The Episode Aigis expansion for Persona 3 Reload has been developed in response to fan feedback, although there's no chance of a female protagonist in the future.
At last week's Xbox Partner Preview, Atlus announced an expansion pass for the remake, including the much-requested epilogue The Answer.
Persona 3 Reload, released earlier this year, was criticized for not including all the extras from various past versions of the game to provide a complete experience. Now, in a new interview with Famitsu (via Central Person), series general producer Kazuhisa Wada has shared how that feedback inspired development of the expansion.
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“We wanted to make [Episode Aigis] happen from the first drafts of P3R, as we felt that it would be essential to have the concluding arc if we were remaking Persona 3,” said Wada. “Due to various circumstances, however, there were a lot of difficulties which had to be overcome in order to make the remake a reality, with challenges from the outset of the main P3R project. As a result we had to abandon the remake of Episode Aigis.
“Even so, deep down, I couldn't just give up on it, so even while developing the main story I kept searching for ways to make it happen. After finally announcing P3R to the world, we received a lot of feedback from fans asking about the follow-up story. It was reassuring for us to share the same feelings, and having that support gave us the push to make it happen. I am truly grateful.”
Wada further explains how the team was stretched focusing solely on development of the main game, but thankfully they were joined by Yu Hashizume who previously directed Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore to provide assistance. Hashizume is now directing Episode Aigis.
“The main idea behind Episode Aigis was to remake it with the same intentions and quality as the main story of P3R,” said Hashizume. “We are working hard to carefully rebuild the game so that you can enjoy both the main story and the follow-up story.”
Wada added: “I think the original version of Episode Aigis (included in Persona 3 FES) caused some controversy among players due to its content, but at the same time I feel that it is a historical part of the Persona series and should not be distorted , so again we haven't done anything to change it at its core.”
This revised version of Episode Aigis will include some differences, however, including a few tweaked lines of dialogue, a “completely new look” to its core dungeon adding to exploration elements, and a generally faster pace thanks to improvements from Reload.
Unfortunately, there are no plans to include the female protagonist from Persona 3 Portable. This was due to cost but also the desire for the team to move on to its next project.
Said Wada: “It pains me to say this… but unfortunately there is no chance of including the female protagonist. Of course we also considered plans to include her, but the hurdles were too high. It was expected to take a long development period and would have cost several times more than Episode Aigis. Additionally, as the Persona Team, we have a mission to not only work on remakes, but also on 'completely new works'. Our staff members are working in unison towards future developments you can look forward to, so we appreciate your understanding.”
That idea of a new work is certainly intriguing – it's unclear at what point we can expect Persona 6 after the recent string of remakes and re-releases.
Next up from Atlus will be Metaphor: ReFantazio later this year, which moves Persona's social gameplay into a high fantasy setting.
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