Strategy SP - Question & Answer thread

[YayoiTakatsuki96]

...Ugh, I got some questions (I'm "new" to Im@s).
Also, I often receive the mails, and I answered at  some of them.
Now I'm at the C Rank, but... My Idol's level lowered from 10 to 7. What happened?
Sorry for these "silly" questions, but Im@s SP is the first Im@s game under my hands.
Thanks for your time (in advance)

[TweenDoriru]

All of the mails you answer involve commitment to appointments and such...do you go to those?

Also, if you had a good reporter (that blue lady that shows up next to your unit in that audition lineup...man, these things aren't so easy to explain sometimes XD) and the effect from that wore off, your image level will drop back to "normal".

Aaaand...if you get any negative things happening (losing auditions, failing to keep your appointments, etc. etc.) I think those have a negative effect on your idol's image, as well.

...I think I need to play some SP again.

[animagic4u]

You should study your mails.
It's easy to tell which ones are invites from 961 and which ones are reporters/stylists after awhile.

[ikuto-sama]

The mail you get is typically from the stylist, reporters, or 961. (Fanmail also comes, but you don't need to worry about them.) If you reply to the stylist or reporter, you're agreeing to meet them for an appointment, and the appointments have different times. They could be for the same week, next week, or 2 weeks later, in the morning or in the evening. If you reply to a 961 e-mail, you're agreeing to compete at a rival audition. Your image goes down if you fail to meet up with the stylist/reporter at the time agreed or if you skip a rival audition.

Your image can also be lowered if you lose an audition, haven't done an audition in a long time, or if you encounter a bad reporter (a gossip) and they run a bad article on your idol. Gossips usually appear after you lose an audition or sometimes if you keep skipping out on appointments with a reporter.

It takes some time, but eventually you'll be able to differentiate between reporter, stylist, and 961 e-mails, and choose the ones you want to reply to based on your plans for that week. Going to an appointment with a reporter can help raise your image level temporarily, so it's best to do one of those before an audition.

Hope this is of some help...I haven't played SP in awhile. I should get back to playing it again...I think I was in the middle of producing Iori in Wandering Star and Makoto in Perfect Sun. And I still need to get Missing Moon! XD

[YayoiTakatsuki96]

Thanks to all, your answers are really useful for me.
@TweenDoriru  Yes, I do... I think.
@animagic4u Well, yeah, It's easy to know who's the 961. But my only problem is to distinguish the reporters from the stylists, in this pic I don't know wich are the stylists and the reporters.

@ikuto-sama: Yeah, it helps me. Thank you very much.

Also, I got another question.
When I go to do the lessons, if I press square (as my friend said), it does a self-training, how it works?
Also, is this normal that my PSP has this screen?

(I forgot to change the hour, and edit the date)
Sorry for the disturb, and thanks in advance.

[BT2]

@animagic4u Well, yeah, It's easy to know who's the 961. But my only problem is to distinguish the reporters from the stylists, in this pic I don't know wich are the stylists and the reporters.
http://i53.tinypic.com/2q0rms4.png

* :| points @ katakana, that one.

スタイリスト in case you didn't get that.

When I go to do the lessons, if I press square (as my friend said), it does a self-training, how it works?
Also, is this normal that my PSP has this screen?
http://i53.tinypic.com/2s64j7p.png

There's no optimal waiting time for self producing commands, it's dependant on how punctual you are; if you tell your idol you'll be back at 11:00 PM, you'll get the best result at 11:00.00 PM exactly.

It's unknown what the exact results are for self audition, but for self lesson it's something like

Perfect: Exactly on time...
Good: 1-3 seconds too late or too early
Normal: 4-20 seconds too late or too early
Bad: 20 seconds+ too late or too early

[ikuto-sama]

Also, I got another question.
When I go to do the lessons, if I press square (as my friend said), it does a self-training, how it works?
Also, is this normal that my PSP has this screen?

(I forgot to change the hour, and edit the date)
Sorry for the disturb, and thanks in advance.

スタイリスト is the Stylist, and the other bunch of kanji (I fail at reading kanji) is the Reporter. Also note that in mail from the stylist and reporter, they will often have some words in quotes that you have to remember when you go to them for an appointment, and they will ask you about it. The stylist will usually ask you either what the name of the style was or the name of the designer, and the reporter will ask what I believe is the subject of the interview (or magazine? I don't know.) So it's always best to keep a notepad handy so you can write things down until you get the hang of things.

