Take a somewhat cliché japanese town. Add some stereotypical japanese anime characters and dialog. School girls. Blend this with a mix of Pokemon and your classic and repetitive RPG. J-Pop and a Teddy Bear. That's may be your first impression when you are starting to play that game. And you wouldn't be wrong.
But still, you would be pretty far too. Why? This game is so much more "than the sum of its parts". As much you invest your time in it, those characters are suddenly more complex and rich that you thought of. The somewhat strange TV World starts to become an obsession. And yeah, you gotta catch them all.
Mature themes, like murdering, or sexuality are exploited like rarely seen in J-RPG. At least, the ones that makes it to the American market. Multiple endings, and somewhat, a sense of choices. A compelling intrigue. And when you finally finish, and you see on your savegames that you spent more than 60 hours of your life in that game, and you're still want more, I think that is proof enough to understand that you were playing a quasi-masterpiece. That I believe.
Ok, the 3D graphic is not there, since the game is starting to show it's age, but the beautiful artwork is still gorgeous. It will be hard for SMT:P5 to compete, but I'll surely buy it and hope.