When Persona 3 Reload was introduced, followers had been each excited and anxious. Because the authentic Persona 3’s launch in 2006, the RPG has obtained two iterations within the type of Persona 3 FES and Persona 3 Moveable, each of which had separate unique content material that wasn’t accessible within the different. The previous had a playable epilogue known as The Reply, whereas the latter added a feminine protagonist.
For years, followers have been clamoring for a definitive model of Persona 3 that included content material from FES and Moveable. Persona 3 Reload was the right likelihood for Atlus to do it. Atlus fulfilled a part of the want by remaking The Reply into Episode Aigis: The Reply for Reload.
Digital Tendencies lately spent one hour with Episode Aigis. Its emphasis on fight quite than social mechanics is a welcome change of tempo. However we virtually didn’t get it in any respect. In an interview with Digital Tendencies, producer Kazuhisa Wada revealed that the workforce practically gave up on the DLC.
Breaking the cycle
Episode Aigis picks up from Persona 3 Reload’s ending. The forged grow to be caught in a time loop on March 31. As an alternative of specializing in Reload’s authentic anonymous protagonist, gamers now play as Aigis, the loyal and robotic member of the workforce. The group then will get attacked by Metis, who introduces herself as Aigis’ sister. It’s an explosive begin to the enlargement that basically grabs your consideration.
After a misunderstanding, Metis groups up with SEES to assist them finish the time loop, they usually head down beneath the dorms to discover a model new set of dungeons. One in every of Reload’s overhauls embrace a revamp of the unique artwork model. Specifically, SEES will get a pink armband with a quantity, indicating the order during which they joined the crew. Metis will get one, nevertheless it’s truly lacking a quantity. This displays Metis’s place as solely a brief get together member unique to the enlargement, based on Wada.
“Metis hasn’t appeared since FES, so we put in quite a lot of effort in creating her 3D mannequin,” Wada tells Digital Tendencies. “She has a physique that is sort of a ball-jointed doll with delicate decorations that many gamers could also be unfamiliar with, so I’m hoping they may recognize these little particulars on this sport. Relating to the armband, she didn’t have one in FES, however right here, she has obtained a spare one from the Kirijo Group, so her armband isn’t numbered just like the others.”
Atlus
Within the base sport, the protagonist can safe a bonus earlier than battle by hitting enemies along with his sword. Aigis can do the identical, however by capturing enemies from a distance, giving gamers extra vary. That feels a bit imprecise. Aigis doesn’t purpose down sights, however a reticle robotically seems as hhe closes in on an enemy. It simply doesn’t have the identical weight as smacking them with a sword. It’s not a deal breaker, nevertheless it’s a minor annoyance that I think about may stack up over a number of hours.
Episode Aigis has no social mechanics, which could flip away gamers who come to Persona for that function. Hopefully, the story and the thriller surrounding Metis’ existence is sufficient to preserve these gamers invested. Followers who’ve already performed the unique DLC will likely be curious to see what adjustments Atlus made, and for individuals who haven’t, it’s an excellent excuse to spend extra time with Reload’s charming forged.
The episode that just about by no means was
Wada was one of many important artists on the unique Persona 3, and he served as director on preventing spinoff Persona 4 Enviornment. He’s been with Persona 3’s characters from the very starting and has virtually raised them like they had been his personal youngsters. He has additionally seen the response from followers with each single iteration of the sport.
“I perceive what’s essential for the sport, which elements require some polish, which issues shouldn’t be modified, and that has allowed me to confidently set the path of the remake,” Wada says.
We had to surrender on remaking Episode Aigis at one level.
Wada surprises me when he reveals that Episode Aigis virtually by no means existed. The workforce solely started engaged on it late into improvement of the bottom sport. Whereas he didn’t dive too particularly into the explanations Atlus virtually gave up on creating the enlargement, he stated Atlus couldn’t resolve on the correct improvement workforce construction for it. It’s no shock provided that Atlus is being stretched fairly skinny in the mean time and has extra on its plate in 2024 in comparison with earlier years with releases reminiscent of Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, Unicorn Overlord, and Metaphor: ReFantazio.
“My thought course of from the beginning of the proposal was that if we wished to remake Persona 3, Episode Aigis was important because it completes the story, and I wished to make it occur someway,” Wada says. “However for numerous causes, we had many hurdles to beat with this remake, and even getting the bottom sport of Persona 3 Reload off the bottom was a problem. Due to this, we had to surrender on remaking Episode Aigis at one level.”
In reality, Wada says he was ready to grow to be a one-man-army improvement workforce if it got here right down to it. Fortunately, Atlus was capable of assign director Yu Hashizume, who had earlier expertise with Soul Hackers 2, to Episode Aigis. That’s when critical improvement on it began earlier than the launch of Reload.
Atlus
In Digital Tendencies’ Persona 3 Reload evaluate, we stated that the sport nonetheless felt a bit incomplete with out the content material from earlier variations of Persona 3. Different critics additionally had comparable sentiments.
“After we lastly introduced Reload, many followers requested the follow-up story,” Wada says. “It was very reassuring since I felt the identical means, and to be trustworthy, this help was the deciding consider making Episode Aigis a actuality.”
Atlus already stated that the feminine protagonist will almost definitely by no means be remade for Reload, noting that it might require an excessive amount of improvement time and assets for what is sort of a completely new sport unto itself. However with sufficient clamoring, maybe followers may also manifest her and get Atlus to rethink that too.
Persona 3 Reload Episode Aigis: The Reply launches on September 10.
