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30 – The Answer 1 | Table of Contents | Final Thoughts: Story & Characters
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Alternate Title: The Actual End, Finally

Welcome back. Last time, we’d just finished Caina. This time, we’ll finish the Answer, even if it kills me (which is looking likelier).

When we go back to the dorm, Metis asks about the door at the end of the second-floor hallway, which sets Yukari off. After that, it’s right back in.

After Caina comes Antenora. The first block goes relatively smoothly but for some asshole miniboss fight: an Ice Raven, a Brave Wheel, and a Judgement Sword. It’s a trickier fight than it needs to be, as all three have weaknesses but also have dodges applied on those weaknesses, while they can freely abuse ours. The battle goes absolutely piss poor until we finally give up and remove Mitsuru from the party, then level Akihiko and Junpei for a bit, whereupon they finally fall.

Once in Antenora’s second block, we gain the Personas Rangda and Taraka. We also manage to catch a gold shadow off-guard, but then press “escape” because that’s where our wheel was last when we noped out of another battle with an annoying enemy. Damn it.

We finally get a Diarama skill when Seiryuu levels up, so hopefully battles start going a little easier. We grind for a bit, then fuse Succubus, Titania and Parvati, and then re-enter Antenora on the 11^th floor. During battle, we gain Thoth and Dominion. We then get caught by the goddamn Reaper after sticking around too long on the 16^th floor, and death finally takes on the 17^th.

After spending a long time making up for this, we get back to floor 16 to find that it’s a golden shadow floor. We kill one before moving on, and actually kill a second one on the 17^th floor. The 20^th floor offers another miniboss: a Shouting Tiara, a Wrathful Book, and a Primitive Idol. They use ice attacks mainly, and the Tiara and Book will cast ailments to go for rage + Tetrakarn abuse on our party. This strategy is its opening play when we fight it the first time and successfully results in a TPK. The same thing happens on a second try.

With all this in mind, we go spend some of our hard-earned bling to even the odds a little. After a ruthless tedium of more grinding, we try our hand at the Idol and friends again, and finally succeed, receiving a “Throne of Ruin” and reaching level 50.

We eventually reach the end of Antenora, where we get another flashback scene. It’s Junpei’s (and Koromaru is there for some reason), wherein he irritatedly brushes off some other kids who are wanting to drink while underage, as he’s feeling rather ill towards the subject of alchohol due to his drunk bastard of a dad, who he is avoiding. There’s a little moment where one of the kids describes the late protagonist Minato as having “dark” vibes, and Junpei disbelieves that he’s an orphan with a Tragic Backstory^TM, saying that stuff only happens in soap operas. How acute of him to lampshade the melodrama of this game’s plot.

Laughs are had when Akihiko brings up Junpei being found crying in a convenience store that night. Narrating Aigis muses on Metis’ emotions.

When gameplay is returned to us, Fuuka comments on the dark Minato shadow that has been moving ahead of us through the dungeons, and although I’ve only remarked on it once, this shadow has been popping up and getting discussed with way, way, way too much frequency, far more than is necessary to maintain the intrigue. It’s like they think we’ll forget if we don’t see it every few floors—but being hit over the head with the details of this game’s plot is nothing new.

Mitsuru then tries to extoll the boons of her status ailment abilities to us, and no one who has ever experienced “Marin Fucking Karin” is hearing that nonsense.

The enemies in Ptolomea are another spike in difficulty, with the first lone enemy we come across tanking two All-Out attacks fairly easily. We gain the persona Kurama Tengu, and our first miniboss fight is against a Wondrous Magus, a Cowardly Maya, and a Crying Table, all early enemies in the main game but dangerous enemies here. They all have a weakness, a drain, and a repel each, at least, so figuring them out and attacking them with the right elements is key. Also, the Evil Smile + Ghastly Wail combo is here, so we have to beware of instant kills. We narrowly come back from a total party kill, only to get K.O.’d in the most embarrassing fashion when the Magus just walks up to Aigis and smacks her.

Anything you can think of to make this fight annoying, they’ve got it. Plus, all of these enemies hit hard, but the Magus is particularly problematic with the Maziodynes. He kills us again, which sucks, but we finally win on a third try.

