Last night, I had the pleasure of finishing Lightning Returns on a New Game Plus playthrough. This is actually something of a rarity for me, because for as many games as I've enjoyed that have NG+ systems, I've very rarely gone back to play through entire games over again with them and whatever bonuses they provide. Even for Persona 4, I ended up stopping a little after Rise's dungeon because I didn't feel like slogging the rest of the way through the game again at the time.

But Lightning Returns has some really cool elements that only become available in a New Game Plus, like upgrading weapons and shields, and the ability to play through the game powered up gave me the opportunity to do things I hadn't done the first time through. They even throw in a twist at the end by powering up the final boss to make him more difficult. (I did beat him on the first try, but I got zero stars out of five for that performance.) Of course, my enjoyment of the game itself also went a long way toward the desire to play it again on a NG+.

So what are some of your favorite games with NG+ systems and the way that they're used? (The first person to say Chrono Trigger gets the Captain Obvious 2014 award.)

Vagrant Story was cool since you'd be powered up, but with the Blood-Sin you'd also get access to all sorts of new areas. Lots of new weapons to acquire, and you'd just keep going through the game and building yourself a little VS career save.

I still got mine with around 10 playthroughs on it. All Break Arts, all spells, all the hidden weapons. I turn the game on once every year or so just to see all my cool shit again.

Oh, and Chrono Cross since you can just fast forward through everything. Bunch of really, really weird endings to go for.

Nier had the only NG+ that mattered.

Ocarina of Time also pulled a clever trick by decrypting the "Hyrule language" dialogue found throughout the game, but it didn't have as great an impact on the story as Nier's NG+ did.

Dark Souls 2 has an interesting NG+ as well.

None of them compare to Nier, though. Nier was just revelatory.

None .... I like to play games that have everything available to the ones who seeks stuff , I hate to have blocked content in order to force me to replay a game (Yes this goes againts Souls games as well). And usuallyy the added content is so abysmal that it is pointless. And In Lightin Returns I wanted to improve my stuff but no it has to be on NG+ .... ridiculous I say >:(

Nier, I think.

Never did the super-ultimate-delete-your-save New Game Plus, but I love the idea of it.

Oh, and Bastion had a pretty good New Game Plus as well.

Phantom Brave, kind of.

Nier.

Also Alan Wake was cool, with the idea of colecting all the manuscripts.

The Force Unleashed was cool for blowing away the enemy with all the powers.

I get to say "Falling for me, huh?" to Chie in Persona 4

So Persona 4?

Dark Souls 2 has a pretty good NG+

I'd say just about any Disgaea game or Borderlands, though I really wish there was a way to skip the introductory parts of Borderlands once you've beat it once with a character.

I would not say Nier because it's NG+++ that matters, not NG+. Also, it's not a good game to start with, so playing the second half 4 times is a really dumb thing to do.

I think I ended up playing Resident Evil 5 4 or 5 times because of all the extra stuff. Getting to play as Shiva. Getting to level up some sweet guns that you couldn't even afford on the first play through. Getting unlimited ammo for some ridiculous weapons It was new fun each time.

Ico is another one where you get a different perspective the second time through. You actually get subtitles in english for both characters instead of just Ico.

The Ratchet and Clank games always had great NG+ modes. Borderlands, too, particularly the first.

Diablo

Shadow Complex, I guess? I rarely play games a second time, especially not right away again. A game has to really grab me for me to want to jump right back in (and even then it doesn't always occur, such as with Lightning Returns). SC is one of the only times I can think of that I played time and time again to completion.

Say what you want about Resident Evil 5, the NG+ was fantastic. I probably played through that game a dozen times. If you skipped the cutscenes, you could get through in a very few hours.

That definitely made it worse when I lost all my saves after I sent my PS3 to be repaired. I couldn't back them up beforehand, the power supply was toast, so it wouldn't start and at the time, I had nowhere to put the HDD.

Resident Evil 2 and Chrono Trigger

Chrono Trigger

I did Nier and did all the endings (used PS+ to "protect" my save) but I never really thought of it as really that good a way of NG+. I liked the story but it was just dumped you back to a certain part and added bits here and there. I liked Nier but never found the NG+ impressive.

