Wolf, he asked for answers "other than sloppy writing". When the reasons include "well, Junpei needed a partner", that's sloppy writing.

The Answer was one of the worst written portions of the series, in my opinion. Everything about it felt forced. I liked a lot of the individual moments, but none of the setup really worked at all. Erebus was awesome, several of the backstory moments and exploration were awesome. But a lot of the main setup felt wrong, not to mention the entire time travel setup popping in at the last second didn't really feel like great writing.

Honestly, I think they would have done a lot better to work this moments into the main game, to include the opportunity for flashbacks during the main story. The Answer just FEELS like a tacked-on extra, not really part of the overall story.

I also hated the retcon of the ending, but that's just me.