The Idolm@ster - JP Xbox 360 -1/25/07

[youth]

Just got an Xbox 360 & am looking forward to the next-gen JRPG Blue Dragon & hopefully many others if it succeeds in the states. Anyway in my research before choosing the 360 I discovered this title The Idol Master. http://www.idolmaster.jp Damn what an appealing looking game catering to otaku tastes!

I have some questions for anyone who might know more about the title. What would it take to get this game out in the US? Is this an Xbox 360 exclusive? Where can I buy The Idol Master faceplate? http://shop.765.jp/idolmaster/01/im50_00_00_00.html Thank you.

g'day
youth

[DiGiKerot]

Me and Johnny have been going on about this one for ages.

Other than the arcade machine its ported from, it's a 360 exclusive at the moment. I wouldn't count on there ever being a US release (infact, its one of the main reasons I ended up going for an import 360 rather than a domestic one) - aside from the subject matter not being particularly to mainstream US tastes, and the youthful age of most of the girls, there is plentiful dialogue and a whole load of very J-pop songs. Honestly, if they were to do a US release they'd have to pretty much do a complete retooling of the whole game.

I don't know about sourcing a faceplate - at the moment I'm just wondering if this is the same one as is coming with the LE boxset...

--edit--
Oh, and for those following these things, the iDOLM@STER Xenoglossia pre-site (http://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/idolmaster/) updated with a new front image of the Twins and some new mecha and character designs and stuff, plus a date for the final site! Wooo!

[lostnomad84]

From my understanding Idol Master is indeed a 360 exclusive. However, you have to understand, unlike in Japan, the arcades are basically dead here in the states. I have never seen an Idol Master machine here in the states, so the chances of this game ever getting to the states is slim to none.

As for Blue Dragon, I think it will make it here to the states. A lot of people outside of Japan support the 360 and I just hope Japanese companies will realize that even though the consumer base for the 360 is not strong in Japan, and they will still develop games for the 360. Blue Dragon did well for a 360 title in Japan and maybe it is a sign of hope people are willing to take a look at the system, as long as there are good games on it.

[Chacranajxy]

As for Blue Dragon, I think it will make it here to the states. A lot of people outside of Japan support the 360 and I just hope Japanese companies will realize that even though the consumer base for the 360 is not strong in Japan, and they will still develop games for the 360. Blue Dragon did well for a 360 title in Japan and maybe it is a sign of hope people are willing to take a look at the system, as long as there are good games on it.

Blue Dragon is confirmed to be coming to the states.

[quenelf]

What would it take to get this game out in the US? Is this an Xbox 360 exclusive? Where can I buy The Idol Master faceplate?

1. A miracle.

2. Yes, or at least, it hasn't been announced for any other platforms (that I've seen reported).

3. Don't know.

You didn't ask the fourth question which is, will the game be region-free? Some X360 games are, but generally this isn't known until the game is actually out. If it is, you could probably play it on a US 360. (Of course, depending on your Japanese skills or lack thereof, this might not be much help.)

--quen

[youth]

Obviously this wouldn't be a mainstream title & I know chances are slim, but there are companies out there (Altus & NIS?) who specialize in bringing over niche titles. If this game were to be brought over here, how much do you think it would sell? Are there enough otaku out there to sell a couple thousand copies though I think something like this could appeal to the girl gamer demographic too.

And that would be great if it were region free. I don't know Japanese, but I'd get it anyway if that were the case.

g'day
youth

[DiGiKerot]

Atlus and NIS may go for niche titles but they still stick to the established genres like RPGs and, err, SRPGs. iMAS is totally outside of their areas, not to mention the fact that its for 360 - it just doesn't have the installed base to make it remotely worthwhile. A couple of thousand otaku-based sales is probably being optimistics.

[lostnomad84]

Obviously this wouldn't be a mainstream title & I know chances are slim, but there are companies out there (Altus & NIS?) who specialize in bringing over niche titles. If this game were to be brought over here, how much do you think it would sell? Are there enough otaku out there to sell a couple thousand copies though I think something like this could appeal to the girl gamer demographic too.

And that would be great if it were region free. I don't know Japanese, but I'd get it anyway if that were the case.

g'day
youth

Because companies like Atlus are so small, they tend to go for more mainstream titles that have some following. Atlus usually does not print a lot of games upon release, so they tend to just try to get a game that will sell enough units to guarantee a profit.

If Idol Master will fall into one of those categories, well I could not begin to guess. There have been titles in the past that got popular because of importing, they established some fanbase, and as a result a company decided to gamble and bring it over to the states. Microsoft is a company that seems to be listening to a lot of their consumers, so if a demand begins to arise, it is possible for the title to be exported. However, since I have never seen an Idol Master machine in the arcades here in the states, nor has the game been released in Japan yet, it is too soon to say if the game will ever make it over here. But, I will say the chances are very slim to nil that it will be exported outside of Japan.

[Chacranajxy]

If Idol Master will fall into one of those categories, well I could not begin to guess. There have been titles in the past that got popular because of importing, they established some fanbase, and as a result a company decided to gamble and bring it over to the states. Microsoft is a company that seems to be listening to a lot of their consumers, so if a demand begins to arise, it is possible for the title to be exported. However, since I have never seen an Idol Master machine in the arcades here in the states, nor has the game been released in Japan yet, it is too soon to say if the game will ever make it over here. But, I will say the chances are very slim to nil that it will be exported outside of Japan.

Considering the nature of Idolmaster, there's no way in hell that Microsoft would consider bringing it to the US. And considering how seldom Japanese 360 games are region free, I don't know if anyone outside of Japanese and Asian 360 owners will be able to play this.

I really wish there was a way to play imports...

[Magic_Knight]

I really wish there was a way to play imports...

Same here. I've had my eye on this game even before I bought a 360. If by some miracle this game is region free, I will be sooooooo happy.

[indigo0086]

If Idol Master will fall into one of those categories, well I could not begin to guess. There have been titles in the past that got popular because of importing, they established some fanbase, and as a result a company decided to gamble and bring it over to the states. Microsoft is a company that seems to be listening to a lot of their consumers, so if a demand begins to arise, it is possible for the title to be exported. However, since I have never seen an Idol Master machine in the arcades here in the states, nor has the game been released in Japan yet, it is too soon to say if the game will ever make it over here. But, I will say the chances are very slim to nil that it will be exported outside of Japan.

Considering the nature of Idolmaster, there's no way in hell that Microsoft would consider bringing it to the US. And considering how seldom Japanese 360 games are region free, I don't know if anyone outside of Japanese and Asian 360 owners will be able to play this.


Did MS even publish it?

[Johnny]

As Digi said, this has been on ours radars for ages now. This is also one of the reasons I bought a Japanese over a US 360.

In terms of gameplay, it basically revolves around taking a girl and "training" her up to become a successful (or non-successful) Idol.
One part girlfriend sim, one part rhythm action game, one part otaku paradise.

Considering that it is popular in Japan, it's a surprise that it's coming to the 360. It's likely the case that Microsoft, in their desperation to penetrate the Japanese market, threw loads of cash as Namco in order to get exclusivity and this would almost certainly have been a PS2/PS3 port otherwise.
As for coming to America, practically no chance. It's not going to set records from sales in Japan (Blue Dragon has been the biggest hope of a 360 revolution in Japan so far and although it has shifted a fair few consoles, it hasn't, initially anyway, made a huge impression) and would likely have very few takers aside from anime fans or hardcore gamers if it was release in NA.

As for region free, it's hard to say. Other Namco stuff like Ridge Racer 6 has been region locked (although IIRC the Japanese version was region free except on PAL consoles or something) but it's a possibility.

Let's just hope the SE is worth the £150 (inc. shipping) I'm spending on it :nervous:

[youth]

As Digi said, this has been on ours radars for ages now. This is also one of the reasons I bought a Japanese over a US 360.

Let's just hope the SE is worth the £150 (inc. shipping) I'm spending on it :nervous:

Being new to the whole 360 scene I was wondering if the Japanese DVD drive is as loud as the US one(if it is I can see that being one good reason for the 360's lack of success in JP). And if I wanted a JP 360 can I just get the cheaper core version & use my NA HD?

Also do you know where one can import that Idol M@ster faceplate?

[Johnny]

As Digi said, this has been on ours radars for ages now. This is also one of the reasons I bought a Japanese over a US 360.

Let's just hope the SE is worth the £150 (inc. shipping) I'm spending on it :nervous:

Being new to the whole 360 scene I was wondering if the Japanese DVD drive is as loud as the US one(if it is I can see that being one good reason for the 360's lack of success in JP). And if I wanted a JP 360 can I just get the cheaper core version & use my NA HD?

Also do you know where one can import that Idol M@ster faceplate?


Nah, it's just as noisy unfortunately.
I presume the HD will work fine but you should definitely go for either a Japanese or Asian 360. The reason being that you can obviously play Japanese and region free games, but you can also buy Asian games (the NTSC-J version with, most of the time, English language support) which are around £20/$40 new. Most of the popular US games get Asian releases meaning you're not missing out on games plus you're getting them for a much lower price.

Not sure about the face plate though, sorry. Maybe eBay?

[hub]

Proud new Xbox 360 owner, and now that I've got my console set up (bought a HDD today), all I need are some games! That being said, I *desperately* hope that this game is region-free when it comes out in JPN. My Japanese language skills are minimal at best, but even so I'd be willing to import this game on the strength of its presentation alone. Not to mention that most of the girls are pretty darn cute. :blush:

[youth]

Proud new Xbox 360 owner, and now that I've got my console set up (bought a HDD today), all I need are some games! That being said, I *desperately* hope that this game is region-free when it comes out in JPN.

I hope so too. I've been debating whether to not to get a JP 360 as they're cheaper ($330 shipped on Ebay)then the US version & selling my US 360. Only problem is the Asia version of Blue Dragon is Japanese only at this point & one game which made be decide to go with a 360. So either Idol Master is region free & I just have to get the game or have two 360's which just feels so wasteful. Or hope that BD gets another Asia release with English.

[Johnny]

Proud new Xbox 360 owner, and now that I've got my console set up (bought a HDD today), all I need are some games! That being said, I *desperately* hope that this game is region-free when it comes out in JPN.

I hope so too. I've been debating whether to not to get a JP 360 as they're cheaper ($330 shipped on Ebay)then the US version & selling my US 360. Only problem is the Asia version of Blue Dragon is Japanese only at this point & one game which made be decide to go with a 360. So either Idol Master is region free & I just have to get the game or have two 360's which just feels so wasteful. Or hope that BD gets another Asia release with English.


My personal opinion would be to definitely go Japanese. It's a pity Blue Dragon is Japanese but I plan on working through it (once I get round to opening it :nervous:). There are FAQs and so on available and the US release may be region free anyway.
iDOLM@STER probably won't be region free but we should find out a few days or weeks before it's released. Keep an eye on PlayAsia's page. They currently have question marks next to the US and PAL section so it's not 100% known for sure just yet.

All the big name US games have so far been region free (Dead Rising, Gears of War, Lost Planet) and the others like Saints Row and so on are available as Asian versions costing around £20/$40 and being English most of the time so you're not missing out on anything.

[DiGiKerot]

iDOLM@STER probably won't be region free but we should find out a few days or weeks before it's released. Keep an eye on PlayAsia's page. They currently have question marks next to the US and PAL section so it's not 100% known for sure just yet.


I don't think there has been a single Japan-region 360 release that is region free. I suspect there is probably a good reason for this (what, precisely, I have no idea) and it is likely to continue.

[Johnny]

iDOLM@STER probably won't be region free but we should find out a few days or weeks before it's released. Keep an eye on PlayAsia's page. They currently have question marks next to the US and PAL section so it's not 100% known for sure just yet.


I don't think there has been a single Japan-region 360 release that is region free. I suspect there is probably a good reason for this (what, precisely, I have no idea) and it is likely to continue.

Nope, there ain't. Even stuff like Lost Planet and Dead Rising which have English options or are in English are region locked to Japan. Worth noting that the US versions of both those games will work on an NTSC-J console.
As for the reason, no idea really.