Ptolomea’s second block looks like a fancy college hallway. Enemies have started spamming Hama and Mudo skills, and coming in pairs that repel either to trick you into killing yourself. We fuse Thor and Suzaku, and then head back in. We quickly gain the personas Hokuto Seikun and Thoth, and there is yet more talking about the shadowy Minato figure and yet more running after the shadowy Minato figure. I’m serious, they don’t let that rest.

The next miniboss is the Neo Minotaur. Having learned from our previous battles, we start off with Marakukaja on the first turn, which gets undone immediately with a Marakunda on the Minotaur’s first turn. This cycle continues for a bit. Koromaru gets a critical hit off and we try the All-Out Attack, but the Minotaur is so beefy it barely dents it. We learn that it nulls or drains everything but electric attacks and physical attacks, the latter of which it resists. Koromaru wisely stacks a speed boost on our defense boost right when the Minotaur charges up, which helps us survive its next attack. Good boy! Unfortunately, a mind charged Magarudyne kills Aigis in one blow. Fuck.

This is a long, long fight given the Minotaur’s health and souped up attacks. Metis tries the Poison Arrow approach, which would be smart and helpful if the poison ever took. Mitsuru seems to be something of a liability here, since she can’t attack with ice and tends to die in one blow from the Minotaur’s hits. TPK #2 comes pretty quickly.

We swap out Mitsuru for Akihiko, then go to fuse Pazuzu, before grinding a bit. We collect the persona Kingu and re-collect Hokuto Seikun, and actually level up enough for Titania to get Divine Grace, which is unexpected but phenomenally helpful. We leave the dungeons for long enough to go buy some supplies and equipment. Then we’re back at it, grinding away.

We gain Koumoukuten and Lachesis, and before long, it’s time to face the Minotaur again. Titania’s Divine Grace works wonders, albeit the Minotaur’s attacks are still so painful that we end up healing every turn for a bit. Akihiko is the star of the show here, keeping the Minotaur’s defense and attack down while stepping in to heal whenever one of the party takes a hit too hard.

Truthfully, the fight still ends up going pretty badly, as the Minotaur’s edge starts resulting in party members needing Revival Beads more and more, until eventually it’s just Aigis and the Minotaur. But, the gap was bridged just enough that Aigis is able to prevail. We do the only smart thing at this point, and leave to save.

On our next journey in, we do some grinding, managing to regain Thoth. The last segment of Ptolomea looks pretty much like the last stretch of Antenora, which is disappointing. But we reach the end and finally get another flashback scene.

This time, we get Mitsuru’s backstory. We already know from the main game that Mitsuru’s Persona awakening involved being a part of the Persona experiments at Kirijo, and having to running to defend her father from a rogue shadow is what awoke Penthesilea within her. But having said that, you’d think it would all be more dramatic. Really, it’s just Takeharu and some suits striding up to the lobby of Tartarus, one of them melting into a shadow puddle (think the “Maya”-type enemies) and Mitsuru blasting it after it knocks Takeharu over. Significantly underwhelming, especially given the fact that the guns the suits try to defend themselves with don’t work.

Mitsuru is a little affected, since she knows her father to be dead and had to see him as he was when he was alive. Junpei tries to distract everyone by changing the subject. The “Metis” part of the discussion makes me hurt, because she’s got as far as figuring out that there’s some commonality between all these flashbacks, but doesn’t know what it could be.

*thunk* *thunk* *thunk*

*actually beating his head against a wall* Seriously, why must our protagonists be truly braindead?

Fuuka picks this point—seriously, this point right now—to pipe up and say she remembered finding documents about the Abyss of Time. It could not be more abundant that writing is not Hashino’s forte.

Judecca is up next. It just looks like early Caina, so I’m going to guess they just got tired of making new floor designs and multipurposed the ones they had. We gain Ose right off the bat, and then accidentally almost get our whole party wiped when we forget to heal inbetween battles. Thor levels up and gains Auto-Mataru. We leave long enough to fuse Surt and Alice, then head back in.

