Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis – The Answer Review

It feels like kismet to return to a Persona game right at the start of a new school year. While I am not in school, I find myself once again immersed in Persona 3 Reload’s universe. This time, though, I’m not replaying Persona 3 for the umpteenth time. Instead, I find myself playing Episode Aigis, epilogue of Persona 3 Reload.

The Answer was released as the epilogue to the PS2’s Persona 3 FES back in 2007, wrapping up the events following the end of Persona 3 (i.e., The Journey) and placing Aigis in the cockpit of S.E.E.S.’ remnants. This episode was divisive amongst Persona fans, as it stripped away some of the “best bits” that make Persona such a deep RPG and relegated the player into exploring shadow-filled dungeons beneath the Iwatodai dormitory. I’ve heard it called a “grueling grind-fest” more times than I could count, as it was ultimately constructed to test the patience of players who successfully made it to the end of Persona 3 and forced them into utilizing a barebones persona management system alongside increasingly difficult turn-based battles. Oh, yeah, and it required another 30-60 hour investment in getting to the end of the story.

Some players hated grinding through Tartarus in Persona 3, whereas others preferred it to the social-link based story. This is why ATLUS did their darndest to ease the difficulty of Persona 3 to make it more palatable for contemporary audiences when Persona 3 Reload was released to us Persona fans. It’s safe to assume that ATLUS has taken similar steps with Episode Aigis, right?

It would behoove me to start by saying that Episode Aigis remains a grindfest. The degree of grinding, however, is up to you to decide how “much” you want to grind. However, credit where credit is due, ATLUS has taken some bold steps in easing that grind to get players through what I believe to be Persona’s most complete and somber ending. Be warned, this review contains massive spoilers for Persona 3/Persona 3 Reload, so if you haven’t yet completed Persona 3/Persona 3 Reload, then you should probably stop.

Immediately following the events of P3R, I was taken back to Iwatodai Dormitory to find the rest of my party spending their last moments in the dorm before its closure. With the Protagonist’s death, all of them are in mourning while they pick up the proverbial pieces that were left from the final battle. As they came together one final time and turned in their Evokers, a flash of light freezes time, trapping the squad in the dorm. A swarm of butterflies appears of out nowhere, bringing forth another humanoid android that looks similar to Aigis. After a quick battle, we learn the android’s name is Metis, Aigis’ sister who has been sent to “save” Aigis.

At the same time, a massive hole appears in the dormitory’s ground floor, leading to the Abyss of Time and Desert of Doors, an endless dungeon crawling with shadows. With time being locked in an infinite time loop on March 31, it’s up to Aigis and the rest of S.E.E.S. to unearth whatever is beneath and undo the infinite time loop brought forth by the Abyss of Time.

Nearly all of Episode Aigis is spent exploring the dungeons that comprise the Desert of Doors. Unlike Tartarus’ gargantuan staircase, the dungeons here are broken up into smaller subsets. Battles are held the same way as they did in P3R but with Aigis at the helm and in control of the player. After completing the first dungeon, Paulownia Mall is unlocked which allowed me to spend gold I had obtained from slaying Shadows to unlock and equip better, albeit very expensive, gear.

Aigis utilizes ranged attacks when exploring the Desert of Doors. Unlike P3R’s protagonist who used a sword to initiate a battle with a shadow or destroy P3R’s Tartarus breakable objects, Aigis has to shoot with her hand cannons. She feels clunky in the first few dungeons for lore-reasons, but she later comes across spare armor parts that are used to increase her running speed and eventually make it so that surprising an enemy causes them to begin battle in a distressed state.

Those familiar with The Answer might already know all of this and are far more curious about the changes ATLUS made in Episode Aigis. I previewed this a few paragraphs prior: Episode Aigis is far more player friendly than its predecessor.

The first major difference in Episode Aigis the inclusion of the Persona Compendium. This is the encyclopedia of persona entries that can be accessed from the Velvet Room and allows for summoning previously attained persona at a price. If you completed Persona 3 Reload, you’re given the option of importing EVERYTHING you registered on your original playthrough, but the prices to summon from that secondary compendium is far higher than personas registered in Episode Aigis. The benefit of this addition makes it so that managing personas is equivalent to that from P3R, making Episode Aigis slightly easier.

ATLUS has also added Theurgies to Episode Aigis. These are the same ultimate moves that were originally added to P3R and made some boss battles easier. Aigis’ original Theurgy, “Orgia Mode,” is given to Metis while Aigis gets a new defensive Theurgy that heals the party while temporarily boosting their accuracy and evasion. Since time is frozen in Episode Aigis, Theurgies don’t reset at the end of the day and carry over between expeditions. Again, this is a pro-player addition to make Episode Aigis easier to complete.

