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Crisis Core New Game Plus guide

by Alex Donaldson on 05 January, 2023

While the ending of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is quite definitive in how it passes the baton to the original FF7, your adventure with Zack doesn't have to end there - as both the PSP original and the newly remastered Crisis Core Reunion feature a New Game Plus mode. In fact, while not the first, the Crisis Core New Game Plus mode is one of the earliest iterations of this system in the Final Fantasy series.

To access Crisis Core's New Game Plus, you obviouslyneed to frist beat the story. Difficulty doesn't matter - you just need to see the credits roll. Beyond that, on this page we run down everything you need to know about the Crisis Core New Game Plus, including what carries over, what to expect in NG+, and some tips for if you do plan to start a NG+ save file.

Crisis Core New Game Plus: What Carries Over

The Crisis Core New Game Plus option will let you experience the whole story over again, but with a twist.

Once you finish Crisis Core on any difficulty, New Game Plus will become available. This lets you restart the story of Crisis Core from the beginning, with the difference that some (but not all) of your progress from your first play-through will carry over. 

For instance, you can expect Zack's character progression to carry over, but you'll have to unlock all of the various characters on Crisis Core's DMW System again. To be clear, there is no additional story content rewarded for playing Crisis Core New Game Plus. It's just the same game again.

After you finish a New Game+ save, you can choose to then Start a New Game++ save - and so on and so forth, deeper and deeper into a loop. What carries over does not change, however. Here's what you need to know:

Things that carry over in Crisis Core NG+

  • Zack's Character Level
  • All Equipment & Accessories
  • All owned Materia & Materia Levels/EXP/Mastery, so it's worth polishing up your Best Materia setup
  • All other Items, including consumable items & Materia Fusion materials
  • Gil/Money
  • DMW Character Progress Percentages (once unlocked)
  • Buster Sword Proficiency (while you can't raise Buster Sword Proficiency until the sword is unlocked again via the story, when you do its Proficiency level carries over)

Things that don't carry over in Crisis Core's NG+

  • DMW Character Unlocks (once unlocked again, your Memory completion percentage from the previous play-through will be restored)
  • Key Items & Mission Items
  • The Buster Sword (Zack must unlock it again through story progression)
  • Extra Accessory & Materia Slots (these must be unlocked again via missions)
  • Side Mission Progress (all chests in side missions will also be refilled & replenished)

Why play New Game Plus in Crisis Core?

If you want to hear Genesis reading all that Loveless poetry again, boot up the Crisis Core New Game Plus mode.

We'll be straight up with you - once you've finished Crisis Core once, you'll have seen everything the game has to offer in a story sense. There was no extras hidden behind New Game Plus in the PSP original, and the Crisis Core Reunion New Game Plus is no different - it won't yield you a new secret ending. However, there's still a few key reasons people may want to play New Game Plus. Here's some suggestions from us:

  • Play on a harder difficulty: On NG+, you can knock the game up to hard if you didn't play it that way the first time. Alternatively..
  • Play with the Cursed Ring: The Cursed Ring is an easily missable item very early on in Crisis Core, but it's basically Crisis Core's very hard mode, as when equipped it disables the DMW and all advantages that system brings. If you want a huge challenge, get and equip the Cursed Ring.
  • Finish Missions & Side Quests you missed: Crisis Core has a few points of no return & missable content in the story, such as when you leave Midgar for the final time, or when everything changed in Nibelheim. This can lock out side quests like Building a Wagon for Aerith, the Squat Challenge, Locating the Wutai Spies, and even discovering the Nibelheim Wonders - NG+ will allow you to tackle these quests anew. The same is true for Side Missions.
  • Obtain Achievements & Trophies: If you're on the newly remastered Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion, you'll have achievements and trophies to obtain. Many of these are tied to content you might not attempt first run through - so NG+ allows you to go back to get those trophies.
  • Level up Zack towards the Ultimate Challenges: The latest, final missions in Crisis Core are incredibly difficult, and arguably not very easy to complete with a Zack that's not approaching top level. To be top level, however, you'll have to have played the game a lot - and NG+ is the easiest way to grind your way up to Minerva, this game's super boss.