I have no love for Braindrop after all he has done, but still have to give credit. It's a pretty good story. Yeah he's made some questionable decisions about the game direction and characters but it is still more fun than 90% of the other games out there.
I only partially agree with you here. I will give credit where it is due and it has some good moments, but for me, at least how it unfolded recently, seems like a porn version of Pokemon - "gotta catch 'em all". The overall story progression for me is lackluster, and these better moments keep me here at the moment, hoping to see more of those.
I am even fine if there are some more "feelgood" type of moments, as those are entertaining by themselves in most games. (At least they are for me.)
But yeah, opinions, it varies from person to person, and it really depends on what you are looking for
Holy Rascal