PERSONA 3 FES (THE ANSWER) BOSS GUIDE

Motsu

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P3P was my first ATLUS game—definitely the one I cherish the most and has spent a lot of time playing! I definitely love it and have forgotten most of what happened and how I finished the game in the second hardest difficulty... ah yes, back then, I never played games on the hardest difficulty. However, after my appearance in Falcom's Discord, the veteran members there dragged me to play the highest level and so I did. Ys series... all on Nightmare mode... Origin, nightmare—one of the traumatizing games... Oath in Felghana, my first hardest game—the final boss made me bathe in sweat.

Enough about that. I heard THE ANSWER has the same difficulty as SQQ and the highest difficulty of P3—but that makes this even better. Bring on the challenge, Persona 3 FES TA! Wait, FESTA? As in Festival?! Wow... that's funny because FES means festival. Anyway, I just started the intro, and it is pretty catchy and amazing.

I am actually going to beat this as a request from one of my friends. And while this thread may show my progress, this will also be a guide to anyone who's starting to play P3 FES!

The search for the answer is afoot!
 
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Motsu

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It’s so good. I enjoyed playing through it a few years back. :)
Wow, seriously?! Hmm... my hands had been aching to play the game but I had to do some little work. I wanted to ask for your advice, but maybe I should figure it out on my own. Although, it is good to hear that someone has played the game.
 

Tessa_Renalds

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Wow, seriously?! Hmm... my hands had been aching to play the game but I had to do some little work. I wanted to ask for your advice, but maybe I should figure it out on my own. Although, it is good to hear that someone has played the game.
I’d have to replay it to remember most of it. Most of the (j)rpgs that I’ve played have all melded together in some simulacrum of nonsense in my head. Looks like I’ll need to unearth the good ol’ Playstation and play it from my brother.
 

Motsu

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Immortal Gigas & Visceral Mayas

IT wasn't an exaggeration when the game said that its difficulty is higher than The Journey's difficulties. The first boss, Metis, isn't really anything to worry about because she won't kill you. The second boss, however, is tricky unless there's a certain spell to counter them. Narcissus' arsenal contains Marin Karin and Sexy Dance that inflicts charm for high chance because of her passive ability. Once inflicted, the one thing you'll do is grab some popcorn as Immortal Gigas pummels himself from Visceral Mayas that reflects attack. Otherwise, use all-fire for Visceral Mayas and a wind spell for Immortal Gigas to keep on doing all-out attacks.

The dungeons contain dangerous enemies and the starting shadows are harder to take advantage of, but they were no match for a guy like me. Moreover, the AI's are complete garbage... makes me want to Marin Karin myself.

Anyway, I just started the game and learned all tricks and tips once more. I'll be examining Malebolge 2 thoroughly, but I want to rest first and take a nice hot bath.

UPDATE 1:

Bright Cyclops & Summoned Soul Dancers

Change of opinion—this game is way normal! There's no way I am about to lose to this game, not until these AI's stop using too many SP's, stop getting forced to fight a monster themselves, and killing themselves from monsters with reflects. The third boss battle is pretty easy once you already know what you're doing. Bright Cyclops (absorbs wind, no weakness) can summon Soul Dancers (weak to ice) which have strong spells that can one-hit!

If Bright Cyclops summon Soul Dancers, immediately knock them out with Bufu! Don't miss or say goodbye. Nothing happens after that other than the feeling of accomplishment for beating the third boss and nearly finishing the dungeon. In any case, the dungeons' violet shadows have strong monsters that don't give a lot of EXP and can destroy your party!

Pieces of equipment are expensive to buy—some can be found in the dungeon or an even better of what can be brought. Rarely, a gold shadow comes and drops a certain type of item... hmm... what do I do with it again? I just sold four of it for 12,000... I was thinking maybe it had its own uses.

I'll continue investigating the dungeons. If I can, maybe I'll be able to hitch up three boss battles if I just stop grinding and start fusing personas to counter the bosses.
 
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Motsu

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My work hasn't been finished yet, whatsoever, I've finished up a trek of the handful of bosses that surely offered ill-weary and intense focus. The answer to this journey has yet to unfold and what lies ahead of the journey is the obstacles of truth. These arduous Tartarus-like dungeons will be overcome, letting no bosses left standing... by me.

There is no difficulty to choose as it is already chosen by the game—and so to speak, the difficulty is locked to the hardest difficulty. Nonetheless, what is The Answer that lies ahead in The Journey? We shall find out.

