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| - | Here is another guide from IGN Boards by Flaherty0077.
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| - | It's not quite as good as Soohoo, but does have some other stuff.
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| - | "The real key to getting decent statistics (and actually making it to the minors) is by winning the games at the end of Season 2 and 3. Winning isn't exactly necessary, but every time you win you get another game, and every time you play you get +50ish to every single stat (depending on how you play), and you also get an extra week or two to fool around with - absolutely key if you're at the end of Season 3 (if you manage to get to the All Star game, you end up with something like 6-8 extra weeks, crucial if you're trying for an amazing character). As another bonus of winning games, if you win the Championship in season two you get the best item in the game - the Champ ring which gives you +2 on every stat every time you practice. Key.
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| - | While I've found there are many paths to making a half-decent character, my strategy is generally to study, then work my whole first year, work a bit into my second year, then buy every item I could possibly need (namely the sleep pillow, tourm ring and anti-injury necklace), then kick into high gear with training. It's important to note that EVERY single item does something significant. In most games like this you'll generally find that most equipment and items are superfluous and are just distracting you from actually getting stuff done (namely, practicing and building stats). NOT TRUE in this game. You can start the game and practice from week 1 till the end, and I guarantee you end up with less stats than someone who worked, studied and had a life.
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| - | I'll get into practice, equipment/items and abilities later, but I'll cover the three side modes - love, work and studying. Studying is key. Without it, you'll fail the game because you'll flunk out of college (did it my first time, was uber-pissed). With it, you can get a whole lot of things you'll find more or less required as you play success mode more and more.
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| - | LEVELS OF STUDYING
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| - | Level 1 - Honor Student - Can study longer (yawn - who cares)
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| - | Level 2 - Brilliant - Can see Hyper-Recov bar and how much practice effects you (absolutely key when you get down and dirty practicing)
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| - | Level 3 - Genius (I think, I dunno) - Can unlock the secret attributes of items (actually rather important, I'll cover later)
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| - | Level 4 - Inventor (tough to reach and use properly, but if you focus on it, exceedingly awesome)
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| - | It's almost necessary to reach level 2 every single time you go through Success. It allows you to know all you need to about practice, and lets you run on autopilot when it comes to final exams. Level 3 comes into play when you get equipment. Every bat and glove have abilities hidden in them (such as the Mioto Glove has 'Gold Glover'), and the more you use them, you'll eventually receive the ability (if you have level 3 studying). The abilities that the items give you are SERIOUSLY pricey, and getting level 3 with save a lot of hassle in the ability screen. Level 4 is fairly crazy. After you reach it, almost every time you study you either create a Powerin DX which is a mega-potion (that also increases your motivation, there-by requiring you not to care about it anymore), or unlock 'pressure-training,' which pumps up all the intense training (like the big strength practices). Hypothetically it also unlocks new training methods, but I haven't gotten it to do it for me. If you take the time to get to level 4, you pretty much NEED to get the pressure training mode, but since it's random, it may take a while to get it (can be fairly annoying).
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| - | Working is fairly straightforward. You get a job, you work at it, you make more money as you progress.
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| - | Level 1 - Job Master - Wage goes up
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| - | Level 2 - Smart Shopper - Wage goes up, shop becomes cheaper
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| - | Level 3 - Financier - Wage goes up, you make money every single week ($1-$30 range)
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| - | Level 4 - Uhhh, I don't remember - Wage goes up, can see equipment abilities
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| - | The unlockables for the jobs are fairly straightforward, so I'll focus on what they are. There are 3 jobs in the game, the yard-work, the pizza-delivery guy and the tutor. The tutor is by far the best (in my humble opinion) because you get bookworm and money-man at the same time, plus bonuses, PLUS a $300 bonus late in the game...trouble is you need to get the highest score in the class on your FIRST final and your character has a propensity to get frustrated with the kid and quit (seriously, it sucks). The yard job you get when you challenge your dad when he asks you to help with yard work. It takes a lot more energy, doesn't make much money, but randomly gives you abilities (bad ones too randomly, watch out)...basically I don't like it. The pizza job is consistent. You just see it listed, get hired when you select job, and make moola. Eventually they promote you to delivery man and you can make a ton of money (up to $220, more if you use the Marvin card). Important note about jobs, if you switch jobs, your wage resets (really stinks if you get up to level 3/4 while tutoring, then have to switch to pizzas).