[DiGiKerot]

I may as well hijack this thread as the official iMAS news thread :sd:

Anyway, at some point through the week (I've not been checking Live daily as I've been a bit busy recently) there were two more 30 second video samples put up on Japanese Marketplace for download. I can't actually remember what they were, but they are both new 360 tracks. Anyway, I'd be surprised if they didn't appear on the official site (http://www.idolmaster.jp/) as part of the usual Friday update.

The first of the iM@S Masterwork CDs, Masterwork 00, was released last week. My copy, alas, hasn't arrived yet, but the tracklist features Watashi wa Idol <3 (360 new track), Kamisama no Birthday (I think this is a CD exclusive XMas track) and a version of THE iDOLM@STER. First press bonus is a DVD featuring in game footage of performances of Watashi wa Idol <3 and THE iDOLM@STER (in Santa hats), the TGS "Go My Way" trailer and the AVG samples which are currently available on the character pages on the website (click the first of the three images to the left on the character profile pages to see them. They've started adding 4koma to some of the pages in the last week too). I'll grab some pictures from the DVD once it turns up.

The next Masterwork CD is out at the end of January, and the only track I've seen confirmation of is Go My Way (not that that is a bad thing). First pressing bonus is a desk calendar covering May through August. I suspect this will probably be one of those things you put monthly cards into, so the following Masterwork CDs will probably have further months as extras.

[Magic_Knight]

Well, if it isn't region free, is there a chance this will come out on the PS3 (since PS3 is region free, right?)

[Johnny]

Well, if it isn't region free, is there a chance this will come out on the PS3 (since PS3 is region free, right?)

All PS3 games so far have been region free, yep.
As for coming out on it, on the one hand it's a big possibility as a lot of games previously exclusives to the 360/PS3 seem to be making their way onto the "rival" console.
On the other hand, as I mentioned in one of my previous posts, as this game was a big hit with Japanese arcade gamers, it's likely Microsoft have a deal with Namco for total or partial exclusivity in order to boost 360 sales in Japan.

IMO I see it selling reasonably well in Japan but if/when an updated arcade version/sequel is released it will get a PS3 port once the Japanese userbase is much larger than it is now.

[DiGiKerot]

Looks like they've done the website update (http://www.idolmaster.jp/) a day early. Alas, no new videos yet, but they have put up some New Years Cards (http://www.idolmaster.jp/download/top.html#other) for you to download and print. Otherwise, its the usual - staff column update and a couple of new 4koma.

The staff column mentions that iMAS is going to be featured on this weeks XBox Live THE PARTY radio show. There's quite often video material related to it turning up for download on Marketplace, so hopefully we'll see some extra footage turn up.

Oh, and the next website update won't be until the 12th of January.

[DiGiKerot]

My copy of Idolmaster Masterwork 00 turned up today. Kamisami no Birthday is a little on the yawnsome side, but Watashi wa Idol <3 is so damn catchy. I've posted a pile of images on my blog (http://kism.beta-waffle.com/blog/?p=24).

The CD inlay also has the tracklisting for Masterwork 01 -

1. Go My Way!! (M@STER Version)/Haruka, Iori and Yayoi
2. Omoide wa Arigato (M@STER Version)/Ritsuko, Azusa and Makoto
3. Taiyou no JEALOUSY (M@STER Version)/Haruka
4. Here We Go!! (M@STER Version)/Iori
5. Ohayo!! Asagohan (M@STER Version)/Yayoi
6. Go My Way!! Karaoke
7. Omoide wa Arigato Karaoke
8. Bonus talk

Tracks 1 and 2 are new for the XBox version. Assuming it follows previous iMAS CDs, the M@STER version tracks are longer, rearranged versions rather than those used in the game.

Unlike what the official iMAS website says, the first pressing bonus is a calendar with pages for January through April rather than May through August. The CD is out on 31/01/06.

Apparently iMAS is featured in the new issue of DVD magazine Famitsu Wave as well.

[Johnny]

My copy of Idolmaster Masterwork 00 turned up today. Kamisami no Birthday is a little on the yawnsome side, but Watashi wa Idol <3 is so damn catchy. I've posted a pile of images on my blog (http://kism.beta-waffle.com/blog/?p=24).

Apparently iMAS is featured in the new issue of DVD magazine Famitsu Wave as well.

Yeah I was watching that video the other day. Nice stuff.

As for Famitsu Wave, yep it's definitely on the DVD but I'm not sure if it's exclusive stuff or anything. Probably not.

[DiGiKerot]

My copy of Idolmaster Masterwork 00 turned up today. Kamisami no Birthday is a little on the yawnsome side, but Watashi wa Idol <3 is so damn catchy. I've posted a pile of images on my blog (http://kism.beta-waffle.com/blog/?p=24).

Apparently iMAS is featured in the new issue of DVD magazine Famitsu Wave as well.

Yeah I was watching that video the other day. Nice stuff.

As for Famitsu Wave, yep it's definitely on the DVD but I'm not sure if it's exclusive stuff or anything. Probably not.

I...might...have....snuck a copy into an order whilst buying some other stuff (It wasn't the other way around, honest!). I'll report back if there is anything of interest on there.

[youth]

Let's just hope the SE is worth the £150 (inc. shipping) I'm spending on it :nervous:

So where did you reserve your copy from? I see it listed on Play Asia but not up for order yet.

I got lucky & won a used JP 360 on Ebay for $152 shipped. I was a bit nervous since the seller has 0 feedback, but went along because he was a member since '03. Anyway got the system today & everything seems fine despite it's 11-14-2005 mfr date. Now I can concentrate on getting the game likely the LE edition because I love them bishoujo figures. O.O

[DiGiKerot]

Let's just hope the SE is worth the £150 (inc. shipping) I'm spending on it :nervous:

So where did you reserve your copy from? I see it listed on Play Asia but not up for order yet.


At this point, they've probably just stopped taking orders at Play Asia due to demand.

My LE order is in at NCSX, where I got it ordered pretty much the minute they had it listed (I don't think I even had my 360 at that point) :sd:

[ilmaestro]

Without wanting to sound like I'm trolling, could someone tell me why this would be a game worth playing, let alone buying? ie. what is the gameplay 'hook'?

[lostnomad84]

Let's just hope the SE is worth the £150 (inc. shipping) I'm spending on it :nervous:

So where did you reserve your copy from? I see it listed on Play Asia but not up for order yet.

I got lucky & won a used JP 360 on Ebay for $152 shipped. I was a bit nervous since the seller has 0 feedback, but went along because he was a member since '03. Anyway got the system today & everything seems fine despite it's 11-14-2005 mfr date. Now I can concentrate on getting the game likely the LE edition because I love them bishoujo figures. O.O


You might also want to look for the soundtrack. I happen to see that for sale today while walking around Tokyo. It would be a good addition to the game.

[DiGiKerot]

Without wanting to sound like I'm trolling, could someone tell me why this would be a game worth playing, let alone buying? ie. what is the gameplay 'hook'?

Honestly speaking, the main draw is probably the music and cute dancing rather than any actual gameplay - mainly because there isn't actually all that much game to it. The gameplay is only really a fairly basic stat-juggling game - there are some basic mini-games which you play to try and raise your stats (I think its Voice, Dance and Appeal). The aim is to raise these in such a fashion that your idol can beat the competetion in auditions for TV spots and the like, which in turn increases the number of fans your idol has. In the arcade version the aim was to meet restrictions on the number of fans needed within a certain time limit, though I believe this has been removed to a longer, fixed time period for the 360 version.

Well, there's a little more to it than that, but thats the basic gist of things. Really, the fact that its a polished looking game which is different to most the other stuff being published is enough to appeal to me. That, and the music is crack (particularly the new 360 stuff - its noticably better produced than the original tracks).

[DiGiKerot]

The official iMAS site (http://www.idolmaster.jp/) updated today. Theres two main things of note - Firstly, the two video clips previously seen on Japanese Live! Marketplace are up on the sound (http://www.idolmaster.jp/game/02_sound.html) page.

Second, the Staff pages mention that an iMAS manga series will be starting in March.

Oh, and the Xenoglossia site (http://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/idolmaster/) went up this week as well.

[Johnny]

Without wanting to sound like I'm trolling, could someone tell me why this would be a game worth playing, let alone buying? ie. what is the gameplay 'hook'?

Honestly speaking, the main draw is probably the music and cute dancing rather than any actual gameplay - mainly because there isn't actually all that much game to it. The gameplay is only really a fairly basic stat-juggling game - there are some basic mini-games which you play to try and raise your stats (I think its Voice, Dance and Appeal). The aim is to raise these in such a fashion that your idol can beat the competetion in auditions for TV spots and the like, which in turn increases the number of fans your idol has. In the arcade version the aim was to meet restrictions on the number of fans needed within a certain time limit, though I believe this has been removed to a longer, fixed time period for the 360 version.



It was (as far as I remember) one month in the arcade version which is now a year in the 360 one.
As Digi said, there isn't a hell of a lot to the game. Look at the screenshots and check out some videos - you should know then whether or not this will appeal to you.

[DiGiKerot]

It was (as far as I remember) one month in the arcade version which is now a year in the 360 one.
As Digi said, there isn't a hell of a lot to the game. Look at the screenshots and check out some videos - you should know then whether or not this will appeal to you.

Yeah, its a year now. From what I gather they are rather less harsh on you for not immediately being great, because they were upset that there was so much AVG-part content very few people saw because they were so focused on doing well and not taking risks. For the 360 version they want people to "experience the full depth of the scenario".

[youth]

You might also want to look for the soundtrack. I happen to see that for sale today while walking around Tokyo. It would be a good addition to the game.

Which soundtrack? I've done a search for Idol Master & come up with all these CD's but I'm not sure what they contain. Some are drama, but then there are the Masterpiece & Masterwork CD's. I'm assuming the latter is the 360 game music & the former the arcade game songs? I already have Masterwork 1 on order.

[DiGiKerot]

You might also want to look for the soundtrack. I happen to see that for sale today while walking around Tokyo. It would be a good addition to the game.

Which soundtrack? I've done a search for Idol Master & come up with all these CD's but I'm not sure what they contain. Some are drama, but then there are the Masterpiece & Masterwork CD's. I'm assuming the latter is the 360 game music & the former the arcade game songs? I already have Masterwork 1 on order.


Kind of. Its not all that straight forward. For one thing, you'll probably never really get a complete soundtrack due to the way the game can mix the vocals of several characters together depending on your group line ups (as well as solo versions).

I guess the most complete OST at the moment is the iDOLM@STER Masterbox, which contains three CDs containing all the solo versions of the 10 arcade tracks plus the off-vocal version. Believe me when I say this is uber-overkill, particularly when the group versions tend to sound better than the solos in all but a few cases. Thats not even mentioning that the Masterbox is a limited release (of something like 72000 copies, admittedly), though it is still available at a few places.

The Masterpeice CDs are based on the arcade version music. The first three of the Masterpeice CDs each have a single M@STER version track, a group version of THE iDOLMASTER and three arcade version group tracks. The M@STER versions of the tracks are extended and re-arranged versions of the tracks from the arcade version, and in general an improvement from the ones I've heard (the certainly sound better produced, at least). The arcade version tracks are all around 2 minutes in length - the M@STER versions are about twice the length.

Masterpeice 4 is more expensive than the first three CDs, but there is a good reason for that - it's 17 tracks long. It has three M@STER version tracks (the version of Ohayo! Asagohan! on here is great) plus the off-vocal versions, a bonus talk track and group versions of all ten of Arcade version tracks. If you are going to buy one CD of the arcade version music, I recommend getting this one. Its a good CD.

Masterpeice 5 is a bit of a disappointment 4 - it once again has three M@STER version tracks, but the M@STER version of Here We Go!! is pretty disappointing, being one of the occasions where the game version sounds better. The rest of the tracks are mostly made up with the BGM from the AVG sections, which are hardly exciting. The highlight of this CD is definately the remix of THE iDOLM@STER.

