I am completely new to playing this game, help?

[ninjamitsuki]

I've been a fan of The Idolm@ster for several months now, but I only got SP (Missing Moon and Wandering Star), today. I was wondering many things.

1: Explain how an English speaker who doesn't read a word of Japanese would play
2: Explain to me how I would use dlc? Would an American Playstation store account work for getting DLC, or do I have to sign up for a Japanese one? If so, how do I sign up for a Japanese one?

[Benpc91]

1: They just do.  You know, memorize what option does what and all.
2: I believe you can sign up for an Asian (not Japanese) account and you'll have an English PSN menu, with up-to-date DLC.

[ninjamitsuki]

I've started to get used to the gameplay, and it's actually a lot of fun.

But I still need help with DLC.

You see, I've never downloaded DLC for any game before in my life. How do I sign up for an Asian PSN account?

Do I just sign up for an asian psn account, get some points or whatever through paypal or something, then use the points to buy DLC?

[BT2]

You can have the JP version of the game and buy the asian version DLC just fine or vice versa.
Do note that once you get DLC from one store that you should stick to that store, seeing as how you can't switch accounts on a PSP like one can do on a PS3, you can't mix and match stores, blame the encryption key in your PSP's registry.

The key to setting up a foreign PSN account is by selecting the correct country that has access to the PSN area you intend to have access to.
The hardest part of setting up a foreign account is filling out your details and having a 'real' address in a foreign country, but you can google one with a bit of effort.
When I registered I choose the University of Tokyo's address <___<.

I'm not sure how it works for the asian store, but the jp store only allows jp creditcards and point cards, so the easiest way to buy dlc from the japanese store is by buying a prepaid point card in my opinion.
Be sure to get the correct point card for the correct area.


[Edit]
:0
Didn't know that registration on this forum's re-enabled again, what went wrong after that downtime some while ago?

[Kyo]

You can have the JP version of the game and buy the asian version DLC just fine or vice versa.

This is true. Also, the only restriction is that you can't use both Japanese and Asian DLC on the same account after you've downloaded them.

I found this out after I stupidly wasted the DLC bonus from the Break! manga.

If you need help on gameplay, feel free to ask here or read my FAQ on GameFAQs.

[ninjamitsuki]

Alright, I have a gameplay question now.

Why does Kotori sometimes (Actually, most of the time) lowers your image level after a sucessful audition if you have high stats? Is it something I did? Remember, I don't read Japanese except a few kana, so whenever Kotori comes after I win an audition due to an image level and stats I gained due to luck, I start shivering because I know she'll probably lower them.

Why does this happen? It's probably not Kotori herself going "MWAHAHAHA I'M GOING TO LOWER YOUR IMAGE LEVEL AND THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT! ", but well you know, I associate Kotori with such a horrible thing. I think it's probably just there to make the game more challenging, (after all, the game would probably be way too easy if you were at idol god the entire game) but I want to know that if that's not the case, is it because of some action I did in the past that triggers it?

[Kyo]

You probably forgot to successfully keep an appointment that you made with a reporter who requested you for an interview.

Sometimes in the morning mail, there will be requests from people either asking for an interview, an appointment with the fashion stylist or an audition with your rival. If you said yes at first but then failed to show up on the scheduled date, you get a penalty. Either your image level goes down or some of your items disappear.

[BT2]

Also, choosing the wrong answer during an interview can also lead to rumors, which leads to a drop in image level.
The inverse is possible as well.

[Cael K.]

Of course, you can look at your schedule (second page, press R) as you're planning it and see if any new options popped up. If any did, and are marked with the オススメ mark, then you've got visitors.

Though if you weren't expecting any, this means you've gotta guess on your responses.

Quick tip: If you're not comfortable with your Japanese, you can pause the game to read text or timed choices.

[ninjamitsuki]

Ok, I understand. Shouldn't be so careless with saying yes to the appointments all the time.

But I'm still struggling with the whole DLC thing. I have the Asian version of the game. The back of the box is in Chinese, the manual is in Chinese, the game's in Japanese, and the inner brochure is in English.

Would a Japanese playstation store account still work with it? Is it pretty much exactly the same as the Japanese version but with a different box? Because I can only find a guide to make a Japanese playstation store account, but there's no guide for an Asian one. So, would a Japanese one work with the Asian game?

That's all I need to know.

[nowano]

Yes, there are no differences between the Asian and Japanese version, the only difference is the packaging. The Japanese PSN account will work with any version of the game. Just follow the guide to setup the Jp PSN account.

[Scotty]

Let me emphasize the fact that you can only have one account on a psp. If you continually switch between your NA and JP accounts, you'll break the licenses of all your content after 5 or so switches. So if you're planning on getting anything from the NA or JP store, stick with that.

[Cael K.]

This wasn't one of your questions, but it might help.

Generally speaking, there are three general strategies you can pull per judging phase.

Standard: 4-3-2
Press: 4-4-1
Spear: 7-1-1

You can vary this up as you need, subbing out something for a memory (the prime candidate being the genre you don't care about) or two (or three if you're really desperate), but without reading the judges' comments, you won't really know how to adapt to what's actually happening. Your best guess would come from how you do at the end of the phase.

[digi162]

1: Explain how an English speaker who doesn't read a word of Japanese would play

Just select Yayoi and don't play any other idols.  Should be a piece of cake.  Pun intended.

Anyways.  I wrote up something a long while ago explaining how to play IM@S SP if you need help.  If you google search "How to play Idolm@ster without knowing Japanese" it's like a livejournal entry haha.

[ninjamitsuki]

Alright, one more question. I just discovered that you can do auditions with ANY idol from ANY game in office mode, you just can't play story mode with those idols.

So, if I were to purchase songs for the idols from Perfect Sun, which I don't have, would they work in office mode, or would it only work if I have Perfect Sun?