I wish i could give this a 5 but the characters simply arent as good as persona 4's (with like 2 exceptions), outside of the story they feel bland.
especially morgana, I really wish they made him a better character after okumura's palace, because I actually enjoyed him, but instead he got absolutely zero development.
Ryuji feels bland compared to yosuke and junpei, and again, just like Morgana, gets zero development.
the only characters to have good development are Sumire, Maruki And Akechi both of which don't get enough screentime for how good they are.
there's also the painfully long intro, which isn't bad in the first playthrough but in the new game plus just SUCKS, because you'll be locked out of actual gameplay for 5-ish hours even with fast-foward and the fact that kamoshida's palace isn't very enjoyable anyway doesnt help much.
but despite all of my gripes with the game, it's still very good, the story itself is pretty good (although it only really picks up after okumura's castle) and the characters despite not having development, can stll be somewhat enjoyed on the playthrough, the highlight is of course the new third semester which honestly, could have been longer, but it's still really good anyway.
the gameplay is your average persona gameplay. it's peak.