If you really do a totally blind 1st playthrough then you almost have to do ng+. There is almost no way anyone could have completed all the side quests or got all weapons/armor sets without looking things up. For me personally, I have always done at least 3 playthroughs of the FromSoftware games because there are multiple endings etc. If you love this game you're cheating yourself not doing everything thr game has.

The reason to do NG+ is the sidequests that locked out in your original playthrough before you even knew about them. The Dungeater questline, for instance.

I enjoyed NG+ as I could respect prior and play a different way without having to grind again and as you get some weapons and incantations and spells so late in game, you can go enjoy them in NG+ where you can’t in a NG

I really wish that once you beat a boss you could respawn them somehow so that you could experience them over and again without starting ng+. It would be cool if the game had a bestiary too. So that you had an idea how many bosses you had beaten. ‘Bosses defeated - 12/170’ that kind of thing

For me NG+ is an opportunity to try an entirely different build, and do all the quests I borked in my 1st playthrough. It's been a LONG time since I enjoyed a game enough to dive into ng+ without taking a break or moving on to another game. I made sure I grinded up an obscene amount of smithing stones and glowart (however u spell that) beforehand though.

With the scaling in NG+, you will slap most bosses up to about journey 3, then journey 4 the scaling catches up and then becomes quite difficult again

I think if you love the game go for it, its your easy mode and you earned it. Go back and take on bosses maybe you passed on or forgot, pick up armor and weapons to add to your arsenal, finish or start side quests... whatever it is, its nice to kind of kick back and enjoy it at your pace

For me personally it's just having 4 endings means I play it 4 times. As a Fromsoft"veteran" I always did this and I know the first 2 ng+ are going way faster since they are a lot easier. The scaling doesn't really set it to your high level but, more importantly, you know what the bosses do. And because elden ring offers a ton of different builds and I don't like switching builds in the middle of a run, it also gives me the opportunity to play as mage / do a bloodbuild, whatever

personally, I just want to fuck up margot again at the beginning to test what my current build is like lmao

I did not know about losing the bell bearings when I started plus and I very dramatically yelled NOOOOOOOOO! Because it took so long to get the high level ones of course. 😭

Loved the game but my second play through was just boring I beat a few bosses in seconds but it was the best game I’ve played first play through

FYI, the latest patch fixed it so that your bell bearings carry over. Nearing the end of my first playthrough. Really anxious to see how the story plays out after 100+ hours of playing so I'm finishing a few remaining "must do" sidequests a friend tipped me off to but after those are done, I'm heading for the finish line. Will definitely finish additional NG+ prep afterwards.

I was debating going into a ng+ cuz i felt I leaned a little too much on summons on my first run and I wanted to try doing a no summon run but fell in love with my build so knowing I wouldn’t have to spend too much time grinding tryna get it back is comforting

In other Souls games because of the linear nature, you can go into NG+ and just run through the bosses and the bosses in DS3 for example were so good that it made the replay value so high because you could easily do challenge runs and more, you could reach NG+7 even after killing all bosses everytime in not too much time. Elden Ring has such an overwhelming amount of bosses that I don't know if it will be fun to challenge run like Bloodborne and DS3 are. I've done an entire playthrough with a strength build, I've done everything so I'm gonna farm up for loads of smithing stones and upgrade materials, level up loads of weapons one from max and then respec and do a mage run on NG+ to completely change the experience up.

I farmed all miners bell bearings only to have it reset for NG+😂😂 I wanted to cry

I'm just starting to learn the control aspect of these immensely challenging games, that I had no idea even existed. I have the rune farming sword, and the elden beast bugged, when I beat it. I had everything planned and accidentally hit both my remaining FP flasks in the first fight, because I forgot to set it to heal. So. Took out the first boss, and didn't do too good on him, healing flasks-wise. And I was ready to just do my best, and instead of buffing with holy spells, I just attacked, and the elden beast just remained still and let me and my mimic tear summon attack, with no reprisals. I never woulda made it to NG+, this morning. So. For someone like me, who is pretty lousy, but very lucky, NG+ sounds like a way to redeem myself as a 'decent' gamer in these more advanced games. Really appreciate the tips on 'stocking up' for NG+. A lot of quests I didn't do, too. Flubbed up the White Mask. lol. TYVM for clip and advice.

