Persona 3 Reload Episode Aigis: A Swing and a Miss

Aigis from Persona 3 Reload faces the camera against a dark background. She holds her hands a short distance from each other in front of her chest, a blue glowing shape appears between them while magical sparks fly in all directions.

Episode Aigis Review

As I’ve mentioned before by the Foxfire, I’ve been a fan of the Persona series for quite some time, starting with vanilla Persona 4 on the PS2. After falling in love with that within the first few minutes, I hunted around for a copy of Persona 3 and finally found one in the form of Persona 3: FES. As those of you who are familiar with the series might have guessed, I was pretty surprised by the contrast between Persona 4 and Persona 3–namely the slog of Tartarus and the noticeable difficulty spike, especially with 3’s exhaustion mechanics in place to stunt your progress and add to the intentionally thematic hopelessness of the game. As if that wasn’t enough, Persona 3‘s FES edition also included a secondary chapter called “The Answer”, which was notoriously challenging. Between the lack of a compendium (meaning you could only use and fuse the Personas you acquire from shuffle times) and battle design that made encounters that much harder (like many enemies rocking Evade skills for their weaknesses, having massive health pools, and hitting incredibly hard), I never actually finished The Answer on PS2, and despite the many quality of life revamps incorporated, the same holds true for the Episode Aigis DLC for Persona 3 Reload. Let’s get into why that is.

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The Desert of Doors lobby from Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis. Desert spans as far as the eye can see. Aigis is the controlled character and stands with her back to the camera, between the minimap and the party overview. The cast stands around in the desert, with golden doors standing out at intervals. The blue Velvet room door stands to the left of the screen with Elizabeth waiting outside, Compendium in hand.

Is Persona 3 Episode Aigis Worth It?

The big question, especially for those of us with jobs, families, and other obligations to try and fit our gaming time around, is ‘is this game worth my time?’ For me, the answer in Episode Aigis‘s case was unfortunately “Not really.” I work a full-time job on top of managing the Foxfire, so as you can imagine, my time is pretty limited once you factor in everyday stuff like maintaining the apartment and making dinner so the Tamagotchi piloting me doesn’t die. I don’t mind making the time investment over an extended period if I feel that’s being in any way rewarded–that is, if the gameplay is fun enough or the story delivers. Case in point, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Persona 3’s Tartarus gameplay as I mentioned, but the rest of the game more than balances out the slog with a fantastic cast, rich social link arcs, and an unforgettable story. For me, that’s a worthy timesink that I’ll dedicate some time after work for and recommend to people looking for a stellar story about the transient nature of life. However, Episode Aigis doesn’t fit that bill for me because it’s missing much of anything but the grind.

A dark blue dungeon floor within the Desert of Doors--a section called 'Judecca' as shown on the lower left screen, below the circular minimap. The room is industrial metal with futuristic design elements like its diamond-patterned glass wall, floating screens, and light bars. Aigis shoots at a shadow enemy ahead of her on a linear metal path.

Wait, No Social Links?

That’s right: for those of you who haven’t forayed into The Answer before, you’re looking at another marathon of 200 or so randomly generated floors, this time with no social links and no city to explore. In fact, you barely even get party interaction beyond the occasional scene here and there–it’s mostly the text bubbles in the dorm. Even the main story is pretty stripped back, and all too quick to repeat itself or state the obvious. My favourite aspects of the game were the story scenes at the end of each dungeon segment, but these felt all too quick considering their importance to each character’s backstory and motivation.

The middle school versions of Mitsuru and Akihiko stand in a hallway at school. Red chairs are folded against the wall, along with a bucket, tennis racket, and fire extinguisher. Mitsuru says she heard it gets crowded after practice, so she decided to wait there for Akihiko instead.

Characterization Leaves a Lot to Be Desired

Speaking of characters, we know very little about most of them or what they’re going through following the main game. I love the cast of Persona 3, especially Akihiko and Mitsuru, but Episode Aigis barely seems to realize any of them are there. Junpei has a decent moment or two, but on the whole, the cast is just kind of sad sometimes, and that’s about it. It’s all very surface level for the most part, which is especially noticeable after the lengths Reload went to deepen our interactions with them.

I hear Yukari was rewritten to be less abrasive in this version of The Answer, but it’s almost like the rest of the story wasn’t also adjusted to accommodate that. I wonder if removing her original anger as a tension point is what made her arc feel so awkward to me, and what made much of the latter-end game feel so… off. As well, what was even the point of Metis beyond pouting and delivering exposition? They explain her plot purpose very briefly at the end, but why do we care? I don’t know… maybe the ‘I love my sibling’ character type distracted me because I find that particular trope too one-note and wearing, but I just didn’t get much from her, and I was looking forward to getting to know her because of her striking character design.

