iDOLM@STER 2!!

[RoninatorMarx]

SSG just got owned by Ryuuguu Komachi. D:

Awesome! Though yeah, they did really badly in the audition there.

Well, granted, they were making fun of Iori's forehead before the audition. Karma probably came back at them.

Well, isn't the "only a few quintet songs available" thing not confirmed yet? If so, it could just be that those are the only songs you start out with period, to make you play the story mode first and unlock the songs.

Well, I brought that idea up three pages ago, and as usual......*was ignored*

Seriously, if they left S4U like that (no way of getting anything else in any way) then they might as well not put S4U to begin with.

[TweenDoriru]

Seriously, if they left S4U like that (no way of getting anything else in any way) then they might as well not put S4U to begin with.

But, given so close to the release date of the game...while I really hope that there being a quintet limit doesn't apply, we have yet to see any of the old songs given quintet treatment (no PV clips, and not even any of the little screenshots in the photo/video save screens).

It could be how before the announcement of S4U!, all of the quintet screenshots that have Iori, Ami, Azusa, or Ricchan in them have them in the guest spots (seriously, go look at your old iM@S2 preview screenshots. Guests go in the 2nd and 3rd idol spots), giving no sort of allusion that they'd be usable in any sort of free mode.

I reeeeally hope NBGI doesn't disappoint with this, though. The majority of the songs are from L4U. >.<

[Himoto]

I'm going to wait for the game to actually be released before I believe in any "conformations" that haven't been plainly stated by NBGI themselves. No offense mean to anybody at all, I'm just skeptical about any info I hear THIS close to the release date of the game.

And considering the expectations behind the addition of quintets, I highly doubt NBGI won't give all the original songs quintet versions. I say the lack of PVs with quintets versions of the original songs is simply because it gives fans of the series even more reason to buy the game.

I think that makes sense. =3 But as I said, I'd rather not settle down on any news that hasn't been 100% confirmed.

In other news, was anybody else disappointed after listening to the second half of Little Match Girl? It just sounds so... blah compared to what I was expecting to hear. The first half was awesome, whereas the second half was just a let-down for me. =/

[Clear Blue]

Please, please, PLEASE tell me they're not reusing the dances from L4U, or I think a part of me will just dig a hole and bury itself.

I tell ya. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that they elaborated on the preexisting dances for quintets, but if the majority of the songs in the game have a 3-idol limit...穴を掘って埋まってますぅ！

Guys! Stop being like Yukiho! *hides digging equipment*

In other news, was anybody else disappointed after listening to the second half of Little Match Girl? It just sounds so... blah compared to what I was expecting to hear. The first half was awesome, whereas the second half was just a let-down for me. =/

Yeah, it was quite a let down for me.

At first, it had a nice melody and then...everything went downhill.

[bluski]

20 (if that scrollbar is to be believed) is still not that much compared to SP, but... it'll do, I guess.

Also, i is on the tracklist!

Which brings it up to 14 + Smoky Thrill/Alice or Guilty. Neat!

Huh. For some reason, I thought that "old" songs such as Meisou Mind, Mega Au Toki, Kirame Kirari, etc., wouldn't be in there and would be replaced by the new M@ster Artist Songs for those characters... I'll be looking forward to the five-person version of Kirame Kirari, though. 

[BT2]

I'm going to wait for the game to actually be released before I believe in any "conformations" that haven't been plainly stated by NBGI themselves.

Not sure if this is aimed at the forums in general, but because I'm a childish person I'll just assume with "conformations" that this is aimed towards me.

Confirmed, no quartets but people were pretty much sure bout this neways.

If you get solos, duos, trios and quintets but no quartets from the start it's safe to assume you won't get it unless NBGI decides to rip people off again.

Seems you start the game with just 3 quintet songs and 2 quintet stages for S4U.

Keywords: start with
You count the songs, one, two and three.
2 stages yup.
Doesn't seem to be a baseless claim either.

Guess that means you can only use a select few songs with 5 idols 'eh?

