Coffee Talk #409: New Game Plus and You

I love “new game+” modes. To me, they’re a nice reward for beating the game. I love being able to replay an RPG with all the equipment and powers I’ve earned. There’s something gratifying about going through a 40-hour RPG in 1/4 the time…

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I love “new game+” modes. To me, they’re a nice reward for beating the game. I love being able to replay an RPG with all the equipment and powers I’ve earned. There’s something gratifying about going through a 40-hour RPG in 1/4 the time thanks to the use of ridiculous weapons and crazy powers. If it were up to me, every game would have a “new game+” mode.

To my amazement, some of my friends don’t enjoy these modes. To them, there’s nothing fun about plowing through a game unchallenged. They think it’s boring and unsatisfying. Beating a game that way feels cheap and hollow to them.

What’s your stance on “new game+”? Do you enjoy it? Do you think it’s cheap? Perhaps it’s cheap and enjoyable? Leave a comment and let me know (please!).

Author: RPadTV

https://rpad.tv

41 thoughts on “Coffee Talk #409: New Game Plus and You”

  1. If it's cheap, I don't care. I love to decimate the opposition, especially in sports games.

    Dead Rising now has 3 titles that all rely on this phenomenon.

  2. I love this game mode too! I earned them (powers & weapons) and if I want to use them again from beginning to end why not.

  3. If the game is fun, then a New Game + is fine. Also, if you want "revenge", I think that you'd actually look forward to the new run-through. Bayonetta comes to mind. When you first play that game, it will kick your ass if you play on anything more than the "normal" difficulty setting. After beating the game and getting the best weapons, I went back through the game and raped everyone just to teach them a lesson: You don't f*@k with the Iceman!

    Other than that, I think The Legend of Zelda got it right with the second quest. It was almost like a whole new game and it was more of a challenge than the first quest. I think more games should do something like that so that you can warrant another go and still have the game feel fresh.

    -M

  4. Part of the reason why I love Bayonetta is for this feature (which I had no idea was called new game plus). I feel that if I were to spend the all that time beating the game I better be able to just run through the game and just murder shit.

  5. It's not so much that I mind the model, but it's difficult for me to play. Example, I just beat Call of Duty Black Ops on veteran, but I didn't get all of the achievements for small things that I wanted to complete. So now that I'm done I can go back through and get them while running through the game on recruit difficulty. It's so easy and you live forever compared to veteran difficulty. Now that I've played it on recruit again it would be so difficult for me to actually play the game on veteran difficulty again. The only solution I have is to clean up these achievements as soon as I can so I can have a long break before I play Modern Warfare 3 on veteran. It's like a cleansing, but for my video game skills.

    Now I know that the example of an RPG isn't the same as playing CoD like I mentioned, but that same mentality sticks around for me. I have to beat it on the hardest difficulty I can asap so that I can relax and play around with the game more. Both aspects are fun (enough) for me, but there is no way I could switch up the order or go back and forth between difficulties at a whim. It's a mindset thing for me that I can't break.

  7. I love New Game+ in SOME situations. Megaman Zero about doubled its play time when I got to play it twice through, and that was back when I still had too much time on my hands. However, to cite a bad one, Megaman: Battle Network 4 wouldn't let you get better attacks or items until you beat the game, and then all the enemies leveled up. That was almost as annoying as that time I accidentally turned off my Animal Crossing game…

    Google 'Naruto the Abridged Comedy Fandub Spoof Series Show: Mr. Resetti' for the rest of that quote.

  8. demon's souls had new game+ and new game++, each time he game starts over, it gets 300 percent more difficult, and new weapons and magic can be unlocked…im assuming dark souls is the same way. I'll let you know next year when i beat it

  9. I like it. It is a good excuse to turn the difficulty up and have a challenge run through a game. Unless that game is Bioware made, in which case it is impossible to beat on high difficulties even with game+. It also helps loot based games a lot, like BG: Dark Alliance.

