I didn't have that much of an issue aside from the final boss being kinda easy. Sure it's a long fight but so are many final bosses in JRPGs, the length adds to the tension imo.
You are right, specially since you posted the battle theme I like the least from P5 lol.
Music's quite subjective. I get that many people would prefer the jazzy tunes of P5 or the fast-paced battle tracks of SMT, but I think the music in Metaphor is well composed and fits the game like a glove.
Game would have felt different if it were more challenging imo. Think they were too generous with the "you stun the enemy and they lose a whole turn" at the start of battle thing. Whenever I got ambushed the combat felt much better.
Cool dude? It didn't struck me as that at all. It's a noble who lost it's house and realizes a lot of stuff about his parents, his heritage as a noble and even himself during his journey. Overall I would say the characters are much more developed than in Persona 5.
Meanwhile all Ryuji does is have some drama on the running team and screaming "adults bad" and "for real?!" for 100+ hours.
Like yeah he sure is a bro, but not best bro.