Monad Doors make their return, albeit slightly different than their P3R form. They still emerge at random in Episode Aigis’ dungeons. This time, I was able to choose between three doors (which contained enemies ranging from easy to hard) so long as I didn’t leave the floor. Completing the harder doors resulted in better treasure chests, so it was worth it to defeat the harder doors from time to time. Twilight Fragments (which I wasn’t the biggest fan of in my P3R review) and the clocks return, too, healing my party and getting those who are on reserve additional experience when I opt into spending the few fragments I come across.

At certain points in Episode Aigis, I came across items that let Aigis get “closer” to the other members. These items would ultimately unlock personality characteristics for individual party members, like Amada gaining SP after every turn. These characteristics proved to be fruitful additions into not only extending my individual runs but also some relief during boss battles. Some of the more-difficult shadows from P3R were waiting for me in the Abyss of Time, meaning that I had to remain patient against certain enemies who lacked weaknesses. Theurgies helped, though.

In between dungeon runs, I could visit Elizabeth who stood patiently in the Desert of Doors, right outside of the bright blue door that could take me to the Velvet Room to adjust my personas. She had some requests for me, most of which were pretty generic (e.g., slay a certain number of shadows, open a certain number of chests). However, it was worth completing these quests for her as the items she provided often helped some of the later dungeons. It also was a nice break to have a sidequest to accomplish as I was diving deeper into the Abyss of Time.

When it was time for me to stop exploring, be it when I was low on SP or when I simply wanted a break, I returned to the dorm and/or visit the Mall. In P3R, that usually meant that my return to Tartarus would essentially begin anew from a specific floor that was available using Tartarus’ elevator. In the Abyss of time, Fuuka could quickly bring me to the deepest floor I had last reached without concern about retracing my steps. This, right here, is huge. If I stopped on the 14^th floor of a dungeon, right before a boss, I could return there on my next exploration. No time sink needed! At higher difficulties, it might be worth redoing a dungeon or two for the sake of gaining experience, but Episode Aigis made it so that I didn’t have to retrace my steps.

The most welcome addition to Episode Aigis is the ability to adjust the difficulty to your liking. I’ve read many players’ complaints about The Answer being far too difficult to the point of it being anti-player – not anymore. Setting the difficulty to Peaceful makes it so that items, when sold, give more money and enemies deal far less damage. If you’re wanting to avoid the grind, there’s nothing wrong with setting the difficulty to Peaceful. This is especially true if you made it to the end of P3R for the first time and/or you opt into just heading into Episode Aigis without completing P3R. When I set the difficulty to Peaceful, I was able to complete levels far quicker than I was able to do on Normal (which is what I typically set the difficulty to during a Persona playthrough). I was also able to quickly get to the story bits at the end of each dungeon.

I’m sure you’re noticing a pattern at the end of each paragraph: Episode Aigis contains a wealth of pro-player additions that give players all that they need and more to see Episode Aigis through to its ending. Too many RPGs are filled with an unnecessarily high degree of grinding, Persona included, but Episode Aigis is an example of a post-game done right. Even more, the attention to alleviating player pain makes it so that you can enjoy more of P3R’s universe and find yourself closer to the members of S.E.E.S.

Again, you should expect to grind through shadow after shadow in Episode Aigis as the core gameplay loop. You no longer have to deal with the panic of wasting time that has become a customary Persona experience. Now, you have all the time in the world to explore, spend time with your crew, and become stronger. I know that establishing social links is the bread and butter of Persona’s appeal and core gameplay loop, but it’s not worth establishing those links if you miss out on them from making an incorrect decision and/or overwhelmed by countless hours of the grind.

I recently came across an interview between P3R’s development team and another media outlet, the latter of which described The Answer as an extended metaphor for grief. I partially agree with this conceptualization. As one who has lost his father several years ago, it felt oddly familiar to see time standing still as S.E.E.S. grapple with loss and figure out how to proceed. The story beats of Episode Aigis shed light on how each of S.E.E.S.’ members eventually acquired their personas through small flashbacks after boss battles, and it illustrates grief and loss in ways that very few games dare to portray some of the hardest parts of one’s life. From my own experience, it felt like time stood still for weeks on end as I had to address my day-to-day chores on top of getting my PhD (which honestly felt like an unending dungeon in and of itself).

Episode Aigis spoke to me more than any other Persona game. Sure, I could have simply gone on YouTube and seen its story told without picking up my controller and keyboard to replay Persona 3 Reload (which I didn’t technically have to replay, by the way!). This venture was worth it, though, as Persona 3 Reload is a beautiful game and a fantastic example of a remake done exceptionally well.

There’s no reason not to complete Episode Aigis with how much ATLUS has made this post-game episode easier to complete than ever before. Getting to the end of Episode Aigis and seeing Persona 3 Reload’s characters’ ending in a somber, yet bittersweet, fashion is a perfect way to step away from the glory that is Persona 3 Reload that has made 2024 a fantastic year for Persona fans. It bears repeating: Episode Aigis is a JRPG post-game done right; it’s so right that it’s worth returning to Persona 3 Reload if only to see the ending.