Persona 3 Reload - Episode Aigis: The Answer
- September 10, 2024
- P-Studio
This revamp of The Answer improves the original experience, but that experience still mostly revolves around hours of dungeon crawling.
PC
Playstation 4
Playstation 5
Xbox One
Xbox Series X|S
PlayStation
Xbox
Reviews
- Episode Aigis offers improved quality of life and combat system enhancements compared to the original, making the experience more enjoyable.
- The narrative provides poignant character moments and deepens character arcs, offering a thoughtful epilogue to the Persona 3 story.
- The combat remains engaging and challenging, appealing to hardcore players looking for a more difficult dungeon-crawling experience.
- The expansion heavily relies on tedious dungeon crawling, lacking the social elements that define the Persona series.
- The pacing of the story is uneven, with minimal character development locked behind excessive grinding.
- The high price point feels unjustified for content that largely reuses assets from the base game, making it feel redundant.
- story10 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
The story in Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis features intriguing character-driven themes and serves as a poignant epilogue to the original narrative, focusing on Aigis and the aftermath of the main events. However, the pacing suffers due to repetitive dungeon crawling and minimal story content outside the beginning and end, leading to a grind that may deter some players. While there are moments of engaging character interactions and improved dialogue, the overall delivery feels unbalanced and often redundant.
“As you progress, story beats attempt to keep you hooked, as your party members are forced to unravel the truth of this fresh trial, with you taking on the role of mechanical companion Aigis.”
“Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis provides a poignant epilogue to the beloved JRPG, focusing on Aigis and delving into the aftermath of the main story.”
“Persona 3 Reload Episode Aigis was an interesting way to continue the story and bookend some loose ends, but whether it resonates with you will depend on how much you’re willing to grind to get the answer.”
“You've got to ask yourself whether the grind is worth it; whether your enjoyment of Reload's dungeon crawling is enough to justify another 20 hours of often paper-thin and sometimes frustratingly contrived storytelling.”
“Its worthwhile story beats are rare and buried beneath a lot of all-too-familiar dungeon crawling, and it's undeniably expensive in terms of asking price.”
“Story is minimal outside of the start and the very end; the grind gets tiring, especially with the repetitiveness of multiple elements like audio and dialogue, and the lack of true social links strips the game to its bare basics.”
- grinding4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Reviews indicate that grinding in the game is often seen as tedious and necessary for character development and narrative depth, with players expressing frustration over the lack of engaging gameplay elements and a reliance on repetitive dungeon crawling. Additionally, issues like a flawed economy and bugs further detract from the experience, making the grinding feel even more burdensome.
“For much of the adventure, you're fed scraps of what can barely be called exposition, with the actual character development locked behind a lot of grinding.”
“The narrative deepens character arcs and themes, but the gameplay mainly consists of tedious dungeon crawling, lacking the social elements that define the series.”
“The economy relies heavily on grinding, with no method to gain more experience in fusions, compounded by numerous bugs in the Windows version.”
- gameplay3 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- -67 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by tedious dungeon crawling that can feel monotonous, despite attempts to engage players with story elements and character development. While the mechanics have been improved for a smoother experience, the absence of the series' signature social interactions detracts from the overall enjoyment.
“This makes the experience much easier to stomach on a mechanical level, as the dungeon-based excursions often felt like a serious slog in its original form.”
“As you progress, story beats attempt to keep you hooked, as your party members are forced to unravel the truth of this fresh trial, with you taking on the role of the mechanical companion Aigis.”
“The narrative deepens character arcs and themes, but the gameplay mainly consists of tedious dungeon crawling, lacking the social elements that define the series.”
“This makes the experience much easier to stomach on a mechanical level, as the dungeon-based excursion often felt like a serious slog back in its original form.”
“As you progress, story beats attempt to keep you hooked, as your party members are forced to unravel the truth of this fresh trial, with you taking on the role of mechanical companion Aigis.”
- character development1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is criticized for being minimal and poorly paced, with players feeling that essential backstory and growth are obscured by excessive grinding, leading to a frustrating experience.
“For much of the adventure, you're fed scraps of what can barely be called exposition, with the actual character development locked behind a lot of grinding.”
“The characters feel one-dimensional, lacking any real growth or depth throughout the story.”
“Despite the potential for rich backstories, the game fails to explore them, leaving players with a sense of disconnect from the characters.”
Critic Reviews
Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis Review
Episode Aigis is an epilogue to Persona 3 Reload — a remake of the additional scenario that first appeared in Persona 3 FES on the PS2. Much like Reload itself, this expansion is pretty much a one-to-one recreation in terms of core narrative and structure, but it's bolstered by all of the remake's quality of life and combat system improvements. This makes the experience much easier to stomach on a mechanical level, as the dungeon-based excursion often felt like a serious slog back in its original form. Having said that, Episode Aigis still revolves around dungeon crawling almost exclusively. The expansion does away with the social side of the Persona formula, and simply tasks players with getting to the bottom of a new, Tartarus-like creation. As you progress, story beats attempt to keep you hooked, as your SEES party members are forced to unravel the truth of this fresh trial, with you taking on the role of mechanical companion Aigis. The plot deals with some intriguing character-driven themes, but the pacing is a real sticking point. For much of the adventure, you're fed scraps of what can barely be called exposition, with the actual character development locked behind a lot of grinding. It's a tall order considering your levels and equipment don't carry over from the base game; you're effectively starting from the bottom again, albeit with a wider roster of party members readily available. You've got to ask yourself whether the grind is worth it; whether your enjoyment of Reload's dungeon crawling is enough to justify another 20 hours of often paper-thin and sometimes frustratingly contrived storytelling. For what it's worth, Episode Aigis does offer a greater challenge than the core release — something that may appeal to more hardcore players. But even then, the expansion is priced at $34.99 / £28.99 — and that feels expensive for what is, essentially, a new dungeon populated with reused enemy assets. Episode Aigis is one for the super fans. Its worthwhile story beats are rare and buried beneath a lot of all-too-familiar dungeon crawling, and it's undeniably expensive in terms of asking price. At best, it's an intriguing but flawed epilogue; at worst, it's a completely unnecessary addition to a fantastic game.
60%Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis (PC) Review
Episode Aigis is nearly a 1:1 remake of the Answer, completing the Persona 3 experience, but one that comes at an exorbitant cost to the fans.
70%Persona 3 Reload: Episiode Aigis - The Answer - Review - Here we Go Again
Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis retains the same commitment to bringing the original game to a new generation, but unfortunately ends up remaking the same mistakes that make this epilogue such a divisive experience for players across the board. There are some memorable character moments here for players looking to spend that little bit of extra time with the team, but I finished this DLC questioning if it was truly worth the tedium of the dungeon-crawling, even if the combat is fun and the production values are still off the charts. While Atlus' dedication to bringing the old game to a new audience is commendable, I think this epilogue deserved a little bit more of a rework than it got.
70%