Ensemble Stars Music Walkthrough
Units and Artists
In this game, you have the opportunity to recruit a diverse array of characters into your team. Upon starting the game, you are presented with a wide selection of starter characters to choose from.
Each artist belongs to a unit, which serves as their agency. These units play a crucial role in the game, and you can expand your group by recruiting artists from different units. Keep in mind that some artists are more skilled and expensive than others.
Star Maker Production – Known as STAR PRO for short, this idol production office was founded by an alumnus of Yumenosaki Academy, a prestigious school with a renowned idol course. STAR PRO is well-regarded for its inclusive and welcoming environment, often referred to as a “big family.”
Cosmic Production – Abbreviated as COS PRO, this agency is managed by Reimei Academy and Shuetsu Academy, both of which specialize in scouting young talents. COS PRO places great emphasis on producing high-quality idols. Although currently experiencing a slight stagnation, COS PRO still boasts a roster of exceptional artists.
Rhythm Link – Referred to as Rhyth Lin, this moderately-sized agency focuses on bands, creative singers, and various other types of artists. Their primary focus lies in music production rather than traditional idol production.
New Dimension – Often abbreviated as NEW DI, this budding agency may not have an extensive idol roster, but it is rapidly expanding its presence in theater operation, actor development, and program production. Despite being a small company, NEW DI holds tremendous potential for growth.
Scouting Artists
To recruit new artists, you must engage in scouting. In Ensemble Stars Music, artists are obtained through chance-based card pulls.
You can acquire new cards by utilizing DIA Scout Tickets. The game provides you with initial free tickets when you start playing. In the Scout menu, you’ll find various categories of idols to choose from. Each category offers a set of cards that can be obtained randomly when using a ticket. You can review the available cards by clicking on the “Card List” button. Additionally, you can click on “Try on” to preview the artist’s 3D model and get a glimpse of their appearance before attempting to obtain their card.
Story Mode
Ensemble Stars features an engaging story mode presented in a visual novel style, which depicts the journey of the group members in the entertainment industry.
The main story is divided into multiple chapters, with each chapter containing episodes. These episodes can either be story levels resembling visual novel segments or rehearsal levels that require playing a rhythm game. Story levels can be played with or without voiced dialogues.
Rehearsal levels allow you to play as the members in a rhythm game format. There are no limitations on the number of attempts. You only need to achieve the required target score to progress to the next level and earn Diamonds (the premium currency). Completing a rehearsal stage for the first time unlocks two special missions, offering additional diamonds as rewards. Furthermore, you may also receive EXP Tickets (used for upgrading artists) and Gems.
Apart from the main story, there are campaign stories available, which are limited-time stories centered around specific characters. Playing through these campaigns allows you to earn bonus diamonds. Note that some campaign stories can only be accessed if you possess the artist card of the featured character.
Playing the Live Stage
The core gameplay of Ensemble Stars revolves around live stage performances, where you control the group members during their performances. These stages are known as Live Stages, but they may also be referred to as rehearsals within the main story.
Ensemble Stars offers a wide selection of songs to play. Each song can be played at various difficulty levels: easy, normal, hard, and expert. Playing a song consumes BP, which represents your stamina level. If you run out of BP, you won’t be able to participate in live stages. However, playing rehearsals within the main story does not require BP.
Before performing a song, you must select the members who will be part of the lineup. The quality of the lineup directly affects the maximum score you can achieve in the stage. You can assign up to five members and two support members. Clicking on “Auto Lineup” allows the game to choose the best members for you. Additionally, you can select which member will have a solo performance during the stage.
The live stage consists of multiple nodes arranged in a curve. As the artists perform, notes descend onto these nodes, and you must click on them at the precise moment they land. The closer your timing is to the node, the more points you earn. If you’re playing with BlueStacks, you can activate nodes by pressing the assigned keys. You can customize the controls according to your preferences by following the provided guide. Successfully activating multiple nodes consecutively results in a combo, which multiplies your final score.
Upgrading Artist Cards
Artists can be enhanced, enabling them to achieve higher scores during live performances or rehearsals.
You can level up an artist to improve their three abilities: dance (Da), vocal (Vo), andperformance (Pf). These abilities determine an idol’s proficiency as a live stage performer. To level up an artist, you need to spend EXP Tickets, which come in small, medium, and large sizes. The larger the EXP Ticket, the more EXP it provides. You may need to spend multiple tickets to earn enough EXP to advance the artist to the next level.