My main gripe here was initially with Yukari’s handling and Metis’s lack of development, but the longer I think on it, the more I realise I focused on them because the others were basically scenery that you could also have in your party. Another aspect that makes Metis and Yukari’s emotional highs so out of place is, aside from the one time Mitsuru doesn’t, the rest of the cast just stands around while these two throw themselves to the ground in heel-turn emotional highs. They’re all weirdly calm, even when tensions are obviously supposed to be high based on what happens next. Not that Metis’ and Yukari’s heightened feelings aren’t realistic, mind you–it’s more a consequence of Episode Aigis clocking in at about 30 hours give or take, most of which is navigating the dungeons, and leaving very little room for some much-needed development.

Fuuka, Aigis, Metis, Junpei, and Koromaru stand by as Mitsuru kneels to embrace a crying Yukari

A Sad Epilogue, and Not in a Good Way

Truthfully, that’s where the biggest portion of my frustration with this story lies. With Aigis as the focus, the DLC could’ve been so much more, especially with an opening as promising as we see below. Many plot elements with fascinating implications are just handwaved away, happen offscreen, or are blown past entirely, leaving huge chasms in what could’ve been a showstopping story about the intricacies of living and how a highly-capable android navigates the existentialism, change, and grief we struggle with every day. I also remember noticing a certain glowing door in the dorm that I kept in mind, and was so excited for the split second where I thought I’d have the choice to interact with it… only to have the story remain linear anyway despite acting like there was going to be an impactful decision.

Don’t get me wrong: the ingredients are there. I think that’s the worst part; we see glimpses of where the story team could (and arguably should) have placed their focus, but by the middle-end it all falls apart and starts throwing things in for shock value. ‘Lets do this dramatic thing just because,’ or ‘Let’s force the player into conflict with someone they actually agree with.’ The ending cinematic picks things back up again with a poignant moment where Aigis literally closes the door on this chapter of her life, but it’s too little too late when it’s bookending a regrettably half-baked, piecemeal narrative that only raised more questions.

Episode Aigis is Great For Those Who Love the Grind

Essential Additions

Compared to my brief experience and what I’ve heard about The Answer’s original issues, Episode Aigis does sound like a runaway improvement over the original Answer chapter terms of playability and accessibility for players who don’t enjoy a punishing gaming experience (until it is; more on that in a moment). Atlus not only added difficulty level selection and the Compendium, but also gives you access to your Compendium progress from the main game (albeit with higher prices and the ability to only summon Personas equal to or lower than your current level). You’ve also got requests from Elizabeth, so completionists will have plenty to work on.

A Punishing Difficulty Curve

Now let’s talk difficulty. While encounters remain difficult due to smarter enemy AI, bigger health pools, and heavier hits, I didn’t find them unmanageably hard until the very end of the story, and it was actually the last boss that stood between me and putting a lid on this thing. Said boss has a ridiculous amount of health and the ability to output multiple moves at once, each of which hits like a truck and mixes status effects in for good measure. Meanwhile, my team barely manages to shave a sliver off its health bar. I don’t mind a thematically difficult boss–especially as the final one, but in this case, it felt a bit much without any character dialogue or… any story intrusion at all happening to frame the difficulty and remind you what you’re fighting for. I actually thought this was one of those meant-to-lose situations like Beatrix in Final Fantasy IX, and that after being knocked down the team would rise up and find their ‘real’ will to fight, but it wasn’t so.

This difficulty curve is probably another consequence of the DLC’s shorter runtime, as I felt a noticeable lack of room to develop your team organically, meaning you basically have to grind out your gems, levels, and whatever else you need in preparation. Conversely, Reload gave me plenty of room in the span of a normal playthrough to accumulate the drops I needed to afford most endgame gear at the Antique shop, whereas Episode Aigis would require a lot more proactivity on my end to make the time to get there. It’s a commitment I just can’t make right now, but it’s a worthy challenge for more patient gamers looking for something to sink their teeth into.

Should You Play Persona 3 Reload Episode Aigis?

If combat was the aspect of Persona 3 that you preferred, then you’ll likely appreciate the far more concise scene format, in which case I’m pretty confident you’ll enjoy it more than I did–there’s a lot here for people who enjoy min-maxing their builds and trying out different tactics without wading through story and social stuff to unlock more of Tartarus, so if that sounds like you, then it’s very likely worth it. I’m not saying it’s all bad, but there were some pretty significant marks that it missed to be a winner for me. Wait for a sale if you’re uncertain about the $35 price tag.

Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis is available now on the PlayStation Store, XBox Store, and Steam.

Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis Frequently Asked Questions

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