The Masterwork CDs are the new CDs featuring the music for the 360 version. The first CD, Masterwork 00, is already out and features Watashi Wa Idol <3, which after a weeks worth of listening to I've decided is crack. It really is horrifically catchy. The CD also has a Christmas song, Kamisama no Birthday, which won't be in the game. I didn't like that originally, but its grown on me over the course of the week. It also has yet another version of THE iDOLM@STER on it.

Masterwork 01 is out later this month, on the same day as the game IIRC. I listed the tracks on this one earlier in the thread.

I don't really know whats on the rest of the CDs, I'm afraid.

[ilmaestro]

Without wanting to sound like I'm trolling, could someone tell me why this would be a game worth playing, let alone buying? ie. what is the gameplay 'hook'?

Honestly speaking, the main draw is probably the music and cute dancing rather than any actual gameplay - mainly because there isn't actually all that much game to it.
Ah, that's okay then. I'll file this with Animal Crossing under 'not for me'. Thanks for the explanation.

[youth]

Masterwork 01 is out later this month, on the same day as the game IIRC. I listed the tracks on this one earlier in the thread.

I don't really know whats on the rest of the CDs, I'm afraid.

Thanks for te write-up. Seems like the Masterwork CD's would be more my thing, but I'll just stick with Masterwork 01 for now since I want to get several other songs from this new season of anime.

I still need to order the game too either from play-asia or paletweb. I guess the best price is around $80 with express shipping? It's a shame that Amazon JP can't export games since they have it for only 6,000 yen. :(

[DiGiKerot]

Well, iMAS got 6 / 7 / 7 / 6 (thats 26/40) in Famitsu this week. Not exactly a great score, but its pretty good for a niche game and Famitsu scores are rarely predictably reliable anyway.

I've played and enjoyed worse scoring games before, anyway, and I've never been one to take heed of warnings... :sd:

[Johnny]

Well, iMAS got 6 / 7 / 7 / 6 (thats 26/40) in Famitsu this week. Not exactly a great score, but its pretty good for a niche game and Famitsu scores are rarely predictably reliable anyway.

I've played and enjoyed worse scoring games before, anyway, and I've never been one to take heed of warnings... :sd:

Shit, that's not great is it? Like you said, I use magazine review about 1% of the time when deciding what to buy, but I thought Famitsu of all mags would have rated this a little higher.

[DiGiKerot]

Well, iMAS got 6 / 7 / 7 / 6 (thats 26/40) in Famitsu this week. Not exactly a great score, but its pretty good for a niche game and Famitsu scores are rarely predictably reliable anyway.

I've played and enjoyed worse scoring games before, anyway, and I've never been one to take heed of warnings... :sd:

Shit, that's not great is it? Like you said, I use magazine review about 1% of the time when deciding what to buy, but I thought Famitsu of all mags would have rated this a little higher.

Hmmm, not really. I mean, its technically a game without a huge amount of actual game to it, and Bandai Namco know they pretty much have a captive market for this one so probably didn't make it worth Famitsus while to give it a good review. Given some of the crap Famitsu have been handing out awesome scores to recently, I'm not inclined to listen to it too much anyway.

I suppose anyone who hasn't ordered it yet may well want to wait for Johnny or myself to get it and post impressions, though.

[Johnny]

...and Bandai Namco know they pretty much have a captive market for this one so probably didn't make it worth Famitsus while to give it a good review.

That's true. The 99% vast majority of people buying the game will be those who are hooked to the arcade game or have at least played it. The other 1% is importers like us who don't know any better.

[ilmaestro]

This is actually the type of game that Famitsu never gives a great score to. Anime licenses, wafer-thin gameplay character games, adventure games (with a few exceptions in the latter category). Unless they are genuinely exceptional, they won't score well.

[DiGiKerot]

This is actually the type of game that Famitsu never gives a great score to. Anime licenses, wafer-thin gameplay character games, adventure games (with a few exceptions in the latter category). Unless they are genuinely exceptional, they won't score well.

Exactly, and this pretty much fits into the "wafer-thin gameplay character game" category. Admittedly, its a polished looking example of it, but given its essentially just three or four unspectacular mini-games dress up with lots of cute dancing and music.

The message is to make sure you know what you are getting in order to avoid later disappointment.

[DiGiKerot]

There are a couple of new video clips on the official site (http://www.idolmaster.jp/game/02_sound.html) for those still interested. These ones haven't been up for download on Live Marketplace yet, either!

They've also posted an apology in the News section, because silly Famitsu accidently claimed the game was onsale already.

For those with Japanese Marketplace accounts, the video of the recent iDOLMASTER edition of Xbox Live The Party is up for download. Its about five minutes long, featuring a chat with the games producer and the voice actress for Chihara, who also sings Omoide wa Arigato (I think this is the first time I've heard the full version - its a little slow up until it kicks into the part seen in the videoclips on the website). There is also a tiny little bit of ACTUAL GAME FOOTAGE! SHOKU!

[youth]

There are a couple of new video clips on the official site (http://www.idolmaster.jp/game/02_sound.html) for those still interested. These ones haven't been up for download on Live Marketplace yet, either!


Those 2 clips are out on Live now.

Well the game is out now & there are several listings for the LE & a few faceplates on Yahoo JP auctions & of course all of them choose not to ship outside JP. :grr: I still want to get those extras, but I don't want to go through another layer of middlemen for the privalege. The LE edition looks like it comes in a pretty big box about the size of a 360 box.

[DiGiKerot]

There are a couple of new video clips on the official site (http://www.idolmaster.jp/game/02_sound.html) for those still interested. These ones haven't been up for download on Live Marketplace yet, either!


Those 2 clips are out on Live now.

Well the game is out now & there are several listings for the LE & a few faceplates on Yahoo JP auctions & of course all of them choose not to ship outside JP. :grr: I still want to get those extras, but I don't want to go through another layer of middlemen for the privalege. The LE edition looks like it comes in a pretty big box about the size of a 360 box.


Yup, its about the size of a 360 box. After much browsing I managed to find someone who'd actually opened the damn thing (http://blog.livedoor.jp/gsb/archives/50695539.html) . The faceplate is kind of wierd - I figured it would be a different one in the box, but I was still kind of hoping for the faceplate with the picture of Miki on it. I may end up trying to blag the other faceplate through an auction (even if I have to use a middleman). We'll see I guess.

As for other iMAS news, the iMAS website updated - theres some new wallpaper on there among other things. Of special note is the thing which is getting some Japanese fans really riled up at the moment - the price of download accessories and costumes. They are kind of on the pricey side. Apparently they are planning on adding downloads on a monthly basis.

(A side note for anyone planning on buying any of this stuff - if you are planning on using those pre-pay cards to register your points, you need to use Japanese points cards on a Japanese account, as the cards are validated against the account region).

As for other iMAS news, this made me laugh (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mujx7wyjBlo) quite a bit. Oh, and one of the Akiba maid cafes had a special (http://akibamap.info/archives/50748515.html) iMAS event (http://www.maidblog.net/archives/50506421.html) .

[Johnny]

Yup, its about the size of a 360 box. After much browsing I managed to find someone who'd actually opened the damn thing (http://blog.livedoor.jp/gsb/archives/50695539.html) . The faceplate is kind of wierd - I figured it would be a different one in the box, but I was still kind of hoping for the faceplate with the picture of Miki on it. I may end up trying to blag the other faceplate through an auction (even if I have to use a middleman). We'll see I guess.



Nice find. Jesus that box is fucking huge!
Anyway, the figs look really nice + upskirt FTW.

Faceplate is pretty crappy looking. I was hoping for a logo or at least a pic of one of the girls.

You had a shipping update from NCS? Last time I ordered from them it took ages for them to actually ship the thing to me. I just hope they mark the package down as I don't want to pay a hefty customs fee...

[DiGiKerot]

You had a shipping update from NCS? Last time I ordered from them it took ages for them to actually ship the thing to me. I just hope they mark the package down as I don't want to pay a hefty customs fee...

Not yet. Given they haven't mentioned it on their news page, I suspect they probably won't be getting stock in until tomorrow. I've ordered quite a bit from them in the last year, though, and they've always been pretty quick at shipping things out once they've gotten them in (which is normally quick). The nice thing about NCS is that things tend to get here so damn quick once they do actually ship - even the non-courier stuff only tends to take three or four days.

NCS usually mark down packages they send via the regular airmail postage system. It's been a while since I've had anything sent from them by courier, so I don't know on that front. I'll probably soon see, as I'm half-expecting an email from them asking if I mind upgrading my shipping given how much that thing is supposed to wiegh :sd:

[youth]

Nice find. Jesus that box is fucking huge!
Anyway, the figs look really nice + upskirt FTW.

Faceplate is pretty crappy looking. I was hoping for a logo or at least a pic of one of the girls.


The figures are nice. It's a shame they need a braces to stay upright though.

There's a seller on Ebay offering the faceplate with the girls, but the seller's asking price is $135... No thank you. I'd pay at most $60 shipped. I've read that this isn't suppose to be a limited item too.

This may be old, but there are some more wallpapers (11 individual & 1 group)at
http://www.xbox.com/ja-JP/downloads/
but you'll need to sign in with your email & gamertag or Live password.

[DiGiKerot]

I'll probably soon see, as I'm half-expecting an email from them asking if I mind upgrading my shipping given how much that thing is supposed to wiegh :sd:

Guess what has just turned up :sd:

They are shipping pre-orders out today, anyway.

[DiGiKerot]

iMAS news for today:-

NCS have gotten stock of the LE in today, and are expecting some more next week. Apparently, due to the size and wieght of the thing, they are having to ship it in the boxes they have for shipping PS3s out! All pre-orders are shipping today, though.

The anime site has updated, which I only mention because they've already announced the first figure (http://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/idolmaster/goods/index.html)! Pretty quick given the show doesn't air for another three months yet. There is also a 15 second preview on the site.

[Johnny]

I'll probably soon see, as I'm half-expecting an email from them asking if I mind upgrading my shipping given how much that thing is supposed to wiegh :sd:

Guess what has just turned up :sd:

They are shipping pre-orders out today, anyway.

Just got the email there myself. Did you go for the Global Express trackable option too?

[Johnny]

The anime site has updated, which I only mention because they've already announced the first figure (http://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/idolmaster/goods/index.html)! Pretty quick given the show doesn't air for another three months yet. There is also a 15 second preview on the site.

Hmm I think I can resist for a while. Having said that, if a Makoto fig comes along soon I'll be all over it :)

[DiGiKerot]

Just got the email there myself. Did you go for the Global Express trackable option too?

Need you ask? :sd:

I mean, there was only $8 difference anyway - I may as well know where in the world my iMAS is...

[youth]

iMAS news for today:-

NCS have gotten stock of the LE in today, and are expecting some more next week.

I saw your post during lunch at work & went to the site on my PDA & tried to order the extra shipment they announced, but my PDA couldn't properly format the order pages. :( And NCSX is blocked so I couldn't use the work computers. Get home 3 hours later & sold out of that next batch... Oh well I guess I should consider it $283 saved, but I would've like those figures. Hopefully there will be some bigger scale figure releases for the game characters down the line.

[Johnny]

Siliconera (http://www.siliconera.com/index.php/2007/01/30/watch-the-idolmster-videos/) have some brief gameplay videos up. Mmmm, touching :virgin:

I don't plan on understanding all of what's going on but it's definitely a lot more in depth than most music games out there. Looking forward to spending some quality time making Makoto a #1 Idol once this arrives :D

[youth]

My copy of the game came in today along with the bonus DVD which is presented in widescreen & isn't region locked. I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm doing it with Miki. :blush: If you let it sit it loops through what I think is your boss talking, then the girls' profiles, & then a random clip of them performing.

[ape2020]

You know while I don't think it has a snowballs chance of making it the western shores. All the talk and buzz this game is generating here and on many other gaming sites, has me thinking MS should take a chance on it and see if it can help break the image they have like Viva Pinta.

I simply can't justify the cost to import the game to just rub small boobies without knowing what I'm really doing! It would be my early geek years all over again! :sweatdrop: :sweatdrop: :sweatdrop:

-ape2020

[DiGiKerot]

My copy of the game came in today along with the bonus DVD which is presented in widescreen & isn't region locked. I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm doing it with Miki. :blush: If you let it sit it loops through what I think is your boss talking, then the girls' profiles, & then a random clip of them performing.