Keyword: guess
That means this line's an assumption; sure other songs might be unlockables, just like with Smoky Thrill, or even DLC for all we know, but that doesn't matter at the moment.

You start out with iM@S2nd mix, MEGARE! and WaO for quints and it seems you start with the training wear extend for S4U.
Pictures taken during performances are full screen and not in a tiny awkward rectangle.

Those're all in the PxP video.


Even though these haven't been confirmed by NBGI themselves, imo it's safe to assume it's true.
Still, they might've used a slightly advanced save file but that'll mean you'll get even less from the beginning.

[TweenDoriru]

Numu, Mingos, and Harami were playing on their 9th and 10th weeks in the Singer Song Gamer videos. So I doubt they really had much unlocked (maybe a few accessories; I forget if there was still that "ohh, what fan present did we get today~?" thing at the end of the week).

Unlocking songs might have to be done over the course of a few playthroughs...that could be thought of as like iM@S DS, (Silence your screams of horror) where you couldn't use some of the songs from the get-go (i.e. Playing as Ryo, you could only use the defaults and Dazzling World. No trap version of Purikogu or ALIVE from the start)

It's true it isn't confirmed, but...ehh, even the thought of it is truly disappointing XD And it's not that it seems particularly unlikely; because since quintets are a main feature of the game, wouldn't they want to flaunt it? Just stick it out there like "heyyy fans with full wallets :D Have a look at this here 5-idol Kiramekirari~"

But then again, with all of the anti-Jupiter rage and complaints over RK not being usable, it took them an awfully long time to announce S4U. That couldn't have been added to the game as an afterthought, right...?

I guess we really do just have to wait a week to figure out...I don't think NBGI is going to give us any more info unless it's a la Singer Song Gamer video.

[BT2]

Part 2 of Play X Play'll be on LIVE one day after the release date :|
Guess it'll be useful for us dumb foreigners who still need to wait for our games.

[digi162]

In other news, was anybody else disappointed after listening to the second half of Little Match Girl? It just sounds so... blah compared to what I was expecting to hear. The first half was awesome, whereas the second half was just a let-down for me. =/

I've been hating all the new songs so far, but that's just my opinion.

-Alice or Guilty just sounds like half-hearted mumbling, like it's being sung improv off a piece of paper.
-Smoky Thrill sounds like a cliche low-budget anime opening, with stage choreography more interesting than the song itself.
-Little Match Girl has choreography that looks cut and pasted from previous songs, and it just doesn't seem to go anywhere.  The song is just monotone across the board, like they're bored of singing it or don't want to put any emotion in.
-The World is All One is the only song I've warmed up to, but that's not saying much.  Because it might just be liking something out of repetition, hearing it so many times you're used to it.

ALSO DID I MENTION YUKIHO.  I KINDA WANT TO BEAT A DEAD HORSE THERE.

[TweenDoriru]

I've been hating all the new songs so far, but that's just my opinion.

-Alice or Guilty just sounds like half-hearted mumbling, like it's being sung improv off a piece of paper.
-Smoky Thrill sounds like a cliche low-budget anime opening, with stage choreography more interesting than the song itself.
-Little Match Girl has choreography that looks cut and pasted from previous songs, and it just doesn't seem to go anywhere.  The song is just monotone across the board, like they're bored of singing it or don't want to put any emotion in.
-The World is All One is the only song I've warmed up to, but that's not saying much.  Because it might just be liking something out of repetition, hearing it so many times you're used to it.

ALSO DID I MENTION YUKIHO.  I KINDA WANT TO BEAT A DEAD HORSE THERE.

Wow, I think this is one of the few times I've seen a "I like World is all one!! more than SMOKY THRILL"...They're both about even in my book. My iM@S2 song remains MEGARE! (and I'm like...the only one XD)

I can agree in saying that I'm not all that fond of Little Match Girl's coreography. I did like the song from PV6 and 7, though the end part of it -was- disappointing compared to the first half. Maybe that's why they waited to reveal it. They knew.

I do like the way Yukiho sounds singing it, though. Makoto, too.

