NG+ Ultra Hard - How did you prepare?

[Ac3NiNjA9]

Like the title says, how did you? 

Did you take the time to gather resources, upgrade skills/carry capacity, craft and whatnot? Or did you just jump right into it? Either way, I'd like to know how that worked out for you.

 

Personally, I did a little over 2 hours of grinding for shards & machine parts for buying some of the adept weapons (which were surprisingly way more expensive than I thought).

As well as a lot of resources for crafting, didn't want to bother having to loot constantly during this play-through. Only thing I'll probably have to restock up on is medicinal plants/potions.

 

I made sure I had enough for the Adept stuff I wanted, which were: the Hunter, Sharpshot & War bow - both Slings, the Ropecaster, Tripcaster Nora Silent Hunter outfit.

Kept 15K shards and at least 500-800+ of the "main" crafting resource (chillwater, sparker etc..)

Also I'll be using the Shield Weaver outfit which I saved specially for this, and occasionally the Silent Hunter, maybe..

 

Here's a list of Adept weapons/outfits and their prices if anyone's interested:

Spoiler

 

 

[Squirlruler]

I used my last save file, which had the Shield Weaver outfit. With that, it was pretty easy to just stay at a distance and kill things. I didn't think it was too bad. I also didn't buy any new items during NG+.

[itachi-destroyer]

I started the NG+ ultra hard mode without any preparation and I'm glad I didn't because the game was still easy, it was almost disappointing to beat the "ultra hard" mode without any trouble.

[sephiroth4424]

Getting the platinum is enough preparation for the UH run.The only thing you may want to farm is the Stormbird hearts for the adept Hunter Bow (it will make things faster by putting another handling mod)

[RavenScythe]

When I got the platinum, I just bought additional crafting resources specially Blaze and Wires since they were running low then went ahead and started NG+ UH. I think that was all I really needed. Getting the plat is surely enough preparation.

[Ac3NiNjA9]

Damn, half of what I did was probably overkill then lol.. Figured it wouldn't be that much harder but I still went for it, oh well.

Starting later today so I'll see if it was worth it for me.

[SlimSanta94]

It literally took me longer to re-install the game than it did to complete Ultra hard honestly..  It was a lot easier than I expected and I didn't really have to do much to prepare for it, just make sure all of my crafting materials were maxed and my medicinal pouch was full

Edited September 28, 2017 by SlimSanta94

[Scorpiio93]

I upgraded the pouches on the weapons I used most. Grinded for shards and ridge-wood, plants etc. Oh, and filled my medicine pouch to the max level

[madbuk]

I didn't do any preparation at all really. I had loads of shard and ridge wood, and the secret armor, and a purple bow, and that's all you really need to just rush and brute force your way through UH NG+.

Tbh I was spamming melee attacks in NG+ more than I was shooting stuff. The secret armor is just way too overpowered lol.

[Ac3NiNjA9]

Okay, the grind was definitely overkill. it wasn't "ultra" hard at all, unless if you use bad gear I guess. Took no more than 6 hours and I had more deaths from carelessly jumping off stuff.

But hey, at least I'm all geared up for Frozen Wilds.  

[Aradia117]

I'm torn on finishing off NG+ UH or just resetting all the saves and replaying the game from scratch.  The lack of time before expansion makes either questionable though.    I wouldn't mind doing a 100% run and finding all the world building info collectibles.  Oh well probably will waste time with inaction and play the DLC first.

[AJ_Radio]

Shield Weaver armor is essentially a must for this playthrough. Your health drops far too quickly from the various machines and raiders you fight. Also make sure most of your weapons are the best possible version in the normal playthrough. Having them is a huge help on New Game Plus.

 

I beat the game in eight hours. You only have to do the main quests, you don't have to worry about any of the side quests or hunter lodge challenges. Just remember to pick up the various plants for health and resistance potions.

[Elvick_]

Hm. I still have to do this, I was a peasant and played on easy [usually do when it lets me to get a plat] so wasn't sure how hard this would be. But reading some of this gives me confidence to finally try it soon.

[steel6burgh]

It is easier than the 1st play through with the shield weaver outfit.  You can just run through it.  You don't have to do any side missions.  There is no learning curve as you already learned the mechanics of the game.  Keep your distance.  during the final battle you can hide by the rocks by the left side platform and jump onto the platform to use the gun that is laying on it and than jump back down for cover to regenerate your shield/health.  It takes about 5 hours.  Assuming you had plenty of shards and what not from your 1st play though there is no preparation needed whatsoever.  I never once during the entire playthogh ran short on resources.  Everything carries over.  5 hours and it will be done.

[XileLerinril]

On 10/27/2017 at 10:37 AM, Seabound117 said:

I'm torn on finishing off NG+ UH or just resetting all the saves and replaying the game from scratch.  The lack of time before expansion makes either questionable though.    I wouldn't mind doing a 100% run and finding all the world building info collectibles.  Oh well probably will waste time with inaction and play the DLC first.

