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Which games do you feel have the best new game plus functionality?

Audioboxer

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Inspired by this topic, wanted to ask in there, but that topic is more about moaning about games that do not have it rather than those that do.

I'll throw out an easy starting point, the Souls games - Demons/Dark.
 
Chrono Trigger had the first NG+ I played and I thought it was pretty damn awesome.

You could fight the end boss whenever you wanted and the ending would completely change as a result.

Genius.
 
The Tales games and Devil Survivor games. Unlock New Game+ features with points earned by doing things ingame. Devil Survivor is the very best, where achievements unlocked are the only points available.
 
It shames me to say, I never completed Chrono Trigger. As I was a Sega then Sony boy growing up, I never owned a Snes. Only dabbled with it for some hours on emulators these modern days.
 
Chrono Chross + the Time Egg. Only game I can remember that lets you literally fast forward through most of it.
 
It shames me to say, I never completed Chrono Trigger. As I was a Sega then Sony boy growing up, I never owned a Snes. Only dabbled with it for some hours on emulators these modern days.

Chrono Trigger is available for PSOne

Resident Evil 4 is the king for me.
 
Inspired by this topic, wanted to ask in there, but that topic is more about moaning about games that do not have it rather than those that do.

I'll throw out an easy starting point, the Souls games - Demons/Dark.
Yup. Demon's Souls, for obvious reasons.
 
As much as I love Souls, they don't do anything new in NG just increase the difficulty, especially Demons Souls.

Best NG is probably Nier.
 
nier storywise, retreading the same shit AGAIN kinda sucks though. wish it just gave you the option to skip you ahead to boss fights or w/e.


does something like 999/VLR count?
 
breath of fire: dragon quarter for d-ratio runs, new dungeon, new cutscenes that add more context to the story. probably the only thoughtful ng+ system i've seen, actually
 
The existence of NG+ in the original Legend of Zelda blew my fragile child mind. I had no idea there was going to be a second quest until after I beat the game.
 
I remember loving Dead Space 2's new game plus, replayed that so many times - took a few playthroughs to max everything

And anything from Platinum games is guaranteed to have a great new game plus
 
Games like Super Metroid or Rudra no hihou.

What you learn the first play through helps you in the next.
 
Chrono Trigger by far had the best use... Before that there were games that had it, but it didn't really play an integral part. NG+ in CT was a necessity if you wanted to see all of the endings (and in 1995, you wanted to see all of the endings)

The existence of NG+ in the original Legend of Zelda blew my fragile child mind. I had no idea there was going to be a second quest until after I beat the game.

Not really a NG+, more of a second or master quest. You still started over with none of your equipment.
 
The World Ends With You does it well. On top of letting you keep all of your endgame equipment and stats, it allows you to jump to any point in the game at will, with any partner you want, and you can fast forward through cutscenes. In addition to that, there are missions that can be undertaken when playing through NG+ that unlock secret reports that add an entirely new layer to the game's plot. Combined with the game's ability to lower your level or HP at will, it makes for a really good time.

It was mentioned in the other thread, but Astro Boy: Omega Factor has a pretty brilliant plot-driven New Game+. Basically,
the game seemingly ends when a being called Death Mask shows up and wipes out every robot in existence: including Astro himself. However, he ends up being saved by a higher power (Tezuka's Phoenix, to be precise) that grants Astro Boy the ability to travel through time (as in, being able to play through all of the game's stages again) in order to fix things and keep the Death Mask incident from happening again.
 
The Jak games had something called Hero Mode, where you'd restart the game with things like unlimited ammo and unlimited transformations being unlocked really early. twas always fun to mess around in missions like that. Guns and other upgrades were kept,too, i think
 
Demon's Souls does it better than Dark Souls -- because of world / character tendency and how the upgrades work (you're not likely to max a weapon in one playthrough unless you kinda cheat the crystal lizards) and because the game is shorter than Dark Souls, but they're both good examples.

I fondly recall a NG+ in Wario Land for Virtual Boy but I can't find any information on it. All of the levels got harder, there were spikes everywhere, and my 10-or-so year old self was terrified.
 
Does Zelda 1 count? All-new dungon design and a shuffling of the overworld is pretty great imo.
 
A tie between Nier, TWEWY and BoF5.

I wouldn't call what 999 and VLR do NG+, it's like part of a single "real" playthrough.
 
Games that let you carry over equipment and abilities for hijinks, such as Demons Souls and Resi 4. Resi 4 was particularly strong because of the unique weaponry you could buy and grinding for it was never too tedious.
 
Besides Chrono Trigger, I'd definitely have to give a nod to Diablo 2. The game's depth and difficulty increases quite a bit with Nightmare and Hell difficulties.
 
I liked the one in Rogue Legacy, for the small game that it is. It bumped up the difficulty considerably and let me continue playing as before, keeping the challenge consistent while I unlocked more stuff. Even better: They had a New Game 2+ mode after that, to keep going even longer.

I didn't like the The Last of US one at all. I really wanted to play the game with all the stuff, but I also wanted to bump up the difficulty to hard, but I had to choose between the two. Ended up not playing it again at all.
 
Chrono Trigger is the obvious one.

I definitely like Ratchet and Clank's Challenge Mode/New Game+ too though. Especially the Bolt Multiplier mechanic (the more enemies you kill without getting hit back, the more bolts you get).
 
Nier definitely has the best NG+

Isn't a lot to do with adding story stuff and getting new endings? Resulting in what happens when you get everything?

If that's the case I think 999 and VLR should count. As your your previous game's events were related to the next.
Without going through one type of path and getting that ending the correct path would be cut short. This was because you needed information you got in that other playthrough. Akane is literally playing through scenarios and begining a New Game+ with the information from past scenarios
 
Vagrant Story added new areas to explore in NG+, so that was pretty cool. Same with Parasite Eve, I guess. Chrono Trigger's NG+ was so-so. Demon's/Dark Souls is a nice addition to anyone who wants a more challenging experience, but it wasn't for me. I'm not very fond of artifical difficulty increases.
 
Yeah, I came to say Ratchet & Clank. So much fun leveling up all those weapons and seeing what they turn into. I've completed most games in the series at least twice solely because of this feature.
 
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