Great video for casual players. The primary reason i wanted to do NG+ was because I ran out of Larval tears trying out the playing styles. I guess all i’ve got left is level up enough to cover for different play styles. However, this will make my character be very OP and thus will make the game too easy.. oh well.

I missed the Bolt of Gransax and now I need to do NG+ for 100% achievements

You can't get all the items with one playthrough, as certain decisions prevent you from doing so. This is one of the reasons why ng+ is a good idea. Although, I do miss when dark souls put their items in different locations and integrated new mobs.

personally the most important reason for playing ng+ for me is just to kill the bosses so in this game wich is massive its such a shame that ng+ basically destroys every map progress you've made and that would be so easy to cancel by having a boss Rush mode, like in hollow knight's godmaster dlc you have a whole area that you can go and kill any boss you want. Thats my dream😭

New game + felt so damn easy until nearly end of mid game! I was shocked, wanted to try new builds but everything was scaled so low. I will be doing a new character instead now.

I would love NG+ if there was an option to start at level 1 again. I want to re-experience slowly and carefully exploring the world because of how deadly it is, but I want to keep the weapons and armour I've collected so I can do whatever kind of build I want from the beginning. I started NG+ today and beat Margit, Godrick and Rennala in about an hour, it's so easy that it's not fun any more, but I don't want to lose all the items I've gathered in my first play through.

I completed the game with 400+ hours and totally enjoyed the journey. Big chunk of my time was painstaking exploration. So far I haven’t discovered but 2 missed catacombs. I’m still playing only casually now and looking for sites unseen. For me I am not interested in New Game + at all. It would be boring and not challenging. Guess I could challenge myself and commit to playing without my summons but again, for me, that would be pointless. I always exploit whatever a game gives me to use. So I plan to continue to enjoy the game by discovering the few things I missed and wait for DLCs.

I was about to say something than j realized I bought the game 2 years after everyone due to some life experiences😂but I’ve struggled with solo gaming and this really brought it back for me it’s not really so much open world later in the game due to it being more story driven but I haven’t had fun or felt excited to get to a boss fight and beat it Milenia will always be my favorite Fight

I just finished my 1st play through. I wanted to keep going to get the 2 remaining endings to get the platinum. I’ll probably start a new character to do that since I don’t wanna be on NG+++ when the dlc comes out and screw myself over with the difficulty lol.

Getting close to finishing round one. I think I will at least TRY NG+ and see how it feels. It's not like I can't just start a NG if I find it boring. I have SOOO many weapons/spells/incantations/ashes I want to try.

I would have liked to see new enemies, remixed spawns, old enemies with new moves/surprises, maybe something like the pursuer, who randomly shows up and hunts the character. There were a lot of things that could be done.

I want a few things added to +: alt use for seeds; I’m gonna end up with extras and no use for them. Another talisman slot. One extra upgrade for weapons and spirits. A use for extra talismans and tears; like combining them for a 10% boost or something. Stuff like that

I recommed ng+ I did it for revenge. I definetly didn't get through all the bosses and areas. My second run I spent the entire day doing it and I beat 12 bosses in 6.5 hours. I would have never been able to do that on my first run. I feel like it breaths new breath into the game it becomes almost a rogue like game. On my second run I went all the way up story wise before the world changes. Then I just tried to beat all bosses, and areas. It is worth it. Even in new game plus there is still challenges. Every once in a while I will get absolutely rocked by a boss. Its a little odd the second time around. Some bosses that I struggled the first time around I absolutely destroyed in my second run. Then there are bosses that I didn't struggle with the first time rock my world the second time.