[blake307]

I've been hating all the new songs so far, but that's just my opinion.

-Alice or Guilty just sounds like half-hearted mumbling, like it's being sung improv off a piece of paper.
-Smoky Thrill sounds like a cliche low-budget anime opening, with stage choreography more interesting than the song itself.
-Little Match Girl has choreography that looks cut and pasted from previous songs, and it just doesn't seem to go anywhere.  The song is just monotone across the board, like they're bored of singing it or don't want to put any emotion in.
-The World is All One is the only song I've warmed up to, but that's not saying much.  Because it might just be liking something out of repetition, hearing it so many times you're used to it.

ALSO DID I MENTION YUKIHO.  I KINDA WANT TO BEAT A DEAD HORSE THERE.

The songs aren't all that bad. In my opinion at least. I really liked Smoky Thrill and The World is all one when the pv's first came out. But i'm not exactly a big fan of Megare. Plus like some people said, the second half of Little Match Girl wasn't as good as the first half.

Also, I like the way Yukiho sings Little Match girl.  Her new Voice fits pretty well in the song.

[Cael K.]

The thing is, even if new songs are unlocks, and even if quintet versions of existing songs are unlocks, it doesn't change the fact that, if this is indeed true, a vast majority of the most major new content are unlocks. You don't start the game with them, you don't get to enjoy them right from the get go. And that... means that you're doing the same old in a new(ish) system, rather than new stuff in a new system, for your very first Im@s2 experience. I mean, this doesn't make any sense. Your first playthrough is supposed to be something to be experienced. In fact, for many people, it is their experience. You don't hide your new stuff, not like this.

When I think about the new that I've seen, I mostly think about auditions and festas. Lessons are just mini-games, commus seem the same as ever (this time with more foreigner hate! ^^), the major part of the game-part is focused on that. It's nice they got multiple types of performances, though doing it with old songs and old dances when this is supposed to be a full-blown sequel... makes me kinda wonder the effort they're putting into this game.

The only thing I can really think of, though... is that new songs might be plot twists like in DS. In DS, I did find the unlocks acceptable, mainly because the unlock itself was meant to be an experience - a pivotal moment that defined the scenario. If they're handled like that, it's cool, it's just... I knew there'd be unlocks through scenarios in DS before I played it. Here, I'm not even sure if we're seeing most of everything or not.

Though in the end... I'll have to wait for the game to come out to formulate the opinions that matter, but I'm getting more and more worried...

[Magenta Galaxy]

Except that, in a PLAYTHROUGH, you do have all this stuff. It's just you have to unlock it in S4U - which seems perfectly sensible to me. S4U is a mode to experience all the content you've seen - and if you haven't seen it playing the game then I think it's fair to not let you trivialize that first experience by just checking it out in S4U.

Personally, I'm really looking forward to capping my playthrough off with a rousing performance of my song. I think I'd enjoy it a lot less if I had the option to inevitably give in and watch it in S4U first.

[TweenDoriru]

Well, it does make sense if the stuff in S4U isn't unlocked immediately. See: Performance Mode in DS and Office Mode in SP.

And we know that Smoky Thrill is unlocked through a game playthrough, for use in story mode -and- S4U (via one of the links posted...a few pages back? Geez, the pages fly in this topic).

I think that most, if not all of the songs (sans Smoky Thrill) are available from the start in story mode...Numu/Mingos/Harami's unit was performing "i" when they went against RK, after all.

If one has to unlock the ability to have 5-idol performances of the song, that's fine...I just hope they're in the game x_x

(NBGI: "Wrong! DLC! You can enjoy a quintet Kiramekirari for only 1200MSP :>")

[Cael K.]

Well, we suspiciously still haven't seen any more new songs yet, despite being only a few days until release. I'm hoping there's new songs (more than... like, four), but I'm not holding out for anything at this point.

Understood on the quintets though. I kinda wanted at least two more stages, but eh... I want them to be totally gutsy with this sequel without reusing stuff from the past as-is (since this -is- a sequel), but indications so far are discouraging my opinions that they are...