Part 6

Welcome to Part 6 of our Persona 3 FES guide! We're diving into 'The Answer,' the epilogue that continues the story after the original game's ending. Learn about the new challenges and plot developments.

Hey there! So, you've made it through the main story of Persona 3 FES, and now it's time to tackle "The Answer." This is the epilogue, and it adds about 30 hours of gameplay, picking up right after the original game's ending. Think of it as "Episode Aegis" from the Japanese version. The original Persona 3 is kind of remade as "The Journey" within FES, but "The Answer" is completely new story content. The name "FES" itself is just a fancy word for "festival" in Japanese, by the way. This part of the game kicks off on March 31, 2010, a few weeks after the protagonist's sacrifice. It turns out he passed away peacefully in his sleep while resting with Aigis on the Gekkoukan High rooftop. The rest of SEES is understandably confused, thinking it might be related to how he used his life force to defeat Nyx. The school year is over, and the Iwatodai Dormitory is about to close. Meanwhile, life for everyone else hasn't exactly returned to normal. Even though the Apathy Syndrome cases have stopped, people are still stressed out, partly due to those lingering rumors spread by Strega. This makes some SEES members question what they even fought for, though they agree it's out of their hands now. Aigis also reveals she won't be attending school next year. After the protagonist's death, she's been really down, unable to fulfill a promise she made to him, and she's become so detached that she doesn't even need sleep anymore. During their last dinner together, the SEES members realize they're trapped in the dorm, and March 31st keeps repeating. Suddenly, a huge door-like hole opens up in the floor, and they're attacked by Metis, another anti-shadow weapon like Aigis. While fighting Metis to protect everyone, Aigis' Persona, Athena, transforms into Orpheus, the protagonist's original Persona! She even gains the protagonist's Wild Card ability. Aigis manages to subdue Metis, who was apparently trying to end the time loop and save Aigis, calling her "sister." Beneath the dorm is the Abyss of Time, which is causing this whole time loop. It's got seven doors, each leading to multi-floor dungeons that look a lot like Tartarus. This is where all the combat happens. At the top of each dungeon, SEES witnesses a past event from one of the member's lives, revealing how they awakened to their Persona. After the seventh and final door, SEES fights a Shadow version of the protagonist. Defeating it gives them all a key. Combining these keys would let them break the time loop and leave the dorm. But Metis offers another option: instead of leaving, they could use the keys to go back in time, to before the fight with Nyx and the protagonist's death. This causes a rift. Akihiko and Ken think they should just move forward, no matter what, so their loved ones' deaths weren't in vain. Yukari, however, desperately wants another chance to save the protagonist to honor his life, and Mitsuru agrees. The rest of the group thinks it's too dangerous. Junpei and Koromaru just want everyone to work together. With no agreement on how to use the keys, SEES decides they have to fight each other to settle it. Aigis is torn, but Metis is determined to fulfill her purpose by fighting alongside her. Metis leads them to Colosseo Purgatorio, her birthplace, to fight. But after they defeat Akihiko and Ken, Aigis realizes Metis tricked her. They both turn into flames, putting their lives at risk unless all the keys are combined to revert them. This really hurts Aigis, who cares about her friends' safety. After fighting Junpei and Koromaru, Aigis feels hopeless. She can't choose between running from the present and abandoning the people she cares about. It seems like there's no way to avoid hurting someone she cares about.