Game development is a long process, and many ideas and staples can get cut during development for a variety of reasons. This can happen in spite of the game’s best interests or what the developers truly want to be in the game.Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s developers recently had a Reddit AMA, where they confirmed several cut features. Notable among them was the removal of aNew Game+ feature that was cut fromDragon Age: The Veilguard. Unfortunately, the AMA also revealed that there are no plans to implement NG+ in the future.
The developers at BioWare are turning their attention and resources to the nextMass Effect. UnlikeDragon Age: The Veilguard, it’s essential that the nextMass Effecthas a New Game+. A NG+ is a massive quality of life improvement for players when they replay a game and, especially for a game likeMass Effectwhere gameplay and combat is so crucial, it’s important to get this right.Mass Effect: Andromedahad a great NG+ system, so a NG+ mode for the series is not unheard of, nor is it impossible for Frostbite. As the nextMass Effectis still early in development, there’s still hope that this feature could be implemented.
The Importance of Including New Game+ in Games Like Mass Effect
NG+ is an immensely helpful feature and removes much of the tedium of collecting in subsequent playthroughs, particularly items such asweapons, armor, and aesthetics.Dragon Age: Inquisitionalso didn’t have NG+, but it did have a workaround in the form of the Golden Nug, a statue that allowed the player to sync their collectibles such as weapon and armor schematics across saves once they had completed the game at least once. Once this was done, all they had to do was resync with the Nug at the beginning of their next playthrough, and all their old schematics from the previous playthroughs would be available to them.
Mass Effectis a very different franchise fromDragon Agein many areas, but it has a lot in common withDragon Ageand other RPGs in regard to the need for NG+.Mass Effect 4should have a wide variety of weapons and armor to collect across the course of the game, while other valuables such as minerals and ores have been a staple of the series but tedious to gather at times, and could be carried over in NG+.
How Mass Effect Has Used NG+
None of the games in theMass Effect Trilogyhad NG+, but it wasn’t entirely necessary for any of them because the number of collectibles was negligible compared to the collectibles RPGs typically have today. From roughly 2014 on, RPGs tend to give players far more aesthetic and practical customization options, with dozens of weapons and armors to be found in-game alongside different options to customize them. For this reason, games likeDragon Age: InquisitionandThe Witcher 3: Wild Huntbenefitted from having NG+, as players were allowed to see different content on each playthrough.
Mass Effect: Andromedaincluded a NG+ mode, which allowed players to carry over their Ryder’s level when they ended their previous playthrough, in addition to powers they’d unlocked, non-mission items, research data, and credits. This allowed for a very different gameplay experience on a subsequent playthrough, making the early missions in the game more challenging thanks to the higher level foes, but also more dynamic thanks to the variety of powers and abilities that would be unlocked at that point. This same benefit could be felt byMass Effect 4if a New Game Plus mode is present upon its release, so hopefully BioWare makes the feature a priority.
Mass Effect Trilogy
WHERE TO PLAY
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