Going to formally ask this hear. For his pb Dax used an NG+ file but because he had no items carried over it was counted as an NG run. Are we allowed to do that? If so its pretty neat that we can use a customized aqua in NG runs.
I don't see why not. As long as you dont carry over any items, I see no reason not to count it as NG even though it's a file that was already beaten.
As long as the items icon is grayed out in the beginning there shouldn't be any problem since the only thing that transfers over besides that are the Challenges and cosmetic items.
What makes it kind of a problem is that NG+ is a separate category. It should be separated IMO.
I do carry over my customization for magic, as it is set to my KH2FM preference, but the game starts out on NG with the shortcut menu set to its default. If you had to menu in your magic shortcuts from blank slots in a NG run, then I would factor that in. So, there's literally no difference in time save between NG and using a NG+ file. As long as the NG+ file has no items in stock, it's just a NG file with cosmetics. And since cosmetics are the best thing about 0.2, it's nice to be able to use them.