Title: The Idolm@ster 2
Platform: Xbox 360/Playstation 3
Genre: Idol Unit Produce Simulation
Developer: Namco/Project Imas 2nd Vision
Publisher: Namco Bandai Games
Character Design: Toshiyuki Kubooka
Release Date: February 24, 2011 (XB360), October 27, 2011 (PS3
Score: Famitsu - 7/8/8/8
Official Site: 360: http://www.bandainamcogames.co.jp/cs/list/idolmaster/im2/xbox/ PS3: http://www.bandainamcogames.co.jp/cs/list/idolmaster/im2/ps3/
First Pressing Goods: 360: Kira Kira packaging (shiny!)
Producer ID card
Little Match Girl DLC card
Im@s2 idol photos with autographs.
PS3 Limited Edition: Idolmaster Gravure4You! Vol. 1
Vol. 1 of the Anime in Blu-Ray with box for full set
Idolmaster 2 soundtrack
Seasonal Idolmaster magazine
PS3 additions:
Anime theme song "READY!!"
New Ryuugu Komachi outfit/song
First 3 months of DLC songs/outfits/accessories
New Hyper mode difficulty
New Extra Episode for producing Ryuugu Komachi
What's new?
- The focus is now on actually producing a trio instead of a single idol on a national scale to get recognition at the Idol Academy.
- Takane Shijou and Hibiki Ganaha join 765 Productions after their stinct with 961 Productions in Idolmaster SP
- Iori, Ami, Azusa are now your rivals in a new group produced by Ritsuko called Ryuugu Komachi!
PV Smoky Thrill: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anjhdQUwTIg
- But there's even more! There's also a rival boy band from 961 Productions. Debuting: Touma Amagase, Shouta Mitarai, and Hokuto Ijuuin. JUPITER!
PV Alice or Guilty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnwrvmPTvrc
- New Stage4you mode! Similar to Im@s Live4You, it's basically a PV viewer that lets you do whatever you want. The combination of idols, costumes, songs and stage.
- New outfits and accessories are now brought in shops with ingame money instead of being unlocked via fan gifts. And of course, there's the DLC catalog where you spend microsoft points.
- Perform in more than just auditions to garner fan attention and cd sales. There's now national auditions, lives, quintet lives, and festivals.
Passing a National Audition will raise the entire country's awareness and sales
Lives are just your typical performances within a specific area.
Quintet lives is your typical performance but with an 2 additional guests. Best chance at raising awareness and sales in one single area.
Festivals, you get to actually compete with a rival group!
- New CD sales system. Keep, Break and Revivals.
Keep: Perform a Live with your latest single to attempt a Keep on your sales for that week
Break: Perform at Festival with your latest song to revive the popularity of your latest song
Revival: Perform an older song at an Audition to revive its popularity
Mastering these sales strategies are the key to becoming TOP IDOL!
Resources:
WIP English Wiki http://imas.wikia.com/wiki/The_Idolm@ster_Wiki
Impressions/Thoughts:
So when folks say it's a lot more complex than the original. They weren't kidding. This game is more simulation than Im@s ever was. Hell, the original wasn't complex at all! You really have to pay attention to your sales and manage your group properly. All the math behind it is almost mind boggling at first. You need to be completely aware about when you have reporters and what how you approach each area/region as well.
Examples of the entire formula and gameplay concept, courtesy of project im@s forums:
Number of sales = ((((Spending power / 2)+High Score X 4) then round down the decimals) X Sales Bonus X Sales Coefficient) round down the decimals again).
Spending Power: In every area, multiply the Number of Fans with Awareness level (the smiley). For Awareness, pink=0.95, orange=0.90, green=0.85, blue=0.80
High Score: the song's high score.
Sales Bonus: From the 2nd released single onwards, this increases. 2nd=1.05, 3rd=1.10, 4th=1.15, 5th=1.20
Sales Coefficient: Every week after release, the total sales for that week will drop. So Sales Coefficient = (1-(number of weeks released - number of weeks with Keep status)x0.25).
**********
To simply things, basically what I always remember in my head while playing is that:
Sales for that week = more or less the total number of fans you have X Sales coefficient
Sales coefficient= if you did not manage to achieve a Keep, 1st week of release = 1.00, 2nd=0.75, 3rd=0.50, 4th=0.25, 5th week sales will completely stop)
High Score and the other stuff you don't really have to worry because you really can't do much about it to begin with.
So generally after I announce a new single, here's what I do:
-For 4 weeks before the song releases, accumulate as many fans as possible, and maybe do a National Audition the week it releases/the week before it releases to get all your Awareness levels as high as possible. During this time I'd also try for a best possible High Score (so don't go for Fes).
-After the song is released, for the next 3 or 4 weeks, keep going for Live so as to try and achieve a Keep. Note: Quintet Live is not applicable when trying for a Keep.
-When sales are coming to a halt, or if it doesn't seem profitable for you to try for a Keep anymore (i.e. you noticed that sales this week is only about 1/4 of the song's sales in the initial week - this is something you have to manually keep tab as the game only tracks total sales), start preparing for the next song by gathering more fans, accumulating war funds, going for lesson+promotion to up your stats AND Memory Appeals (very important), or try for one of the alternative strategies like Break (chances of it happening is higher the later it is in the game, according to President Takagi's email) or Revival.
Oh and festivals? Are extremely evil if you don't play it right. In fact, it's almost down right cheap. When you face off with Ryuugu Komachi or Juptier, it's practically like a boss battle. But I'll let you guys learn about it the hard way. And TBH, my first run with Chihaya, Makoto, and Miki was pretty bad. Didn't win a single award and got producer Rank E. Needless to say that I also got the bad ending. There's Bad, Good, and True ending. What you get is based off how many awards you win. So don't go just wooing the ladies all day, you gotta focus on those sales!
Great part for finally clearing it though? In subsequent playthrus, you can have your group do the lives/auditions/lessons etc. by themselves based off your recent top score without having to do it yourself. Only catch is that they may need a vacation after...
Now on my 2nd playthru. I'm still producing with Chihaya and Makoto, but swapped out Miki with Hibiki for a change.