Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis -The Answer- FAQ Guide

Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis -The Answer- launched on September 10 to add the content from 2007's Persona 3 FES to the base game of Persona 3 Reload, seeking to offer about 20 hours of additional content set after the credits have rolled on your original adventure.

Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis Review: Fight For The Truth

Get some closure after the events of Person 3 Reload in this emotional, combat-focused DLC.

Taking control of Aigis as she ventures to stop her "sister" Metis from killing the members of SEES, you'll quest through the Abyss of Time in search of another way for Metis to save the world that doesn't involve eliminating your friends. Strap in, gear up, and get ready for more Persona adventures.

Updated on September 21, 2024: Now that we've finished the bulk of our Episode Aigis walkthrough, we're adding a few more questions to our FAQ to sweep up anything we may have missed the first time, as well as adding tons of hyperlinks to our other guide content for the DLC.

What's Different From The Base Game?

In addition to the new content that adds around 20 hours to the base game for Persona 3 Reload, Episode Aigis changes several essential things about the game, too. Since the DLC is rather combat-heavy, you'll find that most of them have to do with your exploration through the Abyss of Time.

The biggest change is that you play as Aigis in a story that takes place a short while after the final cutscene in the base game. Other major changes in Episode Aigis include:

• Metis, the anti-Shadow weapon that tries to kill SEES at the beginning of the DLC and becomes a party member as you try to get to the bottom of things, claiming to be Aigis' sister.
• Monad, which now works a bit differently than in the base game, offering you the choice of three doors that each have more Shadows to fight but more rewards to claim than the one before. Choose one of the three doors to venture into and claim some powerful prizes relative to that section in the Abyss of Time.
• Elizabeth's Requests have been custom-tailored to Aigis' experience in the DLC, giving plenty of powerful rewards for tasks you're already doing in the Desert of Doors anyway (like opening chests, fighting Shadows, fusing new Personas, and more).
• Ambush gets an upgrade, since Aigis is a robot and can be upgraded mechanically with parts she finds inside of the Desert of Doors after completing big boss fights or dense sections of the Abyss. Take them to Fuuka when you go back to the dorm to have them installed for your next expedition into the Abyss!
• One-way teleporters are all around the doors in the Abyss of Time, and you'll unlock two or three doors per section of the Abyss, depending on how long it is. There's a new door to unlock for each boss fight, giving Aigis and the team ample chances to head back to the Desert of Doors if need bee.
• The Skill Card Clock is a new addition in the DLC, allowing Aigis to use Twilight Fragments to replicate skill cards she gets from Shuffle Time after battles.

Can You Hang Out With Metis?

In the base game of Persona 3 Reload, you're able to spend time with plenty of intriguing social links during your free time, but the DLC is different. Time doesn't move like it does in the base game, where you have a couple free time slots each day - you're repeating March 31 and are stuck in the dorm, so the DLC is heavy on its combat.

Because of this, Aigis doesn't have free time slots like the protagonist does in the base game, and therefore she cannot hang out with her friends like he could. That said, you'll find plenty of items in treasure chests on boss floors in the Abyss of Time that are locked behind Twilght Fragment locks. Open them to receive Linked Episode objects to use with teammates back at the dorm.

Though you can't hang out with Metis in the traditional sense, through these items, you'll have two Linked Episodes with Metis when you visit Iwatodai Dorm between sections in the Desert of Doors. Like everyone else on the team, Metis' Linked Episodes correlate with her awakening to two characteristics that power her up in combat.

Is My Team Still As Strong As They Were?

The story that happens in Episode Aigis -The Answer- technically occurs a while after the base game has concluded. Your protagonist dies in the final scene of the game and the credits roll, but when you begin playing through The Answer, you'll notice that the calendar is set to March 31 (and remains there throughout the entirety of the bonus content).

This of course means that a good amount of time has passed between the ending of the base game and the beginning of the DLC story. As such, your teammates' levels have all been lowered at the start of the Episode Aigis content, and you'll need to build them back up once again. They'll also need to relearn their combat characteristics.

They begin the DLC with base level elemental magic of the attack type they used in the base game, and they've still got their fully evolved Personas from the consequences of the Full Moon operations, but no matter which level you left everyone off at when you finished the base game, levels have been changed for the DLC.

But you don't get everyone all at once, just like in the base game - they'll rejoin the team at staggered intervals depending on your process through the Abyss of Time. Each SEES member enters the DLC at the following level:

• Yukari, Akihiko, and Ken are available from the beginning of the DLC before you jump into Malebolge, and they'll be at level 25 to start.
  • Metis, though not a returning teammates, also joins the team roster at the beginning of the DLC at level 25.
• Junpei and Koromaru join in the second section of the Desert of Doors, Coytus, and they've worked their way to level 31 in the time they were away.
• Finally, Mitsuru rejoins the team in Caina, the third door in the Abyss of Time, and she's level 37 when she gets back.

You'll need to spend time grinding in combat to boost your team's skills and levels again, so be sure to stop and fight some Shadows as you explore deeper and deeper into the Abyss.

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What Carries Into The DLC From The Base Game?

