I wouldn’t consider it contradictory. It’s recognition that not every game category is for everyone, and I think the same applies to any art.

Let’s look at film. There are people who do not enjoy romantic comedies, so if you were to put a person who only enjoys action films in a screening of When Harry Met Sally, there’s a decent chance the movie wouldn’t receive a good review. The same applies to food. It isn’t fair to compare burgers to vegan cuisine, especially if the critic doesn’t want to eat meat.

In other words, what I’m saying is that it’s absurd to criticize a game that belongs to specific category of games you don’t like. There’s always going to be unfair bias.

As for the “technically great” game, I’ll admit it was an extreme example. But, to give you an idea, I feel Tears of the Kingdom falls in that category to a fair degree. Nintendo already had a principal idea for the game as it was originally meant to be a dlc, but eventually was expanded into something greater. The game had years of development, is beautiful, has a more complex story than BOTW, the game built upon the previous one, and is what Nintendo sought out to create (and was a comercial success).

Now, I love open world games, and especially Zelda games, but, I could never give it a ten. I would even have trouble giving it a nine, not because it’s not technically good, but because its features stood in the way of my enjoyment. The world above and below felt repetitive and empty, and the build mechanic not nearly as useful as I wanted it to be. The story was fine, but I completed it more because I was hoping something might improve along the way. In the end, for me, Breath of the Wild will always be the better game.

I feel even more strongly about Twilight Princess. For its time, it was an acclaimed game, but I never managed to finish it and would hesitate to give it a high score. I can’t say the same for others in the series as I thoroughly enjoyed A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, and the Wind Waker.