Disappoitingly I didn't get the iMAS TGS disk, but I did get my LE Box (http://www.beta-waffle.com/blog/?p=359) today. Hurrah!

[Johnny]

Disappoitingly I didn't get the iMAS TGS disk, but I did get my LE Box (http://www.beta-waffle.com/blog/?p=359) today. Hurrah!

How much did they sting you on customs? Mine is sitting awaiting charges (even with NCS saying they'd mark it down) so I'll be lucky to have it by the weekend probably :(

[DiGiKerot]

Disappoitingly I didn't get the iMAS TGS disk, but I did get my LE Box (http://www.beta-waffle.com/blog/?p=359) today. Hurrah!

How much did they sting you on customs? Mine is sitting awaiting charges (even with NCS saying they'd mark it down) so I'll be lucky to have it by the weekend probably :(

NCS marked mine down to $79, so it was only £25 in charges rather than the small fortune it might have been.

[Johnny]

Disappoitingly I didn't get the iMAS TGS disk, but I did get my LE Box (http://www.beta-waffle.com/blog/?p=359) today. Hurrah!

How much did they sting you on customs? Mine is sitting awaiting charges (even with NCS saying they'd mark it down) so I'll be lucky to have it by the weekend probably :(

NCS marked mine down to $79, so it was only £25 in charges rather than the small fortune it might have been.

That's not too bad but considering I got a nice little letter from DHL today telling me that I've to pay them £50 for the priviledge of them delivering my Japanese Wii, it's all adding up :(

It's a fucking disgrace anyway. £50 just for them bringing it to my door. Customs fees from RM are bad enough but private couriers are a joke.

[youth]

Disappoitingly I didn't get the iMAS TGS disk, but I did get my LE Box (http://www.beta-waffle.com/blog/?p=359) today. Hurrah!

I was pleasantly surprised to see it when I opened up the box. I wasn't sure what it was & thought it was exclusive to the LE since you see them pictured together in all those Yahoo JP auctions. I probably got it then because I imported directly from a JP seller. If you still want one check Ebay there's a JP seller selling just that disc with a low starting price & ships worldwide. Also a copy of the LE is up but has gone up to $275. :sigh:

I know you guys across the pond have it pretty bad when it comes to importing. I wonder if I would've had to pay U.S. customs if I ordered it. Only time I've had to deal with that was geting an airsoft gun from HK with TNT as the courier.

Here's two clips from that DVD with a live "Go My Way" & in game footage of a song not on featured on the official site.

idolmasterevent_tgs2006_bonusdvdclips.rmvb (http://00520d6.netsolhost.com//anime/media/idolmasterevent_tgs2006_bonusdvdclips.rmvb)

Btw who's character does the short haired girl in the clip voice because she's :blush: :neko: ...

[beatmania]

so how's the game?

[DiGiKerot]

so how's the game?

It's a lot of fun. It's fairly simplistic on one hand, but when you start to factor in all the different elements there's a lot more two it than you'd think.

If you want detailed thoughts, you'll have to leave me the weekend to dwell on it :sd:

[Johnny]

so how's the game?

It's a lot of fun. It's fairly simplistic on one hand, but when you start to factor in all the different elements there's a lot more two it than you'd think.

If you want detailed thoughts, you'll have to leave me the weekend to dwell on it :sd:

I hate you. Those 13 hours made a hell of a difference as I still haven't got the letter to tell me how much I have to pay. Assuming I get it tomorrow it'll probably be Tuesday before Parcelforce pull their finger out and deliver it :sigh: :(

[DiGiKerot]

Well, I've just finished my first play through the game. Tales of the last day of the game being harrowing are not overstated - it really is pretty crushing. Its even more crushing if, like me, you make a total mess of the final concert. Poor Miki :cry:

Anyhow, I'm distraught and teary-eyed right now. I'm going to need a cooling down period before I restart.

On the plus side, I can manage a duo now! Huzzah, I can screw up two girls careers at the same time! :P

[Johnny]

Well, I've just finished my first play through the game. Tales of the last day of the game being harrowing are not overstated - it really is pretty crushing. Its even more crushing if, like me, you make a total mess of the final concert. Poor Miki :cry:

Anyhow, I'm distraught and teary-eyed right now. I'm going to need a cooling down period before I restart.

On the plus side, I can manage a duo now! Huzzah, I can screw up two girls careers at the same time! :P


Haha, really?
So the game isn't that hard to work through then? Not sure why I'm concerned as I've played a lot more complex games in Japanese but those sections where you need to choose a specific answer in a certain time have me worried - does messing them up affect your levels that much?

Also, what is the flow of the game? I've been watching all the new videos that have sprung up on YouTube (and also looking at the official site) but if you had info on how the game progresses and so on that'd be cool.

[DiGiKerot]

So the game isn't that hard to work through then? Not sure why I'm concerned as I've played a lot more complex games in Japanese but those sections where you need to choose a specific answer in a certain time have me worried - does messing them up affect your levels that much?

Also, what is the flow of the game? I've been watching all the new videos that have sprung up on YouTube (and also looking at the official site) but if you had info on how the game progresses and so on that'd be cool.

I'll answer both questions at once.

The general flow of the game is that you have 52 weeks (though I hear its possible to get an extra 2) to get your idol as many fans as possible. Each of these weeks is, essentially, one turn (you only get access to your idol for 1 day a week), so you have 52 turns to play with.

So, each week starts with the "morning" session, where you have to welcome your idol. Annoyingly, her response to which of the three choices you pick from seem to be entirely random, but I guess not being able to read Japanese is good in thise case.

After this, you are given a report on your current rank and what kind of idol (Visual, Dance or Vocal) is presently in demand. The ordering of the idol popularity effects your chances in auditions, so you need to plan accordingly. Afterwards, you get the choice to either adjust our idols costume, release a new single (you can only release 5 singles per play though, so you won't be picking this one very often) and doing nothing. The later is the one you generally pick.

After that is done with, you get to pick what you are going to do for the day - either Promotion, Lessons, Auditions or giving her a day off.

I'll interject here to mention the Tension gauge. The gauge jumps up and down depending on your idols mood. If she gets upset, either by something you say or failing an audition or something, it'll drop. Doing to opposite makes it rise (as does giving her the day off). A high Tension gauge means you'll score more Memories, and I think it has a positive effect on audition scores.

So, Promotion work allows you to get Memories, which can be used for Memory Appeals during auditions (you score mega-points from the judges, as well as bumping up their interest levels). This is the main section where you'll be having problems with having to select options, as this is where the bulk of the AVG stuff lies. Depending on the number of correct choices you make, you'll either score Bad, Normal, Good or Perfect Communication, which score you a different number of memories (0 for Bad, 1 for Normal, Good and Perfect vary depending on Tension - I think the max for Perfect is 5). Its very, very difficult to get Bad communication, as I think you have to get the worst of the dailogue choices for all of the questions (normally 2 or 3). The thing is, the selection of Promotion options is TOTALLY RANDOM, so resetting the console and replaying isn't really an option due to how infrequently some of them reoccur. Not getting loads of Memories isn't the end of the world, though, although it can make some of the tougher auditions a lot easier.

Lessons are, well, lessons. They build your stats.

The audition option lets you choose an audition to participate in. Some of these have joining regulations, like being a certain Idol Rank, or having a certain image level or the like, but there'll normally be a few to choose from targetted at your current level. The flow of auditions normally has you having to make two dialogue choices (one for speaking with the judges, another to pysche up your idol) which can effect your idols Tension level, but the odds are you'll end up balancing your choices out. If you get into the TV ranking slots on the audition, you'll get to watch her perform (and take pictures) as well as getting a healthy Tension boost.

Day Off regains her tension when its low. You also get a nice, sweet extended dailogue sequence (no choices, generally) to sit through. Probably won't use this one much, though.

At the end of the day, you'll get a report on your fan levels and you'll see if any of your fans have sent you any mail or accessories.

After 53 weeks, your Unit will be disbanded (well, if you finish at Idol Rank C or below - I don't know what happens if you finish A or S rank). I won't say any more to spoil that for you, though. Its best experienced.

Thats pretty much the way the game works, anyway.

A couple of words of advice before you start - You'll be penalised if you (a) Don't pass an audition within 5 weeks of your last TV appearance, (b) Leave more than 10 weeks between singles (i.e. Make a note of each single release week, and change songs EXACTLY 10 weeks afterwards) and (c) release two songs of the same genre immediately after each other. I can't remember the exact genres of each of the songs, I'm afraid, but look for Dance Image (ダンス イメージ), Vocal Image (ボーカル イメージ) or Visual Image (ビジュアル イメージ) in the descriptions and make sure you don't pick two of the same in a row. Hell, you may as well memorize the katakana for those terms if you don't already read the stuff, as they crop up a lot.

[Johnny]

Excellent write-up, cheers for that :)
Sounding very promising. The fact that it's not just song-song-song and there's some interaction etc is definitely a good thing.

Can't wait til Tuesday :D

[youth]

idolmaster_mysaddebutazusamiura.rmvb (http://00520d6.netsolhost.com//anime/media/idolmaster_mysaddebutazusamiura.rmvb)
I really felt sorry for her. :cry: It's all my fault because I don't know what I'm doing!

Actually I haven't gotten much into it yet. I find the audition part confusing as to how to work it. One cool feature is the ranking system which lets you watch the performances of the top players.

Just got Masterworks 01 & here is a pic of the 4 month double-sided calendar extra.
idolmaster_masterworks01extra.jpg (http://00520d6.netsolhost.com//anime/image/idolmaster_masterworks01extra.jpg)

[DiGiKerot]

I really felt sorry for her. :cry: It's all my fault because I don't know what I'm doing!


Your debut ALWAYS sucks. The accidents are caused as a result of your stats being low ('blue' accidents are a result of low Dance skills, 'red' are vocal and 'yellow' are image). By the time your idol reaches level 9 to 10 you'll probably stop seeing these entirely.


Actually I haven't gotten much into it yet. I find the audition part confusing as to how to work it. One cool feature is the ranking system which lets you watch the performances of the top players.

Its a little confuddling to begin with. At the start of the audition phase, you'll be informed of point scores for of the different judges. Typically, one is worth 5 points, one 3 and the other 2, and the ordering is largely based on what idol traits are presently in vogue.

So, the audition is split up into three phases of nine points. For each point, you can make an Appeal. There are four types of Appeal, Dance Appeal, Image Appeal, Vocal Appeal and Memories Appeal. To make an appeal, you need to press the button for the appeal you want to make whilst promtped to do so. You want to try an pay attention to the timing, though, as if you press your appeal button when the flashing light is at the brightest you get a "shiny" appeal, which gets you more points.

Memory Appeals are a little different, as they score you points in all categories. When you use one, you get a scrolling list of "good" and "bad" memories, and you need to press the button whilst it's over "good" in order to get points. If you get bad, you lose points, so its best to use one at the beginning of a phase if you are going to use one. You can only use three memory appeals in the whole auditions.

The rules vary a bit, but normally you have to score in the top three for a category to score the points for it. If you score bottom in a category you normally get a negative point. At the end of the audition, the top X (where X is the number of winners) get on TV.

Now, see the judge bars on the left? The thing to remember is that these are for the WHOLE AUDITION, not just you. Whenever someone makes an appeal to a particular judge, their interest guage will drop. By watching which gauges drop and by how much, you can estimate what judges your opponents are appealing towards and adjust your appeals accordingly. I mean, its a given that most appeals go towards the 5-point judge, but it'll give you an idea of how many appeals to dish out towards the 3 and 2 point judges.

The other thing to watch for is that, should a judge gauge reach 0, they'll walk out of an audition. When they do this, ALL points scored from the judge disappear, even those scored in previous phases. Kind of nasty, really. It is possible to use this to you advantage, but its tricky. A good Memories Appeal will cause all three judge gauges to go back up a little as well.

