On Thursday, April 23, 2015 2:04 AM, Hitoshi Doi <doi@usagi.org> wrote:
> That sounds about right.
> Right now I'm getting about 50% on EX and 30% on hard,
> so I suspect normal to be around 20% to 25% or so.


Of course, most of the common assists seem to be fairly useless when you're reliably
getting an S score playing on Normal.  Gold up?  Score up (from S)?  Character powers
up 10%?  XP up 10% on something that's worth less than 80 to begin with
(3xNormal)?  HP restore?  The only one I really get excited about is Silver Present
or Gold Present.  But on higher difficulties I imagine they are more useful, and it's
still fun to have *something* go off, even if it isn't that helpful.


>| One of these days I have to actually try to learn an Expert song.
>| Any suggestions on one to start with?
> The earlier songs are easier, just like with the hards.
> The daily songs are extremely hard.  I still can't do half
> of them on my iphone, even with my recovery teams.
>
> All of the pretty easy one have already ended.
> The easiest one available right now is probably Takaramonozu
> or Happy Maker, and I would consider those around in the middle.


Do the older ones eventually cycle back, or are they gone forever outside of Events?
Maybe I should learn on the English server, where the songs are older.



>| Went to a store that used to be mostly useless, but today it>| turned out to be
a treasure trove of Love Live goods.
>| Bought two issues of the School Idol Diary manga, two issues
>| of the more text-based School Idol Diary books (which had codes
>| for 2 SRs each),
> The next one should go on sale next week.


So I'll give the store a month.   :)    Which one goes on sale, the text-based one
with the SR codes?


>| the April issue of Dengeki G's Magazine
>| (which had a Rin/Maki/Hanayo keyholder),
> If you can find the April Dengeki G's comic, it came with

> a little Umi figure. 

>   http://akiba-search.net/snap/?20150301
They had Dengeki G's comic, I think, but didn't look closely enough.  Hm.  Yes, that
third picture is the magazine I bought, and can see the keyholder in the picture.
Recognize the School Idol Diary books in the foreground of that image as well.  :)



> The May issue of G's Magazine has a Hanayo figure.
> The June issue of G's Comic (going on sale next week)
> will have a Rin figure.
>   http://akiba-search.net/snap/?20141209


Think I remember seeing pre-orders for those on some internet fan goods site.  The
magazines, I mean.


>| a random Puchi Nendoroid (was Kotori),
> Bought one and got Kotori?  Very lucky.


I noticed that part of her hair was a separate piece that has to be plugged into place,
rather than being a single figure.  Maybe they thought it would be too fragile.


>| a random Nendoro id Plus 'Trading Rubber Strap' (was Nozomi),
>| the School Idol Festival Official Illustration Book
>| (Christmas Maki UR code), and the School Idol Festival Offical
>| Fan Book (Maki at the piano UR).
>
>| Two thumbs way up, as long as I don't think about how far they
>| were marked up above face value. :)
>
> Those books are heavy, so postage would be pretty expensive.


True, though as an import Japanese bookstore (Kinokuniya Books), I imagine they have
economy of scale in that regard.  But their magazine prices were set to about 67 yen
to the dollar, instead of the 120 or so that the exchange rate was the last time
I looked.  So the 1200 yen Dengeki G's Magazine was about $18, plus 10% sales tax.
By the current exchange rate, it would have been $10 before tax, so it's not an insignificant
markup.  Still cheaper than getting it mailed from Japan, though, and it
was fun to be able to walk in and see it and say, "Ooh, mine!".  :) 

It cost about $145 (after 10% sales tax) for all of the items I mentioned.  I think
the School Idol Diary manga were marked at $8 each, the text-based ones were more
like $11 or $12 (maybe I have that reversed, the 400 yen ones were the $8 item), the

Puchi Nendroid was $9, the rubber strap was $5 or $6, and the two School Idol Festival
'Official' books were somewhere... wait, I have the receipt in my pocket, why am I
guessing?  :)

Before the 10% sales tax, they were:
* The cheaper School Idol Diary books were $8.85 each
* The more expensive School Idol Diary books were $12.10 each
* Puchi Nendroid was $8.99
* Rubber Strap was $5.99
* Dengeki G's magazine was $17.40
* School Idol Festival books were $31 and $27.90.

They had the "Best Hits" 2 CD set, but I thought $67 was a little high.
(http://love-live.wikia.com/wiki/Muse%27s_Best_Album_Best_Live!_Collection)

Maybe that's not marked up as much as I thought it was, after a little Googling. 
I think it might be the one with the Blu-Ray, since the covers are different.  They
had the first season and second season soundtracks for the show itself, along with
a
surprising number of the individual group "singles" -- I definitely saw ones for Printemps,
BiBi, and White Lily, and recognized most of the covers from the in-game song list.


There was one more book I didn't recognize at all, though.  Let me see if I can find
an image of it....

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NEOBK-1722803Is that one familiar at all?


--Robert