The first miniboss is two Slaughter Drives and a Spastic Turret. Things don’t take long to go poorly, but with a little ingenuity, we pull it out. Koromaru is the MVP here with his speed buffs and High Counter, and Surt makes a lot of difference. The Slaughter Drives scare me with the usage of Last Resort, but it actually doesn’t wipe the party like I expected. That’s probably because every time they die, the Spastic Turret summons another one. Tedious, but not insurmountable.

The floors on Judecca’s second block mainly appear as bearing some royal tomb or Egyptian pyramid bent. We gain the persona Ubelluris, and after a supply run, fuse Throne. Diving back in, we meet the fleeing Minato shadow again, and Fuuka dithers for the millionth or so time on what it is. We get another miniboss, a large, purple, slimy Maya enemy.

The Conceited Maya, unique to the Answer, will use low-level elemental attacks to strike weaknesses and then follow up with bonus-damage attacks. It has a lot of health, drains physical attacks, and if it gets low, it summons Jotuns of Blood who use much stronger attacks and only respond to physical attacks. We get wiped pretty easily, more than once. On our next trip around, we gain Yaksini, Kikuri-Hime, and Kali. We level Surt far enough that we get the Blazing Flame, then return to fuse some more personas with our filled deck. We come out of it with Hariti, Hecatoncheires, and Odin before going back in.

Some shadows wipe us, which is kind of embarrassing, and we have to go re-fuse our shit since we didn’t save. Then we get wiped again. Fuck.

But after some successful grinding, the Conceited Maya goes down without too much trouble. The Jotuns it leaves behind, though, do take a few bites out of us before falling.

The next block after doesn’t present too much trouble, all said. We reach the end, and the next flashback is for Yukari. It’s the start of the school year, and is beating herself up, her meager abilities with research having not helped her find out anything about her father. Just when she’s ready to give up, a faculty member walks up with a letter for her—the same one she has in the main game. That’s about it. Yukari muses that Aigis having Minato’s power must mean she’s developed in some fashion, and is eager to stop having to dwell in the past sometime soon. Then, she sees fit to finally announce that she’s figured it all out. The flashbacks they’re being shown, are………the times when they awakened their Personas! Bum bum bum!!!

After everyone speculates, there’s a very Aigis-like moment where everyone chats and Metis feels left out, and Junpei welcomes her to feel like she’s part of the group, awww. Whatever man, can we just get a move on? Nope, we’re still not done. When invited to share of her past, Metis opts to hide behind her visor. Aigis’ internal narration takes over.

>"She doesn’t mince words… Which forced us to another realization…"
>"I felt, for the very first time…"
>"That the reason time stopped, may in fact have something to do with us…"

Y’all are hurting me with these stunning deductive abilities, seriously.

On returning to the dorm, everyone notes how we’re getting close to the end now. We go to the Velvet Room to fuse Siegfried and Horus before diving back in.

Beyond the penultimate door is Empyrean. Hariti gains Samarecarm right off the bat, and after a couple of battles we just start moving downstairs as fast as we can. After more obnoxious dithering about the Minato shadow, we find a miniboss on the 9^th floor, two Acheron Seekers and a Rebellious Cyclops. Right off the bat we notice that the Seekers like to strike weaknesses (they instantly kill Koromaru with a Hamaon attack) and focus on light, dark, fire, and wind, and have troublesome weak/resist setups, and the Cyclops just likes to nuke people in the face with strong physical attacks. They wipe us pretty quickly. We try for some Persona fusions, and end up settling on Loki (who bears his original model instead of the one updated for Persona 4). We buy some supplies, swap Koromaru out for Akihiko, and try again.

Or, we do after some grinding. Our first encounter ends in a narrowly-avoided TPK. Some grinding later, Horus gains Auto-Masuku and Loki gains Megidola and Stagnant Air, and we re-gain Kali and Yaksini. Enemies have started tossing out Mamudoon, Mahamaon, and Medigolaon with alarming frequency, so we’re just about dealing with the worst of the game’s enemies. Hell Biker comes along, as does Atropos. Eventually, we’re just about ready to try for the minibosses again.

