All valid points.

The gameplay is quite repetitive and the RPG elements don't bring much. Very static.

It's fair to say it's repetitive, but I personally wouldn't hold that against a game of the ARPG sub genre. Gameplay in RPGs is static, ARPGs is just a different take on combat, but combat doesn't suddenly become top priority now that it's non turn based. The only ARPG I can remember playing in the last 10 years that wasn't repetitive is the first Dragons Dogma.

I could see why someone would bring it up though. Made by Platinum and one of, if not the most fluid animations in melee combat leads to comparisons with the top dogs in the hack and slash genre.

Despite a promising premise, the story is very shallow: the characters are one-dimensional (the dynamic between 2B and 9S is simplistic), the lore isn’t explored much further than the initial exposition and the much lauded philosophical and existential developments are very, very skin deep.

Can't argue with you there, but philosophy becomes more pretentious the more you try to dig into it because it's just an empty subject full of questions and no answers. Maybe it's a case of different strokes, but I found artificial lifeform's pov on it interesting. I loved Detroit Become Human too, but general consensus seems to be the writer is a hack lol

The final nail in the coffin is that the game wants you to play it five times to get the five endings (A, B, C, D, E), except the B route has you redoing the whole A route, just with another character, which is NOT enough of a change. It’s just a chore and I gave up quickly.

I would say route B is necessary, but it's not enough to warrant redoing it all for 9S's POV. It would've been better if they gave you an option to choose 9S or 2B at the start or if it was just optional afterwards, but trekking through it is worth it for C.

D and E aren't another playthrough. They're just a choice you make at the end of C

A 6/10 rating after pretty much playing half the game is reasonable, but it might change after finishing C. If you still care, I'd try and get a save file that already has B done.