What happened to New Game Plus?

~PsyPeng Dec 6, 2012

Why did the classic New Game Plus disappear? You know, the one where you restart the story without losing any of the extras you worked hard to achieve, such as your character level, weapons, currency, etc? The only games I remember it being active in are Chrono Trigger for SNES, Dead Rising 2, and Metal Gear Solid 4. Both of them let you restart from scratch without losing the rewards of your hard work and/or patience.

For games with heavy story, this was excellent - you could enjoy the entire thing again, without having to grind, or again spend days being stuck at that one boss because you're severely underleveled. You could have the same experience without the grind, or without the parts you did not enjoy.

With most games, the options for replay are anything but satisfying. They'll pull you into a higher difficulty you didn't want, make you go through the grind again, and/or completely drop anything you may have collected in the first playthrough.

What inspired this complaint? Final Fantasy XIII. Great characters, story, and cinematics... Gameplay... kind of stops being fun after the first few hours. Also, just now, Borderlands 2 - since it won't let me start the story again without also creating a new character. I'm also being annoyed by Arkham City, which not only locks you into a higher difficulty, but also lets you play a maximum of two times. Want to go again? Your only option is to delete your savegame and start from 0 all over again.

Am I the only one who is kind of bothered by this?

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Devious Comments

~superpika237 Dec 8, 2012 Student Traditional Artist

I heard Xenoblade has some nifty New Game+, but I haven't gotten to it because the game is so loooong

~TheRedSnifit Dec 7, 2012

Which games are you talking about? I can't think of many modern games that don't let you use NG+

~hydris Dec 6, 2012

Why did the classic New Game Plus disappear?

But it didn't.

~PsyPeng Dec 7, 2012

I exhaggerated a bit.

Seems to pop up significantly less often then it used to, though.

But I do admit I haven't played a lot of older games - maybe I was just lucky that the ones I played all had it where it was needed.

~ParadigmFallen Dec 6, 2012 Hobbyist Artist

Mass Effect

Batman: Arkham City's New Game Plus is rather realistic considering that otherwise the game is cake walk with everything at your disposal. There's a reason Asylum didn't include it at all.

Dead Space 1-2

Syndicate (Co-op portion)

FEAR 3

Borderlands (you load the character and it gives you an option of what playthrough you want)

Dragon's Dogma

Dark Souls

Flight (Kongregate)

Lots of games use it, and admittedly more should, but some don't or limit it for a reason.

~PsyPeng Dec 7, 2012

Yeah, and it's great when a game does it.
It's just that - some games desperately need it, and don't have it. Even though getting a New Game Plus working is a cakewalk compared to ten seconds of cutscene or action sequence...
In some games it could actually a bad thing - such as Beyond Good and Evil, where every collectible was relevant to the story, and the whole fun of photographing was getting them all in the first place.

~ParadigmFallen Dec 7, 2012 Hobbyist Artist

The only game I can think of that would seriously benefit from New Game Plus is Deus Ex: Human Revolution. And you actually can do that on PC, you just need to use the debug console patch for Burger Menu, then you could give yourself all your former abilities/weapons/items. And you could start from any point.

I don't see how cutscenes/action sequences even apply to this. The simple matter is that some games would just become broken. Red Faction Armageddon isn't even a challenge the first time through, and it almost becomes a chore of spamming abilities once you got New Game Plus and start unlocking cheats (as you'll unlock nearly every upgrade on your first playthrough).

*Blasian89 Dec 6, 2012 Student Digital Artist

Deus Ex Human Revolution SO BADLY NEEDED this...ugh so disappointed.

~HappyDuckCreator Dec 6, 2012 Student Artist

I don't really like playing a game after the credits unless there's new missions to do.

New Game + to me is like rewatching the same movie immediately after the credits.

~0rg Dec 6, 2012

both of the games I last played (dragon's dogma and dark souls) have ng+ mode, but only dark souls executes it well

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