I have to do at least two more playthroughs. I'm just missing the two other ending achievements and a single legendary armament I missed. Once I get those I can get 100% of the achievements. *"I can finally rest, and watch the sunrise on a grateful universe."*

Basically the concept of NG+ started simply as replaying the game but this time with the experience you got and with the items and level you got through the game. So the advantages heavily outmatches the disadvantages. First of all the most obvious of all in any game is having something to do again cause when you finish a game you are practically just roaming around killing random mobs or trying to find any side quest to be able to do something. Where as in NG+ now you finally have something to do. Also you get to replay bosses ans sometimes in different conditions. While in elden ring you pretty much face most bosses twice outside of some shard bearers but in general with NG+ you can replay bosses with different settings like trying different weapons or different styles of play and when the bosses become harder it can make you adapt new play style which makes the fights fresh again. Lastly and the most obvious is the with NG+ you can explore more secrets of the game and see new things with Elden ring it is the different endings and paths of the story but in some other games it goes even further like sometimes you litterly play a different story completely or fight new bosses. So yeah for me NG+ is a win only thing cause the alternative is simply setting around doing nothing after you finished the game cause you always do NG+ after finishing the normal game Duh. And for those who say you can just replay a new game i genuinely wonder why. Why would you pick the option to replay the game the exact same way you did it before when you have the option to replay the game but with different settings, more challenging bosses and some times more secrets and more bosses depending on the game

I am going for my usual strength/dex build for the first playthrough but next one will be all magic and int...should be fun since I've never been that type of souls player.

Im on my 3third playthrought, i limited myself to lvl 200, and 40vigor my first playthrought i did ranny ending and missed so many things so i did journey 2 did fia questline and i did all mains bosses, on my first playthrought i did everything by myself so ofc ng+ was required and it was really fun

I’m looking to 100% the game so it’s either NG+ or a new play through twice in order to get the three required endings.

Yeah Ng+ is great. No matter what the circumstance is I did not enjoy overpowered bosses with ridiculous health & immense amounts of damage dealt to me. Or the aggressive ways they would behave after I changed my build & they would proceed to do their combos just a lil bit longer. The game was extremely unfair to me but I did enjoy it nonetheless & Ng+ is really enjoyable. At the end of the day I enjoyed the game.

In my first play through I missed some character quest lines and NG+ will give me the chance to complete those short stories so definitely will play again.

I personally did almost everything and got everything on 1st play through. I’m level 320 and am toying with doing NG+…Your content is great and really helped me beat this. Thanks.

I always recommend to play ‘blind’ first play through just to learn through experience. I put quotes cuz ppl still check out videos and tips from friends. Ng+ is full on quests and boss hunting. Ng+2 and still finding new areas and dungeons

I decided I was going to do NG+ probably about half way through the game. There is tons of things I missed and I ended up using spirits a lot so i want to do it without spirits its like a whole new challenge.

It’s just a feature in the game if u don’t like it don’t play it. It’s a great addition, sort of like a sandbox mode where you have all the end game loot and levels and you just go in and fight no grind, or to get an extra weapon to dual wield something odd

Hi! Thank you very much for your video on the NG+ matter. I think though that there is one obvious reason to play NG+. If you finished the game it means you liked it for the least, right? Then if you don't have another thing that you would really hardly like to do at the moment and want to have fun, why not replay it with a totally different build with a total gameplay and things being a little harder? You know the places, right? Then avoid the fights you don't want and make experiments with your new build on a tougher challenge, get a different endind, make quests you missed because of a stupid NPC who died because you triggered his death by exploring further (Seluvis I hate you), etc. and maybe should you do it without levelling anymore and without ever summoning a spirit (I summoned 5 times, I think, on the 100 bosses or so). I think this game is so incredibly designed in its gameplay mechanics, so rich than it has endless possibilities. For instance I dual wielded twinblades with Frost/Bleed/Fire, a thing I only tested on a few common though ennemies and then on Malenia!! In Elden ring, I left my shield for the first time since Dark souls 1 (and I ended all From games) to start 2-hands weapons, dual wield weapons, etc. Those who loved fighting in Elden ring when they finished it, should definitely retry it a bit harder with a brand new way of playing. From software made the gameplay too rich to miss all of it if you enjoy its gameplay. You have to try a few things for fun and the game is so artistically splendid... If you didn't enjoy his fights, why did you finish it, considering the challenge to reach the end? Then NG+ and do things differently. My (too long) 2 cents. Cheers!

I just went to new game plus to level up. More. I basically killed all the bosses. Maybe missed a couple. Now almost every boss i kill i get like 200k runes

definetely regreted a 2nd NG+ run leaving it at one of the tragic endings. Collect All weapons, all armor sets could be a big task.