[CAINA] - [RECOMMENDED CHARACTERS: THE IMAGES WILL SHOW THEM TO YOU]

Boss: Death Castle & El Dorado Beasts

In the door named Caina, these guardians will be your first boss battle. In any case, the Death Castle has no weakness known to man—yet it is frail to any weapon attacks. It may heal itself, but that's nothing to consider unfair. The El Dorado beasts are weak to ice, however, the Death Castle can drain ice so use Bufu. Accurately, you must knock down the El Dorado Beasts before attacking the Death Castle... that is if you're lucky it won't avoid because of its Avoid Ice.

Shall you struggle with the obstacle, consider the options available: Fusing Personas with strong/null elementals to counter bosses' skills, buy types of equipment and luckily get good effects, and grind for the necessary level to avoid dying so easily.


Boss: Harem Dancer & Merciless Mayas

In Caina II, you'll face these guardians before Caina III. Consider yourself lucky, this battle is just like the rest! You got used to ordering the AI's and you've stooped so low to understand what you should do in any situation. You've got this already! Ahem... Harem Dancer has no weakness yet can drain wind and ice, while Merciless Mayas are weak to wind.

Again, knock down the Merciless Mayas before attacking Harem Dancer. However, piercing attacks are blocked!

[Antenora]

Boss: Brave Wheel, Judgement Sword, & Ice Raven

In the so-called door named Antenora, you will face these three tricky guardians that will slap you in the face if you have one. Let's get straight to the point, though. Brave Wheel is weak to ice but drains ice, Judgement Sword is weak to fire but drains electric, and Ice Raven is weak to fire but drains ice.

What you'll need to prioritize is knocking all of them down and doing an all-out attack a lot of times until they die! Of course, you need to analyze them before the AI's can knock them down.


Boss: Shouting Tiara, Primitive Idol, & Wrathful Book

In Caina II, you'll face a similar setup of guardians just like in Caina I. It ain't tricky anymore though because you've grasped the trick. Shouting Tiara is weak, Primitive Idol is weak to electric, and Wrathful Book is weak to fire. Again, analyze and knock them all out to do an all-out attack. After this, it is recommended to grind a little bit up to level 50-55 if you can.

Train yourself... the next second boss will blow your pants off... okay, I just said something lmao.

[Ptlomoea]

Boss: Crying Table, Cowardly Maya, & Wondrous Magus

Of course, this is another one of the same boss battles... how disappointing... what an amateur game. Anyway... let's get to know them. Crying Table is weak to ice yet drains fire, Cowardly Maya is weak to fire yet drains ice, and Wondrous Magus is weak to fire yet drains wind. Again, knock them all out to do an all-out attack.

After this... fuse a persona with wind null like Loki and remove Mitsuru for Metis because you'll be frowning for this one!
[RECOMMENDED PERSONA LIST]

As you can see, all of these Personas are seriously significant to every dungeons and boss battle because they can change the game to your bidding. Orpheus is useless so I fused him to make Loki. Other than that, Narcissus, Ubelluris, and Nebiros need to be fused... I just haven't done it yet.

I won't force you to have the same thing as mine but remember to always have Growth 2 personas or make sure that any personas you fuse have Growth 2. They'll be super useful when you're grinding!


Boss: Neo Minotaur

This is the boss battle that'll give you a very hard time, especially if you aren't level 50 and above! Neo Minotaur has no weakness, other than the fact that it can drain most elemental spell excluding MEGIDO and MEGIDOLAON! If you have them, spam them! Otherwise, use weapon attack and hope for the best you crit in order to get an all-out attack. Also, remember to make sure that he cast REVOLUTION, or otherwise... your crit chance will be poor.

After this, we will be going inside a door called Judecca, but I haven't yet! I will be posting more updates soon though because I still have some things to do! In addition, if you want to control your party members then get the P3 FES controllable PM mod and convert it to play in your PS2. NOW PEACE OUT!
 

Motsu

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And on we continue!

[JUDECCA]

Boss: Spastic Turret & Slaughter Drive

This battle is rather normal... or rather, it has the tendency to become a huge obstacle if you decided to change your strategy. In any case, Spastic Turret is weak to ice yet drains fire and Slaughter Drive is weak to electric yet drains ice. Avoid using all-Bufu and knock them all down to get an all-out attack. One thing to remember, the Spastic Turret will summon more Slaughter Drives if you kill all of them. It is in your best interest to leave one alive!


Boss: Conceited Maya & Jotun of Blood

This boss battle has taken the difficulty to the top! You're in need to prioritize hitting Conceited Maya with only magic spells as he will drain physical attacks! It will also summon two Jotun of Blood which will hit your weakness and goes for Megidola! Consider going with a party that has no elemental weakness, otherwise, continue with my chosen characters and hope for the best!

