I always described the persona games to my friends as "More strategic Pokemon games with incredible storytelling." If you are interested in the series but are unsure if you could stomach the gameplay, I recommend downloading PPSSPP (a Play Station Portable emulator) and searching for a Persona 3 Portable Rom. P3P is a great indicator of the general vibe of the series in a light, mobile UI. It cuts down on using memory by making all environments outside of the core gameplay 2D, but when you actually get to the battle parts it is identical to what you would have seen in the full version of Persona 3 for the PS2. Persona 4 wasn't that far off from P3 in terms of gameplay, so it should be a decent indicator of the type of game P5 will be. Links if you are interested...

PPSSPP: http://www.ppsspp.org/

P3P on CoolRom, but you can use whatever site you trust: http://coolrom.com/roms/psp/45581/Shin_Megami_Tensei_-_Persona_3_Portable.php

You should know though that Persona has a history of being a "Long Game". I think I easily put over 100 hours in on P3P.