In self-training, after you press the square, you choose a specific time in which you'll come back, and you MUST get there right on time otherwise it will lower your idol's tension. The longer the lesson, the more successful it will be, but coming late, even by a minute, sometimes deducts from that. After your PSP turns to the screenshot you have above, you shut it off, and only turn it back on when it's time to go back to see your idol. It's normal, so you don't have to worry. ^^ Do NOT take out the UMD. Self-lessons can be handy, especially at lessons that you have a hard time with (I usually have a hard time with the Vocal lesson since I'm still learning kanji), but you always have to make sure you return at the time you promised.

[Cael K.]

Also, look at all the tabs when deciding a schedule. If you've got more stuff than you usually do (and the recommended mark appears next to some), you've probably got visitors.

Concerning the pic, 961 Auditions'll have 961 somewhere in them, Reporter (second) will be in kanji, Stylist (third) will be in katakana.

In the mail you get, look at the stuff between the 「 ... 」 marks, that'll usually be something important (either the name of the person you're meeting, or where they're from). If you don't understand Japanese, this is the hard part, but write it down if you can't remember it. The game'll ask you either the guy's name or where he's from when you meet up with them, so look at the choices that pop up and pick the one that looks familiar. I don't think both will ever pop up.

Oh, and I think you can kill bad reporters with good ones. If you get slapped with a bad reporter after an audition, then get another reporter wanting to meet up with you, make them happy and they'll chase off the bad stuff while giving you the good stuff.

[YayoiTakatsuki96]

@ikuto-sama: Thanks for your help. Oh, here's why sometimes I did it wrong, also, about the Self training thing, looks useful when I'm at school. But, well, I'm trying it right now.
@Cael K.: Thanks for your help, also, yeah, I don't speak Japanese. But I can try a shot and learn it. So, if I get a bad interview, I can "cancel" it by doing a good one? Looks "easy". Well, I'll try that soon (write the letter in and then go to meet them. Thanks, without you I don't know what I was doing.

[Cael K.]

Fair warning, though: I've had reporters just jet on me even after I answered right (5% of the time?), but I think that's how things work.

[ikuto-sama]

Fair warning, though: I've had reporters just jet on me even after I answered right (5% of the time?), but I think that's how things work.

That's happened to me a few times too. I think it also happens sometimes if you do interviews in consecutive weeks; once I accidentally replied to an email for an interview a week after the one I had done that week, and the second reporter just left.

[LiNa_chan]

I have a question (i'm new to Im@s D:)
i have a problem with saving my game, right now i'm playing Perfect Sun, and after the end of the day it's supposed to save itself (at least, that's what i've read), but everytime i try, after the end of the first day, the game returns itself to the main menu. Apparently it saves my producer data, but not my idol data, so i have to start again =/
This also happened to me with my save in Missing Moon.
i don't know if this a dumb question, but i don't know what to do T_T

[BT2]

Stop pirating the game or stop using those silly cfws like that.

[Codesterz]

1. I was wondering if there are any drawbacks to avoiding audition invitations from 961 and if so what are they? According to tlwiki's translation he will pay you back for turning down his offer especially in the end.

2. Is it possible to win these audition invitations? I've tried once and in terms of stars I tied her but was still 2nd. I looked at her scores and the number of points she's gains in one round can be higher than all 3 of my rounds together and I did it perfectly. At that I had a reporter on my side boosting my image.

@BT2 I think so long as you don't live in Japan pirating this game should be A-OK. They obviously didn't want other people's money otherwise they'd actually have the game localized for them. Just my opinion though, in the end you're free to think what you want. Also cfws are awesome have you not seen all the great homebrew applications out there.

Lastly Bandai can suck my nuts only releasing 1 of 4 Tales games in the US I'd smack them if I could. Sorry about being so rude but I'm am so sick of the treatment they give to us in America. They don't even need to waste their money on English dubs I prefer the original Japanese voices.

[Cael K.]

2. Is it possible to win these audition invitations? I've tried once and in terms of stars I tied her but was still 2nd. I looked at her scores and the number of points she's gains in one round can be higher than all 3 of my rounds together and I did it perfectly. At that I had a reporter on my side boosting my image.

Pretty sure the rivals play normally, then at the end of each round, they take the higher of their own score, or the highest score among every one else plus some random single digit number. The reins come off eventually though (you'll know when), so Memory Appeal bomb when it does and take the top spot like it's nothing.

As for the first question, not too sure, I've never gotten anything bad for refusing, but for accepting and skipping out I hear he sticks a gossip reporter on you.