Starting a playthrough of the Episode Aigis content is completely different from a New Game Plus save you might start as the male protagonist, and as such, not everything carries over. For example, since The Answer is primarily focused on dungeon-crawling and combat, Aigis won't be spending time on social links, building her skills, going to school, and most of the daily life stuff we got to do as Makoto in the base game.

There are a few things you can look forward to having carried over into Episode Aigis, though, such as:

• The Compendium from your base game playthrough, offering Aigis a full selection of Personas if you completed it in your original game.
  • Aigis' Compendium is separate from the protagonist's Compendium, though she has access to both. This allows you to choose whether you'd like to make the game easier by buying your high-level Personas back as soon as you can, or if you'd like to start anew as Aigis, who has a handful of Personas in her own Compendium to get you started.
• Any costumes, located in-game or purchased through DLC.
  • Whether you bought new costumes for actual cash in the base game or just found some cool stuff you'd like to keep from exploring Tartarus, you've got the option from the Equip tab in the menu.

Outside of that, though, Aigis functions largely as her own protagonist, leading a team on an entirely new adventure. You'll need to reoutfit your team with better gear and accessories, so be sure to stay up-to-date by visiting Paulownia Mall between ventures into the Abyss of Time to see if there's anything new to grab.

Do You Need To Play The Base Game Before The DLC?

Since the Episode Aigis -The Answer- content takes place well after the events of the main story have ended, plenty of curious folks have wondered if they need to play the base game through again to access the DLC. Thankfully enough, you're able to access the DLC right away, and you therefor do not need to play the base game again to play Episode Aigis.

Some things, as mentioned above, do carry over if you're porting save data into the DLC, but you'll notice the first time you launch the game after the DLC has released that you'll now have the option to "Choose Episode" on the game's main menu. By default, you'll see Makoto and the SEES silhouettes at school, but if you switch to Episode Aigis in this menu, you'll switch to the DLC instead.

Episode Aigis has its own intro and menu, and you'll find that you keep loading into whichever episode you were playing last when you launch the game again. If you're playing through Episode Aigis, you'll find that the menu stays on the Episode Aigis menu until you manually switch back, showing The Answer's intro video instead of the regular P3R intro.

Can You Buy Just Episode Aigis And Not The DLC?

At the time of publishing this frequently asked question guide, you cannot buy only Episode Aigis from most major platforms, Steam and PlayStation included. You'll need to get the entire Expansion Pass

The content was announced in March 2024 and has been slowly but surely rolling out bonus DLC for those who pre-ordered. If you're buying in now, you'll still get this content, but it's been made available for others since the announcement.

What Comes In The Persona 3 Reload Expansion Pass?

Wave

Release Date

Content Included

1

March 2024

• Persona 4 Golden BGM soundtrack.
  • 8 tracks from P4G.
• Persona 5 Royal BGM soundtrack.
  • 8 tracks from P5R.

2

May 2024

• Velvet Room costumes for SEES.
• Velvet Room BGM soundtrack.
  • 4 tracks featuring Velvet Room remixes.

3

September 2024

• Episode Aigis -The Answer- story DLC.

If you're only just purchasing the Expansion Pass, you'll immediately have access to the accessory content offered along the way in addition to the actual DLC story itself. You can then choose to manually swap your costumes or music via the game settings.

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Is The Answer Canon?

With such a long and winding story, especially with tons of DLC content and newer editions being consistently released for the Persona games, it can be tough to figure out what's canon in the stories and what's not. Thankfully, though you'll find conflicting fan opinions online, the DLC brings us the conclusion of P3R, as Episode Aigis is considered canon in the Persona universe.

Not only is there the fact that the DLC content was hinted at in the base game of Persona 3 Reload when it first launched - Elizabeth gives anyone who beats the game on Merciless an envelope that reads "At the end of a great trial, the answer illuminates my path," causing fans online to speculate its eventual inclusion - but the events of the DLC are referenced in several later pieces of Persona media.

The events of Episode Aigis are mentioned a few times in the Persona 4 Arena games (Arena and Ultimax), with characters discussing something that happened only in the FES version of Persona 3.You'll also hear mention of the content in Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, a lesser-known spin-off title.

The Answer was added in the 2007 remake of Persona 3 that fans have come to expect for the series, Persona 3 FES, and serves to concretely conclude the story of Persona 3.

How Do You Fight Joker?

As part of the Persona 3 Reload Expansion Pass, you'll have access to a special bonus fight against the protagonist of Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal, Joker. He'll use a wealth of different moves, and a number of Personas, so you'll need to be prepared for a pretty tough fight.

Because of that, you'll need to prove yourself first by challenging the four Monad Chambers boss fights. When you return to the Desert of Doors to go challenge Erebus for the final fight in the DLC, you'll notice a second new door just off to the side.

There are four total fights you'll need to win from the Monad Chambers first, which are against some tough Shadows. Then, only once you've defeated all four of the Monad Chambers bosses, you'll be able to fight Joker as the fifth Monad Chambers boss.

Persona 3 Reload: Complete Voice Cast List

Some of these voices may be new to the Persona series, but you've definitely heard them elsewhere before.