All that said, there still is a lot of luck involved in the whole procedure, but it isn't entirely random :sd:

[DiGiKerot]

Well, I'm half way through my second play through now, and with 22 weeks to go my unit of Ritsuko and Makoto (aka Special-K) are already at the level I finished my first play through at. At this rate I might make B rank this time around! :D

[Johnny]

Well, I'm half way through my second play through now, and with 22 weeks to go my unit of Ritsuko and Makoto (aka Special-K) are already at the level I finished my first play through at. At this rate I might make B rank this time around! :D

Heh Omedato, Producer-San ;)

You're gonna hate me until Tuesday Digi as I keep thinking of questions but how long did your first play through take? Also how is the range of clothes and accessories that you can dress your Idol up in? Does each girl have unique stuff or is it the same for all?

[DiGiKerot]

Well, I'm half way through my second play through now, and with 22 weeks to go my unit of Ritsuko and Makoto (aka Special-K) are already at the level I finished my first play through at. At this rate I might make B rank this time around! :D

Heh Omedato, Producer-San ;)

You're gonna hate me until Tuesday Digi as I keep thinking of questions but how long did your first play through take? Also how is the range of clothes and accessories that you can dress your Idol up in? Does each girl have unique stuff or is it the same for all?

Hmmm, I'd guess anywhere between three and six hours. It really depends on what you do and how you perform - auditions take a lot longer than any other options, particularly if you actually get on TV afterwards. I'd guess somewhere smack in the middle of that would be average.

As for costumes, Its not the most flexible system in the world. There are basically three kinds of costumes - one set of "vocal image" clothes, one set of "Dance image" clothes and a set of "Visual image" clothes, each of which have a huge variations of colour combinations (though most of them have to be unlocked via the random fan mail). Each of the costume choices are tailors for each character, though - Makotos Dance costume isn't the same as Ritsukos, etc, etc.

Download stuff is extra on top of that, though, as there is an extra menu for "extended" costumes. It may well be that you can be sent extra costumes in fan mail as well, but I haven't yet. There are a fixed number of slots for Extended already, so they may be unlockable at high Idol Ranks, particularly given the free download costume colours actually appeared as extra items in the list when I grabbed them.

There are a LOT of different accessories, though. I've got things like Pink Cowboy hats, Taiko no Tatsujin earrings, Angel Wings and wacky shoes and stuff, and I'm nowhere near filling all the slots which are there. I suspect it'll take an loooooooong time to do so, since fan mail is random. Accessories aren't unique to the individual character, though.

When you start a new play through, you do keep all the items you got with your previous idol, so thankfully you don't have to start all over again collecting items each time.

Oh, and I've heard rumours that it is possible to change Mikis' hair colour and/or style somehow - I presume through one of the promotion options - but I don't know exactly how. She is the only character it's supposed to be possible for, though.

[youth]

Oh, and I've heard rumours that it is possible to change Mikis' hair colour and/or style somehow - I presume through one of the promotion options - but I don't know exactly how. She is the only character it's supposed to be possible for, though.

If you looked through any of the ranked preformances you can see Miki with short brown hair in some of them. I think she looks best with her default hair style & colour though.

Here's the translated criteria I found on another forum for that option if you can decipher it.
2. Miki's short hair (Meets all criteria): A. Be the top at the mock exam (At October). B. Miki meets the car accident (Rank D required). C. Business event for the rank up to C. D.Jealous with her own elder sister. E. When Miki asks about the short hair, you maust say you like it.

[DiGiKerot]

Oh, and I've heard rumours that it is possible to change Mikis' hair colour and/or style somehow - I presume through one of the promotion options - but I don't know exactly how. She is the only character it's supposed to be possible for, though.

If you looked through any of the ranked preformances you can see Miki with short brown hair in some of them. I think she looks best with her default hair style & colour though.


Hey, I didn't I think of looking there :sd:

That really does look kind of wierd, though, particularly after playing through the game as Miki previously.

[DiGiKerot]

Whilst I have to wonder exactly what they are doing in a 360 game, one of my fans has just sent me a pair of Power Gloves (http://img442.imageshack.us/my.php?image=powaglovenr5.jpg)! Awesome - to the MAX!

[DiGiKerot]

So, Special*K finished with an 'A' rank! Wooo! Next target, 'S' rank, though I'm really not sure where I'm going to squeeze those extra 400000 fans I need from.

Anyhow, finishing a second time has bumped my Producer Level up to 4, and whilst it still doesn't let me have a three character unit, I now have to option to configure which characters sing what lines in the songs, plus a choice of camera angle! Neat-o!

[Johnny]

So, Special*K finished with an 'A' rank! Wooo! Next target, 'S' rank, though I'm really not sure where I'm going to squeeze those extra 400000 fans I need from.

Anyhow, finishing a second time has bumped my Producer Level up to 4, and whilst it still doesn't let me have a three character unit, I now have to option to configure which characters sing what lines in the songs, plus a choice of camera angle! Neat-o!

Haha nice one! This time tomorrow dude, this time tomorrow :D

[DiGiKerot]

So, Special*K finished with an 'A' rank! Wooo! Next target, 'S' rank, though I'm really not sure where I'm going to squeeze those extra 400000 fans I need from.

Anyhow, finishing a second time has bumped my Producer Level up to 4, and whilst it still doesn't let me have a three character unit, I now have to option to configure which characters sing what lines in the songs, plus a choice of camera angle! Neat-o!

Haha nice one! This time tomorrow dude, this time tomorrow :D

I hope you've got someone arranged to sign for it :D

Third time through, and I'm about 8 weeks up on my performance last time through ('C' rank at 22 weeks rather than 30), and that includes having done the * master auditions you need to have completed to break into B grade (still have Super Idol to do, but that need a much higher Idol Rank than I have at the moment). I admit I've had a luck this time through, but unless something terrible happens I should just break 'S' rank if I'm lucky.

Just.

[Johnny]

I hope you've got someone arranged to sign for it :D



Yup, it's all arranged :) Plus I'm taking this Thursday and Friday off work so I get to spend some quality time with iMAS and Virtua Fighter 5 (plus whatever else may arrive during that time) :D

[DiGiKerot]

I hope you've got someone arranged to sign for it :D



Yup, it's all arranged :) Plus I'm taking this Thursday and Friday off work so I get to spend some quality time with iMAS and Virtua Fighter 5 (plus whatever else may arrive during that time) :D

Whilst it wasn't taken soley to play iMAS (honest!), I have to admit I've just started two weeks of holiday :sd:

iMAS has consumed most of it thus far, though.

[Johnny]

Well, as expected, my copy arrived today. Digi has some great pics on his blog but for those that haven't seen them (or pics from other blogs), here's what you get with the LE:

The huge box it shipped in (http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/5490/pict0542iq9.jpg)
The box the game and goodies come in (http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/8465/pict0543yl7.jpg)
The figs (http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/7139/pict0538hv2.jpg)
The game, bonus DVD, booklet, pic of all the girls and sticker (http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/3255/pict0539js1.jpg)
The faceplate (http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/5347/pict0541sn9.jpg)

All in all very pleased with the package. Played an hour and a half of the game and I'm really enjoying it. Makoto isn't doing too well at the minute though (two auditions - placed 4th and 5th :( I need to read up on how to actually get through an audition though as at the minute I'm clueless :sd:).
The lessons are great though. Simple and varied enough. Graphics are gorgeous, music is fantastic and the voice acting is superb.

I don't know how I'm going to choose another girl though as Makoto is so awesome :)

[DiGiKerot]

All in all very pleased with the package. Played an hour and a half of the game and I'm really enjoying it. Makoto isn't doing too well at the minute though (two auditions - placed 4th and 5th :( I need to read up on how to actually get through an audition though as at the minute I'm clueless :sd:).

I'll point you back to my previous post (http://www.animeondvd.com/forum/showpost.php?post/361087/) in regards to the auditions.

I wouldn't worry too much about doing well the first time through - the odds are stacked against you doing particularly well anyway. Its best just to mess around and get a proper feel for things.

Oh, and since you probably won't do very well anyway, make sure you take Omoide wa Arigato as one of your song choices (vocal image - its the one in the bottom left with a flame on the cover, IIRC) so you can pick it for your final concert. It makes the whole affair sooo much more sweetly melancholic. Seriously, I really can't see any other track suiting the occasion expect, perhaps, Go My Way!! at the end of a really, really triumphant run.

[Johnny]

I'll point you back to my previous post (http://www.animeondvd.com/forum/showpost.php?post/361087/) in regards to the auditions.

I wouldn't worry too much about doing well the first time through - the odds are stacked against you doing particularly well anyway. Its best just to mess around and get a proper feel for things.

Oh, and since you probably won't do very well anyway, make sure you take Omoide wa Arigato as one of your song choices (vocal image - its the one in the bottom left with a flame on the cover, IIRC) so you can pick it for your final concert. It makes the whole affair sooo much more sweetly melancholic. Seriously, I really can't see any other track suiting the occasion expect, perhaps, Go My Way!! at the end of a really, really triumphant run.

Yep, I'm just gonna read up on your comments now :)

I'll keep that song choice in mind, although I dont' want to see Makoto's dreams crushed :( :cry:

[Johnny]

For those that haven't seen it, it appears iMAS will be appearing on the PS3 sooner or later (http://www.senakablog.com/archives/2007/02/post_799.html) if these pics are to be believed and actually show a PS3 running the game.

Quick question Digi - in theory would you rebuy a PS3 LE version (assuming you get a PS3) if it offered say a different set of LE items and some bonus game content? I know I would :sd:

[DiGiKerot]

For those that haven't seen it, it appears iMAS will be appearing on the PS3 sooner or later (http://www.senakablog.com/archives/2007/02/post_799.html) if these pics are to be believed and actually show a PS3 running the game.

Actually, thats an iMAS DVD playing - that white text along the bottom is the "this game is actually in HiDEF, unlike this video" text which was also on the Famitsu Wave DVD (in fact, I think it probably is Famitsu Wave, judging by the titlecard for the song shown in one of the pictures).

I mean, theres actually been rumours going around that Sony wouldn't let Namco publish on PS3 for some strange reason. I can't imagine they are true, though, unless they'd decided that it wasn't flashy enough for PS3. Given Sony don't seem to be anywhere near as nasty towards their Japanese publishers in regards to non-cutting-edge software as they are towards western developers, I can't see Sony turning them down (particularly since its Namco).

In any case, I think its probably just the store making a big song and dance about having some LE stock in. There has been some pain in Akiba about getting copies of the LE - I read somewhere that Gamers actually cancelled all their preorders due to not being able to provide stock.

I suspect it will turn up on PS3 eventually, though. From the startup messages it looks like they've used a few middleware libraries, so it'd probably be a fairly easy port.

Quick question Digi - in theory would you rebuy a PS3 LE version (assuming you get a PS3) if it offered say a different set of LE items and some bonus game content? I know I would :sd:

Not sure if I'd buy another LE - it'd really depend on what exactly was in there. I'd probably rebuy the game itself whether or not there was any new content :sd:

[DiGiKerot]

I'll point you back to my previous post (http://www.animeondvd.com/forum/showpost.php?post/361087/) in regards to the auditions.

I wouldn't worry too much about doing well the first time through - the odds are stacked against you doing particularly well anyway. Its best just to mess around and get a proper feel for things.

Oh, and since you probably won't do very well anyway, make sure you take Omoide wa Arigato as one of your song choices (vocal image - its the one in the bottom left with a flame on the cover, IIRC) so you can pick it for your final concert. It makes the whole affair sooo much more sweetly melancholic. Seriously, I really can't see any other track suiting the occasion expect, perhaps, Go My Way!! at the end of a really, really triumphant run.

Yep, I'm just gonna read up on your comments now :)


Well, if you have any more questions, feel free to ask :)

[DiGiKerot]

Oh, man. For a while there, when counting the weeks I had left to go on play number three, I thought I was going to end up a paltry 2000-ish fans away from S-rank. As it turns out, I made with with a week left to go! (http://img249.imageshack.us/my.php?image=srankma4.jpg) GO ME! I'd actually have placed just outside the top 300 groups on Live if I had a Gold account, and could probably have pulled in enough to gain another 50 places if I hadn't given them the last week off (ain't I nice).

