I was really interested going into The Answer since people either seem to really hate it or really like it, and I could never get a general consensus on it whenever I would ask people about it. After playing through it myself... Yeah it's a mixed bag, although I do find myself landing more so on the positive side of the aisle when it comes to this game.
The 3 biggest complaints I've heard people have about this game are: 1. Too much grinding/gameplay not being appealing, 2. People are acting out of character and 3. It ruins/invalidates the ending of The Journey. I think most of these complaints are valid and I want to address each of these separately and give my own thoughts on them.
Starting with the gameplay/grinding complaints: if you didn't like Tartarus or the battle mechanics in The Journey, then The Answer is not gonna be for you. If you did enjoy those parts of The Journey, then you'll probably enjoy your time with The Answer since that's basically all the extra game mode is comprised of.
As for the grinding issues people have with the game, I never experienced those issues myself. I got through the game very comfortably by using my first run through an area to explore/collect items and fight enemies then just bum rush to the boss on my second time through. I only had to grind twice playing through the game like this, and that was more so to help my other, lesser used, party members catch up to the levels of my more used party members.
Out of character complaints: I'm kind of mixed on this one myself. There were only 2 characters that stood out to me as being weirdly written/out of character on my play through, Akihiko and Yukari. I thought Aki was overly agro for the first few areas of the Abyss of Time, but he chilled out as the game progressed and become more like how he was in The Journey. I'm still really mixed on Yukari's characterization even after finishing the game more than a week ago. I do think they leaned a little too far into this new characterization for her and it does feel like it goes against her development in The Journey, but at the same time I understand that grief affects everyone differently and can make people act against their better judgement sometimes so I feel weird trying to compare her characterization between the two game modes directly.
The Answer ruins/invalidates the ending of The Journey: I don't get this complaint at all. Without getting too spoilery, the specific complaint I'm referencing is that The Answer invalidates the MC's sacrifice in The Journey. I didn't get that interpretation at all from The Answer's ending when I finished it and even had to rewatch it again on youtube to confirm I didn't miss anything and I still don't understand that interpretation. I definitely didn't interpret it that way, but I'd be interested in hearing more people's thoughts who did interpret the ending that way so I could get a better understanding.
As for what didn't work for me, my biggest issue is once again the fusion system. The lack of a persona compendium is annoying but wasn't game ruining. The worst it does is lead to some tedious battles to try and get the persona you want in shuffle time. I'd highly recommend anyone who's interested in playing the Answer having a fusion calculator and a list of the personas that are available in each area of the Abyss of Time in order to reduce the amount of battles required to fuse the specific personas you want. The personas that appear in shuffle time seem to scale with your level so I would find an area where the persona I'm looking for was a high level spawn and only shuffle time grind towards the ends of those areas to increase their chances of appearing. The VA work is really good too. Aigis' VA in particular really goes all out and was just great.
Similarly to The Journey, I still really hate the random skill inheritance. However, since the fusion system is much simpler in The Answer (there are only normal and triple fusions) I spent much less time resetting for decent movesets in The Answer than I did in the Journey. It didn't make those times I had to constantly reset for decent moves suck any less, but they were less prevalent which I appreciated.
As for what worked for me, I really liked the look and design of the new areas. The large rooms with the falling sand and the pendulums in particular stand out to me as just looking really cool. The music is always is also great. I know everyone says this, but it's cool how the new battle theme is the next verse of the battle theme from The Journey.
I also really liked the bosses (for the most part). The bosses all utilize a unique strategy and actual new enemy designs used in the bosses and throughout The Answer were all really cool and creative. This led to the bosses being more engaging and interesting to fight than the bosses in The Journey and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed them.
Thinking back on The Answer, I'm definitely happy I played through it and I'd probably play through it again if I ever get around to playing through FES again. It's definitely got a lot of strengths, but the weaker/weirder stuff about it stands out a lot more than the weaker aspects of The Journey. There's still a lot to like and I think it ends on a good note, but whole experience felt very mixed throughout. It's a game I have a hard time rating, since my thoughts on it seem to constantly change every day, but for now I'm settling on an average but mostly positive score for it.
