So... I've somehow found myself 14.5 hours into Persona 5...
The game is very well made... I mean, stylistically, it's simply a beautiful game to play. The writing is hilarious, and the story up to this point is interesting enough to keep me into it.
I gotta say, I'm intrigued by this game so far....
If I had to nitpick, there's a few things that I would point out:
1) The entire first section of the game, up to the end of Kamoshida's Palace, feels like a VERY long tutorial. The restrictions and training wheels just come off way too late.
2) Sometimes it feels like the game doesn't play by it's own rules. Like, I'm going upstairs to go to fucking sleep, LET ME GO UPSTAIRS so I can water my plant!!
3) The game seems tailored towards forcing you into a New Game+; and even this early on that seems obvious.
4) Early game, there isn't enough information about how to improve social stats... Like, you know you're supposed to do it, but, by the time you realize how to spam Kindness, Ann is already telling you some guy is stalking her and you very likely can't respond if you've focused on the more useful Guts or Proficiency. Hell, by the time you even find out you need Kindness to romance her, you're so busy it's not really reasonable unless you already know way ahead of time that you'll need it (i.e., New Game+).
5) I wish other characters could switch personas; would make them more dynamic, but that's not a huge deal. It just means the protagonist is absolutely infinitely more valuable than they are (but, by extension, this is one of those games where if the main character falls in battle, there is no reviving him; you're fucked - game over).
6) I wish battles were a bit more dynamic... That is to say, once you figure out an enemies weakness; they essentially pose zero threat. Once you realize this, if you're willing to sacrifice around 9 SP or say, 3 bullets, it's generally the end of a fight... There should be a higher threshold to critical an opponent, or .. that you'd need to get them weaker.. That isn't to say the game is easy, but.. that it feels like the easiest part is likely going to be the mid-game, which brings me to:
7) Barrier to entry.... If I'm understanding the game mechanics at this point, then it seems Kamoshida's Palace is likely going to be among the more difficult due to the lack of SP regenerating items / spells? I can tell already that in another 10 hours, money and buying SP items and farming them won't be as much of an issue -- and now that I have access to Momentos, farming can be done outside of palaces?? So it seems the early game projects to be harder than the later part of the game? But I'm not there yet.
Now.. with all of that said... As of right now,
I give the game a 9/10, easily. It IS a great game. Love the battle system, character design, everything really.. Going to go home and play it again tonight.. LOL!