I definitely sorta regret starting a new game+. I spent 115 hrs exploring every corner of the game and when I finally beat it, I hesitated but I did start a new game*. I feel like I lost all my progress and I can’t any longer go just find new weapons and fun stuff anymore. I feel like I’d rather just watch the other endings. Definitely regret it and I’m not looking forward to having to find all the sites again, but I enjoyed fighting the bosses again!

Lol, bleed and frost feel like cheat codes in any playthrough😂

Yup my best tip is the same with that Get all Bells and upgrade all weapons to plus 9 and plus 24 before you go ngplus so that if you want to switch weapons/builds, your weapon you switch to will be already plus 24/plus 9

Would be cool if they changed the story alittle when doing a new journey.or introduced new npc quests

NG is a must for me cause I missed so much, and up until I got to Leyndell I was pretty afraid of everything cause it was my first playthrough and first FS title. I was expecting a harder challenge tho, I figured all the bosses would be like double health but I was able to kill the dragon on the bridge and the black blade kindred back to back first try like 20 mins after starting NG

I'm at 76 hours on first plyathrough, time spent mostly exploring and sightseeing.

overall, everything is subjective, it all just comes down to how much you enjoy that game you’re playing.

Excellent insight and advice. Don't judge, but this is my very first From Soft game and for the most part, did enjoy playing. I have a ridiculous question, so forgive me in advance, is there a way to save the game on a different file, so I can continue exploring/playing the first game as is, and on the second file, beat it and start a new game plus?

7:24 gotta praise the effort that rat trying like hell lol.. Question: If you upgraded most of your weapons and ashes would you still need to stock up on smithing stones, somber stones, grave gloveworts, and ghost gloveworts?

Me and Ranni have things in control already. She is just waiting for me as I play God for awhile as she smiles down upon me :)

NG+ is massively useful for some things. First of all, if you actually play the game as intended (no guides or explanations) then you must likely missed a ton of content and messed up several quests. The game is designed that way. Second. You can only get one ending per NG thus this is another allure Lastly, build diversity is AMAZING in this game. You should and could radically change your playstyle going from ranged int to str bonk for example, this massively changes the game.

I agree with the idea of being able to play co-op with friends without the hassle of pvp. That should be a seperate division in the game for those players that are actually looking for it. The feeling of being a new player to the souls community and wanting to play with a mate that’s on the same boat only to have some seppuku dual wielder invade as soon as we partied up really pushed me away from the game for awhile. Like I just got to the first step and that happened as soon as I started… it’s rough…

I love when they tell you to smash that button without ever saying shit about the video.

I just wish there was at least some minor changes to boss drops in NG+ like in prior darksouls. for instance in DS2 you could kill the Gargoyles on NG+ to get the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring +2 and was the only way to get that item.

My friend beat this game six times so essentially he got six new game pluses I'm not in a rush to beat it I'm taking my time collecting what I can

You stated it’s very subjective and I respect that. Your notion of “nothing you ever do is as enjoyable the second time around” has some genuine truth to it. But I feel that’s the beauty of NG+. With the reward and difficulty increases, having all your previous gear and items means you have the freedom to respec and try new tactics, making it a brand new experience without all the droll. My first run was a power-stance STR Ultra Greatsword Rot build, and I enjoyed every minute of the challenge and the fun in going through it all. My second run in NG+ is a “Black Knife” DEX/INT build with daggers, spells, and super light mobile armor. The experience is completely different and with all the different quests I’m doing this time I’m having way more fun than my first run offered.

I finished the game twice. Go for second run, if you haven't explored all areas and collected all weapons and armors. There are some weapons that you get only after completing a quest in a particular way. So it's possible that you don't have those weapons. However, if you have explored all areas and collected most of the armors and weapons, talisman, then it's not worth it.. It would feel more like a recap of first journey. It's far more easy compared to your first run. Make sure you upgrade all your weapons for the second run.

