22 September 2009

Games replay value and post end game stuffs

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Who loves girl playing games?

After beating Valkyria Chronicles, I’ve been thinking about games replay value, since Valkyria Chronicles has that new game plus which bring out our spirit to replay this game again even after you beat the game. This post is discussing mostly about why we gamers want to replay a game, even after you beat it and other games are waiting. Anyway, the games we’ll discuss here are games with genre like RPG or adventure. Games with genre like fighting or Dynasty Warriors styled gameplay aren’t too relevant in this topic, so let’s just assume all the games here are RPG or Adventure.

First let’s find the reasons what kind of replay values games can give:

  • New Game Plus: you can restart a new game with new features that you can’t access in the first playthrough, some games give you chance to bring your level, items, skills, etc in the new playthrough.
  • Post end game: after you beat the story, you’ll enter a free roaming mode or something like that, this session gives you chance to find secrets and completing subquests.
  • 100% completion: self explanatory, gamers want to get 100% completion of the game. Depending on the game, 100% completion can be achieved in post end game session, new game plus, or even the first playthrough. This reason is about how gamers want to replay because they missed something in their first playthrough even though they can get a hundred percent in their first game.
  • Alternate ending: yeah, beating a game the 2nd time to get another view on the ending.
  • Just plain nostalgia: easy to say, just for nostalgia, no other special reason.

I guess I’ll be ranting about each of them with more details. So just let’s move on…


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Disgaea series secrets opened in NG+, the real game will begin after you finish the story.

New game plus is about how the game delivers more stuffs to find, beat, open, etc after the first playthrough is finished and you start a new one. So you have to do those stuffs while you’re trying to finish the second story playthrough. Sometimes the game gives you ability to bring all items, level, etc. MGS3, MGS4, and Valkyria Chronicles are games that give you ability to bring those achievement in the next playthrough.

So gamers want to play those games because they want to taste those secrets. Disgaea series are the type of games that is filled with secrets after you finish the first playthrough. FYI, Disgaea 1 and 2 requires you to restart to access the secret, but Disgaea 3 doesn’t work that way. Disgaea 3 can be included in post end game achievement games. Disgaea 2 secret characters can be accessed after you finished the first game, like Laharl and friends.

Valkyria Chronicles brings you Hard and Ex Hard skirmish. The game also brings you a chance to replay all mission so you can get A rank in each missions. But no other secrets and whatsoever.

I rarely replay a games because of this reason. Disgaea 2 is an exception i guess, because like i said before, the real game has just begun after the end of the story. Usually, games with new game plus is minimum on new secrets, and that’s the reason why i rarely replay a games just because it has a new game plus. How about you guys? What do you think about New Game Plus?


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It’s Grand Theft Auto if you don’t know what i want to say.

Next part is worth to play, a post end game achievement. Different than the first reason, new game plus, post end game achievement doesn’t bore you with the same events / stories you saw in the first playthrough. Those secret stuffs appeared after you beat the game, but you don’t have to restart the game and replay and rewatch all the stuffs you’ve watch in the first playthrough.

Games like Grand Theft Auto series are popular with this replay value. You can do things to get 100% completion, like hidden packages, jumps, rampages, races, etc. After the story ends, you can pretty much roams anywhere you want. Midnight Clubs: Los Angeles also gives you chance like this, you can go anywhere, get any kind of cars you want, and beat those <enter car types here> kings and get a hundred percent.

Those 2 games above are examples of games that have post end game session, but have almost no new secrets opened after the main story ended. But game like Disgaea 3 has new secrets opened after the main story ended. Grandia Extreme also has new dungeon appeared after you beat the story. Gamers may want to beat those dungeons or obtain those secrets before they sell the game or just put it in the repository.

Well, yeah… the post end game achievement is one of my main reason why i tried to play the games even after i beat those games. Depending on how many secrets revealed i might change my mind. Midnight Club LA and GTA don’t really have something new, so i guess i won’t be playing with it for too long. But games with so many secrets like Disgaea 3 has can be attractive to me. IMO, post end game session is better than new game plus because you don’t have to worry about rewatching the whole story again. So how’s your opinion regarding post end game session?


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Tales series or 100% completion after the first playthrough.

Next is about 100% completion. A hundred percent is different between each games. You can only get 100% in games like Tales series after you beat it once. So it was like 100% in the new game plus. Games with post end game session like Midnight Club LA, GTA, and Disgaea 3 also has the 100% after you beat the game. But the real 100% is about how you get all the things you can get BEFORE you beat the game.

So it’s like, get all items, skills, subquests, equipments, and all the stuffs you can get before you beat the game. Normally, you can do this in the first playthrough. I remembered i played over 60 hours in Kingdom Hearts 2 just to get 100% for the secret ending.

So what’s the replay value IF you can get the number in the first playthrough? Well… not all people can get that number in their first playthrough. So they want to replay it and get the number in second playthrough.

Here are examples of games with the 100% completion in the first playthrough: Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy 7 (don’t know the other series), Atelier Iris series, etc. You can get the 100% completion in the first playthrough, but if you failed or missed to get it, you can just restart the game, go for another try, and get the things you missed before.

Tales series are a very different examples. You can get most of the things in the first playthrough, but it still has the new game plus. As i remembered, Tales of Eternia has a new dungeon in the next playthrough. But in Tales of Abyss, only hardcore mode opened after you beat the game, no other stuffs.

Tales of Eternia bringing a lot of old memories to me. I still a n00b while playing the first ToE, so my target back there is just beat the story and nothing else. But after awhile i knew that ToE has so many potential in the game, so replayed it and beat it almost 100%, replayed it again for the new dungeon. I think this is the game where i spent so much time replaying.

I definitely wouldn’t want to replay a game just for 100% completion. Most gamers, including me, would like to try get 100% before they beat it, so it was like perfectionists who failed to perfect in their first playthrough would want to beat it again. So how about you? Do you want to beat the game just for 100% even though you knew you won’t get new secrets and stuffs?


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Suikoden series, I’ve finished all of them and got the best ending except Suikoden 2.

And this maybe the other good reason why you want to replay the game again: alternate ending. Suikoden series are the games that popular with the endings. Each games always has these: 108 characters, one of your closest friend dead, and don’t let your character die at the battle. Target: best ending where you have to get all those character without dying and in the near end, you’ll have your friend revived.

So what if you failed to meet that requirement? Just beat it again! Easy! But it could take a lot of time to replay it again. You just have to beat it again with the condition met. A very potential reason to replay the game.

Most of you gamers, including me, would want to get the best ending at the first playthrough. But the difference is after that. Do you want to put the game off after you get the best ending, or want to play it again for the other ending (even the bad ending one)? For me, I’d stop after i got the best ending. Got more games waiting rather than rewatching the whole stories again. Maybe I’ll find a forum that discuss about the other ending and just read it just to let myself know what kind of stuffs lies in the other endings.


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Bonus: Chibi Selvaria cooking (still in the happy mood after beating Valkyria).

The last reason is simple, just plain nostalgia. That’s pretty much self explanatory… Maybe the gamers just want to remember the games they’ve played or whatsoever.

So the main question is: do you still want to spend your precious time, let the new games waiting, and replay your previous games because of those reasons? I won’t be bothering too much with my past games, except i have no more games to play with…

Phew, a pretty long rant here… Well yeah, that’s it for now… See you at the next post.

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