What I did for this one is immediately putting the Conceited Maya to half of its health before it can summon Jotun of Blood. After having summoned Jotun of Blood, I decided to kill Conceited Maya first before the Jotun of Blood because Junpei and Metis have the best physical attacks! Yukari will certainly die a lot of times because she's prioritized by the bosses to knockdown, but if you have the Lightning Resist accessory, then feel free to bring her.

[Empyrean]

Boss: Rebellious Cyclops & Acheron Seeker

This final boss battle of Judecca can be stupendous at its best. The toughest battle! Rebellious Cyclops has no weakness, whatsoever, can drain ice and wind. Acheron Seekers are weak to fire but can repel wind and fire. Your best bet is to immediately make the Acheron Seekers fall down no matter what while having one character prioritizing physical attacks on Rebellious Cyclops. I recommend using Thor with Fire Drain, Physical Resistance, and High Counter while constantly switching to personas with all-Agi and Megidola!

Make sure to be well-prepared, the next battles are pretty interesting!


Boss: Tenjin, Kaiden, & Onnen Musha

In any case, this isn't the boss battle that is interesting!
Strategy 1:
Let Junpei, Metis, and Aigis spam all heavy physical attack spells before and after Kaiden's EVOLUTION!

Strategy 2:
Fuse Arahakabi by doing a triangle fusion (Scathach+Hariti+Yatagarasu) in order to get TETRAKARN. What it entails will be significant as it reflects physical attacks! Grab some popcorn and let them kill themselves.

After this... remove everyone's equipment excluding Aigis and Metis... this is necessary! The next boss battle is unique and the third-easiest one... well, probably.


Boss: ????

Oh boy... I wonder who this guy is? Is that... wait, you know him?! Well, anyway, not my problem.
Strategy:
Since you have Tetrakarn, always use it whenever you can! I never had Arahabaki so I decided to buff myself with Evasion/Hit (Nata Taishi) and Defense (Junpei) before attacking. Let Metis (w/ Orgia Mode) and Junpei do physical attacks only while Aigis does elemental attacks... Yukari needs to wait and only heal/support everyone. If she is already level 60+, her spells will use more SPs.

After this is a scary cutscene and a scary situation. If you unequipped everyone excluding Aigis and Metis, congratulations, every boss battle starting from now will be far too easy! Consider this boss your final obstacle... lmao.

Nonetheless, I've finished all the DOORS and will now continue with the next one—FRIENDSHIP GOALS! I'll be keeping the update—uh... she finally gave me the work guides... :(

I'll update this thread again later. PEACE OUT FOR NOW!
 
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Motsu

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[THE FINAL JOURNEY FOR THE ANSWER] - [DIFFICULTY - EXTREME]

After that interesting fight, you'll meet one of the greatest conflicts from those who'll paint history with will and determination in order to obtain what they want from the power of the true key. The debates intensify leading to a fight between nine persona users, whatsoever, Aigis and Metis will have Fuuka as a handicap... well, unless her Oracle erases your HP and SP or cures your non-existent ailments.

In any case, I didn't unequip everyone's pieces of equipment which meant that I was taking the battle the hard way... I was panicking, of course, but I decided to move forward and rely on Thor's magnificent stats and nulls. In the end, my steel saw victory from such a heartful cry. Whatsoever, the OST that plays in these boss battles implies the determination of each character and Aegis' journey to finding the answer.

And while I may be late, there are SP cans on the second floor of the dorm. If you've played The Journey, you'll find it immediately after starting the game because SP potions are scarce and need materials to make. This really helped me a lot when it came to dungeon crawling because I didn't have to worry about my SP, however, it takes 3 seconds to get SP cans—it makes me impatient.

Aigis and Metis are both level 70! This is the recommended level you need. If you grinded after fighting HIM then you don't have to anymore.


Boss: Akihiko Sanada & Ken Amada
Strategy:

Imagine being locked inside a spacious room, and inside is a person with a face that screams "I'll kill you!". What would you do? Yeah, of course, you'd fight back. So, basically, that's what we are doing today. Just so you know, Akihiko, Ken, Koromaru, Junpei, Mitsuru, and Yukari has no weaknesses so fight in hopes of crit!

This is the easiest of the fights because Ken will keep on spamming EVOLUTION when it wears off from everyone. This makes your crit chance higher and your chances of dying higher. Remember to make sure Metis always goes for her Orgia Mode to finish the fight immediately.


Boss: Koromaru & Junpei
Strategy:

Remember the dog? No? Good... good. Fighting these two has a problem. First, they hit hard... second, they can drain fire... and third, they don't stand a chance... oh wait, that's their problem! Teehee~. First of all, you have Thor with Fire Drain making this battle easier and because of that, you need to kill Koromaru before Junpei because Junpei will keep on casting Dia on you... lmao.