So, my increase in producer level means I can now manage a trio. I think I should be able to get at least another 200000 fans up from where I ended this time without too much effort, and I've got some wierdo time management tactics I'd like to try (not to mention the fact I'd like to give Miki the chance she deserves to be successful!).

I think I'll be having an off day tomorrow, though :sd:

[Johnny]

Oh, man. For a while there, when counting the weeks I had left to go on play number three, I thought I was going to end up a paltry 2000-ish fans away from S-rank. As it turns out, I made with with a week left to go! (http://img249.imageshack.us/my.php?image=srankma4.jpg) GO ME! I'd actually have placed just outside the top 300 groups on Live if I had a Gold account, and could probably have pulled in enough to gain another 50 places if I hadn't given them the last week off (ain't I nice).

So, my increase in producer level means I can now manage a trio. I think I should be able to get at least another 200000 fans up from where I ended this time without too much effort, and I've got some wierdo time management tactics I'd like to try (not to mention the fact I'd like to give Miki the chance she deserves to be successful!).

I think I'll be having an off day tomorrow, though :sd:


Nice one. I can't remember if you've mentioned this (probably have) but if you get anything other than an S or A rank, do you get a "good" ending or is it S/A or bust?

[DiGiKerot]

Nice one. I can't remember if you've mentioned this (probably have) but if you get anything other than an S or A rank, do you get a "good" ending or is it S/A or bust?

I'm not sure how many endings there are exactly, but I think its just a "True" ending for A/S ranks, and a "Normal" ending for all the others. I'm not sure if the quality of the last song or choices during the last day make a difference, but I suspect its nothing other than a couple of lines of text (and players pride :sd:).

Coincidently, if you are managing a group you'll only get the ending for the "main" girl at the point you finish (I think its the one who you've spent the most time with, possibly the highest total of memories, then defaulting to the first one selected when all other things are equal).

You'll probably end up playing with Makoto more than once if you want her true ending, anyway :D

Oh, I should probably mention that to get an "A" rank, you need to have completed the Visual Master, Dance Master and Vocal Master auditions which appear on the Special 1 tab (jump off then on again if they aren't there - the auditions change each time you page onto the tab). "B" rank actually requires you to complete three auditions on the Special 2 tab (similar to the Master ones, but only worth 20000 fans a piece) but I suspect you may be able to jump the whole grade if you've done the master ones and have enough fans.

"S" rank needs you to have won the Super Idol audition. This appears one the Special 2 tab normally, but occasionally in the 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th months of the year you'll have the Festival auditions instead (these are wierd, so I'll elaborate some other time). You need to have finished the Master auditions before you can do Super Idol, though, not to mention having an image level of 13.

[Johnny]

I'm not sure how many endings there are exactly, but I think its just a "True" ending for A/S ranks, and a "Normal" ending for all the others. I'm not sure if the quality of the last song or choices during the last day make a difference, but I suspect its nothing other than a couple of lines of text (and players pride :sd:).

You'll probably end up playing with Makoto more than once if you want her true ending, anyway :D

Heh, yep I will be trying for the best ending with Makoto unless I "accidentally" get it with one of the others...

Oh, I should probably mention that to get an "A" rank, you need to have completed the Visual Master, Dance Master and Vocal Master auditions which appear on the Special 1 tab (jump off then on again if they aren't there - the auditions change each time you page onto the tab). "B" rank actually requires you to complete three auditions on the Special 2 tab (similar to the Master ones, but only worth 20000 fans a piece) but I suspect you may be able to jump the whole grade if you've done the master ones and have enough fans.

"S" rank needs you to have won the Super Idol audition. This appears one the Special 2 tab normally, but occasionally in the 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th months of the year you'll have the Festival auditions instead (these are wierd, so I'll elaborate some other time). You need to have finished the Master auditions before you can do Super Idol, though, not to mention having an image level of 13.

You're a fountain of knowledge on this game. It's gonna be a good while before I'm anywhere near A or S rank but I loving it regardless!

[DiGiKerot]

You're a fountain of knowledge on this game. It's gonna be a good while before I'm anywhere near A or S rank but I loving it regardless!

One of these days, I'm going to end up writing an FAQ on the darn thing :sd:

[Johnny]

I've had a much better day today with Makoto. Two auditions in which I placed 1st and 3rd :)
I'm up to Rank E too.

Just one thing - in both of those auditions, My Best Friend was the music. Is there any way to change what the music will be or was it just coincidence I got it twice in a row.
I'm also a bit lost with regards the singles bit. I think, one way or another, I chose 3 songs yesterday but haven't accessed that screen yet today...

[DiGiKerot]

Just one thing - in both of those auditions, My Best Friend was the music. Is there any way to change what the music will be or was it just coincidence I got it twice in a row.
I'm also a bit lost with regards the singles bit. I think, one way or another, I chose 3 songs yesterday but haven't accessed that screen yet today...

The single selection menu is the second option down on the three-option menu you get before the Promo/Lesson/Audition/Day off menu. The top option there is costume change, and the bottom is don't do either of the above. When you start a new idol it'll prompt you for the selection of your first single automagically.

The track you get in your audition will be your current single - you are only really supposed to select one and run with it for around 10 weeks, at which point you should be looking at selecting another track (of a different genre, else you'll suffer a stat drop for something like 5-8 weeks).

Since you only get to select five singles across your whole career, it sounds like you've dug yourself into a bit of a hole unless you are onto, like, week, 20 or something.

From what I gather, you'll get a drop in your Advance Statistics (its the brighter part of the stat bars) upped by the single (i.e. a Dance single increases you dance stat, etc, etc) first at 9 weeks since release, and then at 12 after which it'll drop with each and every week. It's supposed to similate your fans getting bored with you. Your Advance stats will get hammered if you follow up a track with one of a same genre as well, or so I'm told. Basically, you probably want to change single at week 10, week 20, week 30 and finally week 40. Thats what I've been doing, anyway. It'll probably not hurt too much to let your first single run to week 11 or 12, though, rather than letting the last run 12 weeks.

Just to elaborate on stats, there are two chunks to each of your stats - Base stats and Advance stats. The dark area is the base stats, whilst the light area is the advanced. The base stats can only go upwards, as a result of giving your idol lessons. The Advance stats can move all over the place. Taking lessions will, as well as improving Base stats, boost your Advance stats temporarily.

Your Idol Level is based on the total of all your genre stats put together, and as such they go up and down a lot.

Now, there are a few other ways to improve your advance stats. You'll get a boost in the category your single is. Your costume will have an effect on this too - aside from your base costume, each accessory tends to have an associated genre boost (I think there are a few which possibly do other things, though). I think good coordination (say, wearing a complete set of Angel Wing accessories) will give a bigger boost, but I'm not sure on that one. Another way to boost your Advance stats is to win auditions - particularly hard auditions. If you win auditions against higher ranked opponents, you'll get small all-round advance stat boost.

There are also Journalists. I'm not sure if these appear until you raise your producer rank a little (I didn't get any on my first play through, anyway). I'm not sure if the appearance is random, but there are good and bad journalists who sometimes come to see you after an audition. The good journalist will give you a BIG advance stat boost for a period of three weeks, normally temporarily raising your Idol level up a couple of levels, allowing you to take part in auditions which would normally be beyond your level, passing which in turn helps your advance stats out since the opposition tends to be a higher ranking. I've not had a Bad Journalist yet, but I imagine it'll be the opposite situation.

Anyway, if you have released several singles right at the start of your career, you might be best off killing off all iMAS data on your HD and starting from the start all over again. Either that all you'll get hammered right at the end of the game :sd:

[DiGiKerot]

A further note on song selection - I've not actually checked this out myself yet, each character apparently has two tracks which will provide an additional Advance Stat boost when selected. The following list is compiled from details on a Japanese site, which I've categorized by song genre.

Dance tracks:
THE IDOLM@STER - All
First Stage - Yukiho
エージェント夜を往� - Makoto
GO MY WAY�� - Yayoi, Ami/Mami
relations - Miki

Vocal tracks: 　 　
太陽�ジェラシー - Haruka
蒼�鳥|ボーカル - Chihaya
é*”法をã�‹ã�‘ã�¦ï¼� - Ritsuko
9：02pm - Azusa
���� - Azusa, Makoto
��出を�り��� - Miki, Chihaya

Visual tracks:
��よ����飯 - Yayoi
Here we go�� - Iori
�ジティブ� - Ami/Mami
��アイドル - Haruka, Iori
My Best Friend - Yukiho, Ritsuko

However, when making song selection you may wish to consider that there is a 100 gamer point achievement on having released all 16 songs :sd:

I don't know if the tracks shared between characters have a smaller boost that those they are exclusively attuned to either.

[Johnny]

Since you only get to select five singles across your whole career, it sounds like you've dug yourself into a bit of a hole unless you are onto, like, week, 20 or something.



I'm at week 35 or something. I think you're right in that I have dug myself into a bit of a hole. Can't seem to change the single back to one of the previous ones now so I guess I'm stuck with My Best Friend for the rest of Makoto's career :sd:
I'm not too bothered though, this first run through is a great way to do a bit of trial and error and get things sorted. For example, I've pretty much sussed the auditions now and haven't come below third since getting the hang of it.

What about promotions? Is there nothing else to them except talking with your idol? I've entered one on two ocassions but it's ended with nothing after giving me 3 or 4 reply choice screens.

[DiGiKerot]

What about promotions? Is there nothing else to them except talking with your idol? I've entered one on two ocassions but it's ended with nothing after giving me 3 or 4 reply choice screens.

Promotions are used for gaining Memories. Depending on your choices, you'll either get Bad Communication (0 memories), Normal Communication (1 memory), Good Communication (3 memories) or Perfect Communication (3-5 memories, depending on your Tension levels). These are useful for passing auditions which are way above your normal level. The number of memories you score across the game are also tallied up towards how many you get for your Final Song at the end of the game.

If you really want to cheat (or make things a bit easier on yourself), there are a couple of things you could do. For one, the Promotion choice the week after gaining Rank is always a "Rank Up" event. This means that you can keep resetting the game after failing to get Perfect and try again with different choices without the stress of random promotion types popping up.

The other choice is to do what most Japanese players probably do after playing through the game a couple of times, and use a perfect communications guide (http://icomu-master.info/communication/xbox/makoto.html) (that link is the page for Makoto).

Oh, and that infamous Miki sexual harrasment scene is one of the promotions. I've heard theres a similar scene about proving that Makoto is actually a girl somewhere in the game, though I don't know exactly where.

-edit- If you've really managed to get no memories out of all those communications, I'm astonished, since its very, very, very hard to get a Bad Communication. You need to, like, pick the worst choice for every answer or something :sd:

-edit 2- Oh, I've not mentioned to Festival Concerts, which come under Promotions. Thats a bit more involved, though, and it's something you really need to worry about at this point.

[Kikaroo]

This game sounds pretty interesting, thanks for the detailed info! If this every actually came out here, I'd pick it up. (Slim chance, I know.)

[DiGiKerot]

Well, I think I've covered just about everything else, so I may as well complete the job with a word about the festivals.

In March, June, September and December there is a seasonal festival occuring in the fifth week of the month. Because of this, in the first four weeks of the month the Super Idol audition on the "Special 2" tab is replaced with the audition for the festival. Application requirements vary, but I think its all based on the Idol level being at certain points.

Now, if I'm not confusing these with some other auditions, these auditions are pretty hard, quite possibly the hardest in the game. This is because instead of having three 9-appeal phases, you have just one 27-appeal phase. In addition to this, I think the Judge levels are actually hidden from you. This means you are pretty much blind as to the way the other groups are auditioning. It can be a painful experience to say the least.

If you are successful at passing the audition (at which point Super Idol will reappear), you may be surprised that you don't get the normal TV appearance or the advertised boost in fans. This is because passing the audition simply lets you appear in the festival. Basically, when the fifth week of the month comes up, you have to remember to go to Promotion rather than doing something else. What then happens is that you'll get the Stage Show mini-game (its pretty easy to understand, so I'll not bother talking about it). Its after this that you'll get your increase in fans.

