The first game was good, and I honestly was hesitating to get this game, but after playing through, I don't regret buying the game at all. It's got the perfect balance of social simulator gameplay and dungeon crawling. The new additions and improvements in gameplay gave the entire playthrough much more variety and much less repetitive than the original version.
If your planning on getting this game, stay away from the spoilers! You won't regret it. The best aspect of the Persona games, especially Persona 5 Royal, is the immersive and interesting story. Be prepared though, this game is extremely time-consuming with over 100 hours of gameplay. You'll mostly see yourself playing in the morning and not realise that it's already dark outside.