I took the dive on Persona 5

And threw my money down

What do you say, is it worth it to play?

And how is the running around?

In particular, how unforgiving is the time management stuff, will I feel rushed? I like to play slow and see everything...

Yes of course it is worth it! (Ignore my P5 avatar and obvious bias). But seriously, it is I think. Time management is very forgiving, you're not rushed. The loading screen icon even says "take your time". There are deadlines for certain things but they are very long, and you can complete the tasks well before it ends. You basically have say 20 ingame days to complete a dungeon which is loads of time and in that span you can do side stuff and run around as well. I'd say a dungeon usually took me 3-4 days of the 18-20 you're usually given. Also if you complete the dungeon first you can still run around and do side things until the deadline so to speak. It will become more clear once you get into the game, it explains it quite well. The best tip I can give is to try to complete the dungeons first and then do the side stuff. You can't and won't see everything on your first playthrough because that's the nature of the game that you have to make certain choices and there are many paths. Be prepared for a long game though, my initial playthrough was 92 hours and I did loads of side stuff.

You generally can't do everything first playthrough unless you have planned it out since some confidants require high stats. That said, just go for it and you'll most likely be fine.

@imchardo: Yes it's worth it. The time management stuff is action based (Like choosing to study or choosing to advance a side quest) not time based so you won't feel rushed. The only negative with the time management is that it can be overwhelming to know what to do so you may not be able to build up all the relationships you want without following a guide.

If anything, you will feel that you have too much time to kill.

Half and half on the time management I feel. Pumping stats to unlock future hang outs need some foresight. The game also seem to trickle feed your when someone is available to hang out and pull that away from you when it sees fits. I am sure there are some mechanics behind it, but I can't nail it down exactly. Can only guess from from observations I made since the beginning until the middle of my second playthrough so far.

Generally, hang out with people when they are available, you can check on the map for quick reference. Pump stats when it is a good day to do so, you will learn when is a good time if you pay attention. Toss up if it is a good day to pump stats and someone is available to hang out. Dungeon dive when no go on both or pump more stats depending on what you need. Knock it down to easy when you need to grind just to make it go faster.

I don't know if it is possible to see everything in one playthrough. Even with NG+ I still wonder if it is possible to see everything in one go. General scheduling related spoiler no story stuff, but just in case: There are date events and day specific invite events that happen which is probably not be the most efficient use of your time if you do them. Maybe there exist a path where player can utilize them for various boosts, but most of the guides I see tend to ignore most of them. Following a strict guide will end up with about 2 weeks of free time, I don't know if that's enough to compensate. This is not counting the mutually exclusive special events.

There may be a route that lets you see every last single thing in this game in one playthrough. If so it will be a very easy thing to mess up (and if not written perfectly might be impossible).

My advice, after many attempts to see everything in PS3 and 4...just have fun and play the game. You won't get to see absolutely everything on your first go-round, but you'll get to see plenty. These games play way better if you don't stress over time. You can finish all the stories you want too.

The one piece of information time-wise I wish I had before starting is a very slight spoiler but not much of one (Your caretaker's level won't rise past a certain point until you get further in the plot. I believe his 4th or 5th level doesn't unlock until then. Don't waste time spending time with him over other people/things you can do at night once you reach this point.

Another thing to say and this is a super minor spoiler for an ability one of your social links gives you that makes getting other social links WAY easier, again a spoiler but a very very minor one The Fortune teller has an ability you can pay for that raises your rating with any one social link. You can do this without spending a day, but only once a day. Once you unlock this it becomes much easier to ensure almost every day you spend with people is a story-advance.

Those are the only two things that I wish I had known/will save you time worth knowing I think going in blind. The most important thing however is simply picking the people whose plots interest you, and going for them. If you really need to find out the rest, look it up online once you beat the game. Otherwise, have fun with it and enjoy. IMO (after starting P3 4 differnt times and dropping it after 20 hours of trying to follow a see-everything first time through walkthrough and messing up and playing P4 the same way twice Once normal once golden) it is NOT worth it.

I did everything that there was a trophy for (all social stats, all confidants, all books, all video games, etc.) with something like 10 days to spare at the end on my first playthrough, completely blind; 5 was way more forgiving in terms of time management than the previous games, and there are some absurdly powerful confidants that can help you get more out of your time as well.

I nearly maxed out every Confidant on my first playthrough which is saying a lot compared to the previous games. Probably the most forgiving Persona game in regards to time management when all things are considered, even with Morgana's forced curfew bullshit.

Max out Temperance and Fortune if you want even more control over time.

I was able to max out all social links in first play through without following a guide telling me how to spend my time each day. Just beat each dungeon as soon as you can. Do not wait to beat a dungeon thinking you’ll lose time. All time after a dungeon is cleared will be free time to hang out with friends and increase social stats.