I think the best NG+ system I've seen is the one in the Tales series which allows you to customize the difficulty as you see fit. Sometimes after I've played a game, I would like the option to have bonuses transfer over so I don't have any grinding to do.

I finished P4G a while back and when I do go to replay P4G in the future ( I want at least a good solid 6 month break from finishing it) that I don't have grinding to do and all the Persona I unlocked are still there and any grinding still has some benefit in my new game. I also like (even though I haven't used it) the difficulty modifiers they provide so I can customize it a little

@strife777 said:

But it's not like it done anything noteworthy with the concept, though. It just simply allowed you to carry over your inventory. Which if you enjoy playing the game sure that's great, but otherwise it's still not an especially standout use of the NG+ concept.

Wait, wot. I assume you're referring to the B Scenarios? If so I don't really think they'd count... I think? I mean you do traverse a lot of the same environments, fight the same bosses, solve the same puzzles... although you of course don't carry over anything inventory/supplies wise, which is commonly associated with NG+ modes.

You speak madness sir. Playing through the game again, grinding for all the hidden weapons and then trying to beat professional difficulty are the perfect example of what a New Game + mode should be about. Or are you going to deny Dead Space 2 a rightful place as well, given that it does a very similar thing?

Chrono Trigger, just because of all of the different endings you can get.

Ninja Gaiden Black.

Pretty much my thoughts exactly. Also the only game where I explored the NG+ feature. Drakengard 2 kinda does the same thing, but I wasn't motivated enough to go through it again.

Though, I think its kinda hard to classify Nier as NG+ since the "NG+" could be considered as the full Nier experience, and thats where the game truly ends.

Great idea for a thread.

I suppose it has to be Dead Space 1 - it's the same game, but it feels so different starting with a bunch of equipment.

RE5

Here's some blasphemy for you - I didn't want to play Chrono Trigger's NG+ because it didn't scale normal encounters to a higher level. Instead, everything's just a nuisance. I'll go back and play NG+ someday, but at the time I was hoping for a higher difficulty.

But again, you're placing emphasis on the actual game rather than the concept of NG+. Simply allowing you to carry over your stuff is as basic as they get, and while it's obviously appreciated in games that feature gameplay that's good enough to warrant replaying, that shouldn't mean RE5 for example has one of the best examples of NG+. The actual game itself doesn't change in anyway whatsoever; no additional enemies, secrets or what have you specifically tailored to NG+.

For my own suggestion, I'd throw in Dragon's Dogma, if only because it even manages to work the story around the idea, given the 'world loop' thing. Bastion is another for similar reasoning, though the way the narrator will also dynamically change specifically because of your NG+ setting is extra impressive.

totally forgot about Dragon's Dogma. When the ending came around again and my previous Arisen was revealed as the current "God" my jaw hit the floor. That was a really clever use of NG+ in that game.

Not sure about Bastion, though. I dabbled in the NG+ of Bastion but I thought the "dynamic changes" people talked about in regards to the narrator were overblown. A comment here or there didn't really justify it in my eyes.

That was a total game changer in P4, so of course I'm gonna agree. Also, I agree that DS2 has a decent NG+.

If 999/Virtue's Last Reward count, I've gotta go with that. Having the replay factor into the story was by far one of the most amazing narrative techniques I've seen in the games I've played.

The original Legend of Zelda's second quest.

if you want me to playthrough again (right away) you gotta give me some good reason to do so. The second quest changed all the dungeon locations and their layouts. Now that was fun.

in general I'm not a fan of NG+. There's often too much that's the same. There are some games that use it well, but most times I've seen it used it hasn't been.

I don't know if this counts but after beating Lunar 2 you could play an epilogue that had a little extra story and four really hard dungeons. It was a cool addition that added just a little extra content to the main game to those that wanted to challenge themselves.

I might have played through Resident Evil 4 until I had the exact arsenal I wanted completely maxed out.

In decent memory, the souls games and Dead Space 2 stand out to me as being great NG+ games. I'm sure I could come up with more but this is just thinking in the last few years and off the top of my head.