I haven’t finished the game yet (one boss to go which is why I am watching this video). I will play for sure again. NG+ could be great for two reasons (very subjective) - I will play with a total different build (will respec first with Rennala). I am pretty sure it will be a very different experience. I played mainly as a magician but I feel like trying melee now. - Could be so cool to enjoy the game with many items at hand. During my current run, there were so many moments where I had to go to the other side of the map to get that one item I missed or farm for quite some time to get to the appropriate level. Some might say that’s what the game is all about but still, might be really cool to play the game fully equipped from the start. Also nice tu turn the tables. The game is hard. Bosses are strong. But from what I understand, the player is now the strong one :) payback time :) If it’s really too easy, will start the game again with another built from scratch. Could be cool as well.

Basically i look at it as a way to revive the bosses, not much to do after you beat all the bosses, so you either look up the ones you missed, or you start a NG+

Let's you have dual of same weapon. That's the big deal

I grinded to 250 on NG+ so I could play around with all the different gear and see what I want to use on my new character.

Honestly I’m a little disappointed for the NG+ in this game, they should start adding new stuff like weapons, armors maybe placing new enemies or changing enemies location, I don’t know maybe that sounds like a lot of work especially on this game that is so big. but it would’ve been nice if they did that.

Also I think I will leave on first play until DLC drops. It would be interesting to see the changes made before starting over and having to get to a point in the game to experience it. Will be interesting to see if the do something with lady tannith or whatever her name is that’s eating Rykard. (Sorry I’m bad with names). Or other NPCs you helped and chose not to kill along the way without having to grind back to them.

I recommend you also level up to at least 120 or higher before you go into New Game Plus cuz the bosses hit harder it's not all doom and gloom you get more runes for killing enemies

Because of how long it takes someone who isn’t playing it 24/7 ng+ is actually the best idea

Never been big on ng+. I really like just making my character and farming what I need to do that. I only play after work and farming shit is a good way to unwind after a long day

Bells carrying over was nice. First playthrough was like 85 hrs. Second one was 8 lol

I did NG++ just so I could get every trophy. And I agree with the comment that NG+ is, in ways, easier. I went through at a much faster pace other than I had to deviate to finish some quests I hadn't done, kill some optional bosses. The one thing I also did second go was get the bell bearings so I could gear up items. One thing you mentioned is builds in order to get items you may need. I would add respeccing with a larval tear as well. Otherwise you have to beat the academy again before you can do that. So I leveled up the items for my new build, then did rebirth with a new build and then started NG+. Also as someone else commented,y first game was relatively blind. I looked up how to beat a boss or how to get a specific item. But I didn't read for secrets or quests. After beating it, I felt like I was more free to look at those new items and stories.

Just got the game recently and first play through was practically a speed run compared to the play though I just completed. Never wanted to do ng+ because of the difficulty in finding PvP matches so I deleted my save and started again lol. Lesson learned, I’m gonna make a save that’s exclusively for PvP then complete all the trophies on my ng+ save. It’s been a love hate relationship with this game so far but I’ve not even touched on the PvP aspect yet, hoping the community is still alive with this game, all flaws aside, the combat is impressive and addictive.. praise the sun!

I accidentally started a ng+ without realizing it would override my original playthrough. I haven't fought even fought melania in my first playthrough or even completed pending quests i had. Ill make up for it this next run

NG+ is pointless for me, because I love the freshness of a simple new game, where you don't have anything, so exploration makes sense and it's super enjoyable to start with a new build and try to make it work just from scratch with lack of resources.

The should have a boss arena where you can summon bosses and work your way up to the top. Then they can scale that up and add minions to boss fights etc… the rewards increase as well.

It's almost like from software wants you to restart with a new build instead of continuing your new game plus run. Otherwise they would've given you + items or new enemy locations.

I locked myself into the Frenzied Flame to force myself to replay. That sweet sweet burn.

The good thing about NG+ it's that u can get all the weapons and magics from bosses in the story. If u like to get all the stuff in the game like me then you should to get everything in the game.

I love elden ring and I’m about to be on new game+3 but I do it because I love the challenge of the bosses being harder and everything and it’s very fun

As you go to your new game plus. the 1st time is going to be a breeze. but then you new game plus again. it will be harder. thats when u see a little change in difficulty. then on ng plus 3 you will see significant difference. its a game for challenge and to make fun builds and give u chances to explore things u didnt previous. also to do other side quests that you missed in your previous runs. definitly ng plus if u love a challenging game. seriously it gets tough

For NG+ if I play as a mage my first play through I can just change all my stats to a strength build before I start and do my whole play through like that right?