Things go a little better with Akihiko on the team, but we still get fucked over. Shit. We try a third time, the same thing happens. Fuck. Fourth try, same thing. God damn it.

Sensing some stagnant results, we try fusing some after that, and come out of it with Scathach. Later, we come across a large floor full of strong shadows and use this to grind a bit, eventually staying on the floor long enough that the Reaper appears.

Try number five, we get wiped again. Fucking fuck fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck. Sixth try, wiped.

Seventh try, we actually manage to kill one of the Seekers. Despite things still looking shitty, this proves to be enough of an edge to take out the other one, and after that, the Cyclops is a simple matter. Long-winded, but simple.

The second block, once opened, provides even more annoyances. We die to some lion-shaped enemies and are forced to start over, of course. But we gain Raphael and quickly reach level 70, however. On the next run through, we encounter a single super strong shadow called the Indolent Maya, another “shiny” Maya rather like the Conceited Maya, but blue instead of purple. Its only skills are Black Viper and Sharp Student, and it blocks light and dark and resists everything else, and its endurance and magic stats are maxed out with the others not far behind. So, it’s designed to be something of a pain in the ass. It takes 6 or 7 damage from our attacks, and smashes the fuck out of us, killing our party members in one blow in return. Yikes.

Absolute shock kicks in when Metis manages to land charm on all three lion enemies the next time we see them, rendering the fight comical. Sometimes God steps in, I guess. We continue grinding, and Kohryu gains Makarakarn, which should be helpful. We also gain the persona Kumbhanda and Raphael, and re-gain Hell Biker and Hecatoncheires. Freshly loaded, we take our stock to the Velvet Room and fuse Suparna, and then re-fuse Odin.

Something something Shadow Minato figure, and then our next miniboss: the Mushas. The Onnen Musha, the Tenjin Musha, and the Kaiden Musha (Raindrop, Rain Wind, and Rain End for P4 players). They’re actually pretty easy, which is a shock, but if you must know, the Onnen is a physical heavy hitter and the Tenjin a support member who buffs. The Kaiden Musha didn’t survive long enough for us to figure out its role.

Besides a Reaper scare, the rest of the trek through Empyrean comes to an end on its 26^th floor, with the 27^th holding the last dead end. Finally, we can wrap this plot up, I hope.

On the last dead end’s plaza, Fuuka again picks just now to mention the special Kirijo papers that just happened to mention the Abyss of Time, and how they said it was created alongside, or as a reaction to, the creation of Tartarus. Damn, what a spicy revelation. The reason it didn’t come up before in the main game was because apparently, it was decided among the conspiracy that “eh, who cares”. No, seriously. They just didn’t figure it was important.

There’s one last door behind which another flashback sequence should be expected, right? Or, rather, a boss of some kind. Metis anticipates a final boss-style thing and encourages preparedness. Aigis walks forward and opens the door.

Once the flash of light fades, we see her alone, in a black void, holding her knees. Her portrait displays her wide-eyed, expressionless look that she had when reprogrammed. We see Minato under a light some distance away, and he starts to leave. Aigis tries to give chase, but only gets left behind. The big reveal is that Aigis feels she’s lost her purpose now that the main protagonist is dead and she can’t ~~stalk~~ protect him anymore. Miserable, she expresses regret and wishes to return to her life as a simple machine, with no more human condition.

Back on the plaza, everyone ruminates. Aigis confirms that after the P3 protag died, she walled herself off in her room and did nothing but dream about chasing him. Yukari expresses frustration at this lack of an answer as to why they’re going through all this, but Metis insists that it must be connected to the team’s desires to see Minato again. Before she can exposit further, the Minato shadow appears with its black body and clothes and blank white eyes, and brandishes a sword and an Evoker. Battle time!

Shadow Minato, as we’ll call him, actually uses multiple personas, all of them being the ascended personas the team uses, including Athena. Its resistances will change according to what he’s using. On successfully killing Akihiko with God’s Hand, he changes to Artemisia, and starts using Niflheim, a skill Mitsuru’s version doesn’t have. He has a ton of health, and no weaknesses. He can even copy Cerberus, but not Metis’ Psyche persona. He also uses the Reaper’s sound clips when attacking.

