

It's generally not worth it to do lessons for Hell training - the exp gain doesn't double on an EX clear from memory, and they make good amounts of exp. No, you can't use magazines on the hell training song, but honestly, once you can clear it, you'll keep doing it until you can do a full 6 major clear (The 6 majors pay more CP faster since 765*2 CP *6 is a LOT more than 5 or 6 HT (300x2) and is faster since HT is the longest song in Stella stage.) and once you can breeze the major clears, you'd probably be feeding exp drinks with all the extra money you make.

The important part about lessons is this - you can have multiple lessons contributing to the team at the same time - one gives + burst note score, another gives + omoide note score, and the last is a full combo boost. Doing all 3 at level 3 (And acing them) will net you ~9k assuming you hit the notes and full combo. Those S ranked Solo/Duo/Trios more or less assume you're either fielding a max CP'd level 80+ team, or at least one of the lessons to EX clear.

[Naryoril]

It's generally not worth it to do lessons for Hell training - the exp gain doesn't double on an EX clear from memory, and they make good amounts of exp. No, you can't use magazines on the hell training song, but honestly, once you can clear it, you'll keep doing it until you can do a full 6 major clear (The 6 majors pay more CP faster since 765*2 CP *6 is a LOT more than 5 or 6 HT (300x2) and is faster since HT is the longest song in Stella stage.) and once you can breeze the major clears, you'd probably be feeding exp drinks with all the extra money you make.

The important part about lessons is this - you can have multiple lessons contributing to the team at the same time - one gives + burst note score, another gives + omoide note score, and the last is a full combo boost. Doing all 3 at level 3 (And acing them) will net you ~9k assuming you hit the notes and full combo. Those S ranked Solo/Duo/Trios more or less assume you're either fielding a max CP'd level 80+ team, or at least one of the lessons to EX clear.

XP gain does double with an Ex clear, i'm pretty sure about that. So while Hell Training isn't the fastest way to get CP in endgame, it is the best way to get XP, especially with the ones later in the year.

Why 9k? 3000 for the burst, 8 * 300 = 2400 for the omoide and 1k for the chain bonus, makes a total of 6400. Maybe a bit more, i'm not sure how the score for omoide appeals after the burst is calculated, i'd say it triples the omoide value but doesn't change the flat bonuses from skills and the lesson, it's not double points as it was in platinum stars anyway.

@mariokirby:
Since the chain bonus lesson only gives 1000 points, it's hardly ever worth it. I did this lesson exactly once, more to try it out than out of need. You almost never are just 1000 points away of an ex clear, and if you are, there often are easier/permanent ways to increase your score (mostly consumable items)

[mariokirby]

@Naryoril and Setsuna

Thanks, for the advice.  I will take some of you guys' points into my gameplay.

I'm pretty far into the game.  I have Ex cleared most everything (including all hell training).  Now, just need to pretty much focus on the SP tab and that should be it.  Oh, and I also need to beat those couple of hard S-rank lives too.  (the rest is just my own personal recording videos).


Few questions and comments

1.  What is the significance of the right most tab in the live menu?  It's the one with the face. All the lives listed there don't really have much a scoring requirement and seems like you get nothing after beating it.  Just wondering what purpose does it serve.

2.  This is old, but I just figured out you can use the d-pad to press notes too. Meaning, left on d-pad corresponds to square.  Of course, only useful for certain songs (like master or the harder version of hell training song) where you have to press buttons simultaneously.

3.  I noticed that it's much easier to get level 20 omoide than level 20 burst.  Like, my leader got to level 20 omoide (without items) but her burst was only level 12.  Of course, you can only burst once while omoide can be used 8 times (or less depending number of idols in the unit).  Out of curiosity, I gave her like 10 of the Large Burst cookies to see what would happen and still that wasn't enough to get to level 20.  (meaning over 500 lives more).

4.  I also noticed when I beat an SP live, there's a check mark on the list.  However, in the next year, it seems it all resets. Didn't understand why it does that.  I understand if it was the 6 major lives since those have to be beaten in 1 year or else you have to try again next year.  But, I'm under the impression the other SP lives don't have to be beaten in 1 year.

[Naryoril]

@Naryoril and Setsuna

Thanks, for the advice.  I will take some of you guys' points into my gameplay.

I'm pretty far into the game.  I have Ex cleared most everything (including all hell training).  Now, just need to pretty much focus on the SP tab and that should be it.  Oh, and I also need to beat those couple of hard S-rank lives too.  (the rest is just my own personal recording videos).


Few questions and comments

1.  What is the significance of the right most tab in the live menu?  It's the one with the face. All the lives listed there don't really have much a scoring requirement and seems like you get nothing after beating it.  Just wondering what purpose does it serve.