Ng+ is basically to grind for runes to max out and press buttons aimlessly for the next 2 years

Just finished the game but there's no way in hell that Iam going to start again. I will just travel around in comfort and explore every nook and cranny until the dlc comes out.

Good info. Just finished my first play through and want a reason to play with my new spells and equipment. I hope it's not a big difficulty change as I'm not a seasoned souls player.

I started new game plus to get a few things I missed by progressing to much before completing side missions

All I wanna know is do you have to unlock the full map again. I like to always have the option to show the game off to other people or just cruise around in my favorite areas to relive the game. Are you able to make a separate save file so if the map is closed off again I can choose to play my old save file?

I agree to almost everything. The game "for me" was more enjoyable the second time because now i allow myself to play offline since Multiplayer sucks, exept for the fact i got help with the last boss and all those lovley messages to read. Who makes a game like this and not make it fully MP.. So i decided to mod the game and start a fresh new game NOT new game +, but i started from the beginning with my stats/lvl as they where when i finished the game. So now i know more about how the game works and i can tailor the playthrough as i see fit and it is alot more fun to me. Now im having a blast doing all sidequests and just exploring the world finding caves and... man.. this game is so fun, aside from the "unfair" not "hard" bosses xD .

I'm currently doing this right now, I ran a Quality build for this playthrough (also did a mage character lol but they got their own playthrough). Currently farming for runes and stocking up on smithing/somber stones, and getting any last weapons or ash of war I missed. For idc about the grind lol, I use games as an escape so having to play more doesn't bother me. I currently still have 6 more achievements to get to 100% the game 🤣I need the other 2 endings (got basic and ranni's) and all the legendary weapon ones lol, I'm at 200+ hours currently and don't see myself slowing down anytime soon LMAO!

When i wanna see other endings and questlines i just make new characters with different builds to spice things up. Kinda wish level based matchmaking wasn't a thing so i could fight bosses again on the same character without going ng+

I messed up the Selvius questline on my sorcerer. Which means I lost out on a puppet, and lost one of the valuable talismans I need to up my damage. ☹️

I don’t have a psn subscription so I had to play the game 3 times. 2nd and 3rd time I just beat the necessary bosses to beat it. New game plus felt somewhat the same, maybe the end bosses felt a little tougher but nothing too bad. New game plus 2 I noticed the bosses taking more damage and harder to beat, the final boss was a pain for me and took me like 20 tries to finally beat it. Honestly I probably couldn’t beat this game on new game plus 3.

i liked that in older souls games NG+ spawned new enemy encounters and allowed for getting new items, especially in DS2..... DS2 literally the only game i've played through NG++++ etc. because it was worth to get new items and fight new enemies.

i'm only gonnw do NG+ just for the different endings, going for the Ranni Moon ending on first playthrough, then frenzied flame on NG+, then i'll either start a new character for the basic Lord endings or go through NG++

I prefer just starting a new character. Part of the draw of these games is the grind. I like having to get everything again “for the first time.”

Stones and glovewort bell bearings were patched to carry over to ng+

Play sotfs if you want a different ng+. Although you can experience alot of ng+ areas by burning bonfire ascetic

I think the 2nd playthrough is more of my build is complete I have all the stuff I want now lets see how I do. First playthrough your creating your character 2nd playthrough your character is now playing the game like role/cosplay type playthrough.

my biggest regret was doing ng+ lol, idk why i did, i basically completed every last thing on the map my first playthrough. beat the elden beast at lvl 180. ng+ is kinda useless.

Trying to figure out if it’s worth rushing into NG+3, lev 319 atm & it’s 1M runes per level, it’s not hard to farm runes but it’s getting more time consuming but apparently the boost to runes in NG+3 is only 6% more, does anyone know if that’s true? Is it worth doing more NG+ for more runes or just try grinding it out on current playthrough?

I just NG+ at level 232. I cut through the first couple bosses like butter.