As a game, it's a terrible mess. It's impossible not to notice just how low budget it was, and while the battle system is interesting on a conceptual level, the way it's implemented and balanced makes the game incredibly unfun to play.

The main story is also kind of haphazard, and wouldn't be very satisfying on its own. It's fortunate, then, that the character scenarios (the social link equivalents) are all quite thoughtful and (mostly) competently told. Every character is interesting and memorable, with motivations and backstories that are quite bit more down-to-earth than you would expect from a JRPG. The game also treats difficult social issues with a degree of nuance, acknowledging that no one's problems are going to magically be solved by the end of the game; even some problematic elements from early in the story are reexamined and overcome later on. My only real complaint with the character scenarios is that it's pretty clear they ran out of time/money with the last few characters on the "villain" side of things.

If you want a glimpse of what modern Persona could be if the writing actually reflected the real world, please give Caligula a try. Just don't expect it to be a good game, because it's not.

Also, the soundtrack is great, especially if you're a Vocaloid fan.