I completely share your feelings with how important this game is to me. Also, the biggest gaming launch for me too (also because we've been waiting a decade for it.)

I think a lot of people are hyped for it, it just depends where you're looking. There's a lot of mixed reception too, those who don't care, don't know much about it and then there are those who are hating on it because of how much it changed since its Versus days.

Where I live, the hype isn't on the level of Pokemon (that is crazy huge over here), but there's a moderate amount of excitement. JRPGs aren't usually popular over here.

I work at a game store and despite being the 2nd most preordered game after Pokemon, the company isn't really advertising it that much. Usually, Japanese games take a backseat to Western games, sadly. Sometimes it feels like no one cares that much (or maybe I care too much) but I know that's not true when I look online. Persona series gets absolutely no love here despite being a successful series too.