@yummylee: hmmmmmm, yeah, your right. Just more the early era of excuse to replay games, NG+ wasn't really a standardized in those games as it is now.

@oldirtybearon: Truth be told I didn't play very far into Bastion's NG+, as I... well, didn't care for it very much to begin with >_> Though I figured from what I had heard that it would continue on from there in a similar manner to the opening. Oh well, then. Still, it was a nice touch all the same.

Chrono Trigger's NG+ was the perfect way for me to spend my abundant free time as a teenager. I min/maxed the fuck out of that game. I had 6 PrismSpecs.

Also Diablo because it's Diablo and RE5 because I thought the gameplay was sublime.

I kind of liked Chrono Cross's fast forward button in NG+. It could be used to speed up everything in the game (besides the pre-rendered cut-scenes).

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon

The "Class" specializations were a great way to give the game a new way for you to tackle it.

I'm having a real hard time thinking of one that I actually played. I did Nier's new game+, but it was really just the exact same shit as the first time around plus a tiny extra bit of cutscene. The third time around to get the super-secret final boss was just a fucking slog. I can appreciate what Nier was trying to do with its narrative, but the piss-poor combat, practically useless arsenal (it's incredibly easy to get the best weapon the first time around, and then the rest of the weapons in the game are entirely useless) and it not revealing everything that's going on until you've beaten it no less than four times (and each subsequent playthrough reveals very little really, and there's no reason they couldn't have just put it all in the first time through) is utter bullshit.

At risk of beating a dead horse, Crono Trigger is the best example I can think of of a new game+ done right.

Oh yeah, I liked the Ratchet & Clank new game pluses too, even if they were really just a case of escalating numbers. There's something so satisfying about maxing out your entire arsenal by blowing fools up. It helps that you can just skip the cutscenes and be near-constantly firing at things the whole game.

Chrono Trigger is the one I can think of. I like that you get to keep your level. In most games your level is reset like FFX-2 or in Atelier games. Oh and Of course the Diablo and Diablo like games like Titan Quest and such.

I didn't know Vagrant Story had a New Game+ but then I have never gotten that far into the game. I bought that game for cheap at the end of the PS1 life cycle. I think after the PS2 was out.

Dead Space 2 and Resident Evil 5. Phenomenally well-implemented difficulty options that account for your ability to break the game and balance accordingly.

Played through Resident Evil 4 a bunch of times on NG +. So much stuff to unlock. Persona 4 is also fun to play through on NG + to unlock crazy Personas and just destroy everything.

It's a pretty basic example but I can't tell you how excited I was to realize the latest Devil May Cry had a new game+. And I felt like The Last of Us having that mode was a nice acknowledgement that they really thought they'd built a fun combat system, but let guys like me who were exhausted of it by the time body armor Fireflies were coming from everywhere get to play with the upgraded tools in a tamer environment. The Chrono games were obviously great about New Game +, probably still the two most standout examples for me.

Resident Evil 4 is by far my most New Game Plus'd game.

It's interesting seeing Resident Evil's 4 & 5 coming up so often, I totally agree but it just reminds me how poorly 6 handled that system by tearing out the weapon upgrades and leaving you with a bunch of skills that A) I never felt the impact of and B) Took forever to improve and I say that as someone who liked that game post camera patch.

@yummylee: In RE2, I'm pretty sure playing both the A and B stories in NG+ had the true endings and different story events throughout. Things like the terminator guy starts coming after you and such.

Bastion.

Nier has the best implementation of NG+ for story. Ever.

The Ratchet and Clank games generally had pretty fun NG+ modes.

I don't know if I like the NG+ in Dark Souls... Getting killed by Manus over and over again... Some of those magic attacks are ridiculously hard to dodge (not using the shielding magic)

I always thought the way the Tales of games did their new game plus was pretty cool. The whole grade shop thing.

No one mentioned Fez? I'm disappointed.

Any game that let's me steamroll through early-game content using end-game characters is A-OK in my books. I love them all! Especially for how easy is made Dragon's Dogma