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Games that Weave NG+ into their narrative

Akiba756

Akiba756

Member
Oct 1, 2020
1,189
Sao Paolo, Brazil
Most games treat Newgame+ as a purely gameplay feature, with no story bearing


But Super giant games first game, Bastion had a interesting implementation of it
SPOILERS
The game is about the protagonist exploring a world destroyed by war in search of a miraculous device that will supposedly fix everything
He eventually finds it, turns out, it's a time machine, the catch is that it also resets the memory of all living beings,
When someone asks its creator if there is any guarantee that the war won't happen again, they simply answer: "I don't know"

I found that to be a genius way of "justifying" new game+ storywise


What other games do you think were clever in implementing it
 
Crisium

Crisium

Member
Oct 25, 2017
701
Beating Chrono Trigger earlier in a new normal playthru is basically impossible for regular (non hackers / pro) players right? So New Game+ gives you like a dozen different endings that, as intended, are impossible to see normally. As far as I remember, it's been decades since I played.
 
Crisium

Crisium

Member
Oct 25, 2017
701
Also does Bravely Default 1 count
it's not new game plus officially, but the game makes you replay it much to the disappointment of millions
 
blueredandgold

blueredandgold

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,975
I think this was what done me in on Hades. Not that I didn't think it was an interesting idea and I do enjoy Supergiant's stuff.

All the talking heads ended up just being white noise and I couldn't quite bring myself to continue Zag's quest at some point.
 
Giga Man

Giga Man

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
21,415
Undertale counts, right? I remember the Pacifist route having a slightly different ending if you did Genocide route before it.
 
VF850

VF850

Member
Jul 14, 2022
37
demosthenes said:
This, it's recent and I haven't played any other game that matches NG+ into the narrative as much as this game did.
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For me honestly It was the first game I played where NG+ is actually well integrated into the story to the point where I actually did 2 NG+ playthroughs, I generally don't do It because It often makes no sense narratively and It sometimes breaks the balance of the game, while in starfield It felt like a natural path of the game.
 
demosthenes

demosthenes

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,739
VF850 said:
For me honestly It was the first game I played where NG+ is actually well integrated into the story to the point where I actually did 2 NG+ playthroughs, I generally don't do It because It often makes no sense narratively and It sometimes breaks the balance of the game, while in starfield It felt like a natural path of the game.
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I sort of wish I would have pushed to NG+ after hearing about it. I put like 100 hours into NG. When I got to NG+ I just wanted to wait for DLC or something.
 
GulfCoastZilla

GulfCoastZilla

Shinra Employee
Member
Sep 13, 2022
7,037
Starfield gets a lot of flack but the answer is Starfield. Did NG+ like 5 times in 3 days just to see the differences.
 
Trisc

Trisc

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,496
Crisium said:
Beating Chrono Trigger earlier in a new normal playthru is basically impossible for regular (non hackers / pro) players right? So New Game+ gives you like a dozen different endings that, as intended, are impossible to see normally. As far as I remember, it's been decades since I played.
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Got it in one. Once you reach the End of Time, you can fight Lavos whenever you want.

That's before mentioning Chrono Trigger coined the term "new game plus".
 
ragolliangatan

ragolliangatan

â–˛ Legend â–˛
Member
Aug 31, 2019
4,557
I really dig how Starfield did it, for all the shit it gets for it's story+writing the way NG+ is weaved into the narrative is done really nicely.
 
Spoit

Spoit

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,132
I did it for the earlier borderlands games, but at a certain point, playing the game again just to get a handful of extra lines wasn't really worth it. But 2's was pretty good
 

mclem

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,605
There's one game, on the GBA, that I would argue is a *near-perfect* example of this; the only thing that would put me off saying so is that it could be regarded as not true NG+, *because* it's so tightly integrated into the narrative that it could easily be seen more as The Rest Of The Game. But unfortunately, making it clear *what* game I'm talking about is a *massive* spoiler, so only go on if you're willing to accept that!

Astro Boy: Omega Factor plays out as a linear action game, working through platform beat-em-up-y levels until you get to the final boss... who activates a device that destroys all robots. But then Astro Boy is revived by Phoenix and granted the ability to move forwards and backwards through time, at which point the game opens up into an almost metroidvania-esque design of you finding alternative exits from the original levels and exploring new levels, trying to find the means to prevent the actions at the end of the original playthrough
 
Voror

Voror

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,618
mclem said:
There's one game, on the GBA, that I would argue is a *near-perfect* example of this; the only thing that would put me off saying so is that it could be regarded as not true NG+, *because* it's so tightly integrated into the narrative that it could easily be seen more as The Rest Of The Game. But unfortunately, making it clear *what* game I'm talking about is a *massive* spoiler, so only go on if you're willing to accept that!

