Lessons
This time around there are just three lessons - Vocal, Dance and Visual.
Unlike the original game, if you're no good at one lesson you can't really substitute another, so it is best to get used to all of them quickly.
Lesson Fundamentals
Lesson Format
This time, the same as with SP, lessons take the form of seeing how much you can succeed within a fixed time limit.
For this reason, "super" lessons make it comparatively easier to get a perfect lesson. However, the money cost is 1,000 (10 times that of a normal lesson) so you will need to ensure that you have enough money on hand.
On the same week, two one-slot lessons of the same type cannot be held, but if you make the other one into a "super" lesson, that is OK.
Lesson Gauges
The same as before, depending on your success, BAD / NORMAL / GOOD / PERFECT, the result is split into four evaluations.
However, if you get the gauge to max and keep going until "BONUS!!" appears, you can expect an even higher increase in stats. You should proactively aim to get this bonus in all lessons.
※ There are reports that additional success after reaching "BONUS!!" on the gauge does not further increase stats (verification required.)
Maximum Values
The brighter portion of the VO. DA. VI. gauges (the part attributed to the idol themselves, i.e. not to the song, costume or accessories) cannot reach the end of the gauge.
From the Start button menu, under unit information (ユニット情報), the bottom left point of the nameplate for each idol lines up with the maximum you can acquire for each statistic.
For more information please refer to the Image Level section.
Special Lessons
This time, separate from the three standard types of lessons, there is also Hell Training. Details will be mentioned later.
■ Vocal Lessons
Vocal lessons increase the vocal (VO.) statistic.
Imitating a musical score with
, , , buttons (A, B, X, Y on 360) flowing across the screen, you have to press the respective button when it lines up directly above the microphone icon.
It is the same as the vocal lessons in previous games.
Guide
By pressing L1 or R1 (LB or RB on 360), you can increase the scrolling speed and if you're aiming to max out the gauge, you should be doing this.
The Japanese guide wiki has a note here about getting used to the 360 controller, in particular because of its strange reversal of buttons from other controllers. I don't think that applies so much for people in the west as most people are 360 gamers anyway, and we have chosen to focus on the PS3 version anyway, where the button layout is well known already. If you need practice with the PS button symbols, go and play Project Diva or Patapon or something else which uses them heavily.
What you should be aware of is the relation of buttons with each other. In particular, moving between
and or and is not as simple as moving between adjacent buttons. Most of the time this is not required and things are easy. However, as you do higher difficulty vocal lessons, these opposite button patterns will occur more and more, so beware.
As the difficulty level increases, the scrolling speed increases along with the number of notes, and it becomes harder to read. In particular, when the score crosses itself (after doing a loop,) slowing down the speed can make things much easier. As long as you don't miss any notes, slowing down here will not prevent you getting a bonus.
Even if you get used to it, compared to the other two lessons, this lesson can be hardest for getting the bonus.
■ Dance Lessons
Dance lessons increase the dance (DA.) statistic.
It begins at a standard tempo, so matching the tempo as best you can, press L1 and R1 (LB and RB on 360) in time with the rhythm.
The standard is 4 beats, but occasionally you need to press for 8 beats so pay attention to that.
If you successfully get KEEP it will continue to be 8 beats but if you miss a step it will return to 4 beats, so it should be easy enough to handle.
Guide
Just don't miss the rhythm.
Everything is fundamentally based on 4 beats, so it is just a matter of keeping the tempo in hitting the buttons.
At preparation time, the steps for the next beats are shown in advance, so just remembering which button to press first, L1 or R1, will improve your rate of success remarkably.
As you continue to succeed, the tempo will steadily increase, so take care not to break the rhythm.
A miss from pressing early will not be treated as a miss if it was the same as the previous button (in other words, stepping twice with the same button within the same beat is OK.) On turns where the same button is pressed for the whole set, using rapid fire is fine too.
■ Visual Lessons
Visual lessons increase the visual (VI.) statistic.
You succeed by touching all of the emotion panels which are the same colour as the lyrics displayed down the bottom.
It is the same as the arcade and SP versions of the visual lesson. However this time, when the target panels are at the same location as non-target panels, the target panels will definitely be on top, so you could say it has become a little easier.
Guide
With an increase in level the panels get smaller and will move faster.
If you rush it and accidentally hit another panel you will lose quite a bit of time, so rather than missing, it often becomes a good time-saver to wait for the panels to come to you.
Basically, watching the panel's movement and anticipating its position makes hitting the panel easier. If you go chasing panels, they can suddenly turn in the other direction and there are often other panels mixed in with it, so the odds of hitting the wrong panel increase.
By the way, for two lessons, visual and vocal, depending on the character, the amount of time lost can change a little. The guy writing this [translator: not me, although I seem to have noticed this too] just checked, but Yukiho was about 7 seconds, Miki was about 6 seconds, Chihaya was about 5 seconds (someone verify this please.)
■ Hell Training
Hell Training can increase all three stats, vocal, dance and visual. Additionally, it slightly increases the Memory gauge.
It doesn't occur unless you lose at a compulsory Festival, or your unit is in a condition where the game deems you need it.
The idols go running, and the goal is to, as much as possible, keep everyone's speed at the same level so that they run together.
Each time you pass a checkpoint, the gauge will increase, but as much as possible, it's good to adjust everyone's speed so that they run equally.
Guide
As far as rules which are not explained, if stamina decreases, the running speed will fall too, and if it becomes zero, they will not respond to orders to speed up or slow down. Just keep that in mind.
First, check everyone's speed. To gain distance, keep the slowest runner in "pace up". Then it is good to adjust the faster two to keep them in pace. Sometimes who should have been the slowest runner ends up coming out on top, so in that situation, you might have to slow them down.
As the guy writing this translation, my take on it (which is really just the same advice, thinking about it another way) is that at the start, set everyone at high speed - then if someone is getting too far ahead, slow them down to let the others catch up. By doing this, a perfect score is pretty much guaranteed. I have also noticed that regardless of the gauge at the end of the run, sometimes you will get a huge increase in the gauge for apparently no reason at all. So getting in the vicinity of perfect will often drive you into the bonus.
