Final Fantasy 16: What Do You Unlock After Beating The Game

Get the lowdown on New Game+ in Final Fantasy 16 — beating the game unlocks new difficulty options, new gear, and a powerful weapon that’s only available in Final Fantasy Mode. That’s just an odd name for the game’s Hard Difficulty, and there’s an even harder difficulty you can challenge yourself with but it’s only available in the Arcade Replay menu in The Hideaway. Here’s a quick list of all the different features that unlock, and generally how they work.

For some of us, beating the story is just the beginning in Final Fantasy 16. And for good reason. NG+ gives you the chance to unlock every ability, craft the ultimate sword and fight through remixed combat encounters through a higher difficulty story. You can get better gear, combine gear for new bonuses and level up beyond maximum. This is a surprisingly fully-featured NG+, a rarity in the Final Fantasy series until now, and gives you plenty of incentive to really master your Eikon skills.

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After completing FF16 you’ll unlock new content and New Game+. After finishing the story, you’ll be given the option to make a Complete Save File. This allows you to restart with everything you’ve unlocked so far — and access new content that’s exclusive to the post-game.

What Unlocks After Completing The Story:
New Game+: Restart the story with higher level cap and retain all gear from your previous playthrough. You’ll also retain your abilities so you can continue to unlock everything in the Eikon Board.
Final Fantasy Difficulty: A harder difficulty that will challenge veteran players. Selected at the start of the story. All enemies are remixed for harder encounters. You’ll fight late-game enemies much earlier, for example.
Ultimaniac Difficulty: Special difficulty that is only available through the Replay / Arcade Obelisk in the Hideaway. Not available for the main story or open-world.
Ultima Weapon: The most powerful sword in the game. Only available in NG+. Requires the previous most powerful weapon.
More Gear Upgrades: By combining two pieces of the same gear, you can unlock a more powerful +1 version. You can replay side-quests and other content to acquire a copy of gear you already have.

There are more small changes you’ll encounter, such as Flawless Materials in higher difficulties. You can also access all content — Notorious Marks, side-quests, and other jobs must be replayed in NG+ to get copies of gear you already have, which can then be combined to make more powerful swords, belts and bracers.

To make the most out of NG+, you absolutely MUST collect every accessory before starting NG+. This way, you can double the effectiveness of your gear by merging the two pieces together at Blackthorne’s Forge. These upgrades make the higher difficulty a lot more manageable.