Is there a way to carry over VR mission progress (and the BP involved) into a new save file?

[kalirion]

I'm going to finish my first playthrough of the game, on Normal difficulty, soon. I want to do a new playthrough on Hard afterwards, but just the thought of needing to do all those VR missions again for BP is really really putting me off.

I know I can just use Story Chapter Select to replay chapters on Hard with the current playfile, but while I can turn off weapons that shouldn't be in those chapters yet, I can't turn off unlocked stat upgrades, and I want the Hard playthrough to be "legit" for personal satisfaction.

[HeavyLady]

Not quite sure I understand your thought process, especially about "need to do vr for bp" but I'll try to answer.

1) In the main menu, you can do backup saves. You can save your current progress in a different slot and start a new fresh game on hard. That means it would be an isolated playthrough, and of course you will lose everything you earned on hard when you go back to your main save slot.

2) Hard isn't much different from normal, even if you do it without your upgrades. Just a little more damage from them and a little less damage from you; with your normal experience, it will be a walk in the park.

I would suggest doing very hard on NG+ instead with all your techniques and fully upgraded sword. This difficulty will give you a new challenge.

[kalirion]

My thought process is "I want to do a Hard playthrough with only the upgrades which should be available for the respective Story Chapters."

"VR for BP" comes into it because those "upgrades available for Story Chapters" cost BP. And I really don't want to redo the VR missions I've spent so much time on to earn that BP again for the new save file.

How does NG+ work in this game? Chapter Select won't even let me pick "Hard" difficulty for any chapter besides the tutorial/prologue one. I usually stay away from "Very Hard" difficulties in games, sticking mainly to Normal and Hard, unless it's a particularly easy game.

Edit: Spent an hour trying to beat Blade Wolf in the Jetstream Sam mission on Hard to no luck. Maybe "Hard" isn't for me....

[HeavyLady]

I mean, I just personally never farm BP in VR missions; I completed them all after my playthrough for the achievement. There are more efficient ways to farm BP in the main story, but I think it's only necessary if you want to buy everything from the store... Like fox blade :<

NG+ works like this: in chapter selection, you choose the prologue, and under it, choose difficulty and go from there. As far as I remember, you can't start ANY chapter on a difficulty above your previous one.

[HeavyLady]

Just wanted to say that Very Hard changes the game; most of the fights are different, and it's legit NG+ difficulty, unlike Hard.

[kalirion]

Well, in the Jetstream mission on Hard I had to cheese the doggo boss and am now stuck on Armstrong phase 2.... I think the harder difficulties are just not for me in this game, so after I'm done with both the side missions that'll be enough for me.

Can Armstrong even be parried by Sam or is it all just blocks and you gotta taunt and dodge like crazy, slashing when brief opportunities show up?

[HeavyLady]

I'm yet to play the DLCs, maybe there hard is real hard.

[GgWw1175]

Originally posted by kalirion:

Can Armstrong even be parried by Sam or is it all just blocks and you gotta taunt and dodge like crazy, slashing when brief opportunities show up?

He has no attacks that can be parry countered. The damage bonus Sam gets for taunting enemies increases with difficulty (up to very hard, there's no increase after that for revengeance), so especially above normal, taunting is the way to go. Make sure to get charged attacks in whenever he staggers or gives you some other opening.

Originally posted by kalirion:

My thought process is "I want to do a Hard playthrough with only the upgrades which should be available for the respective Story Chapters."

Starting a new game wipes your BP. VR mission completion and collectibles persist, so you keep unlockable items (unless they require completing a main game level, like wigs with R-07). I think that unless you go out of your way to buy/upgrade every optional thing, you should be fine. If needed, R-02 and R-04 have good farming spots (humanoid dwarf gekko and BD Mistral, respectively).