With New Game Plus, gamers who have conquered the base game can expect increased challenge thanks to tougher enemies and rarer loot drops. Games like Dark Souls have helped popularize the concept to modern audiences, with many wondering whether a particular game has the mode within for players to enjoy. One certain RPG, Final Fantasy 7 Remake is the subject of such questions this week ahead of its launch.
Not exactly. Final Fantasy 7 Remake does not have a new game plus mode but, it does feature a few different choices that players can make to alter the gameplay experience. The base game can be replayed plenty to try out different builds via the Materia system, as well as different party configurations, to add plenty of playtime.
There are some options to extend your time with Final Fantasy 7 Remake aside from jumping to a new game plus variant. Players can start the game on Hard mode. The hard mode in the remake offers fans the chance to take on tougher enemies of course, but there’s more to it. Starting a new game on Hard more will reward more experience, making hitting that level 50 cap much quicker. Also, if you have previous save data, the high-level characters can be carried forward into hard more with new bonuses, making the much more difficult trek through the higher difficulty option more bearable.
That being said, the new hard mode is not a new game plus mode in every sense of the word. Yes, you can start the game off in the first chapter and have a harder difficulty, but it does not have the full remix of a more traditional variant of the mode. Item spawns and drops will be mostly the same. So grinding for that rare Summon or gear is still going to be the same for each playthrough.
After you beat the game, you can use the new chapter select to skip to that point within future games. This can mostly be used to backtrack and pick up any gear or challenges you missed within the game during the previous time with it.