Is it worth replaying a 100 hour RPG on New Game Plus?

The New Game Plus remains the “non-sequel” enhancement that RPG fans never thought their games would need. After all, why settle for another playthrough when you can start a new race with better rewards? Unfortunately, the only major turn-off to New Game Pluses would be going through the entire game a second time just to get all the perks – and if said RPG is at least 100 hours long, that's another 100-hour journey. New games like Crimson Desert are so long that they don't even include New Game Plus, at least not at launch.

Playing a new game Plus in that kind of monolithic experience can be quite an overwhelming endeavor, and it's risky to play through the entire 100-hour journey before knowing if it's been worthwhile. Thankfully, there are a handful of RPGs that make it worth going through another 100 hours, and they come with features beyond ported stats and tougher challenges.

Dragon Quest XI S: Definitive Edition

New Game Plus is essentially Act 3

• Playable after the cutscene, but it continues the story

• Gives players access to a definitive “true” ending

• Available in the main game, instead of being an “alternative”.

As for New Game Pluses, the narration of Dragon Quest XI S: Definitive Edition walks a pretty fine line. Set around the story of an orphan who becomes the Luminary destined to save the world, the original Dragon Quest XI the story has all the trappings of a Dragon Quest game – complete with shocking origin stories, heroic sacrifices and an epic final stand. The Luminary and his friends inevitably save the world, and the official credits roll.

By all means, it's officially game over – Dragon Quest XI even asks the player to save after everything is done. However, this was a red herring as the credits go straight to a cutscene that unlocks after the match. Players will soon realize that this is enough to make up an absolutely massive Act 3 entirely, complete with the ability to fight stronger enemies, eventually grind to level 99, fight super bosses, and get character-focused content. While it certainly doesn't require a complete replay, the fact that it's a quasi-optional “sequel” to a finished story makes it straddle the line between next chapter, expansion, and New Game Plus.

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arises

Keeping in line with a theme of cycles

• Transfer Vocation, XP and Skills, Inventory and Gold, NPC Affinity

• Transfers Main Pawn's XP, Skills, and Personality when reacquired

• Transfer inventory from stores

• New creature elimination missions

• New farmable side boss (Ur-Dragon)

• Gate crystals for fast travel are easy to acquire

• Preferably done in hard mode

Despite the added depth to Dragon's Dogma 2, it's in its rather 'easy' New Game Plus mode where fans felt it missed the mark – especially when Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arises provided more concrete additional content in its NG+ offering. When the player is still alive after an encounter with a fearsome dragon named Grigori, he has declared that it has arisen – the prophesied warrior who will defeat him and save the world. After they do just that and start New Game Plus, their progress and inventory will carry over in addition to new elimination missions and a farmable Ur-Dragon.

What makes Dragon's Dogma worthwhile as a New Game Plus experience is the nature of the game itself: with a narrative of cycles, repetitive The Dragon's Dogma makes sense. The experience can be made much fresher if players just turn on Hard Mode for this new playthrough, so their higher-level Arisen and Main Pawn can feel a little extra challenge against their enemies. When reaching the final mission again, players can also consider enabling offline mode (or online mode, whichever was done earlier) for a unique boss fight.

Persona 5 Royal

Repeat a year-long trip to maximize the social scene

• Commemorative stamps, skill cards and stat boosts are retained

• Social statistics and important things like gifts are transferred

• Registered Personas can be summoned with enough points

• Get a Secret Boss Fight

• Unlock Satanael, the ultimate persona of the Fool Arcana

The vibrant, spunky menu image of Persona 5 Royal easily makes it one of the most recognizable JRPGs of the late 2010s, and Atlus went all out for this Persona installment: the player is the silent Joker who leads the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, a vigilante group that “changes the hearts” of evildoers in the subconscious realm of the Metaverse. The game retains Persona classics like turn-based combat and dungeon crawling, and even the collection of Personas in battle. However, was Persona 5 Royal stands out is through Confidants – its social mechanic, where improved relationships with allies now also grant access to new gear, abilities and boosts in battle.

New Game Plus in Persona 5 Royal also emphasizes this social element. Having a story that takes place over a year means there isn't enough time to hang out with all possible familiars, so NG+ keeping existing social stats will give players plenty of time to complete the stories of other companions. In addition to this there is a secret boss fight and unlocking the formula to fuse the game's best Persona (Satanael). While these seem minimal at first, the unique depth of the main cast and the freshness of its randomly generated dungeons make Persona 5 Royal a worthwhile New Game Plus – at least until all Confidants are maxed out.

Bravely Default

Convincing freedom of choice for an NG+

• Post-credits mystery reveal makes initiating NG+ compelling

• Freedom of choice in transfer and recovery elements

• Fight super bosses harder than the last boss

• See different outcomes of events within D's Journal

Originally developed as a sequel to Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, the whole premise of Bravely Default screams Final Fantasy: players travel the world (first on foot, then by airship) to rescue damaged elemental crystals. It even comes with Final Fantasy staples like random encounters and the job system, giving players great flexibility as their quartet try to save the world. Where the game differs from the Square Enix series is its massively foreboding and rather impressive version of New Game Plus.

Unlike other games, Bravely Default lets players choose what they want to keep and restore in the new playthrough – so they can seek higher stats or start over. The former is recommended, as NG+ has optional super bosses that are stronger than the final boss. Not only that, it takes multiple playthroughs to see different scenarios of many side quests and complete D's Journal.

Fire Ring

Gets more absurdly challenging with each playthrough

• Play up to NG+7

• Transfers level, inventory, spells and stats, Spirit Ash, Shadow Realm Blessings, Maps

• Scaling still happens for enemies and bosses based on level and location.

Considered by many to be the epitome of Souls-like games, Fire Ring takes the absurd difficulty of Dark souls and George RR Martin's world-building and turns it into a nice package. Whether you're looking to discover lore, create the perfect builds against bosses, or brawl with other players in PVP, there's always something to get out of Fire Rings open world The Lands Between. Not only that, should the player's Tarnished One succeed in recreating the Ring of Elden and restoring order, they can play New Game Plus to repeat this again.

Players who already knew the challenge of Fire Rings initial endgame might consider it torture to replay it all over in New Game Plus. Although they have a point, Fire Ring's NG+ is also the most thematically appropriate: level, layer, and skills take over as enemies not only get tougher, but also retain their scaling. Not only that, but players can repeat this exaggerated scaling over seven New Game Plus iterations. Although simpler than other NG+ offerings, Elden Ring allows players to level themselves up with each subsequent playthrough, making Elden Ring a very worthwhile purchase.