Persona 3 Reload - Episode Aigis DLC

Finished! For some context, this is a remake of "The Answer" expansion, which originally shipped with Persona 3 FES back on the PS2. It remains largely unchanged, meaning it's still a sluggish 20+ hour grind fest. Yes, even more so than the base game. And that's why I can't really recommend this, unless you're a hardcore Persona/SMT fan. For most other people, I would simply suggest watching the DLC cutscenes on YouTube after completing the game's main story. Seriously, you won't miss anything.

To clarify, literally 90% of this expansion consists of dungeon crawling, with no social links to break up the monotony. Once again, the levels are completely randomized, and just not that fun. Also, the combat difficulty is a bit higher, and the health pools of certain enemies get more bloated. The story is generally fine, and some of the voice acting during the emotionally charged moments is really good. But it's not worth enduring hours of tedious grinding just for that. This remake also introduces some minor changes to the plot, which slightly tone down the conflict between the characters. Personally, I wasn't too bothered by that, but many other people seem to dislike it.

On the plus side, "Episode Aigis" does improve a few things compared to the original PS2 version. First, you control the entire party, which makes the grind slightly more tolerable. Second, the Persona Compendium is now available, so you don't need to spend quite as much time farming XP. Third, you can import personas from the base game if you want, using the save file of your choosing. That costs significantly more than simply summoning them from the local compendium, so there's a tradeoff, but I do like having the option. Lastly, the Theurgies are available here as well, and they do help against some of the bullet spongy enemies and bosses that the game keeps throwing at you.

These small changes may not sound like much, but add them all together, and the whole experience becomes a bit more bearable. Despite all that, I still can't recommend this DLC in good faith, though I will acknowledge the effort that the devs put into polishing it up. But since the original version wasn't that great either, there was only so much they could do.

Shponglefan wrote on Yesterday, 17:35:

Did a DS3 playthrough last year and used the Claymore for the entirety of the run. Even farmed a bunch of extra ones for all the different infusions. It's a great sword and has a good moveset.

Cheers! I really like the Claymore's moveset as it's very versatile. Good to know that it holds up throughout the entire game.

Didn't even realize you can get more than one copy. I'll definitively be on the lookout for spares.