Improves on the good things of the original (love the new OST, the look of the UI). But still has certain things that keep it from a perfect rating for me (general balance issues with certain game mechanics, locking multiple Max Link Personas until the final in-game month).

I played through in Merciless mode while not giving direct commands to my party. Even so, with the removal of the fatigue system, I did not have an issue with the difficulty. Not even the new Monad door enemy groups posed an issue with all the power that is available. Cannot imagine how much easier the hardest difficulty would've been if I controlled 4 characters instead of 1 (sometimes 2 because at least the dedicated healers did well in keeping the team alive).

Everything else feels nice. New Link Episodes for certain party members flesh them out. Music is sick. Feels more alive (?) in a way.

We'll see how the Aegis episode plays out.