Part 27: The Answer to Life's Greatest Question Edition!

Gameplay Notes: The Answer To Life's Greatest Question Edition!

So let's sort of sum up this game. On the last day before the Iwatodai Dorm was to close, the surviving cast of Persona 3 was trapped by the opening of The Abyss of Time. This was triggered by their own desires to linger in the past instead of moving on into the uncertain future. They are attacked by Metis, an entity spawned within the Abyss when one of their members, the Anti-Shadow Weapon Aigis, forsook her humanity. In order to save her friends from Metis, Aigis developed the power of the Wild Card (which she had previously in Persona 3 been hinted to potentially possess by the Appriser of Nyx). This power was designed to lead her to an Answer to Life.

The cast encounters a mysterious Shadow in the shape of their former friend as they enter The Abyss. As they travel through it, they encounter glimpses of their own pasts. These show them their reasons for awakening to their Persona abilities. They also discover that the Abyss of Time was created at the same time as Tartarus, but has grown to massive size largely thanks to them. At its deepest level they encounter the Shadow, which is their regrets at what they lost made manifest. After its defeat, a set of Keys appear in their hands. These will allow them to either return to the present or to the past, before their final battle.

While most of the team just wants to return to the present, Yukari wants to go to the past and try to save the main character of Persona 3. This eventually leads to a massive battle between the friends. Aigis and Metis eventually emerge victorious. Aigis decided that before they could choose they had to see the truth of what happened when the main character sealed Nyx.

What they discover is that the main character used up his life force in order to create the Great Seal. What's more, the purpose of the Seal is not so much to prevent Nyx from coming to Earth as to prevent the people of Earth from calling Nyx. The incarnation of mankind's desire for destruction, Erebus, appeared to attack the Seal. When the Seal proved impervious to its attack, it attacked the team in order to attempt to use the power of the Wild Card against the Seal. Erebus was defeated, but with its source still in full force it could not be truly beaten forever. The team returned to the lobby, ready to return to the present.

The team was thrust into the Velvet Room, where they learned the truth of Metis' existence and Aigis discovered her Answer to Life. They awoke back in the real world, the Abyss destroyed. Aigis seemed dead, her systems burned out. But in finding her Answer, it turned out she'd also achieved true life. With newfound purpose, the group sets out to build a brand new day.

So what's good about the game? Well, it's got a lot of really fun dungeon crawling and hard bosses. The last few encounters rock. It's got a good score, good voice acting, and cool characters. It's also pretty short, so it's good for just a quick play.

Then there's some not so good things. There's very little story in most of the game, and if dungeon crawling isn't your thing it'll get old pretty fast. The bosses are difficult but tend to repeat the same gimmicks. The story isn't really necessary so much, and the ending is pretty sappy.

Still, I think overall this is actually a pretty good game. You just need to know what you're getting into.