Boss: Yukari & Mitsuru
Strategy:

In my perspective, I can understand the childish response that Yukari created. You can face the past and focus on moving forward but that doesn't mean you are letting go of your past. Of course, facing and embracing the past has no meaning if you don't do something to its root. Mitsuru's support is illogical and never had any good reason as to why she sides to Yukari. However, it was revealed that she felt the same way as Yukari, that losing someone made her wanted to kill herself out of guilt and that she decided to help those who were important to her.

Anyway, Yukari is an outie!

For this one, you'll definitely have to rely on luck. Mitsuru has strong physical damage and their spell attack spells trouble and despair. What I decided to do was making Aigis charge to twice the magic damage while making Metis go Orgia Mode (in her turn) after doing a physical charge to damage them twice! Make sure you equip both of them with Slash Wards and Mega Super Luck (L+10)... lmao.


Final Boss: Erebus

THIS IS THE MOST DANGEROUS BOSS! Unlike the Trails to Azure's final boss—Azure Demiugre—which when charging a game over spell, you have to spam burst orbs in order to kill the boss immediately... and UNLIKE Khonsclard from Ys: Origin which is a literal REGENERATING SADISTIC PIECE OF FLOWER! This battle is like Loa Erebonius from Trails of Cold Steel—but Loa Erebonius is harder than Erebus!

Strategy:

Instead of ghosting your characters, Erebus will charge a Powerful Almighty spell that's unblockable and takes four turns until goodbye. This will happen once you accumulate 2000 damage! Whatsoever, you can stop the Dark Embrace if you damage him for 1000, also rendering Erebus vulnerable for attacks. When this happens, unleash all your strongest attacks!

After stopping the first Dark Embrace, immediately start using your MAGIC REFLECT item to damage himself from his own stupidity. If you don't have any spell buffs, then use Strength Sutra and Agility Sutra because these two will be so useful when it comes to giving damage. In any case, I recommend everyone to grind up to level 80+... I did this with a level 70-75 party members and won! But trying to win this boss under-leveled like me would mean you subject yourself to a 30-minute fight.


[OP's comment]
Ahem... when I finished the P3P—I wanted more, I wanted to play games like Persona 3... like Persona 4 but it never came on PC yet. I wanted to motivate myself from playing P1 and P2 but was met with discouragement from a lot of good games that were busy stealing all my time. After months from finishing P3P, I saw the gameplay of The Answer.

The Answer? Where do I play The Answer? There is a continuation!? But other than that, I had no knowledge to find a way to play the game. It wasn't after he came out and said to me if I played P3FES. No, I said, but interestingly he didn't say P3P. Is it a continuation? I asked myself... and inquired him about the game itself.

Of course, this person was good. He had played a lot of games, especially those that needed the OG consoles, and what's more? He created a lot of guides for many games which inspired me to do the same. But enough about him!

Persona 3 FES The Answer is the great continuation of The Journey in which immediately places you to level 25 without any tutorial. Pieces of equipment are scarce and can be found in dungeons, yet dungeons have strong monsters and even stronger bosses. Without any strategy, you're prone to losing more than accomplishing victory. The AI's insults your orders and will punish the whole team because of their ludicrous stupidity.

In dungeons, each shadow can be found with different colors; gold implying fortune and violet implying get away from me or die. What's worst is that most of them have no weaknesses and aren't easy to take advantage of. However, you can 100% escape at the start of the battle and escape unscathed with the shadow disappearing from existence. Sometimes, the whole dungeons are filled with gold shadows, and sometimes, it won't have any shadows, filling the map with chests. Nonetheless, the Grim Reaper takes a short amount of time to respawn when this happens. SO BE FAST!

Some equipment when equipped to certain characters offers a throwback dialogue of The Journey while rare dialogues can be seen in the Velvet Room! From the start to finish, the game per se has been entertaining and intense! It reminisce me of the past when I played P3P. After finishing The Answer, I feel so free right now!

Sigh... it has been three years since I played P3P and now I finally finished The Answer! But this isn't the end yet, the ONE MORE GOD REJECTED conquest will begin sooner!

This thread has been completed by HandsomeProtagonist!
This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any website or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission—not that anyone would. Use of this guide on any other website or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.
 
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CheertheDead

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it’s so fun to modify the game memory with cheat engine. Having Pale Rider with Armageddon.
That asides hard difficulty for the answer just mean harder enemies and enemies give less Exp. Thus, we need more grinding (around x4)
 
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