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| - | As for love? It hurts (bam! Bon Jovi reference!). Really, it takes up a TON of time and money, for very little reward (unless you're big into the RPG-effect, then by all means, date several girls - you can). As you progress, you'll get better conversation abilities (star/worldly), and you'll get random items from 'fans.' But I avoid the Ladies Man section like the plague. I want baseball players, not girly men. But hey, that's just me. As for the girls, there are 3. Obviously Becky, who you meet at the beginning, is one - you can get her number after Alvin rejects her (seconds, I know...). Annie always shows up (I grow to hate foul balls getting knocked over the wall, it just summons her), and will make you do a lot of math. If you play success mode enough (like I clearly have - some say too freaking much), you will grow to hate her. As long as you do her problems, you'll get her number. Easy as pi (ahaha! A math joke! I'm on fire!). The third girl is only unlocked if you agree to try to get into the fraternity, but her name eludes me since I've since avoided her...maybe I have a personal problem with love? .....Nah
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| - | Ok, at some point here I've launched into all-out walkthrough mode. Whatever, we press on. Let's say, hypothetically of course, that you are now stuck with tons of cash, are studied up and are ready to get rockin on the baseball diamond. Whoa I say, first let's get shopping!
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| - | The shop gets unlocked sometime in the Jan-March of the first year area when Bison offers to sell you a bat (which unlocks Willy - fun and easy, but kind of takes the challenge out of winning the games...if you buy the bat, you'll know what I mean. Trying to avoid delving into the individual events of the game here). The shop, whose content changes every week it shows up, will sell you bats, gloves, shoes, wristbands (totally useless) and random items. I'm not going to tell you what items to buy, and what not to buy, but I'll offer a little bit of advice. Items DO NOT stack (tried buying 5 tourmaline rings, didn't work out). The two best items in the game cannot be bought in the store (the Gambler's ring can only be bought off the shady accessories guy, you'll know him when you see him and the Champ Ring can be obtained after winning it all Year 2). Every item does have a use, but not every item is necessary (the prince necklace increases the scout's view of you, nice and it works, but if you're following the basic premise of 'being good' it's not necessary). Finally, make sure you have a bat and glove when you start playing games at the end of year 2 (only a glove if you happen to be a pitcher), the abilities take a few games to unlock and you don't want to be behind the curve (unless you do, for some odd reason).
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| - | Onto practice! I generally start rocking at about the turn of the year in year 2, but to each his own, and it depends on your desired character and gameplan (important note - get a gameplan, it helps). There are always 5 practices available, however only a few are useful. For batters, you're first inclination is to go to 'swinging.' Not very useful. Focus on the harder practices like the strength machine and speed drills - you have a limited amount of time in the game, and no need to be cautious. Watch out for injuries, they really really stink (if you're feeling saucy, save before trying that 30% chance of injury practice). Other than that, practices are fairly straightforward - focus on maxing the stats you receive in each practice, non-intense practices increase in their payoff the more times in a row you do them (can pay HUGE dividends) and make sure you eventually vary what you do (getting 1000 strength points doesn't do much without some technique thrown in). Important note - while hitters are fine at the start of the game, the pitcher options STINK. Only the strength training is really a viable training method at the start, so you need to wait for one of the hidden training methods to become available (it's a random event, a pain to wait for). Each of the hidden pitcher training methods are GOLD (throwing, breaking ball throwing, target practice). There are hidden hitting ones too, but they aren't necessary.
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| - | Finally, abilities. There are over 100 abilities, and just like items, each one ACTUALLY DOES STUFF. I KID YOU NOT. It took me a long time to really grasp this concept, but quite literally, everything does do something, which allows for an incredible amount of customization between characters. I'm not going to delve deeply into the do's and don'ts, but I will offer several pieces of advice. Do not forget about technique, it's a tough stat to get in training, but it is required for virtually EVERYTHING (target practice for pitchers solves this +30 technique - love it). While training, note that there isn't just one training screen, there are 3. One for hitting/fielding, one for pitching, and one for mentality...took me 15 runs through before I saw that one (felt a bit dumb, this is why I tell you). Have a gameplan, identify what you want early on. An example of this is making a speedster ala Ichiro. You need speed and contact obviously, but you also will want the 'table setter', the 'good inf hitter', the 'great inf hitter', the 'stealing' and a load of other abilities, all of which come with a hefty price tag that you need to plan for paying. Feel free to forgoe some abilities - I tend to let all my pitchers have a G-D in control rather than pay the hefty technique price to gain an ounce of control (arm strength? who needs it?). "
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