Persona 3 FES - The Answer

[MosesRockefeller]

I started the Persona series with P4 Golden, before moving on to P3 Portable. I recently finished P3P, and my plan was to then play P3FES The Answer, before moving on to P4 Arena, P4A Ultimax, and then P5. 

 

I knew before starting The Answer, that the non-Portable versions of P3 had the dreaded "party members cannot be directly controlled" element. What I WASN'T prepared for was the other quality-of-life improvements being missing. I just finished the first dungeon area and boss in The Answer (and Pawlonia mall just unlocked), and I'm struggling to continue with the game. 

 

Pros: 

• The story and characters are still interesting
• The combat gameplay is fun
• The graphics are better than P3P
• The music is good
• There seems to be a decent amount of voiced dialog

 

Cons: 

• The P3 Main Character's death was handled strangely; everyone seemed to move on pretty easily
• Some of the characters (especially Yukari) seem to have become standoffish and don't act much like their normal selves from P3
• The game is basically just straight combat; among other things, the social links are missing
• The combat AI for the party members is lacking; I had Ken set to Heal/Support and he would use Diarama when Metis used a single HP-draining combat move, even if she only lost like 20 HP, making him waste valuable SP
• The only way to check the party members' levels, skills, and equipment is to talk to them individually (in dungeons) or by talking to Fuuka (outside of dungeons); furthermore there is no way to see how close a party member is to leveling up (I think it shows XP for their Personas but not for them)
• The Persona Compendium is missing, which makes Fusion a lot trickier
• There is no easy way to check what skills do; in P3P and P4G, I could press Square to get details on each skill for my own Personas and my party members' Personas. In P4 FES: The Answer, I can only do that in combat, on the Persona switch screen (which is obviously only for the main character)
• The game requires a bigger time investment than P3P; in P3P I could escape from Tartarus whenever there was a teleporter (which were fairly common) or at higher levels, through a skill that Fuuka had. In The Answer I can't continue on from the deepest floor I have reached

 

Most of the Cons are pretty big deals for me, greatly outweighing the Pros. I want to experience the game but it's putting me off. Are there any tips and tricks from people who played it? Am I better off just experiencing the story by watching a Youtube playthrough (ideally I'd get one with all the dialog, cutscenes, and boss battles included, with no commentary)? 

[starcrunch061]

I played this back on PS2, and I feel your pain with it. I was frustrated from the get-go. I recommend not bothering with it, and just reading up on the story, or watching it on youtube.

[ccase137]

I ended up giving up after the first dungeon and boss because it felt so tedious.  I watched the whole thing on Youtube and it was a better use of my time (the one I watched was around 3 hours long, included all the cutscenes/dialogue but skipped the actual boss battles).  Hard Mode is presented in the game like it is an awesome thing but it just means excessive grinding/padding, the lack of a Compendium made fusions a huge pain and relying on chance and the fact that you need to be prepared before heading down the multiple levels to the boss because you cannot change up your party members right before a boss were my most hated aspects.

[Katt]

I played P3P first, that was the first Persona game I ever played and oh my god, I loved it so much until the very end, my fight with Nyx lasted 1 hour 30 mins, and I love long battles with last bosses. But then when I tried P3 FES, holy shhhh.... I started to question my life and if I really needed to finish the game. If ATLUS ever releases an improved version of this game including The Answer, they need to address these cons, all of them. It's not a matter of how manly you are to finish the game as it is now, it's just ridiculous. The game is a freaking masterpiece, I give you that, but it is designed like crap. And that is saying a lot.

 

 

Marin-Karin

[Undead Wolf]

The combat was by far the worst part of FES, so I ended up skipping The Answer and watched a compilation of the cutscenes/dialogue on YouTube instead. It was a lot more enjoyable that way and I would suggest that you do the same. Now that you've experienced how good the combat can be with direct commands, it's really hard to go back.