Since he only gets one turn, it’s not too tough a battle, just a long one. Mitsuru finally strikes him down with a direct attack after about ten years or so. We get another animated cutscene when he falls. It’s very disturbing visually, with Minato’s flesh and eyes melting off his body and turning into blue butterflies, but that’s it. Then we’re back in-game on the plaza.

As everyone notes once he’s gone, this was a shadow. Metis then explains that Personas and Shadows are the same thing, which would actually get utilized more directly and much less tangentially in Persona 4. None of this gives any indication as to how you can squash them into machines to be used at will nor why you have to mock shooting yourself in the head to summon one, but whatever, the trend of explaining the obvious to the exclusion of the bizarrely edgy continues.

So in her summation, Metis explains that the Abyss of Time and the Minato shadow manifested from SEES’ grief, and the denial and depression that came with it. The game is just about ready to end, with the Abyss’ reason for existing having been stamped out, until things in SEES’ hands start glowing. In them are keys with which to leave the Abyss behind for good. Metis, who doesn’t get one, recommends using them all at once. But we can’t have things simple, and Metis points out that there’s one other door they haven’t opened yet—the one in SEES dorm that used to be Minato’s.

That door would lead to the past, but the Abyss will vanish once the keys are used, so either decision is permanent. There is a slight lampshade hung on the fact that Metis has explained pretty much the entire plot thus far with the only excuse being that she’s just so deductive and gets it.

Junpei recommends returning to the dorm, which everyone does. The dorm, however, is filled with glowing cracks in the walls and floors when they get there, causing Metis to say that the Abyss is becoming unstable. Nonetheless, they sit down and try to formulate a plan. Things don’t go so well and everybody starts arguing. There is an excellent moment where Yukari essentially calls out Atlus on Aigis being the only one who got to share the protagonist’s last moments.

Aigis I’m Stuck With You: 62

Thus comes the big twist: SEES, unable to decide their fates as a group, split apart!

*bored drumming fingers* Well, I say they split apart. Yukari is the only one openly advocating for going into the past, and furthermore, for fighting over the keys to do so. And yes, despite there literally only being two options to choose from, the group splits into four factions: Junpei and Koromaru, Akihiko and Ken, Mitsuru and Yukari, and then Aigis with Metis and Fuuka. Each team wants to take the other keys for their own path.

The individual duels are not worth commenting on besides some gameplay features. When Aigis’ team fights the other SEES members, they all exhibit skills they don’t have when you’re in control of them. Looking this up on the wiki just to double check, they are:

Yukari has Angelic Grace and Myriad Arrows, along with Tarukaja, Ice Break, Marakunda, and fucking Primal Force. She loses the ability to heal, as does everyone else.
Mitsuru has Sexy Dance and Vorpal Blade, along with aforementioned Angelic Grace.
Akihiko gains Gigantic Fist (oh, now the thematically appropriate skill shows up…) and Apt Pupil, along with Counterstrike, and loses Matarunda and Marakunda. He also gains Mind Charge.
Ken gains Akihiko’s Elec Break, along with Premonition (Ali Dance in P4), along with Makarakarn, Rebellion, and Revolution. He’s the only one to retain a healing skill with Diarahan. Doesn’t Null electric attacks.
Koromaru has Charmdi (no, I don’t know why either), Evil Smile, Ghastly Wail, Stagnant Air, Life Drain, and Brave Blade.
Junpei is the worst offender. He gains Maragidyne (ohhh, so now you’ll gain the Maragi line? When we have to fight you?!), Patra, Tentarafoo with Panic Boost, and Evade Slash, and also takes half damage from slash attacks. He also nulls poison.

Everyone has Sharp Student to reduce the chance of being hit with a critical attack, and nulls their natural element plus light and dark to prevent instant kills, and no one has any weaknesses, which all makes sense for some sort of challenge. Everyone also having Megidoloan does not make sense. All of those is getting a point, because it’s pretty much throwing it in my face that these party members could’ve been way more useful.

