New Game+ and True Ending Mini Guide

Looking forward to doing a second playthrough on NG+? You might want to take a quick look at the info outlined in this guide first.

What is New Game+?

New Game+ (NG+) is the moniker for a second playthrough of the game with added bonus from the previous one. Every game with a NG+ mode will always be different in terms of the things that you can carry to the next playthrough.

To access the NG+ mode, simply fight the final boss and when prompted, press No. You will then start over from the very beginning of the game.

It should be noted that the difficulty Extreme is unlocked once you beat the game (even without entering NG+), and you can change the difficulty anytime on the main menu. I highly recommend new players to not go straight into NG+, and instead rewind time on the very first playthrough.

Neat. What can I carry over?

What you keep:

• Items in your inventory and the storage box
  
  • Weapons (including all memory chips and upgrades made)
    
  • Ammunition
    
  • Outfits
    
  • Accessories
    
  • Materials
    
  • Disguises
• Stats
  
  • Character level
    
  • CP distribution on your avatar and ArFa-Sys
    
  • Weapon, gadget, and skill proficiency.
    
  • Bounty Ranking
• Quests
  
  • Home expansion quest progress
    
  • DLC Quests progress
    
  • Hero Quest and Co-Op Boss quest clear progress
• Miscellanous
  
  • Earned medals
    
  • Liz's Weapon Modification level
    
  • Ability to dual wield and use Gun and Sword.
    
  • Money and customization made on items

What you temporarily lose:

• Access to the Home expansion NPC, if you haven't cleared it already
  
• Access to all 3 DLCs and Kirito Mode
  
• ArFa-Sys parts (including bank, has to be re-unlocked to access your money)

What you lose:

• Affinity level with all characters
  
• Weapon arts (pretty much every thing from Argo)
  
• Landmark in maps as well as the ability to fast travel to those areas
  
• All other key items (including Memory of X items)
  
• All quest progress

What you get:

• Ability to reset gender, appearance, and name of your avatar and ArFa-Sys
  
• The ability to level up Liz's Weapon Modification to level 7 (10 with all DLC)
  
• Medal shop is restocked

So what does this mean?

Considering you have to clear certain quests while playing in Extreme Mode, you might want to consider grinding on your first playthrough. Or better yet: Get the True Ending. Enemies on Extreme Mode can one shot you when not careful so you don't want to play NG+ on Extreme with a level below 80.

If you do want to grind on your first playthrough, changing the difficulty to Extreme on the Title Screen is highly recommended as not only does it increase your EXP gain, it also increases how fast you can increase your affinity levels. You can still change it back to Normal or even Easy when you are done grinding.

Considering the only reason for playing NG+ is increasing Liz's blacksmith level, there is no merit in doing a NG+ twice unless you just want to replay the story.

True Ending Requirements

One of the major requirements for getting the True Ending is beating the Final Boss the normal way, and then rewinding when the option is presented to you. (Thanks to Oostin for the confirmation). You can still work your way to meet the requirements before clearing the game first, but note that the game won't present you a certain key item unless you do a rewind.

Other requirements for the True Ending mostly consist of viewing date events, unlocked by reaching certain affinity level milestones. Contrary to what most people will tell you, clearing Kirito Mode is not necessary for the ending.

Requirement	Characters
3rd Level 4 Date (75% affinity)	ArFa-Sys, Kureha, Zeliska, Itsuki , Bazalt Joe
Level 2 Date	Kirito , Asuna, Liz, Silica, Sinon, Leafa, Klein, Agil, Premiere, Strea, Rain, Philia
Crafting Quests	Asuna, Agil, Liz

These are the missable requirements for the True Ending and their point of no return time:

Requirements Locked	Point of No Return
Itsuki's 3rd Level 4 Date event.	Beating the Mother Claudia quest
Kureha and Zeliska's 3rd Level 4 Date Kirito's Level 2 Date	Talking to Itsuki in Observatory
ArFa-Sys's 3rd Level 4 Date event.	Beating the Make or Break quest

As soon as you meet these requirements, an event will automatically trigger when you enter your room, granting you the key item ArFa-Sys charm. The next time you enter the final boss battle, the quest name will also change from "The End of All" to "Fatal Bullet". Now, what you need to do is interrupt the boss' projectile attack by hitting him enough times on his weak point. This will cause a boss battle with a different boss. Once beaten, you will get the True Ending sequence.