2.  This is old, but I just figured out you can use the d-pad to press notes too. Meaning, left on d-pad corresponds to square.  Of course, only useful for certain songs (like master or the harder version of hell training song) where you have to press buttons simultaneously.

3.  I noticed that it's much easier to get level 20 omoide than level 20 burst.  Like, my leader got to level 20 omoide (without items) but her burst was only level 12.  Of course, you can only burst once while omoide can be used 8 times (or less depending number of idols in the unit).  Out of curiosity, I gave her like 10 of the Large Burst cookies to see what would happen and still that wasn't enough to get to level 20.  (meaning over 500 lives more).

4.  I also noticed when I beat an SP live, there's a check mark on the list.  However, in the next year, it seems it all resets. Didn't understand why it does that.  I understand if it was the 6 major lives since those have to be beaten in 1 year or else you have to try again next year.  But, I'm under the impression the other SP lives don't have to be beaten in 1 year.

1. To me they seem a little bit useful at the very beginning of the game. They only require 765 points to ex clear, and give 3000 fans (or rather 6000 with the more or less guaranteed ex clear) which is much more than the other lives you can do at the very beginning of the game, especially since you probably won't ex clear the others. Maybe there is more to them, but i haven't found any other use. And even at the beginning, fans weren't my problem, i was rather starving for CP.

2. Personally i also use this for note charts with alternating buttons. e.g. instead of triangle, square, triangle, square i press triangle, left, triangle, left, or up, square, up, square. Or also for patterns like triangle, triangle, square, triangle, i usually press left instead of square. It takes some time to get used to it, but imo many master songs become much more relaxed to play this way. You could also use it for fast sequences of the same note, so you could also do triangle, up, triangle, up, but i usually mess up the timing when i try this, so i don't do it.

[mariokirby]

@Naryoril

Thanks again, for answering my questions.

So far, I haven't needed to use a master song yet.  But, if I do, then I'll be using the d-pad as well.  Well, I used the d-pad too for the hard hell training since that requires pressing simulataneous buttons.


More questions

1. There's a couple of videos from the other memory list that I'm missing.  I've got the all star live video Ver. B for Happy and Kakumei de Show. Does that mean I'm missing the Ver. A of those songs?  How do I get those (if I'm assuming things right)? Or, where can I get those missing videos?

2. I'm assuming the monthly trending outfits/song for the SP lives help you score more points, correct?  (though, so far, I haven't needed to use the trending outfit/song yet).

[Naryoril]

1. Sorry, i can't answer this, because i'm missing the 2 videos between Shy Shining and Happy as well. So far i assumed the Ver. A is the one in Platinum Stars, it would be a bit strange to have 2 versions of the old songs in the game, but only one version of the new one. But that's pure speculation.
My guess is that the videos will be revealed after getting all the girls to S rank. I also haven't unlocked the last video in the spoiler section, and i guess it will also be revealed after getting everyone to S rank.

2. The trending outfit and song only count for SP lives that have the type trend. There are some of those, but most notably the title events for solo (IU), duo (SD) and trio (IA), i hope i got the abbreviations right. Especially the last live of each of these series will be extremely hard if not impossible to beat without following the costume as well as the song trend. Iirc for ex clear solo is between 80k and 90k points, trio a bit above 90k points and the duo one is about 240k points in 3 songs, but you only get the song trend bonus for the actual song, not for the other 2.

[mariokirby]

@Naryoril

Thanks, again for responding.

I actually got those 2 videos just now.  They are the Ver. A of Happy and Kakumei de Show.  To get those, you have to just clear (not Ex clear) the corresponding lives.

I got this info from that website someone posted earlier.

Though, there's still 2 non-concert videos I'm missing from other memories list.  (I believe these are the office one's with kotori and president).  That website mentioned about clearing the Christmas live and valentine live, so maybe beating those SP lives in those respective months?  Not sure.

You mentioned there's 1 video you're still missing?  Which one is that?  Is that the same one I just mentioned just above?  Or, are you talking about something else?


Oh, I see.  I guess the trend is needed for those major 6.  I was planning on doing them when I finish the other SP lives.


Edit:  Been doing some research on the unlisted lives.  I've read some people's post in the 1st couple pages in this topic.  I also tried looking into that website someone posted here, and it appears that they unlock with some requirement.  If I understood correctly, getting Haruka to S rank will unlock her duo live (with Miki). Beating this live will unlock Chihaya's solo live (assuming she's S rank), and beating her live which will unlock another idol's live and so on.


Edit 2:

Another question

1.  So, I've completed a couple of these unlisted lives such as the Chihaya solo, but I noticed that they completely disappear from the SP list.  Is there no way you can tell that you completed them or not?  Or, we just have to keep track of them in our head.