Bad Game Design: 116

On descending back into the Desert of Doors, each one will lead to the “Colosseo Purgatorio”, and Metis explains that everyone else is waiting beyond it in the room where Metis first awoke, which is an arena of sorts. Aigis dithers some about hurting her friends, and why can’t they all just get along, but they go through the door.

The order of the duels is Akihiko and Ken, then Junpei and Koromaru, then Yukari and Mitsuru. Defeated opponents relinquish their keys and turn into flames on nearby torches,

Calm Down There, Edgelord: 55

only returning to normal once the keys have all merged into one. Naturally, Aigis and Metis win the duels and get all the keys despite Metis dying literally every ten seconds (Junpei and Koromaru were responsible for K.O.’ing us at least once, which resulted in a unique game over screen).

This is in spite of Aigis having her strong why-can’t-we-all-get-along regrets and eventually trying to call it quits until Metis guilts her with her tearful protective agenda and something about Aigis dying if she loses her key. If I’m giving the impression that I stopped paying attention, I didn’t, but damn did I sure stop caring a while back.

Well, actually, it does involve some DEATH nonsense. Metis spins a tale that she had a premonition that her “sister” would die if she didn’t do something, and deduces that the Wild Card comes at the cost of Aigis’ life. So apparently Aigis’ dumb musing at the beginning in the Velvet Room was on point.

DEATH IS INEVITABLE: 91

That count has got to stop at some point.

So terror-stricken is Metis at the thought of being alone if Aigis dies that she insists that, if Aigis must die, Metis will give her her life force. It leads to all that lovely introspection on Aigis’ part and results in her pulling together her determination. She wants to say something to Fuuka and Metis, but we don’t hear what it was, instead flashing ahead to their returning to the dorm.

After Yukari and Mitsuru go down, which is surprisingly easy after Junpei and Koromaru pulled that shit, the eight keys become one. Once everyone’s back, Yukari has a breakdown that her chance to see Minato is gone. She says that she can’t be that person, who holds her head high and moves on when something so disastrous happens, and that she doesn’t care what happens as long as she gets to go back.

Some people have found Yukari grating here, but honestly, I relate. When the people precious to you die, it’s fucking rough. It’s a lot easier to talk about moving on healthily and forging ahead than actually doing it. And when bad things happen in rapid succession, and you lose the people you would’ve relied on to get through it all…you do stop caring. You stop wanting to do the “correct” thing and move on and you dig in, wanting just that one thing back if nothing else.

It’s a bad time. I’m almost convinced the writing team got so good a representation of grief by accident.

Mitsuru commiserates and talks her through her grief. Aigis also gets in on it, which gives us the charming line:

“Ever since I was born, I have spent all my time thinking about him…”

Christ, that’s creepy. And also not story-accurate. Just creepy.

Aigis I’m Stuck With You: 63

Then the third option Aigis discussed offscreen with Fuuka and Metis comes to light: there was always one more door after Empyrean, the one that leads to Paulownia Mall. Before making a final decision as to which “ultimate” door to use the key on, she wants to see the past behind that door. Despite the fact that the Paulownia Mall of the past has always been a tiny closed-off space, Aigis thinks that if they just want it hard enough, it’ll show them more. That door is not the one they’ll be going through, so I’m a bit confused.

Cue Metis’ “I have no purpose left and nobody wants me around” bit that I thought we were done with but I guess we aren’t. This is killing me, guys.

Due to Reasons, Mitsuru and Metis guess that since the door to the mall hasn’t disappeared yet, there must be an enemy behind it to fight. They return to the Desert of Doors, and instead find a new door—a very large, ornate one leaking a dark fog. Gameplay is returned to us so we can prepare.

Perhaps I have been letting my attention slip, because during the conversation in the dorm, Metis mentions we’ll be going to see the moment Nyx was sealed. I don’t remember this feature of the door coming up in conversation before. In my defense, all of this is starting to run together. Also, Junpei expounds to Aigis that her sister is just as hot as she is and yes, it leans a little too close to the parts of his character I don’t like. Ain’t you grieving a girlfriend, asshole?