The 3 biggest complaints I've heard people have about this game are: 1. Too much grinding/gameplay not being appealing, 2. People are acting out of character and 3. It ruins/invalidates the ending of The Journey. I think most of these complaints are valid and I want to address each of these separately and give my own thoughts on them.
Starting with the gameplay/grinding complaints: if you didn't like Tartarus or the battle mechanics in The Journey, then The Answer is not gonna be for you. If you did enjoy those parts of The Journey, then you'll probably enjoy your time with The Answer since that's basically all the extra game mode is comprised of.
As for the grinding issues people have with the game, I never experienced those issues myself. I got through the game very comfortably by using my first run through an area to explore/collect items and fight enemies then just bum rush to the boss on my second time through. I only had to grind twice playing through the game like this, and that was more so to help my other, lesser used, party members catch up to the levels of my more used party members.
Out of character complaints: I'm kind of mixed on this one myself. There were only 2 characters that stood out to me as being weirdly written/out of character on my play through, Akihiko and Yukari. I thought Aki was overly agro for the first few areas of the Abyss of Time, but he chilled out as the game progressed and become more like how he was in The Journey. I'm still really mixed on Yukari's characterization even after finishing the game more than a week ago. I do think they leaned a little too far into this new characterization for her and it does feel like it goes against her development in The Journey, but at the same time I understand that grief affects everyone differently and can make people act against their better judgement sometimes so I feel weird trying to compare her characterization between the two game modes directly.
The Answer ruins/invalidates the ending of The Journey: I don't get this complaint at all. Without getting too spoilery, the specific complaint I'm referencing is that The Answer invalidates the MC's sacrifice in The Journey. I didn't get that interpretation at all from The Answer's ending when I finished it and even had to rewatch it again on youtube to confirm I didn't miss anything and I still don't understand that interpretation. I definitely didn't interpret it that way, but I'd be interested in hearing more people's thoughts who did interpret the ending that way so I could get a better understanding.
As for what didn't work for me, my biggest issue is once again the fusion system. The lack of a persona compendium is annoying but wasn't game ruining. The worst it does is lead to some tedious battles to try and get the persona you want in shuffle time. I'd highly recommend anyone who's interested in playing the Answer having a fusion calculator and a list of the personas that are available in each area of the Abyss of Time in order to reduce the amount of battles required to fuse the specific personas you want. The personas that appear in shuffle time seem to scale with your level so I would find an area where the persona I'm looking for was a high level spawn and only shuffle time grind towards the ends of those areas to increase their chances of appearing. The VA work is really good too. Aigis' VA in particular really goes all out and was just great.
Similarly to The Journey, I still really hate the random skill inheritance. However, since the fusion system is much simpler in The Answer (there are only normal and triple fusions) I spent much less time resetting for decent movesets in The Answer than I did in the Journey. It didn't make those times I had to constantly reset for decent moves suck any less, but they were less prevalent which I appreciated.
As for what worked for me, I really liked the look and design of the new areas. The large rooms with the falling sand and the pendulums in particular stand out to me as just looking really cool. The music is always is also great. I know everyone says this, but it's cool how the new battle theme is the next verse of the battle theme from The Journey.
I also really liked the bosses (for the most part). The bosses all utilize a unique strategy and actual new enemy designs used in the bosses and throughout The Answer were all really cool and creative. This led to the bosses being more engaging and interesting to fight than the bosses in The Journey and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed them.
Thinking back on The Answer, I'm definitely happy I played through it and I'd probably play through it again if I ever get around to playing through FES again. It's definitely got a lot of strengths, but the weaker/weirder stuff about it stands out a lot more than the weaker aspects of The Journey. There's still a lot to like and I think it ends on a good note, but whole experience felt very mixed throughout. It's a game I have a hard time rating, since my thoughts on it seem to constantly change every day, but for now I'm settling on an average but mostly positive score for it.