Final Fantasy 16 New Game Plus mode amps up the challenge

Final Fantasy 16’s New Game Plus adds two new difficulty modes and a suite of extras for the RPG’s arcade challenges. Final Fantasy 16 director Hiroshi Takai and combat director Ryota Suzuki told IGN a bit about what to expect from New Game Plus, including remixed enemies and even more customization options.

New Game Plus unlocks after you complete the main story on either of the two available difficulties. You can pick Final Fantasy Mode and start the game again with your level, skills, and inventory as they were when you finished the game. The level cap goes up to 100, enemies are stronger, and you’ll find quite a few new foes in places where they weren’t the first time.

Final Fantasy Mode unlocks higher upgrade options for equipment, including a higher upgrade gear that changes the name and appearance of the item, and accessory crafting, so you can customize Clive’s fighting style and bring out the most of your favorite skills.

“For example, let’s say that a certain accessory allows you to shorten the recast time for abilities by two seconds,” Takai said. “By having two of these accessories synthesized into one, that becomes four seconds. You can even go as far as separately equipping one more of these accessories, which would allow you to shorten the recast time up to six seconds. There’s a wide variation of accessories that have different effects, and synthesizing them will allow for a new layer of depth in New Game Plus.”

Final Fantasy Mode has its own arcade mode that grades your performance in every battle, complete with global leaderboards, and if that’s not enough challenge for you, then you can take on Ultimaniac mode, with even more difficult foes and a separate leaderboard for its arcade stages.

Any New Game Plus challenge, regardless of difficulty, includes Chronolith battles. These are locked behind Fallen relics that you can’t interact with during your first run of the story and function like time trial battles. You’re tasked with clearing multiple ways of enemies and a boss within 80 seconds. You can add time back to the clock by completing certain challenges during the trial, and you get a special accessory if you succeed within the time limit.

Final Fantasy 16 launches for PS5 on June 22, 2023.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF