What the heck are you talking about, dude. The game literally has the best turn based JRPG gameplay, PERIOD. Even games like Octopath Traveler, Persona 5, Kiseki series, etc, have much less customization and fun with their battle system. Piss off, many people play those games for the gameplay and plot, I for example don't give a flying fck about erotic content and don't want it to be integrated in the gameplay. The gameplay is what carries this series over from the first MGQ game, get a taste, buddy. If JRPGs aren't your cup of tea to begin with, then you aren't someone qualified to judge their gameplay's quality, lol. Not everyone playing this series is into femdom, and not even the majority of players. The original MGQ had a decent plot and Paradox could offer one of the best turn-based RPG gameplays in any video game ever made. There's a bunch of other femdom games for you to fap that have primitive gameplay, like Estra's Labyrinth. Paradox has a comple and hardcore JRPG system that's a perfect blend of JRPG classics, it's anything but dated. Valuing the MGQ series primarily for its porn is blasphemy.
While I also really like the JRPG system of this game, let's also be real for a bit. In the end the game is heavily held back (at least in terms of performance if nothing else) by the engine it's in. It's also not "hardcore" per say, unless you specifically choose to play it on the First Playthrough on Paradox difficulty (which sadly only scales the enemies to be harder, but does not scale the Gold/Exp rewards).
It does have a huge amount of variety, and I've yet to find a game with a similar amount of Classes or Races (much less both at once). Also taming Monster Girls gives it that Pokemon-style edge, too (or Recruitment edge in case you're more familiar with those types of RPGs).
In all honesty, it can be considered a Retro JRPG, turn-based and whatnot, and an extremely expansive one at that. However, many modern players might not wish to engage with the Retro genre, and to an extent, I can understand them (although personally I'd rather find Hidden Gems like this game rather than flock to the latest AAA failure, baring certain AAA exceptions)
The game is what it is. It will sell a billion copies and be considered a masterpiece. I just think the fact that it has had a 10 year development window means that there have been more interesting innovations that better blend gameplay and eroticism.
Saying you play MGQ for the standard Jrpg gameplay rather than the Hentai is like saying you go to sporting events for the food.
I'll admit that is a part of the problem. This game's almost falling for the Duke Nukem Forever problem, of taking too much development time (and inevitably increasing the Hype to almost unreachable degrees). But at the very least, since it was developed on Parts, we got a taste of the game (to keep us satisfied temporarily), and the game still has it's own features, including the extremely expansive JRPG system (huge number of Classes, Races, elements for attacks, Skills, even Skill Types etc).
Can't agree with the last take though, I personally do think a good game would have a certain degree of balance between its features (Hentai / Gameplay / Story). Of course, MGQP is heavily sided on the Gameplay and Story (as the Hentai is, in my opinion, even worse in general quality than the Original Series, only making up for it in sheer amount), but there are players who'd enjoy that, too.
After all, you can play games more reliant on their Hentai aspects (such as RPG games from Circle Tequa or 62Studio), to alternate between them and this game