When I played my second playthrough on the iPod touch, I actually managed to get to a 5 star rank in year 5 as I was applying to rank up each year since Y1.
I’m playing a little differently this time in that I’m gunning to get regular customers first over comboing and investing. For investing, I typically don’t put any more money in until over half the people in a specific area are regular customers. :3 It’s working well so far since I think over 90% of people wandering into the mall are regulars now.
I also already fought off 2 rival malls. Neither of them lasted over 2 months. :3 I was actually surprised to encounter them so early in the game! The first one came while I was still at 4-star rank.
Anyway, it seems ideal to put large stores (that take up 3 squares like a Supermarket) near entrance areas or close to escalators and stairs since customers generally head to those first or at some point before a month ends. They also tend to have more stock, I think, which means more people buying before stock runs out.
I still kind of suck in obtaining hearts but since many people swarm the Customer Service desk on B1F nowadays (see screenshot above), it’s not that bad! I think I only have 2 or 3 more plans to buy. π
I’m hoping to beat my score from the iOS version where I got 788,322 on the second gameplay. I’m hoping to see something close to 1 million points! Not sure I can do it though but I’m gonna try. ^^
koukoupuffs 