New Game Plus quest + Party question

[Ben Dover]

Hello fellas.

I have 2 questions here. One is if it's worth it to do New Game Plus? I finished the game on Hard on my first run, and I already think it wasn't that hard if you have a good party. And IMO it seems the New Game + will make it even easier with all the abilities, lucre and even levels switching over to your new game. So would it be better just to do a regular game on Hard again with a different party?

The party I had were Riesz, Hawkeye and Charlotte, with Riesz as my main. Now I intend to do a new game with Duran (Main), Angela and Riesz. I was thinking going Duran as Edelfrei, so he can multitarget sabers, but can also give wood/MP saber to Angela who I intend to go Rune Seer with. In the original SNES game, Rune Seer used quite a bit of Mana, which made Wood Saber good support for her. It's the same in this remake?

Last thing about Riesz, most of the time I have used her as Starlancer (in the SNES version as well), and it seems like the rest of this message board uses her as Starlancer as well. But I intend to go on the Dark path with her this run, so Dragon Master or Fenrir Knight. I think the Fenrir Knight is superior, but I'd like to hear what you think, and if it's worth it picking it over Star Lancer.

So basically, Duran (Edelfrei), Angela (Rune Seer), Riesz (Fenrir Knight). Think it's a good team or atleast good enough? I don't think Duran is worth it going on Light Side, since healing items are all over the place.

[Shuichi Niwa]

Dragon Master is quite deadly now with her passive (+20% damage when full HP). But Fenrir Knight, please, LOOK AT HER OUTFIT - THERE'S NOTHING TO CHOOSE HERE.

For me I would still gonna put Duran on Light and leave him as AI on full protection service while Riesz and ANGELA wrecking havoc.

[LThesaurus]

I started a new game plus with the three characters I didn't use in the first run, and no levels carried over-- granted, there's no reason for them to do so, but, I assumed they just reset your level to 1 no matter what, it's just you'd have to sell your equipment so you aren't quite TOO good.
If levels do carry over, then that's really unfortunate actually! The new chain abilities are fun to have in reserve.

[Shuichi Niwa]

Levels carry over for character you have used in the previous playthroughs.

[Ben Dover]

Originally posted by Shuichi Niwa:

Dragon Master is quite deadly now with her passive (+20% damage when full HP). But Fenrir Knight, please, LOOK AT HER OUTFIT - THERE'S NOTHING TO CHOOSE HERE.

For me I would still gonna put Duran on Light and leave him as AI on full protection service while Riesz and ANGELA wrecking havoc.

So Dragon Master is better than she used to be, that's good. But besides the Fenrir Knight's outfit, what does she have what could be better than Dragon master? She has multitarget debuffs of course, does she still have a higher strength like in the original?

[Ben Dover]

Originally posted by Shuichi Niwa:

Levels carry over for character you have used in the previous playthroughs.

Yeah, for this reason I think I'll probably do regular hard mode again, since I used Riesz in my first playthrough.

[King of Evil]

Why do people complain about NG+ being easier? That's the entire point of NG+ in every game that ever had it. I beat the game on hard as well & yea it wasn't even all that hard. I think the real challenge is from doing Anise runs to unlock stuff. I even beat the Black Rabite at level 78.

That being said, you literally have to do NG+ for 100% completion since you can only get certain chain skills from NG+. I just started my first NG+ with Kevin, Hawkeye & Charlotte & yea it's easier but it's supposed to be easier because that's what NG+ is all about.

Just make sure you respec before you go NG+ to you unlock all the chain skills for your characters. They won't transfer if they aren't unlocked in the trees. I also had a bunch of seeds so I'm already ready for Class 3 at level 20.

[ggsnake]

Originally posted by King of Evil:

Why do people complain about NG+ being easier? That's the entire point of NG+ in every game that ever had it.

The point of NG+ is to have a greater challenge since you've already beaten the game once. The point is to keep the already achieved things (e.g. inventory, gold, levels, ...) and using them to beat this greater challenge, all while further progressing your characters.

Playing a NG+ that's easier than the first playthrough is pretty weird - why would anybody want to do this? What's even worse is that this game's difficulty is already a joke on the first playthrough (on hard).

[Ben Dover]

Originally posted by King of Evil:

Why do people complain about NG+ being easier? That's the entire point of NG+ in every game that ever had it. I beat the game on hard as well & yea it wasn't even all that hard. I think the real challenge is from doing Anise runs to unlock stuff. I even beat the Black Rabite at level 78.

That being said, you literally have to do NG+ for 100% completion since you can only get certain chain skills from NG+. I just started my first NG+ with Kevin, Hawkeye & Charlotte & yea it's easier but it's supposed to be easier because that's what NG+ is all about.

Just make sure you respec before you go NG+ to you unlock all the chain skills for your characters. They won't transfer if they aren't unlocked in the trees. I also had a bunch of seeds so I'm already ready for Class 3 at level 20.

I'm not even complaining, I just stated my opinion about NG+. I think it's boring if you can basically one shot everything in your new playthrough. The game is easy enough as it is. But thanks for your tip regarding chain skills. :)

[ryu600RR]

Originally posted by Shuichi Niwa:

Levels carry over for character you have used in the previous playthroughs.

i'm sure some sort of trainer or save editing is on the way to reset level, xp, and training points, and voila, easy as pie

[Vandread]

Originally posted by ryu600RR:

Originally posted by Shuichi Niwa:

Levels carry over for character you have used in the previous playthroughs.

i'm sure some sort of trainer or save editing is on the way to reset level, xp, and training points, and voila, easy as pie

I've actually taken a brief look at the save file structure last night, not in real much detail or so just yet, but from what I can tell each of the 6 characters are present in all your saves. It'd be a matter of overwriting your currently chosen NG+ characters' data with their basic NG versions (based on whether they are slot 1, 2, or 3). Might give this a try with a hex editor actually; though I'd have to play through the game pretty thoroughly again to ensure it works properly. It's something I've been meaning to do once I get done with my 2nd playthrough though.

Theoretically, yes... it's very much possible to do so. I don't even think the saves are 'encrypted' in any form either.

In case you're interested; just open up a save file (found in Documents/My Games/Trials of Mana) in any text editor and search for PC_. You'll find a hit for each of the 6 characters. They're in the same order as they're listed in when you start a new playthrough.

[Damien Scott]

NG+ in Legend of Mana was done correctly and i'm surprised this game didn't do something similar.. NG was until about lvl 30-35, NG+ was to about 70, and NG++ had everything at 99.

ToM should at least give you the option to start back at level 1 with a character. that way if you don't want to be OP, you don't have to be. the NG+ system is very well designed with the shared abilities, but there isn't much of a point when after 2 runs everyone is lvl 70+

[King of Evil]

Originally posted by ggsnake:

Originally posted by King of Evil:

Why do people complain about NG+ being easier? That's the entire point of NG+ in every game that ever had it.

The point of NG+ is to have a greater challenge since you've already beaten the game once. The point is to keep the already achieved things (e.g. inventory, gold, levels, ...) and using them to beat this greater challenge, all while further progressing your characters.

Playing a NG+ that's easier than the first playthrough is pretty weird - why would anybody want to do this? What's even worse is that this game's difficulty is already a joke on the first playthrough (on hard).

The only game series that has had NG+ modes that were harder is the Souls-Like games.

Every other game that's ever done NG+ it's always been easier.

[Tommiiie]

Boarderlands NG+ is the right way and similar to how Damien mentioned. Tiered level's and NG+ progresses you through the difficulty. Almost no reason to play it in this game from what I'm reading.