What happens if I miss a missable requirement?

You have to beat the boss and rewind the time. Afterwards make sure you aim for the requirements you've previously missed. As long as you don't do another NG+, you only need to get those you haven't done prior to the time rewind.

What to do when playing NG+ (Smith Level Increase)

When playing in Extreme difficulty in NG+, you can increase your Smith Level up to a maximum of 10.

You have to beat 3 specific boss fights that were fought before the Rewind Time point. Beating each of these in Extreme will increase Liz's Weapon Modification level by 1, up to a maximum of 10 with all 3 released DLC. If you missed any of these during your NG+ playthrough, you have to do another one. So be careful.

You are not required to beat the whole game in Extreme - just make sure you change your difficulty to Extreme before fighting them.

These are the story fights you need to do:

1. Cave Depths Boss (Shooting Phage)

2. Underground Labyrinth Boss (Piercing Eyes)

3. A New Squad quest (Kureha, Kirto, Sinon, and Yuuki fight)

Make sure to beat these in Extreme to avoid having to go through the entire game again.

Closing Comments

There are so many conflicting or outdated information about NG+ and true ending that I feel it would be better if there is a compilation of correct information. Hopefully this guide may reduce the amount of confusion that newer players experience.

If there are any questions, feedbacks or comments, please feel free to post them on the comment section below.

[Dekunii]

Just to let you guys know, I did NOt make the bad ending bad got the true ending in my oldest save

[SYS_ERROR]

Probably an old post... But I always see the "Shoot the boss in the weak point" bit. Try shooting the bastard in the mouth instead. When the quest changes to Fatal Bullet, you can get the true ending. Fight like normal all the way up until he starts charging that big attack, then shoot him in the mouth.

[Splatboy0612]

I rewinded the time like for the 5th time and I still don't get the True Ending even though I got all the requirements

[AK-12DEFY]

Some Additional Plus Information, YOU need to passed through Bad End and need to Rewind Time To Get the Charm, And ofc you need to follow this guide to make it works. it worked for me but after i rewind time and get bad end so. we can clearly said *Getting Bad Ending and Rewind Time is Required to get True Ending*

[Ranger_Arion]

Ngl I just gave up on getting the true ending, I had all non DLC characters rank 4 100% affinity, I have read several guides that said that I needed to do a specific kirito event but I don't see any more green bubbles, even after resetting the game, completing kirito mode and yes I did all the green bubbles in kirito mode, I still can't get the custscene of getting the charm, and no I don't see the charm or whatever it is in the key items/other tab in my inventory.

[RJusto]

I have a question: Do I need to make those bosses in extreme in the story mode, or can I make them later in extreme difficulty.

I'm kinda a beginner here, never done one of those bosses yet, but until now I could redo every other "bosses", could those ones be the same as them? And in they are, are they required to be beaten in extreme in the story mode quest only??

Another one... It will be better to do the true ending before or after ng+?? Just because doing all the affinity all over again seems too stupid!! Instead, I would do the 2 bad endings in the normal and grind affinity in ng+. Or it would be less likely to do it soo?

[Ridley12, Knight of God]

I honestly thought it was the limit on enhancing a weapon's rank (for example, smithy level is 9, max enhancing is weapon rank 9.)

[Al'ghale]

Higher chip softcaps, but also lesser materials to enhance and transform your weapons. Been a while so I might miss something here

[Ridley12, Knight of God]

What are the benefits of getting Lizbeth's smithy level to 10? Because it's currently at 9 (didn't change when I completed the A New Squad battle royal on Extreme, so it's most likely one of the bosses that will get it to 10.)

[Al'ghale]

Sorry, I didn't realise what you were asking. Those story boss fights to increase your Smith level is way before the Rewind time point, so you do have to do those first time around during NG+.