This review contains spoilers
I don't know how it took me over 4 years to play the rest of the disc for one of my favorite games but here we are.
As far as gameplay goes, I liked it. However, my issue come with how it compares to the original. I enjoyed the gameplay because it's Persona 3, which has fun combat that's better than 5's and I don't care what y'all say. But this is just more of the same for a game that's already really long, and I can't really say there's stuff this does that the original doesn't outside of the bosses. The missing elements just make this feel so much emptier too. No social links mean you're stuck with weak personas outside of fusion which I found ended up limiting me to the same few for most of the game, the exhaustion mechanics are gone (for better or for worse), and the lack of switching main weapons was strange. I was definitely having fun but I can't say I was ever at a point where I was having more fun than I theoretically could have had playing regular Persona 3.
On that topic by the way, these bosses kinda blow sometimes. Some are fine, some are flawed, and some just suck. Base Persona 3 had that issue too of having some sucky bosses, but man some of these dudes are just so freaking annoying. So many where they stack three weakness enemies that have abilities that make them dodge those weaknesses what feels like 99.9% times, massively strong attacks being spammed from like four dudes where if you crit it feels basically over, god it just felt like they take such linear counter play from certain personas which could maybe be fine if this was in a game with a persona compendium which is weirdly absent. Despite The Answer advertising itself as something for real Persona 3 pros, I honestly found it easier than the main game, but man the dumb frustrating bosses were accurate to the base game's dumb frustrating ones.
Aside from that, the rest of the gameplay is just brought down by the structure. The basic structure of The Answer, outside of the last few hours and the first hour, is you do 2-5 hours of dungeon crawling, fight a boss, upgrade your items, repeat one or two more times, watch a 5 minute cutscene, rinse and repeat. It gets really tiring. Not much story to break it up, no social links, no time management. It just really draining, because this thing is way too freaking long. This thing being any longer than 20 hours is ridiculous, heck even over 15 is pushing it. The lack of stimulating new content means that the story is all that really pushes you, yet all of it is put at the end.
As for the story itself, I guess it's pretty good. I think the way they explore characters like Yukari, Aigis, and Mitsuru is really interesting. The conflict about potentially going back to the past was entrancing and I loved learning more about the truth of what happened in the original game. Persona 3's themes are really expanded here, discussing grief and finding the determination to continue living. It's a great extension to the story!
However, I do have my issues. First off, I think it was almost a bit heavy-handed with its themes? Like, pushing away our desire for death literally is a bit too much for me. I still like that aspect overall though so I guess it's a nitpick, maybe it was just how the characters spoke about it? I don't know. Second, I don't like how this all starts up because of "subconscious desires" or whatever? Like, I love a good story built on that, but that felt like a really silly thing to happen after not really being built up at all in either campaign. All of it just feels so convenient, like this giant arena Metis just understands like what? I get that it's a cool set piece but it felt so random. My main issue is really just that its brought down by the pacing. Hearing how everyone reacted to the protagonist's death in Persona 3 and how they feel about it is incredible, and I love how Metis works with that too aside from the weird actualization stuff I mentioned, but it's all just stuck at the end. I loved the scene with Metis' breakdown, but it would have hit so much harder if she just got more screen time, either being silly or serious. I don't know, it's good stuff but I felt like this could have truly been amazing if it was given more time. Still though, as a Persona 3 fan, I'm content. I'm really happy they explored this story at all, and it makes The Answer worthwhile instead of just mediocre.
Overall, this was alright. I don't really feel the desire to ever go through this again though, and to be honest I wouldn't really blame someone for just watching the cutscenes on YouTube. I think it's fine that this isn't in the remake, but it is a shame that a lot of people haven't seen the story content here, even me for a long time. I'm really glad I finally got around to this, despite its flaws. :)
As far as gameplay goes, I liked it. However, my issue come with how it compares to the original. I enjoyed the gameplay because it's Persona 3, which has fun combat that's better than 5's and I don't care what y'all say. But this is just more of the same for a game that's already really long, and I can't really say there's stuff this does that the original doesn't outside of the bosses. The missing elements just make this feel so much emptier too. No social links mean you're stuck with weak personas outside of fusion which I found ended up limiting me to the same few for most of the game, the exhaustion mechanics are gone (for better or for worse), and the lack of switching main weapons was strange. I was definitely having fun but I can't say I was ever at a point where I was having more fun than I theoretically could have had playing regular Persona 3.
On that topic by the way, these bosses kinda blow sometimes. Some are fine, some are flawed, and some just suck. Base Persona 3 had that issue too of having some sucky bosses, but man some of these dudes are just so freaking annoying. So many where they stack three weakness enemies that have abilities that make them dodge those weaknesses what feels like 99.9% times, massively strong attacks being spammed from like four dudes where if you crit it feels basically over, god it just felt like they take such linear counter play from certain personas which could maybe be fine if this was in a game with a persona compendium which is weirdly absent. Despite The Answer advertising itself as something for real Persona 3 pros, I honestly found it easier than the main game, but man the dumb frustrating bosses were accurate to the base game's dumb frustrating ones.
Aside from that, the rest of the gameplay is just brought down by the structure. The basic structure of The Answer, outside of the last few hours and the first hour, is you do 2-5 hours of dungeon crawling, fight a boss, upgrade your items, repeat one or two more times, watch a 5 minute cutscene, rinse and repeat. It gets really tiring. Not much story to break it up, no social links, no time management. It just really draining, because this thing is way too freaking long. This thing being any longer than 20 hours is ridiculous, heck even over 15 is pushing it. The lack of stimulating new content means that the story is all that really pushes you, yet all of it is put at the end.
As for the story itself, I guess it's pretty good. I think the way they explore characters like Yukari, Aigis, and Mitsuru is really interesting. The conflict about potentially going back to the past was entrancing and I loved learning more about the truth of what happened in the original game. Persona 3's themes are really expanded here, discussing grief and finding the determination to continue living. It's a great extension to the story!
However, I do have my issues. First off, I think it was almost a bit heavy-handed with its themes? Like, pushing away our desire for death literally is a bit too much for me. I still like that aspect overall though so I guess it's a nitpick, maybe it was just how the characters spoke about it? I don't know. Second, I don't like how this all starts up because of "subconscious desires" or whatever? Like, I love a good story built on that, but that felt like a really silly thing to happen after not really being built up at all in either campaign. All of it just feels so convenient, like this giant arena Metis just understands like what? I get that it's a cool set piece but it felt so random. My main issue is really just that its brought down by the pacing. Hearing how everyone reacted to the protagonist's death in Persona 3 and how they feel about it is incredible, and I love how Metis works with that too aside from the weird actualization stuff I mentioned, but it's all just stuck at the end. I loved the scene with Metis' breakdown, but it would have hit so much harder if she just got more screen time, either being silly or serious. I don't know, it's good stuff but I felt like this could have truly been amazing if it was given more time. Still though, as a Persona 3 fan, I'm content. I'm really happy they explored this story at all, and it makes The Answer worthwhile instead of just mediocre.
Overall, this was alright. I don't really feel the desire to ever go through this again though, and to be honest I wouldn't really blame someone for just watching the cutscenes on YouTube. I think it's fine that this isn't in the remake, but it is a shame that a lot of people haven't seen the story content here, even me for a long time. I'm really glad I finally got around to this, despite its flaws. :)