Truth be told I was downplaying XBC2. I know some people really hate it and I didn't want to admit to loving it the way I actually do because I hate internet drama. But I agree with what you've said entirely.
I feel like most people got turned away from XC2 by the overly-sexy designs of the Blade girls (the Driver girls aren't, as Nia's in a jumpsuit and Morag's in sensible military attire), if not the stereotypical 'weirdly-dressed teen boy is bonded to hot girl' trope with Rex and Pyra, which is a huge shame. That's surface-level, and the story is still well worth experiencing.
If it wasn't that, then it'd be the lack of good tutorials, which...is fair, admittedly. XC3 did do better in this regard (albeit by making its extensive tutorials unskippable, which UGH WHY don't wanna replay the game now thanks a lot MonoSoft), as did XC1: Definitive, so I do accept this as a major flaw for XC2.
If one were to experiment, though (or watch Enel's excellent explanations, on YouTube), 2's combat is perhaps the deepest of the three Switch games by far, so it's a damn shame the lack of good tutorials drove some peeps away.
Personally, though, 2 is the most replayable game of the three; I already know the intricacies of combat and other gameplay, so the bad tutorials don't affect me and are quickly mashed through (unlike 3), and I love going back and seeing the characters and Titans again. 1 Definitive isn't as replayable, in my opinion, because it's a much longer game with quests that have branching outcomes and overall requires more time commitment than 2, I feel.
3, though...sigh. Unfortunately, I doubt I'll ever touch 3 again, due to how
disappointing it feels to me. It regresses in terms of combat, customisation, ability to skip tutorials, narrative strength, exploration (each region in Aionios feels way too large, compared to 1: Definitive's regions or 2's Titans, and Erythia Sea is the WORST), and characterisation, alongside questing.
I didn't even mention how 3's enemies are generally
extremely resistant to debuffs or status effects (like Bleed), which renders classes that rely on these, such as Stalker or Machine Assassin, near-worthless -
why‽
So many baffling wrong decisions here, and while being able to see the merged and ruined worlds of 1 and 2 is great fanservice...I'd rather see them separate and whole, y'know? Also, Future Redeemed is great for more fanservice, but...in terms of shorter prequel games, Torna: TGC provides the same whilst having 2's better gameplay, so I'd rather play that instead as well.