Part 29: NG+ Update 01: A New Adventure
NG+ Update 01: A New AdventureWelcome back to Let’s Play Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. Last time we completed our first playthrough of the game and obtained an ending that was pretty close to perfect.
Once the credits have all rolled the game tells us that we’ve reached the end…but that’s not quite true. There’s still a fair bit of content left to experience.
After a beautiful Engrishy congratulations screen the game asks us if we want to save our game ‘with SOL data included’.
Choosing to do this nets us a special save file. Along with the spiffy new side image, our D-Counter has been set to zero, we keep all our Zenny and our D-Ratio has somehow been reduced to 1/256. Not only that, the number of Retries seems to have ballooned for some reason.
The last detail is easy to explain. As I mentioned in the update in which we fought him the battle with Elyon can be turned into a Party XP loop. This involves abusing the fact that he will repeatedly summon more clones if you kill them during the first World.
If you D-Dive, charge up to x4 and use Hurricane on Elyon, you’ll kill both clones while not harming Elyon himself too badly.
Elyon will summon more clones, and you can repeat the process.
When you’ve killed three lots of clones, nuke Elyon and end the battle.
You should receive around 37,000 Party XP for doing so. You can kill four lots of clones for more, but by that point your Ratings Bonus will start dropping and you’ll only get about 38,000. Killing three lots is the most efficient way of grinding.
You can gain a lot of Party XP by resetting and fighting Elyon again. Doing this lets you rack up Party XP that can be used for New Game+, and to raise all your party members to Level 50. This means resetting an obscene number of times, but it’s absolutely necessary if you want to get a good D-Ratio for New Game+.
At the end of each playthrough Dragon Quarter generates a new D-Ratio that you take into New Game+. The value of this ratio is determined by a number of factors including:
-Game clear time.
-Number of chests opened.
-Number of Save Tokens expended.
-Number of EX-Turns.
-Map completion percentage.
-Optional dungeon progress.
-Average party level.
The first six factors are graded on a scale of 1 to 10 depending on how efficient you were. For instance, if you complete the game in less than eight hours you’ll get 10 points in the first category. The last factor, average party level, is different since it awards up to a maximum of 50 points, bringing the total number of earnable points up to 110.
With that in mind, here are the thresholds needed for each particular D-Ratio:
100+ Points = 1/4
95 - 99 Points = 1/8
90 - 95 Points = 1/16
85 - 90 Points = 1/32
80 - 85 Points = 1/64
75 - 80 Points = 1/128
70 - 75 Points = 1/256
65 - 70 Points = 1/512
60 - 65 Points = 1/1024
55 - 60 Points = 1/2048
50 - 55 Points = 1/4096
Below 50 Points = 1/8192
My new D-Ratio of 1/256 means I managed to scrape together 70 - 75 points. This is actually ideal since a D-Ratio of 1/256 is just enough to see every SOL Scene and unlock every D-Ratio door. Getting a higher ratio is mostly for bragging rights, although it does affect a few minor mechanics that I’ll go into when they’re relevant.
But enough blabbing about game mechanics. The game resets after the ending, allowing us to return to the title screen and load the new file we’ve just made.
The loading screen pops up as usual, but the opening cutscene doesn’t play.
Instead we get this.
Music: Silver Tone
: Doctor, I…
The scene we just witnessed is an SOL Scene. SOL Scenes are special cutscenes that the player can unlock using the SOL System. Some are viewable after resetting your game once, while others require the player to do so after certain plot points. A rare handful only appear on New Game+ runs with a D-Ratio above a certain level. It’s a complex system, but my current setup should be enough to let us see them all.
SOL Scenes vary in their length and content. Some are small skits that supplement existing scenes, while others serve to flesh out the feelings and motivations of certain characters. Most of the scenes are fairly serious, but there are a few funny moments sprinkled in as well.
The scene we just witnessed plays before the opening cutscene after you’ve completed the game at least once. It gives us a glimpse of Nina just after her surgery, and reveals that she used to be able to talk normally. We don’t see who she’s talking to, but it’s a safe bet that it’s the same scientist the party encounters at the end of BioCorp.
After the SOL Scene ends the usual opening cutscene plays. I’ll be skipping or truncating a lot of the material we’ve gone over before, so updates for this run will be a fair bit shorter than those for the first playthrough.
Music: Ranger HQ
Like before, we begin in Ranger HQ.
Checking the status screen reveals our Zenny and Party XP have indeed rolled over. I spent some time grinding out some extra of the latter to make this playthrough a little easier.
I begin by boosting Ryu up ten levels before we fight a single battle. I could boost him much higher, but I want to hold back a bit for reasons that will become clear near the end of this LP.
All of Ryu’s old skills and equipment carry over into New Game+. Along with the level boost this should let us power through the first part of the game without much trouble.
Unfortunately the other denizens of Sheldar still treat us like crap, despite our newly inflated D-Ratio. No one will ever acknowledge it in-game, even if you achieve the highest ratio of 1/4.
Our next job is to meet up with Bosch and receive our orders from Zeno.
The meeting concludes as it did before, with Bosch asking to speak to Zeno alone. But once Ryu has left…
:…my D-Ratio is 1/64…
: Even Regent!
: Something to prove I’m worthy of the rank.
This scene gives us a bit more insight into Bosch’s character, emphasising that he’s an ambitious young man with a clear idea of how he wants his life to go. It also showcases the tensions between Bosch and the Ranger leadership; Zeno is his direct superior, but his higher D-Ratio means he technically outranks her and can get away with trying to cajole and browbeat her into doing what he wants.
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Bonus Art: Japanese Box Art