Note that you'll get the fan boost regardless of doing well in the stage show or not. I'm not really sure what advantage doing well has - I guess it probably gives you a Tension and/or an advance stats boost, or maybe a bigger fan increase if you are lucky. On of the games Achievements is having performed and done well in all four of the festivals, though (whether or not this has to be on the same run I don't know - I'd imagine not, as that would be really, really hard to do).

Basically, at the start of the game when it asks you which month you want to start on, you may want to take festival months into consideration - starting on one of the festival months would mean that you'd miss one, but have more prep time to get ready for the others.

[DiGiKerot]

This game sounds pretty interesting, thanks for the detailed info! If this every actually came out here, I'd pick it up. (Slim chance, I know.)

If this came out in English, I'd buy it again myself :D

As it stands, I suspect it'll be another situation like with Sakura Taisen - we'll not get the game, but you can bet someone will end up releasing the Idolmaster Xenoglossia anime at some point.

[Johnny]

This game sounds pretty interesting, thanks for the detailed info! If this every actually came out here, I'd pick it up. (Slim chance, I know.)

If this came out in English, I'd buy it again myself :D

As it stands, I suspect it'll be another situation like with Sakura Taisen - we'll not get the game, but you can bet someone will end up releasing the Idolmaster Xenoglossia anime at some point.

I'd definitely rebuy too - either an English 360 version or a new PS3 version. Just a few iMAS related things I've been thinking about lately:

It's still highly unlikely to get a Western release, but lately with Senko no Ronde, Oneechanbara Vortex, EDF 3 and possibly Project Sylpheed all getting US releases there's maybe a 1% chance now rather than 0.1%.
I'd love to see a portable version of this. One thing about the game is that it is very time demanding if you want to get the most out of it and being able to take it around with you and doing a week here and there would work very well IMO. But then there's the issue of do you go with low quality graphics and sound but touch screen ability on the DS, or do you go for superior A/V on the PSP but without touch stuff which would make lessons more interesting?
Why the hell does this have a CERO C rating?

[DiGiKerot]

Why the hell does this have a CERO C rating?

The sexual harrasment events and the occasional panty flash during the TV appearances are probably enough to push it over.

As for the portable version, I'm not sure a DS version would even be possible due to the amount of sound in the game. Aside from the backing tracks for the music, you have 10 individual recordings for every line of every song. Even if you could cram all that onto the cartridge, you'd have to drop all the voice acting for everything else in the game.

So, whilst I think the DS would make the game rather more interesting, its really not going to happen.

[Johnny]

Why the hell does this have a CERO C rating?

The sexual harrasment events and the occasional panty flash during the TV appearances are probably enough to push it over.

To a C though? There are plenty of fighters that are B rated and have worse content...


So, whilst I think the DS would make the game rather more interesting, its really not going to happen.

Yeah, it ain't gonna happen but it would be pretty cool.

[Randall Flagg]

If this were to come out here, I'd definitely pick up a 360 just to play it.

And to be completely off-topic: Johnny, that new avatar is awesome.

[Johnny]

If this were to come out here, I'd definitely pick up a 360 just to play it.

And to be completely off-topic: Johnny, that new avatar is awesome.

Heh, yeah Shoko-tan is always awesome :neko:

Back on topic, I just finished my first play through (with Makoto). Didn't go very well - Rank E, Level 7 - but I'm a lot more confident as to what to do etc so playthrough 2 should be much better. FWIW I plan on using Miki next time.

[DiGiKerot]

Back on topic, I just finished my first play through (with Makoto). Didn't go very well - Rank E, Level 7 - but I'm a lot more confident as to what to do etc so playthrough 2 should be much better. FWIW I plan on using Miki next time.

Never mind, its not as if you can actually do well the first time you play the game anyway. Well, not without a lot of luck anyway. Level 7 at the end isn't actually too bad anyway, as your level tends to sink downwards as you approach the end of the game.

Miki is a fun character to play. She has some cute mannerisms.

Oh, BTW, those festival concerts play more-or-less like your final song performance, though you automagically get 30 memories to use on it and they're easier to score on. Negatively, the bar starts at nothing, so you need to build it all the way up.

Coincidently, with the final concert, I notice that the bar tends to sneak up slowly even without appealing. I've also found that if you don't use any of your memories until right at the end (say, the last seven or eight appeal points) then you get way, way more GOOD boxes than BAD - I've had a few with 100% GOOD boxes! With my last couple of games I've just let it slowly trickle upwards from my start point (like, 55%-ish IIRC) until it gets right up close to the end, then appeal on the last seven or so points, which normally takes me just over into the Success box.

I think the accumulation rate might be based on your level, though.

[Johnny]

Miki is a fun character to play. She has some cute mannerisms.

Cool. Looking forward to using her (that didn't sound right :sd:). But I'd say my 3rd playthrough will be back to Makoto :P


Coincidently, with the final concert, I notice that the bar tends to sneak up slowly even without appealing. I've also found that if you don't use any of your memories until right at the end (say, the last seven or eight appeal points) then you get way, way more GOOD boxes than BAD - I've had a few with 100% GOOD boxes! With my last couple of games I've just let it slowly trickle upwards from my start point (like, 55%-ish IIRC) until it gets right up close to the end, then appeal on the last seven or so points, which normally takes me just over into the Success box.



It does, yeah. Noticed that myself. Not sure how hard it is to do but I had 16 appeals, used about 10 and maxed out the bar.

[DiGiKerot]

It does, yeah. Noticed that myself. Not sure how hard it is to do but I had 16 appeals, used about 10 and maxed out the bar.

Nice! For what it is worth, I failed miserably the first time :sd:

[youth]

One of these days, I'm going to end up writing an FAQ on the darn thing :sd:

You know I was gonna suggest to do so & put it on gamefaqs, & now I see you just registered there. ;)

[DiGiKerot]

One of these days, I'm going to end up writing an FAQ on the darn thing :sd:

You know I was gonna suggest to do so & put it on gamefaqs, & now I see you just registered there. ;)


I normally lurk the boards for games like this anyhow - I've been reading the GF boards for the game for a couple weeks now.

Not that this is the first time I've ever been registered on GF, but the last time was soooo long ago that my account went bye-bye. Heck, I think the last game I posted on the forums there about was one of the Gunslinger Girl games :sd:

[Azumangaman]

I agree with the rest, if this was released here (or even if it was region free!) I'd buy it. Sounds like A LOT of fun.

[DiGiKerot]

Hey, Johnny, I think you are going to have to hurry up and get your 360 online and work out how to get some Japanese marketplace points - the new costume release on the 13th is a school uniform (http://www.idolmaster.jp/marketplace/top.html#item01) :sd:

[Johnny]

Hey, Johnny, I think you are going to have to hurry up and get your 360 online and work out how to get some Japanese marketplace points - the new costume release on the 13th is a school uniform (http://www.idolmaster.jp/marketplace/top.html#item01) :sd:

:neko: Suddenly £50 to go wireless seems like a bargain. I'll have a hunt on eBay later to see if I can get it cheaper but I may as well order now :P

Haven't researched accessing and buying stuff on the Japanese Marketplace - any idea if it's as easy as the Playstation Network? Hopefully it is. What's the yearly/monthly fee for gold membership btw?

Anyway, I started my new game with Miki tonight and I've definitely got the hang of the game. Week 14, Rank E (very nearly D) onto my second single (Go My Way! :D ), entered 4 auditions (2 rookie, 2 local) and won all 4.
Miki is awesome too. A lot more girlie than Makoto but it's a nice change. I like her jiggle during the dancing lesson :virgin:

[DiGiKerot]

Haven't researched accessing and buying stuff on the Japanese Marketplace - any idea if it's as easy as the Playstation Network? Hopefully it is.


Not really sure, as I've not tried sticking my credit card number into the thing. The pre-paid cards are validated against the server for the region of the account you are logged on for, though, so UK card will only validate on UK accounts (thankfully, given I ended up buying a card to check, all the pay-for download games have been region-free thus far. Hopefully Castlevania SotN will be too).

Playasia sell Asian points cards. I don't know if these will validate on a Japanese account or not (some of the comments on PA suggest they will). I guess I'll buy one and try it...


What's the yearly/monthly fee for gold membership btw?


Whatever deal you can get, basically. You are probably best off registering for Gold on your UK gamertag, because unfortunately I believe the Gold account is against your gamertag. When you register your Gamertag online you'll be given a free month anyway.

Anyway, my recommendation is to continue using your UK account to play games (off and online, as you may as well keep your achievement points), and set up a seperate Japanese account just to get Japanese demos or iMAS stuff. You can get on the store and stuff from a Silver account anyway, and if MS suddenly decide to start blocking odd-looking accounts from the online store you'll not be too put out. You should still be able to get at your paid-for downloads from the UK account since everything other than subscriptions can be accessed across the board.


Anyway, I started my new game with Miki tonight and I've definitely got the hang of the game. Week 14, Rank E (very nearly D) onto my second single (Go My Way! :D ), entered 4 auditions (2 rookie, 2 local) and won all 4.


The second time through I aimed at getting a new rank every single release, which worked pretty well and got me my A rank.

[DiGiKerot]

For the attention of Johnny -

PE kit available on Marketplace from Wednesday.

That is all.

[Johnny]

For the attention of Johnny -

PE kit available on Marketplace from Wednesday.

That is all.

Just had a look on the official site. Very nice, although I'm hoping that one of the next uniforms is Goth Loli...

Another 1000 points though and SotN is out on Wednesday too so that 1800 in one day :sd:

[hub]

Sorry to dig up such an old topic, but I plan on getting a JPN Xbox 360 and the game within the next 1-2 weeks, so I was wondering what Marketplace things are worth buying. I've seen the pics of them at the offical site, but from what I can tell they're all basically just palatte swaps of each other. Are any of them really unique?

[Johnny]

Sorry to dig up such an old topic, but I plan on getting a JPN Xbox 360 and the game within the next 1-2 weeks, so I was wondering what Marketplace things are worth buying. I've seen the pics of them at the offical site, but from what I can tell they're all basically just palatte swaps of each other. Are any of them really unique?

You can buy letters, full costumes and head/hand/feet accessories from the marketplace.
The most unique (and expensive) items are the school uniform and gym uniform at 1000 points each.

[DiGiKerot]

Oh, man, my blog (http://www.beta-waffle.com/blog/index.php?p=359) was linked on 2-ch and a couple of Japanese blogs today - they seem to be shocked that someone outside Japan would own the Collectors Edition :sd:

[Johnny]

Oh, man, my blog (http://www.beta-waffle.com/blog/index.php?p=359) was linked on 2-ch and a couple of Japanese blogs today - they seem to be shocked that someone outside Japan would own the Collectors Edition :sd:

Nice one! We are teh hardcore Digi, the hardcore! :D

[hub]

Oh, man, my blog (http://www.beta-waffle.com/blog/index.php?p=359) was linked on 2-ch and a couple of Japanese blogs today - they seem to be shocked that someone outside Japan would own the Collectors Edition :sd:

Sweet! Does that mean you're a celeb on these boards now? :P And were any of those Japanese fans shocked/angered b/c even gaijin like us can get our hands on this stuff? :sd:

[DiGiKerot]

Oh, man, my blog (http://www.beta-waffle.com/blog/index.php?p=359) was linked on 2-ch and a couple of Japanese blogs today - they seem to be shocked that someone outside Japan would own the Collectors Edition :sd:

Sweet! Does that mean you're a celeb on these boards now? :P And were any of those Japanese fans shocked/angered b/c even gaijin like us can get our hands on this stuff? :sd:

Not really, it's just that the amount of additional traffic somewhat surprised me - in that I've had more hits in half a day then I got in all of yesterday :sd:

The way 2-ch threads tend to work makes it very hard to discern who is replying to what since the topic is essentially an all-consuming iMAS thread with no real structure. I've not seen anything which looks like people being particularly insulting. There are a couple of requests for translation, and a few O.O comments about this entry (http://www.beta-waffle.com/blog/?p=376), but the conversation has largely moved on now.

