NG+ scaling... yikes.

[Hiphoptimus Rhyme]

I started NG+1 recently and I have to say I'm really disappointed. Previous games in the franchise have done a decent job (though not perfect) of scaling the world in NG+ such that it's a rough approximation of what it was like your first time through. I'm 5 or so major bosses in now excluding optionals, and I feel just as OP as the end of my first cycle. I'm laughing off boss hits while wearing only Preceptor's Trousers.

For anybody who is in NG+2 or higher, do things level out eventually or do I only have the end-game zones and bosses to look forward to for difficulty?

[Dollmaker]

I mean, you will obviously stomp most of the stuff early on, you are WAY stronger than you were when you faced them the first time, its pretty much the same for every NG+ from the past.

[Merkava]

You basically have to get to end game before the challenge picks up again in any sort of significant way and if you build yourself well you'll probably tear through that as well. It's not until endgame NG+6 or so that stuff gets noticeably harder. From hasn't really tried very hard to make NG+ interesting since like DS2 so this is hardly a surprise tbh.

[Hiphoptimus Rhyme]

Originally posted by Dollmaker:

I mean, you will obviously stomp most of the stuff early on, you are WAY stronger than you were when you faced them the first time, its pretty much the same for every NG+ from the past.

Obviously it's easier than starting ng but it definitely didn't take 2/3 of the game to get harder as it sounds like the case is here until ng+6.

[Onni]

NG+4 and beyond are a nightmare. Godfrey took me 3 hours earlier in NG+6 when I already knew his moveset 6 times over.

[Rogue]

You are wrong about the scaling.

Previous dark souls type game, you need to reach about NG4+ to be about the same as when you first started out(naked and afraid...) then it's just pure pain as the scaling outpaced your advantage (max stats, etc) that no longer improves.

This is due to unfair advantage you have for gear and hoarded resources. E.g 4 talisman slots, etc.

[Yo Homie]

Remember when dark souls 2 NG+ added new enemy spawns and rings+

The vast size of the game meant they sacrificed a ton of DS mechanics

[Azra'il]

I'm at NG4 (correction, NG+5) myself, doing a maidenless run (just lost 2mil runes, oof) and I can say it /feels/ like things ramped up a bit from the other NG+'s. But I can still just go overpowered insanity on the bosses and make it easy mode. (Eg. Grafted was beaten at NG4 before he could even second phase just with standard dual katana rapid-swings and Mimics tear.

I stopped leveling at 200- if your really wanting a solid, painful challenge I might recommend stopping back at .. like 90, or 125, 150 - somewhere in there.

[Necrotic]

im in ng+8 and its not easy..... u cant judge ng+2 its rly not much difrent but once u get to +5 IT GET HARDER

[Veolfen]

NG+1 as always been about redoing a playthrough with an almost vanilla difficulty, but with your beefed up character.

[Project KV-31]

Originally posted by Hiphoptimus Rhyme:

I started NG+1 recently and I have to say I'm really disappointed. Previous games in the franchise have done a decent job (though not perfect) of scaling the world in NG+ such that it's a rough approximation of what it was like your first time through. I'm 5 or so major bosses in now excluding optionals, and I feel just as OP as the end of my first cycle. I'm laughing off boss hits while wearing only Preceptor's Trousers.

For anybody who is in NG+2 or higher, do things level out eventually or do I only have the end-game zones and bosses to look forward to for difficulty?

imagine completing this game and wanting to play it again. Come on man. Life is short. Broaden your horizions.

[grandma_moses]

Elden Beast in NG+2 gave me quite a few problems, his health scaling is ridiculous. Didn't go on as I started a caster, but it surely won't get easier from there.

NG+1 was considerably easier than NG, but at the end of NG+2 I feel like I'm around that place where it dips the other way, becoming harder than it was in NG.

One thing to remember is that the bosses won't learn new moves, so Margit or Godrick for example will always have 'beginner's moves', no matter how much hp they have or how much damage their attacks do. So the early game won't ever get scaled up to a place where you will find it challenging when compared to the later parts of the game, if that makes sense.

[Kain]

I would love a mode where you keep your ♥♥♥♥, but goes back to the level you started the game with, but with stronger enemies.

[TyresTyco]

Man imagine sotfs lvls of ng+ in elden ring. I would literally devour it. But I can also see why they didnt do it.

Only the minority will even complete the game. Talking about ng+ I'm sure not even 1% of the playerbase plays that. Making proper ng+ in this game would be a really hefty amount of work.

Since we can get +2 versions of talismans in the same playthrough.. ( I was super disappointed by that) I can safely assume that they dont care about ng+ at all.

[Kain]

Once I finish my game I'm def hacking it so I can keep my stuff but start at a lower level. Would probably need to play offline, but I don't mind.