WISTLH: 76

Also also, Metis hints at coming to understand some things about herself. I already know the big twist, but with Personas 4 and 5 in the mix now, I’m starting to think Hashino has exactly one plot twist for his Special Character and just recycled it three or four times.

Cue about ten seconds of grinding. Suparna gets Wind Amp and Odin gets Thunder Reign. Okay, we’re ready!

On opening the door, we are taken back into the starry void where SEES last were when the protagonist beat Nyx, the one where they heard Ryoji’s annoying-ass voice. We get another, very lengthy cutscene as Mitsuru notices Nyx.

SEES stare up at a blinding light, and a shape against it that casts them in shadow. It’s Minato, who enacts the Great Seal. A flash of light and several unsettling images later, we are shown a large door, with Minato, who is now turned to stone, chained against it with barbed wire. In-game, Metis clarifies that this is what happened when he beat Nyx: he made himself the seal.

“But relinquishing one’s life essence means death for a human… He must have already found it… His own answer to life…”

DEATH IS INEVITABLE: 92

Metis tries to reassure the group that this is what he wanted, citing that he kept his promise to meet up with them on graduation day, which is a lie, because only Aigis got to see him. The others walked up just as he gasped his last because Atlus thought anyone but Aigis could go fuck themselves. This also prompts Akihiko to question her since she wasn’t there for that.

Metis says she “just knows” and admits that she’s probably akin to Nyx, something that “belongs on this side”. We then get a great, heaping, steaming pile of bullshit as she “reasons” that if Nyx is so powerful, what was holding her back before Minato became the seal? People who put up with the vanilla version’s bullshit would’ve impatiently said “she couldn’t destroy the planet because she was in twelve or thirteen pieces, you beat us over the head with that a lot”, but no, there’s another answer now.

“As I understand it, Nyx is neither hostile nor malevolent. A seal really isn’t necessary…”

…Yes she is? Maybe not malevolent depending on how you look at it, but worldwide infliction of Apathy Syndrome is, in fact, hostility. And this is why this whole plot of the Answer doesn’t really work: it relies on twisting the logic (what little there was) of the base game’s plot just so it can rehash it. Metis is just about to explain the part that was hostile, I suppose, when a great rumbling occurs.

We return to an animated cutscene as Erebus, a massive two-headed monster of darkness, reaches for the door, but claws ineffectually at the Great Seal chaining it shut.

Fuuka kneels and clasps her head in pain, explaining that this thing isn’t a Shadow, but the accumulated malice that came from the hearts of countless living people. All of them, deep down, are calling Nyx.

So, yes, we are again doing the “everybody unconsciously wants Nyx to end the world because we’re all suicidal on the inside” bit, just with another tiresome step added to the process.

DEATH IS INEVITABLE: 93

Then Aigis gives a speech.

“Last December, I too wished to learn death.”

DEATH IS INEVITABLE: 94

She’s outright saying she was suicidal now.

“It’s probably true that people in town are wishing to touch it somewhere in their hearts.”

No it isn’t.

DEATH IS INEVITABLE: 95

“There is only one thing that differentiates life from stillness. It’s that we die. That’s all there is.”

Are you quite done???

DEATH IS INEVITABLE: 96

Yukari pipes up.

“I think I understand. When your life loses its meaning, the fact of death can be kind of comforting.”

DEATH IS INEVITABLE: 97

WE ALREADY WENT THROUGH THIS GARBAGE, JUST LET IT STOP.

“That lurking malice we’re unaware of is strong enough to give birth to such a huge monster. And maybe…that’s just how it is these days.”

…No. No, that is not “just how it is these days”. As I have repeatedly, exhaustively explained, that’s not how society or the human brain works. Drop it, god damn it.

The cutscene ends as Erebus finally takes notice of SEES. Metis panics as she realizes it wants Aigis dead, since she has the same power as the guy who made the Great Seal. Lovely. She staunchly advises against trying to fight this final boss-sized beast, since it’s just too big and strong. Mitsuru refuses to retreat, stating this is a battle they can’t run from.

“The feelings that gave birth to this abomination were inside me as well. Because I couldn’t accept reality, I foolishly sought solace in a past filled with death and strife.”