[ic14]

they seem to be shocked that someone outside Japan would own the Collectors Edition :sd:
I dont blame them.

Someone please explain the attraction of this game? I just dont get it. Really.

[DiGiKerot]

they seem to be shocked that someone outside Japan would own the Collectors Edition :sd:
I dont blame them.

Someone please explain the attraction of this game? I just dont get it. Really.

If you don't get it, there is no sense in explaining it.

But, hey, I'm still playing it four months after getting it. I can't remember the last time I bought a game with the kind of longevity.

[hub]

they seem to be shocked that someone outside Japan would own the Collectors Edition :sd:
I dont blame them.

Someone please explain the attraction of this game? I just dont get it. Really.

If you don't get it, there is no sense in explaining it.

But, hey, I'm still playing it four months after getting it. I can't remember the last time I bought a game with the kind of longevity.

Amen to that. I'm taking a bit of a break from it right now (going on an RPG binge w/ my PS2), but out of all the Xbox 360 games I have (err, 11), The Idol Master is the one game that I've played the most, and that I can play for hours on end w/o getting bored.

Once you get passed the initial overwhelming feeling that you have from everything being thrown at you at once (tension management, lessons, communications, auditions, etc.), you settle down into a set pattern that, while simple, is quite fun and addicting. Besides, the game is the closest we'll likely get to being able to actually "play" an anime. And combined w/ the catchy songs/dances and costumes, the game is just a heck of a whole lot of fun to play, and almost as much fun just to watch.

[DiGiKerot]

they seem to be shocked that someone outside Japan would own the Collectors Edition :sd:
I dont blame them.

Someone please explain the attraction of this game? I just dont get it. Really.

Hey, Johnny, do me a favour and take your troll (http://www.beta-waffle.com/blog/?p=359#comment-1955) back please :P

[Johnny]

they seem to be shocked that someone outside Japan would own the Collectors Edition :sd:
I dont blame them.

Someone please explain the attraction of this game? I just dont get it. Really.

Hey, Johnny, do me a favour and take your troll (http://www.beta-waffle.com/blog/?p=359#comment-1955) back please :P

Hahaha! Oh man, he went to the effort of commenting on that post? Brilliant! :D And that's ignoring the sheer hypocrisy of his post.

Yeah, I've been wondering how he's been coping with the decline of updates on my LJ and my semi-lurk mode here. All that tension building up can't be good!

I dunno man, see if it becomes a regular thing first. It's sometimes just what you need to cheer you up reading one of his comments.

[DiGiKerot]

I've been getting XBL PM's all afternoon from a Japanese player astonished that someone in the UK is playing iMAS :sd:

-edit- Oh, coincidently, I made S-rank in 36 weeks this time around - anyone want to speculate as to what kind of score I'll have at the end?

[Johnny]

I've been getting XBL PM's all afternoon from a Japanese player astonished that someone in the UK is playing iMAS :sd:

-edit- Oh, coincidently, I made S-rank in 36 weeks this time around - anyone want to speculate as to what kind of score I'll have at the end?

That's pretty damn awesome. 2chan fame ;)

About that score, I'm guessing chart topping! You're gonna be the idol of the Japanese iMAS community :D

[DiGiKerot]

That's pretty damn awesome. 2chan fame ;)


Not really :sd: He was taking part in the same audition as me and must have done a double take over my gamer profile - the first message I got was along the lines of "WTF do you have a UK account?". I kind of wanted to reply in (very) broken Japanese, but annoyingly you can't get a kana keyboard up from an English account, so I ended up replying in English. The reply to that was something along the lines of (in English) "OH MY GOD! I played BRITiMAS! THIS IS A FIRST!" or some such overexcited reply :sd:

I'm just glad they don't get Eurovision in Japan - if he'd have realised my units name was Scooch (written in Katakana), any credibility I had would have been destroyed :sd:

(In my defence, it's really hard to keep coming up with good unit names).


About that score, I'm guessing chart topping! You're gonna be the idol of the Japanese iMAS community :D

I wish. It'd be nice if I broke 3million, but I think I'm going to wind up a little short of that. If I'd skipped the festivals and the S-Rank requirements I might just have scraped it, but I'd rather have the S-Rank to my name than the higher score.

[DiGiKerot]

-edit- Oh, coincidently, I made S-rank in 36 weeks this time around - anyone want to speculate as to what kind of score I'll have at the end?

For those who require closure on this story, the grand total I finished with was 2.83 million. Annoyingly, however, it doesn't seem to have registered my last weeks worth of points online :sigh:

Even worse is that starting a new group causes your previous one to drop off the total rankings entirely :cry:

Oh well, I think I might be able to break the 3 million boundary if I skip the festivals next time around (I made sure I did them all, because I forgot which I needed to get the four seasons trophy :sd: )

[Azumangaman]

they seem to be shocked that someone outside Japan would own the Collectors Edition :sd:
I dont blame them.

Someone please explain the attraction of this game? I just dont get it. Really.

Hey, Johnny, do me a favour and take your troll (http://www.beta-waffle.com/blog/?p=359#comment-1955) back please :P

Hahaha! Oh man, he went to the effort of commenting on that post? Brilliant! :D And that's ignoring the sheer hypocrisy of his post.

Yeah, I've been wondering how he's been coping with the decline of updates on my LJ and my semi-lurk mode here. All that tension building up can't be good!

I dunno man, see if it becomes a regular thing first. It's sometimes just what you need to cheer you up reading one of his comments.
Settle down fellas, settle down. But seriously, whats his problem?

And I'm still waiting for this game to come to North America. Or at least a region-free version with english subtitles.

[boogiecat]

This game was really great even text was in Japanese...

[Johnny]

And I'm still waiting for this game to come to North America. Or at least a region-free version with english subtitles.

Unfortunately you'll likely be waiting forever. Even if the game does get an Asian release with English subs, no Japanese game or Asian version of a Japanese game has been region free to date and things don't look like changing.

As for an out and out US version, it's still as unlikely as it ever was but if anyone, look to Ubisoft to publish it. I could see this getting a budget European release in a couple of years when the 360 userbase is a lot larger. Then again, by that stage at least one sequel is likely to have hit Japan...

[Mononoke]

Say, would you two be interested in posting some of your concerts up on YouTube?

AnimeNation posted the Idolm@ster video featuring Kotoko's Princess Bride in their newsletter last week. Ever since then I've been watching tons of these concerts on YouTube. I find myself fascinated seeing different people's takes on the characters, songs, and even camera choreography. Why's this thing so entertaining?? :sd:

So far, based on the concerts and a few communication-segment videos, Chihaya and Miki are shaping up to be my favorites.

On a random side note, how can they have this as an arcade machine..? The usual arcade strategy of 5 minutes of playtime per play doesn't seem to apply (from skimming the arcade version site). Is there anything to prevent one player from taking an hour or so to do his 13 weeks in one lump sum?

[Azumangaman]

And I'm still waiting for this game to come to North America. Or at least a region-free version with english subtitles.

Unfortunately you'll likely be waiting forever. Even if the game does get an Asian release with English subs, no Japanese game or Asian version of a Japanese game has been region free to date and things don't look like changing.

As for an out and out US version, it's still as unlikely as it ever was but if anyone, look to Ubisoft to publish it. I could see this getting a budget European release in a couple of years when the 360 userbase is a lot larger. Then again, by that stage at least one sequel is likely to have hit Japan...
*sigh* Yeah I know. Unfortunately I'm not willing to buy a JP 360 for the game. :D Someday, it'll be here...

[Kinomoto_Shinji]

Say, would you two be interested in posting some of your concerts up on YouTube?

AnimeNation posted the Idolm@ster video featuring Kotoko's Princess Bride in their newsletter last week. Ever since then I've been watching tons of these concerts on YouTube. I find myself fascinated seeing different people's takes on the characters, songs, and even camera choreography. Why's this thing so entertaining?? :sd:

So far, based on the concerts and a few communication-segment videos, Chihaya and Miki are shaping up to be my favorites.

On a random side note, how can they have this as an arcade machine..? The usual arcade strategy of 5 minutes of playtime per play doesn't seem to apply (from skimming the arcade version site). Is there anything to prevent one player from taking an hour or so to do his 13 weeks in one lump sum?

lol. Five minutes? You don't go out to arcades much. I know when I play In the Groove or Pump It Up at the arcade, that's normaly 12 minutes per a set of songs. If your good at shooters, those can last awhile too. Where arcades make their money are those crappy one-shot-one-token-ticket-redemention games. One token gone in seconds as opposed to minutes.

Anyways...to be somewhat OT, I can't wait till I have the money to get this game. I'm sure if I asked nicely I could get my Japanese friends at the university to order me a Xbox360 for cheap. I just need to get the cash up. ^^;; iM@s is the top reason I want a Xbox 360...that and Gundam Masou now that it's coming out for it. But anyways..yeah. iM@s really does look great. /want to play so badly!/

[Johnny]

On a random side note, how can they have this as an arcade machine..? The usual arcade strategy of 5 minutes of playtime per play doesn't seem to apply (from skimming the arcade version site). Is there anything to prevent one player from taking an hour or so to do his 13 weeks in one lump sum?

Technically, no there's not. As far as I am aware (Digi will no doubt clarify this) you buy credits/tickets which last for a day of gametime (the arcade game is over 1 or maybe more months rather than the year in the 360 version).
Players could, feasibly, buy as many credits as they want and play all day but most arcades have a 5-day limit. Then you just go line up again :sd:

The aracde game also gives you a card which is personalised according to your idol's data. It's not unheard of for gamers to have wallets full of failed idols...

[DiGiKerot]

On a random side note, how can they have this as an arcade machine..? The usual arcade strategy of 5 minutes of playtime per play doesn't seem to apply (from skimming the arcade version site). Is there anything to prevent one player from taking an hour or so to do his 13 weeks in one lump sum?

Technically, no there's not. As far as I am aware (Digi will no doubt clarify this) you buy credits/tickets which last for a day of gametime (the arcade game is over 1 or maybe more months rather than the year in the 360 version).
Players could, feasibly, buy as many credits as they want and play all day but most arcades have a 5-day limit. Then you just go line up again :sd:


I'm not really all that up on the Arcade version, but yeah, it's mainly politeness which stops the player from playing for ages at once.

I will point out, though, that the game flow is pretty different for the coin-op version - the 360 version is kind of broken, to be honest, thanks to the fact you don't get kicked off for underperforming, the removal of the stat degradation for not passing auditions within a set period and the Make Dog audition.

With the way the arcade version is set-up, you have to vary how you spend your time more than in the home version - depending on what option you go for in a given day, you can be playing anywhere from two minutes to closer to ten. Ultimately, it all balances out to a more reasonable play time per credit.

[DiGiKerot]

Say, would you two be interested in posting some of your concerts up on YouTube?


I've thought about it, but aside from the fact that my only video capture device is pretty rubbish, I'm not really all that obsessive about the PV edit feature. It's a bit of a pain, and to do so much of as a tweak you'll need to pass another audition, and then to get a "clean" version of it you need to do a no-appeal performance (which means you'll take a hit on your score...).


So far, based on the concerts and a few communication-segment videos, Chihaya and Miki are shaping up to be my favorites.


Miki, eh? Have you seen the Sekuhara P video :sd:

[youth]

Taken from the ranked performances. Give you an idea of what it looks like in HD minus the compression artifacts inherent in the encoding. Looks nice output to an HDTV. Just make sure your computer can handle h.264. My site has one other clip. Both up for a limited time since I don't know yet the toll they'll take on my bandwidth.

I haven't really been playing it myself since I got it, but still enjoy this feature at least. :sd:

Format: h.264
Resolution: 1280x720
FPS: 29.97
Time: 2min 28sec
Size: 38.2 MB
Bitrate: 2000 Kb/s

Preview pic.
idolmaster_idolcow_clip.jpg (http://animerunner.net/image/idolmaster_idolcow_clip.jpg)

The video.
idolmaster_idolcow_clip.mp4 (http://animerunner.net/hdmedia/idolmaster_idolcow_clip.mp4)