[MosesRockefeller]

1 hour ago, Katt said:

I played P3P first, that was the first Persona game I ever played and oh my god, I loved it so much until the very end, my fight with Nyx lasted 1 hour 30 mins, and I love long battles with last bosses. But then when I tried P3 FES, holy shhhh.... I started to question my life and if I really needed to finish the game. If ATLUS ever releases an improved version of this game including The Answer, they need to address these cons, all of them. It's not a matter of how manly you are to finish the game as it is now, it's just ridiculous. The game is a freaking masterpiece, I give you that, but it is designed like crap. And that is saying a lot.

 

 

Marin-Karin

I did a fair amount of grinding before fighting Nyx, so I took it down very quickly. But man, what an epic boss battle either way. That second part where you go off alone and "Burn My Dread" kicks in, and your party members (including Shinjiro!) voice their support, was an awesome moment. Those are the P3 character members I remember... then in The Answer, they're like "meh, are we done fighting yet?" The change is very weird. 

 

It seems like everyone so far agrees, The Answer isn't worth playing. At least I tried. Anyway, thanks for the advice. I think that's what I'll do if I can find a good Youtube video for it. 

Edited April 2, 2018 by MosesRockefeller

[SupaGaiden0]

The fact that you can only directly control the main character makes the game so much harder. Took me forever to slog though the answer just so I could get the story out of it.

[Satoshi Ookami]

Thunder Reign Odin, nuff said  

 

All those cons you are describing are simply because you are adapted to new systems that were introduced in later games.

Remember that both P3P and P4G came much later than P3 FES or even P4.

 

Overcoming all of this is a sign of true Persona player, though  

I ended up doing everything myself with Aigis. And as I said, Thunder Reign Odin.

[MosesRockefeller]

5 minutes ago, Satoshi Ookami said:

Thunder Reign Odin, nuff said  

 

All those cons you are describing are simply because you are adapted to new systems that were introduced in later games.

Remember that both P3P and P4G came much later than P3 FES or even P4.

 

Overcoming all of this is a sign of true Persona player, though  

I ended up doing everything myself with Aigis. And as I said, Thunder Reign Odin.

Odin was great in P3P. That said, I'm level 30 now. I can't put up with the game for 27 more level ups so that I can fuse Odin. Nope, I've already started watching cutscenes on Youtube. 

 

And yeah, I know P3 FES was before those other games, and I'm grateful that they improved on P3 FES' major shortcomings. Thanks for the "git gud" suggestion though, it was really helpful! 

[MosesRockefeller]

I finished watching a Youtube compilation of the cutscenes, so thanks again to most of you for suggesting just that.

 

Also, just a note, but my first two "cons" (in regard to the party's characterizations) were handled during the cutscenes. The story got pretty heavy, so I'm glad it exists. But I didn't find the game very fun. I think it might have been better as an anime release. I haven't watched the 4-part movie series yet, but from what I understand it ends at the end of The Journey, not The Answer.

 

Spoiler

Judging by the story events that take place in The Answer, I'm guessing Dancing Moon Night takes place during The Journey (isn't that the male P3 protagonist on the cover?).

 

On to P4 Arena!

Edited April 4, 2018 by MosesRockefeller

[ShimizuGear09]

3 hours ago, MosesRockefeller said:

 

  Hide contents

Judging by the story events that take place in The Answer, I'm guessing Dancing Moon Night takes place during The Journey (isn't that the male P3 protagonist on the cover?).

 

 

Both P3 Moon Night and P5 Star Night aren't canon, unlike P4 Dancing 

[Z1MZUM]

Fes and the Answer is one of my favorite gaming moments in history. I even bought the FES version after owning the regular P3 just for the answer.

[Satoshi Ookami]

6 hours ago, ShimizuGear09 said:

Both P3 Moon Night and P5 Star Night aren't canon, unlike P4 Dancing 

That's what we think now  

Atlus makes everything canon  

[mako-heart]

4 minutes ago, Satoshi Ookami said:

That's what we think now  

Atlus makes everything canon  

 

Even PQ is canon kek.

Spoiler

IT WAS ALL A DREAM.

 

[ShimizuGear09]

3 hours ago, Satoshi Ookami said:

That's what we think now  

Atlus makes everything canon  

 

Except P3P fem protagonist 

[Satoshi Ookami]

11 hours ago, ShimizuGear09 said:

Except P3P fem protagonist 

Of course, they would have to make her more prominent if they did