DEATH IS INEVITABLE: 98

Everyone agrees to put down this creature to do their bit for Minato.

Like with Nyx, the battle music starts off very ominous before getting very kickass. Unlike Nyx, it gets only one turn, and it swaps out a long and complicated fourteen-life system for one massive health bar. It also has a super move where it charges up “Dark Embrace”, in which its animation changes to resemble two skeletal figures humping and it’s very unsettling. Dark Embrace will charge up for three turns before firing “Primal Darkness” which is a tailor-made TPK (but doesn’t TPK us). Doing enough damage to it will knock it down and blow up the bomb in its face, though, which isn’t too hard if everyone is going all out. Primal Darkness gets stronger with each use, so guarding and stacking defense might be necessary depending.

Metis is actually very useful here, as she’ll prioritize Brave Blade over elemental spells (which Erebus resists), and together with Power Charge and Orgia Mode, she can do over 500 damage in one hit. All in all, the fight seems to be going well, until Erebus smacks Aigis in the face and she dies.

Damn. This chick really has nothing to fear except catching hands, huh?

We grind a little more, and then fuse Cybele, who inherits Odin’s amped Thunder Reigns with a higher magic stat. We also fuse Lilith.

The true mark of our success comes not when we kill Erebus, but when we kill a particular red shadow that had been a nightmare to be avoided up until that point, containing three different (homicidal) Cyclops enemies. After that, we take on the Reaper—and get our asses kicked. Well, fuck it, we’ll do Erebus anyway.

This time, we win.

In the post-fight conversation, Fuuka and Metis remark that Erebus will come back, since as a manifestation of the collective unconsciousness, it will just reform again over time.

“People try to keep death at bay, but without it, they lose sight of life.”

DEATH IS INEVITABLE: 99

Mitsuru, shut the fuck up.

So, they resolve to just change the world and make everyone un-suicidal. Yukari apologizes for some of the things she’s said to Aigis, but in the process, she has to outright say that even though everyone wanted to protect the protagonist, Aigis must have felt for him the strongest.

Aigis I’m Stuck With You: 64

Everyone resolves to use the key still in Aigis’ pocket to go back to reality and let time flow again. Back at the dorm, they do just that. Aigis muses that the answer to life is friendship, and when the door opens, everything goes white. Metis’ voice says “Congratulations, sister.”

There’s a Velvet Room sequence, and everyone is invited this time. However, Metis is sitting opposite Elizabeth at Igor’s right side. Thus comes the revelation: Metis is Aigis’ humanity, the part of herself she wanted to be rid of once it became painful to have around in the wake of Minato’s death. She vanishes in a golden light, and Aigis remarks that she’s tired. But alas, no, unlike poor Minato, “tired” doesn’t mean she will soon die, as she speculates.

DEATH IS INEVITABLE: 100

The screen actually fades out as everyone gathers around Aigis in shock and denial, as if to tease me in Castiel fashion with the death of a character I truly can’t stand.

We flash forward to midnight, April 1^st, as everyone snoozes in the dorm, Aigis included. They wake up (Aigis not included), and find everything is back to normal. There’s still about ten more minutes left in this ending sequence despite us having vanquished Erebus the same amount of time ago, and I’m feeling every second of it.

Concerned, they take Aigis to her room and hook her up, finding that she’s essentially been short-circuited, threatening the idea that, even if they fix her, she won’t be the same anymore. Just kidding—she’s fine, circuits be damned.

If you’re thinking that this, right after Metis, is all a big sledgehammer to say that Aigis is human human now, you’re right.

Aigis gives yet another speech about friendship, and Mitsuru says everyone should hang onto their Evokers, even if SEES isn’t a thing anymore. Everyone goes to bed happy, and the next day, they’re ready to move out. Aigis’ final decision of the Answer is to back out of returning to the lab and resolve to go to school.

Everyone gets going, and Yukari waits for Aigis outside the dorm. They muse on change being part of life, leading into an animated cutscene as Yukari offers Aigis a spot as her roommate.

Aigis accepts, and the game finally fucking ends.

I’ll see you guys in the Final Thoughts for Story and Characters.

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