We write 'divisive' because that's exactly what Persona 3 FES' epilogue continues to be, close to two decades after its initial PS2 release. Without spoiling anything specific, The Answer — as it was then called — dealt with the aftermath of Persona 3's main story. It further explored the Dark Hour and its impact on the core cast, while simultaneously spotlighting the party members that you had fought alongside throughout the game.
It's the epilogue's treatment of these largely beloved characters that can rub fans the wrong way. And again, we've been assured that Episode Aigis won't make any notable changes to the plot's overall flow. If The Answer pissed you off in the first place, you'll probably have a similar reaction to this reincarnation.
Much like Tartarus, this dungeon has randomised elements and a procedural layout. It's also stuffed with shadows, and so combat is pushed to the forefront of the whole excursion. Generally speaking, Episode Aigis has the feel of an endgame escapade, but you won't be carrying over any progress from the base release. Instead, everyone's pushed back to level 30 or so, and you'll need to start identifying enemy weaknesses from scratch.
The expansion's asking a lot — especially if you've just spent 100-ish hours beating Reload — but structurally, it does stand apart from the main game. With no social links in sight, Episode Aigis is basically a dungeon crawler (another element that put a lot of people off the original), and it can be a demanding one at that. Even back on the PS2, The Answer could be cruel in a classic kind of Shin Megami Tensei sense, with enemies often taking full, brutal advantage of a missed attack.
On one hand, we don't want Episode Aigis to lose that part of its identity. But on the other, The Answer had a bad habit of just being frustratingly cheap. For example, Persona's battles are all about striking an enemy's weakness in order to score extra turns. However, the epilogue boasts numerous foes — including bosses — that have a high chance of outright avoiding attacks that they're weak to. So, you can know exactly how to best an enemy, but actually hitting them boils down to the flip of a coin.
Much to our dismay, that design is still present in Episode Aigis, and it still feels like the game's actively wasting your time. Our hope, then, is that Reload's revamped combat — and dungeon exploration — will smooth out the rest of the experience, and the frustration won't be so prominent overall.
