I like SMTV, but if you are coming from Persona it is a VERY different experience. Persona is a much more narrative spinoff series from the original SMT franchise. SMT games you are typically alone, with just a party of the monsters you recruit to help you. Consequently there isn't a whole lot of dialog. There is some story, but in most SMT games it tends to be very back-heavy.

SMT games do tend towards bleak, depressing and extremely difficult. They usually do have multiple narrative paths/endings to give it some replay value. They are really for people who enjoy those kinds of gameplay systems first and foremost.

Haven't played 5, but SMT is a very different series, despite being what persona spun off from. The biggest differences in my mind are the lack of social aspects in general and that SMT is just kind of brutal.

If the difficulty isn't such a turn off, I might recommend Devil Survivor, which has some systems just a couple steps away from social links, your decisions determining who stays with you and how the plot goes. It's a TRPG.

There are plenty of SMT games with appeal, but that's the closest one to persona, and even it isn't that close.

I played vanilla smt5, the story didn't exist. Ive prob never played a AAA game with such a bad story. Nonetheless, i enjoyed the game due the gameplay and animation. Felt good beating Shiva on harder difficulty.