I think Atlus realized that they have three separate audiences and tried to make a game that would appeal to all of them, but in the end they made a game that appeals to nobody.
-If you don't like old school Megami Tensei like the original Soul Hackers then you will hate the dungeon and map design in this game.
-If you don't like modern Shin Megami Tensei games like SMT 4 and 5 then you will hate the focus on side quests and backtracking in order to not be under leveled.
-If you don't like the modern Persona games then you will hate how much dialogue this game has, much of which is pointless moments like talking about food or chatting about backstories at a bar.
The only people who could enjoy this game are Atlus super fans like me who like all of those games. The issue with this though is because I've played most games Atlus has ever put out, I know that every thing this game tries to do has been done better in prior games.
There's nothing about this game that it does better than any prior Atlus game. I totally want Atlus to take risks with Megami Tensei. If you liked Nocturne then you might not like Digital Devil Saga, Raidou, or Persona 3 and 4, but that's because those games each appeal to a slightly different audience. This game tried to appeal to everyone by making a game with some dungeon crawling, some side quests, some slice of life dialogue, and in the end it appeals to no one.