    1. Yeah, this is how I beat Mass Effect on Insanity. It was much more doable once I already had a good percentage of the good gear, and it was easy to find the rest of it once I was already rather leveled up. I need to use the same technique to beat ME2 on Insanity one of these days (hopefully before the 2nd one comes out).

      1. I tried that with ME2 and it wasn't happening. You have to be really good at dropping shields, armor, and barriers to play it on Insanity. Most enemies have two of types.

  10. I enjoy New Game Plus Modes sometimes. The problem I run into is that when I bust though a 100-200 hour RPG, I generally don't want to dive right back in – I want to go do something else. Often by the time I ever come back to it, I've either erased my old save file, or I decide I want to play it with a new character.

    1. My problem now is that my phone won't restore.

      I've gone through the trouble shooting steps, and still no luck.

      I'm getting frustrated.

      UPDATE:

      I think I may have to update iPhoto and Safari first. There's also a Security Update. I'm backing up my Time Machine now before I have to get 1998 on this mother f**ker.

      UPDATE 2:

      It started restoring… and then stopped. My phone has been bricked for the last 30 minutes. My head is throbbing.

      Think it may have to do with Apple's servers?

      UPDATE 3:

      I had to do a hard restore, and I think it may have worked. It restarted twice. It restored it to factory, than to my settings, and now it's restoring apps (which may take a while considering).

      iOS 5 is definitely on though it's taking me through iCloud settings.

      Final Update:

      I see my apps slowly populating on my phone and some new stuff. I will be giving my thoughts throughout the week I'm sure, but if anyone else runs into trouble, get in touch with me and we'll crack it.

  12. Dude! How messed up is this: I just logged on to Xbox.com and the person that jacked my account and is playing online under my screen name. It says that I was playing FIFA 12 fifteen minutes ago and I don't even own that game.

    Not only is it bad enough that they steal 2,600+ points from my account, but now people are going to think that I like soccer as well. GHAAAA!!!

    -M

    2. Could be worse. They could be playing CoD or Guitar Hero.

      That way people would think you paid Kocklick.

      @ The Skrull Iceman (if they happen to read this)

      I would love to watch you melt in a vat of hot honey surrounded by bears. And when I say bears… I don't mean large hairy gay dudes. Because… I wouldn't want to see that. But real bears… yes.

      3. It's an impostor! Or as N8 put it: "Skrull Iceman." If you see "me" online, please send them nasty messages!

        -M

    3. Although you did not ask me, I have to chime in anyways: Alex Ross, hands down. This is the kind of artwork that I would actually buy for thousands of dollars and have it framed and put up on along the length of an entire wall of my future art gallery.

      <img src="http://comicbookmovie.com/images/users/uploads/17813/x-men500painting.jpg"&gt;

      <img src="http://www.alexrossart.com/wallpapers/batmanscars_thumb.jpg"&gt;

      <img src="http://www.alexrossart.com/wallpapers/harleyquinn_thumb.jpg"&gt;

      How can anyone argue against this?

      -M

      1. dude, if you look on ebay for bisley's work, the stuff is upwards of 75k

        its depressing, i would love to own some of his work

        incidentally, i would also love to own a bob ross

      2. Ross is different because he paints with oils like paintings. His sketches are sick too, but that first and third one you posted were originally oil paintings.

        When it comes to best comic artist, I think Ross broke the rules and jumped into a different category. Which leaves my favorite being… Todd McFarlane, hands down.

        This is a whole Coffee Talk.

      2. It's not his thing. He verbally entertained us with Smackdown vs. Raw '10 and '11. The verbal entertainment in those games were top notch, or so I hear.

        Honestly, I haven't played a wrestling game since "Pro Wrestling" for the NES. Starman FTW!

        -M

      4. Oh, it's on now! Bust out the NES and Pro Wrestling and I'll school you back to the dark ages.

        -M

      5. Bro… I don't even think my hands could hold an NES controller and play without dropping it nowadays. Those things were WAY too rectangle.

        I have the ROMs, but it sucks on a keyboard and no online. To do this, we'd need plane tickets.

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