Summary
JRPGs are renowned for theircompelling stories and complex progression systems, but New Game Plus elevates the experience to another level. This feature allows players to revisit the game with accumulated resources, facing more intense challenges or exploring new narrative paths, thus celebrating replayability and giving purpose to the player’s achievements in the initial adventure.
Among the best JRPGs with New Game Plus, those that stand out offer not only adjusted difficulty but also surprises like exclusive enemies, new areas, or even alternate endings. This feature becomes more than just a bonus; it is a tool to experience the game in unprecedented ways, ensuring that each journey is accompanied by unique moments.
One of the best PlayStation 1 JRPGswith New Game Plus isVagrant Story, produced by Square Enix, a developer known for adding this mode to many of its titles. Here, however, beyond restarting the journey with part of the progress from the first save, players have new content to experience.
That’s because, at the end of the first run, the character gains access to a key that unlocks new areas inVagrant Story, which were locked throughout the game. To visit them, it’s necessary to start a new adventure, where even new bosses and enemies can be found, enhancing the experience of revisiting the story.
Among the franchise’s games,Persona 4 Goldenis the one that has the most content, like dialogues, blocked by the Social Stats that the protagonist can level up through the game’s extra activities. However, in a first playthrough, it’s unlikely that the player will be able to select all these responses, so part of the content remains inaccessible.
Therefore, the New Game Plus ofPersona 4 Goldenis one of the best in the series, because by allowing the protagonist to keep the Social Stats from the previous version, it makes the game’s time management easier. Additionally, although the story remains relatively the same, it’s still possible to access a new summoning and an extremely powerful optional boss.
Digimon Surviveis a visual novel set in theDigimonuniverse, combining dark fantasy elements to create an engaging and somber narrative. During the first playthrough, essential characters inevitably die, showcasing some of the heavier atmosphere that the game possesses.
In New Game Plus mode, it’s possible to save these crucial characters, unlocking the “Truthful Route.” Moreover, players can carry over recruited Digimon, items, and evolutions from the previous play, providing new encounters and more complex challenges. This functionality significantly expands replayability, offering a new perspective and enriching the experience in the Digimon world.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2offers a New Game Plus system enriched by the carryover of Blades, allowing players to start a new journey with their Blades and abilities acquired during the first playthrough. This makes it possible to begin the new journey without significant limitations on what can be done.
This mechanic increases replayability, allowing exploration of different combinations of Blades and strategies. It’s even possible to lower the character’s level and exchange that EXP for new abilities exclusive to New Game Plus. Thus, players can customize the game’s challenges, although enemies do not scale to match the new progression.
One of the most unique New Game Plus modes among JRPGs can be experienced inFinal Fantasy 7 Remake, allowing players to use Chapter Select to revisit any completed chapter. Unlike traditional modes, this system keeps levels, equipment, and Materia acquired, but also lets players enter any moment of the story they wish.
Additionally, the New Game Plus ofFF7 Remakeincludes bonuses like doubled EXP and tripled AP,along with the introduction of Hard Mode, which presents additional challenges for the most dedicated. As one of the JRPGs with one of the best New Game Plus modes, it ensures high replayability, allowing players to explore all aspects of the game, especially those specific ones that could be missed during the first playthrough.
Despite being a franchise with well-established roots,Pokemon Black & White 2managed to make some changesto the series' formula, such as producing a direct sequel to other games and also adding a New Game Plus. Known as Challenge Mode, after completing the game for the first time, it’s possible to restart the journey from scratch but with new challenges.
In this new difficulty level, all the trainers' Pokemon underwent some overhaul, like increased levels or even new options added to each one’s team. Moreover, the artificial intelligence used by each to make decisions is also enhanced, making the battles more strategic overall.
One of the great PlayStation 1 classics,Parasite Eve, is a JRPG that introduces a New Game Plusthat considerably expands the player’s experience. After completing the main campaign, a new area called Chrysler Building is unlocked, offering an additional challenge with floors filled with tougher enemies and exclusive rewards, including the game’s true ending.
In this mode, players can carry over weapons, equipment, and items from the first playthrough, allowing the character to have enough power to face new challenges. Furthermore, battles become more intense, making this additional mode a true experience for fans of the game, especially since the save point can only be reached every 10 floors and many of the visited locations are randomly generated.
Another game from Square Enix that makes intelligent use ofNew Game Plus isBravely Default 2, which uses this mechanic to allow players to customize the experience in different ways. It’s possible to choose what the characters will have access to in this new run, such as abilities, levels, and notes.
Although it doesn’t have any new content that can be reached in a New Game Plus run, the purpose of this mode in this JRPG is to allow players to replay the game with the progress they’ve already acquired. This makes it easier to experiment with new job combinations or complete any content left aside in the first run.
Tales of Vesperiais celebrated for its engaging narrativeand dynamic combat system. The inclusion of the Grade Shop as a standard mechanic of the series enhances the New Game Plus experience, allowing players to customize their new journey by selecting various options they wish to inherit, adjusting the progression according to each one’s playstyle.
This flexibility provides rich replayability since each new run can follow different paths based on the choices made in the Grade Shop. Moreover, unlike other games in the series,Tales of Vesperiadoesn’t have much content that can be explored only in a new run. However, it’s still an excellent JRPG for fans of the possibility of a journey through New Game Plus.
Beingone of the pioneers among JRPGsto add New Game Plus in runs,Chrono Triggeralso executed the possibility of restarting the journey while carrying part of the progress from a previous save very competently. That’s because the game has several alternate endings that can be achieved by defeating the final boss at certain moments in the story.
Although it’s almost impossible to reach them during a first run, the New Game Plus ofChrono Triggerallows players to see how the characters' influence on the game’s timeline alters the world. Thus, extra endings - funny or even tragic - can be obtained depending on which missions were completed or not during that part of the story.