Astro Boy: Omega Factor plays out as a linear action game, working through platform beat-em-up-y levels until you get to the final boss... who activates a device that destroys all robots. But then Astro Boy is revived by Phoenix and granted the ability to move forwards and backwards through time, at which point the game opens up into an almost metroidvania-esque design of you finding alternative exits from the original levels and exploring new levels, trying to find the means to prevent the actions at the end of the original playthrough
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I still have my copy of this game and absolutely loved it. Wish it could get a re-release of some kind so people could try it out.
 
Eamon

Eamon

Prophet of Truth
Member
Apr 22, 2020
3,642
I'll echo several others and say Starfield.

I won't say any spoilers but the differences and opportunities it allows the player are really awesome, especially in a game of choice and consequence.
 
Orayn

Orayn

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,277
Armored Core does this in a weird way, the NG+ runs do start the story over but they allude to a more experienced version of the protagonist who's somehow gone through these events before.
 
EvaUnit787

EvaUnit787

Banned
Aug 6, 2023
1,403
Starfield

It does a decent enough job at it, but it could've been so much better. Right now it is more of a gimmick to see what weird stuff shows up, but actually having designed the game around it would've been so much better. If Starfield was a shorter game and was more like a Deathloop or Outer Wilds then the whole repeating narrative could've been done better and the actual NG+ would have actual relevance beyond gimmick.

I just imagine a game where you keep beating it in about 5-8 hours but you need to replay it a gew times to get an idea of what the critical path is then after that have a real NG+ like they did. Same Bethesda RPG style same stuff, but broken down in a very different structure.

As it is we just got a generic Bethesda RPG woth flavors of a space/time travel game. I still lo ed the classic Bethesda in it and played like 200 hrs but it was so flawed and everything so basic beyond what depth their rpg style could ad.


Dragons Dogma 2

Another recent one with a great endgame/NG+ but my issue there is that a lot of the story/questing feels half baked and many stuff is bugged.

I am still loving it and hope they still give us a meaty DLC.
 

Selane

Member
Oct 27, 2017
136
Soul Nomad NG+ is some crazy shit and one of the rare instances where it doesn't just make a few minor changes or just change the ending. It's basically a whole new thing.
Crisium said:
Beating Chrono Trigger earlier in a new normal playthru is basically impossible for regular (non hackers / pro) players right? So New Game+ gives you like a dozen different endings that, as intended, are impossible to see normally. As far as I remember, it's been decades since I played.
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It's not a part of the narrative, though. It's something they intended for people to use, and to their credit I think Chrono Trigger literally invented New Game+, but it has nothing to do with the story.
 
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Android Sophia

Android Sophia

The Absolute Sword
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
6,195
mclem said:
There's one game, on the GBA, that I would argue is a *near-perfect* example of this; the only thing that would put me off saying so is that it could be regarded as not true NG+, *because* it's so tightly integrated into the narrative that it could easily be seen more as The Rest Of The Game. But unfortunately, making it clear *what* game I'm talking about is a *massive* spoiler, so only go on if you're willing to accept that!

Astro Boy: Omega Factor plays out as a linear action game, working through platform beat-em-up-y levels until you get to the final boss... who activates a device that destroys all robots. But then Astro Boy is revived by Phoenix and granted the ability to move forwards and backwards through time, at which point the game opens up into an almost metroidvania-esque design of you finding alternative exits from the original levels and exploring new levels, trying to find the means to prevent the actions at the end of the original playthrough
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

This is one of my favorite games ever, but I'd argue that this is more the second half of the game than a true New Game Plus.
 
twothreesix

twothreesix

Member
Jun 7, 2018
65
Astro Boy: Omega Factor has my favorite gimmick for this. Also one of the last few great games that Treasure made.

Beating the game exposes that something is messing with time. It then unlocks stage select and you have to jump around the stages to figure out how to fix things and get the true ending. Also, time being messed with causes small changes to the stages, which switches up gameplay and prevents rerunning through the game from getting stale.
 
Begaria

Begaria

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,671
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is nuts for this. The mechanic behind the game is Ryu starts off at the lowest possible D-Ratio (i.e. class in society) and as you do certain things while beating the game, your Dragon Ratio will increase. The idea is to do multiple runs through the game, doing a specific amount of things in order to increase Ryu's ratio to 1:4 or Dragon Quarter (hence the title).

As your title increases throughout subsequent runs, more of the story is unveiled, specifically from the villains' point of view. On top of that, more areas, weapons, and items can be discovered as doors will unlock for higher D-Ratios.
 
Gavalanche

Gavalanche

Prophet of Regret
Member
Oct 21, 2021
18,774
Dark Souls 2 adds enemies, different boss move and items in new game plus. Also Sweet Shalquoir will make vague references to her knowing you are in new game plus.
 
OskarXCI

OskarXCI

Banned
Nov 11, 2018
1,252
Final Fantasy Type-0

There are additional cutscenes that are only shown during New Game+.
 
Ry.

Ry.

AVALANCHE
Member
Oct 10, 2021
1,315
the planet Zebes
Most Souls games, Alan Wake 2. Didn't know that about BoF V, I should really play that at some point.

Someone should make a Dark Tower RPG.
 
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