"New game plus - quests will have no rewards..."

[Seraph522]

Harder difficulties wasn't the main selling point at first until the Souls series popularized it with enemy and boss stats scaling up by a certain percentage every time you beat the game.

When NG+ first became a thing, it was more to do with just replaying the game with new features.

They definitely existed before the Souls games; I still remember Golden Sun: The Lost Age had two NG+ versions, one that carried over your levels and one that started you over with much tougher enemies. And FFXII: IZJS introduced both NG+, which started you over with all characters at level 90, and NG-, which restricts you from leveling up, creating a low-level challenge. Additionally, harder difficulty levels have often been locked behind an initial playthrough in some games; Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix did this with Critical mode, and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn similarly locked Hard mode (Maniac Mode in Japanese; that game had some weird localization problems in regards to its difficulty settings) behind completing the game once.

That being said, it was almost always an option rather than the primary selling point of NG+, which is definitely the case with the Souls games, so that popularized that trend to some degree.

Edit: I can't confirm whether or not KHII: Final Mix locked Critical mode behind game completion, so take that example with a grain of salt.

[dragonkyn20]

They definitely existed before the Souls games; I still remember Golden Sun: The Lost Age had two NG+ versions, one that carried over your levels and one that started you over with much tougher enemies. And FFXII: IZJS introduced both NG+, which started you over with all characters at level 90, and NG-, which restricts you from leveling up, creating a low-level challenge. Additionally, harder difficulty levels have often been locked behind an initial playthrough in some games; Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix did this with Critical mode, and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn similarly locked Hard mode (Maniac Mode in Japanese; that game had some weird localization problems in regards to its difficulty settings) behind completing the game once.

That being said, it was almost always an option rather than the primary selling point of NG+, which is definitely the case with the Souls games, so that popularized that trend to some degree.

I never said Souls was the first series to have it, I said it was the series to popularize harder difficulties. Chrono Trigger was the first game to popularize the term "New Game +" and its version didn't include difficulty scaling at all unless you count fighting the final boss much earlier on than you're supposed to a higher difficulty.

[Seraph522]

I never said Souls was the first series to have it, I said it was the series to popularize harder difficulties. Chrono Trigger was the first game to popularize the term "New Game +" and its version didn't include difficulty scaling at all unless you count fighting the final boss much earlier on than you're supposed to a higher difficulty.

Yeah, I think I read "not the main selling point" as "not really important," which wasn't what you said (my apologies for that).

[dragonkyn20]

Yeah, I think I read "not the main selling point" as "not really important," which wasn't what you said (my apologies for that).

No worries, happens to the best of us!

[Metalwrath]

I never said Souls was the first series to have it, I said it was the series to popularize harder difficulties. Chrono Trigger was the first game to popularize the term "New Game +" and its version didn't include difficulty scaling at all unless you count fighting the final boss much earlier on than you're supposed to a higher difficulty.

I guess you never heard of the resident evil series then.This was back on ps1 so it might be before your time but it was games like that that popularised it.

[dragonkyn20]

I guess you never heard of the resident evil series then.This was back on ps1 so it might be before your time but it was games like that that popularised it.

The classic Resident Evil titles did NOT have a new game + feature or different difficulties. All they had were special weapons and side modes you could unlock for beating the game by either clearing it under a certain time frame or by getting a certain rank.

If you're going to refute my point, try better examples.

Also, I'm probably the same age as you or older since I was born in 89. So good job bringing my age into your argument.

[Mhaeric]

You know you feel old when people young enough to be your kid are playing the I'm older than you card.

[dragonkyn20]

You know you feel old when people young enough to be your kid are playing the I'm older than you card.

It's still a stupid thing to bring up. It adds absolutely nothing to the topic and if they happen to be wrong about that point, it makes them look like an idiot.

[Metalwrath]

The classic Resident Evil titles did NOT have a new game + feature or different difficulties. All they had were special weapons and side modes you could unlock for beating the game by either clearing it under a certain time frame or by getting a certain rank.

If you're going to refute my point, try better examples.

Also, I'm probably the same age as you or older since I was born in 89. So good job bringing my age into your argument.

Original resident evil 2 b game threw in mr x that attacked you at certain intervals.This wasnt a sidemode.It was the same mode with and extra boss to make it more difficult.As for age factor.i was born in 84.I grew up playing nes,megadrive and comodore 64 and got a ps1 the year it was released.My memory may not be the best of the games back then but i sure there were plenty of games that unlcoked harder difficulties upon complete.Parasite eve 2 deffintly had one as did original metal gear solid.

[dragonkyn20]

Original resident evil 2 b game threw in mr x that attacked you at certain intervals.This wasnt a sidemode.It was the same mode with and extra boss to make it more difficult.As for age factor.i was born in 84.I grew up playing nes,megadrive and comodore 64 and got a ps1 the year it was released.My memory may not be the best of the games back then but i sure there were plenty of games that unlcoked harder difficulties upon complete.Parasite eve 2 deffintly had one as did original metal gear solid.

Regardless on what you mentioned with RE2's B scenario, MGS's extreme difficulty and PE2's different modifier unlocks, you're completely missing my point.

Never once did I state that the Souls games were the first games to introduce harder difficulties, but it's largely because of that series that led to it becoming a popular feature in new game +. This was never about which game did it first.