EVER since Persona 5 launched in 2016, a whole new wave of fans discovered the 30-year-old series.
It received huge attention around the globe, not only earning an outstanding 94 rating but also receiving many accolades, including a Game of the Year nomination.
Persona 5 is actually the sixth game in the mainline Persona series, and with many jumping late into the series, Atlus had a rich library it could mine to create more games.
The company seems to be focusing its efforts mostly on Persona 3, which is often considered one of the best games in the series.
In 2023, a port of Persona 3 Portable launched for multiple consoles and a full ground-up remake, Persona 3 Reload, was released this year.
However, there is one part of Persona 3 which has not been re-released since the 2007 game Persona 3 FES.
This version of Persona 3 featured harder difficulty options and an additional 30 hours of gameplay called The Answer.
Soon The Answer will see its first release in 17 years as DLC for Persona 3 Reload called Episode Aigis – The Answer.
It features Aigis as the main character alongside the rest of the game, and a new character Metis.
After the events of Persona 3, a time distortion opens up under the dorms, meaning that they experience March 31 on repeat.
In order to stop this, they must venture into the dungeons below the dorms and fix whatever is causing the phenomenon.
As time is stopped The Answer doesn’t feature the daily activities and Social Links that are found in the main game.
Instead, it focuses on the dungeon crawling gameplay, similar to Tartarus, with procedurally generated floors.
There was one glaring issue when the add-on launched for PS2 – almost no one could finish it.
It was set to Hard difficulty with no way to reduce this, and you couldn’t grind in the main story as your character levels reset to 30.
To make things more difficult, the original version had your party characters controlled by AI, making them unpredictable and fights frustrating to lose.
Luckily, the Persona 3 Reload version of The Answer comes with the same updates as the remake, such as adjustable difficulty and control over your party.
Aside from the much needed mechanical overhaul, with additional features like Switch and Theurgy attacks, it has all the snazzy UI, graphics and animations that you expect from modern Persona games.
Atlus has described The Answer as a ‘faithful remake’ but what it means by this is that the story, characters and general premise stay true to the original.
When it comes to quality of life features, the two are lightyears apart with all the mechanics players wished they had in the noughties.
Despite the new features, Episode Aigis is still more difficult than the main game, but now it is manageable.
This DLC is for those who love the dungeons of Persona 3 and want a satisfying conclusion, but will disappoint those who are only in it for the social simulator.
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