Idolm@ster step 3: Play one round, "Haruka"

(tags Idolmaster, game, Xbox 360, games-of-chance)

Okay so I "finished" one scenario with the good (normal?) ending. Haruka is happy. I, on the other hand, had to replay and restart from save points to avoid bad results, which makes me frustrated.

The last part of the game is essentially roulette. Infuriatingly difficult roulette. Luckily I was able to push this last production to a "Success", but just barely.

So I scored a B- for the whole thing. B-! Grumble grumble. I thought I was doing pretty good. But I didn't get my idol to A rank. Maybe I'm not taking enough risks? Or since this is the first time through, everything is hard?

Well this time, since my Producer rank went from 1 to 2 I can now produce two idols at the same time. I couldn't pick that from the start. I bet you if I go through the game again I can pick three! Bet you can't buy that for a million dollars.

I can't believe I've been playing for a month and this is all the progress I have. "52 weeks" doesn't seem like a lot of time when I was mainly putting my idol through Auditions. When could she train? When could I get some heartful communication with her? As it is, it seems pretty impossible to excel in all these areas. In fact, there just wasn't enough time for interaction to get to know about "Haruka". It was just "Ohayo gozaimasu" "Audition, hai!" "Audition WIN!" "What's my idol rank now?". :-(

The last song I used for my Auditions was the signature "Go My Way", which is still pretty fun to listen to. In fact I can see the dance in my head pretty much, given that I've done this for Audition/TV about 9 times.

I can only get the special audition types if I go online. Some auditions are one winner only so if somebody else shows up, it's guaranteed I'll lose. There are not many newbies playing this game now.

Yes, one of the auditions is called "Make Dog". Haha. This is a easy free win for those who have a win rate of 20% or lower, but you don't want to be in that place, right?

So there it is. I think I spent about 13 hours on this game, but a month realtime, and it doesn't feel like I've many much progress. In fact, I haven't gotten any Achievement Points out the whole thing! Well I still have 9 other idols, pairs and triples to master and other stuff. Maybe if my producer rank goes up it will become easier?

Right now I dread playing these roulette games and timing games that don't give me a chance to practice. And truth be told, buying the DLC doesn't seem very useful at all, especially since I may want to turn off the "TV sessions" to speed this game up. And DLC stuff is only visible during TV sessions. :-(

I've already started my second season, but I'll save that for Step 4.

Off to see the seiyuu

(tags anime, failure, games-of-chance, Ichigo Masimaro, live, seiyuu, Tokyo, voice actor, game, import)

Well I'm turning in, so that I can get a jump on the shinkansen tomorrow. So that I can attack the Akiba stores on Saturday. So I won't have to worry about Sunday. So that I can show up to the Ichigo Masimaro voice actor event (帰ってきた「苺ましまろでショー」in豊島公会堂イベント) with good seats (but seat assignment is a raffle).

But I'm laid back you see. The only thing I need to worry about is being at Ikebukuro at 16:00 on Sunday afternoon. No problem.

I haven't prepared anything except the invite and what import video games I should consider. Racketboy is putting spike in my punch with his recommendation for TMNT for the GBA. And I don't really want anything... except Puzzle Quest for the DS, and maybe some PSP games like After Burner: Black Falcon and Ratchet & Clank. Perhaps I'll see some telephone cards, or I'll see some CDs to complete my collection. Shoot, I should have prepared my inventory. My memory is not so good, but it keeps telling me it's excellent.

Well I am bringing an extra PSP battery (from my silver) and charge cables for iPod, DS and PSP, but its all really dead weight until I wait in line on Sunday. I should not be playing my games when stores are open! Plus I have a plan to reconnoiter Ikebukuro on Saturday night to make sure I don't get lost. I do wish that my copy of Harry Potter was electronic so I can get rid of dead-tree weight. I am not bringing my computer, there's plenty of Internet cafes to be had.

I am wondering if I'm going to write up this event. I failed to write up the Sachi Tainaka (タイナカサチ) live in-store event (last year), the Halko Momoi (桃井はるこ) live in-store event (last year), and even the recent Midori Karashima (辛島美登里) event (last month). I took notes,though! I'm not aiming to report at full verbosity like I did with Yoko Ishida (石田燿子) or Savage Genius, but just a liked it/hated it would be useful.

Um, maybe I should get to sleep now? With this, my vaction in Kobe (at home) is officially over.

Good and bad luck is with me: Ichigo Masimaro Voice Actor Event

(tags anime, games-of-chance, Ichigo Masimaro, live, voice actor, seiyuu, Tokyo, failure)

Yesterday was a good day. This whole week has been a good week actually, but let's concentrated on specifics.

One contributing factor was that I won the chance to see the Ichigo Masimaro voice actor event (帰ってきた「苺ましまろでショー」in豊島公会堂イベント) in person. I had all but given up hope of going to this event.

But unfortunately, it's on a Sunday (2007/05/06). Furthermore, the event starts at 19:00. I have to be at work on the following day! Did I mention it's near Ikebukuro? Which means Tokyo, which means returning to Kobe via overnight bus is not an option, and neither is Shinkansen or a plane flight. I can't help but think that the Shinkansen will be packed on the Monday morning...

I'm elated and depressed at the same time. This is one of those times where I wished I lived in Tokyo for my hobbies. Oh I'll definately be there, but I'm going to face hell at work, but that's fine.