 I would recommend you finish UH on NG+. The game is made simpler by the fact that you do not need to fight anything to bad during the story, and the few places you do there are other things going on to help you. Trying to do a 100 percent game on UH seems like it would be really tedious. Don't want to burn out before the DLC. 

 

On 10/31/2017 at 2:38 AM, Elvick_ said:

Hm. I still have to do this, I was a peasant and played on easy [usually do when it lets me to get a plat] so wasn't sure how hard this would be. But reading some of this gives me confidence to finally try it soon.

Its really not that bad. As long as you have shield weaver and can dive roll you will be fine. Just rush the main story. You will not need to fight anything complicated, save a couple of times. And you will have help for those. You die quite quick, but between potions and shield weaver it should not be an issue. 

[AJ_Radio]

It's not difficult at all. It's fairly easy and straight forward once you get adjusted to New Game Plus. Shield Weaver armor makes Ultra Hard difficulty go from challenging to easy. It's essentially having another health bar in addition to your normal health, even though it's really a shield surrounding Aloy.

 

Health potions are very important. I definitely needed them when I had to fight a Stormbird in the last mission. That Deathbringer before the ending can be a bit of a pain, and takes a lot to go down. However good use of potions, dodging and being aware of other machines (although your allies do a good job keeping them at bay) is necessary. It's not that bad, there are far more difficult bosses out there in other third person games.

[TwilightSpira]

I finished my new game plus ultra hard last night as preparation for frozen wilds which is pre ordered. 

Even trough most of the time you can avoid combat, I actually enjoyed how they handled the machines, most of then requires tons of ammo to put down, specially stormbird and thunderjaw. 

 

 

This last part of the game was very intense and I really enjoyed, can't wait for frozen wilds tonight

[Swotam]

I didn't prepare as such, just started the playthrough and went through it as fast as possible. It was tough at parts but not crazy hard. The last couple of missions were a pain, but for the most part it wasn't insanely difficult. That said, I wouldn't want to play regularly on that difficulty level, I personally don't find it that fun.

 

Looking forward to Frozen Wilds!

 

Edit: Just wanted to add that the only really important thing is to have the Shield Weaver armor set, that will go a LONG way towards making NG+ on UH more manageable. Of course, assuming you have the Platinum you've already got that covered.

Edited November 7, 2017 by Swotam

[steel6burgh]

It looks like if you played the ultra hard new game play though you're stuck with that difficulty for the Frozen Wilds DLC.  

[TalalHmd]

I'm going to finish the DLC before NG+, with the new max level and the Shield Weaver, Ultra Hard will probably be a walk in the park

Edited November 7, 2017 by TalalHmd

[Wuthg21]

i went into UH without preperation, the only friend you have is the rolling function. Dark souls : Zero dawn. Enemies turn into real bullet sponges. 

[Charlymeik]

Shield Weaver and the Sniper Bow ( i hope this is the right name ) with 4 times damage upgrade, then the rope thrower and sometimes the elemental bombs ( ice, electricity, fire)...with the bow and 3 arrows I 1-hitted dervahl or the first deathbringer. Until now, it seems to be not that hard.

[Narniak]

4 hours ago, steel6burgh said:

It looks like if you played the ultra hard new game play though you're stuck with that difficulty for the Frozen Wilds DLC.  

This is exactly what I was worried about and why I waited to start my NG+UH run.  From what I've seen so far the DLC enemies are fairly tough even on the lower difficulties.  Playing on UH would probably make Frozen Wilds much less fun to explore and enjoy the story.  It would be nice to have access to the new Adept bows from NG+ for the DLC, but I'm not making an entire extra run for them on a lower difficulty, and they are probably not worth hampering the Frozen Wilds experience by forcing UH difficulty.

[Swotam]

5 hours ago, steel6burgh said:

It looks like if you played the ultra hard new game play though you're stuck with that difficulty for the Frozen Wilds DLC.  

 

Yup, if you chose UH difficulty then you cannot switch to a lower difficulty later on. It's worth noting that your "old" saves from your original pre-NG+ playthrough are still around (unless you deleted them), so you don't have to continue on with your NG+ save unless you want to play on the highest difficulty. You can choose to load one of your older saves from the title screen and that will put you back to wherever you were when you completed your Platinum playthrough.

[Killbomb]

58 minutes ago, Narniak said:

This is exactly what I was worried about and why I waited to start my NG+UH run.  From what I've seen so far the DLC enemies are fairly tough even on the lower difficulties.  Playing on UH would probably make Frozen Wilds much less fun to explore and enjoy the story.  It would be nice to have access to the new Adept bows from NG+ for the DLC, but I'm not making an entire extra run for them on a lower difficulty, and they are probably not worth hampering the Frozen Wilds experience by forcing UH difficulty.

 

I died several times to the first new enemy in the DLC on Normal even with the Shield Weaver armor. That could attributed to me getting used to the game again after such a long layoff or just being bad at it though. ?  I'll run through NG+ on Ultra Hard after I get all the DLC trophies.

Edited November 7, 2017 by Killbomb