I've grown up with the original, Thousand Year Door (which was my favorite game for a while), and Super. And like this sect of people, I was really put off by this game's reveal initially.
But man, I cannot sit here and pretend like this is not the best Paper Mario game by far. Pacing is on point, world design is flawless, the writing is arguably some of the strongest in these games. The battle system might not be to everyone's tastes, but I was really into it once they started increasing in difficulty, and the enemies generally put really unique spins on it. The best advice I got was to go into this like it were an action adventure game, and that really helped me appreciate this game for what it was. With the TTYD Remake coming out, I still beg for people to give this game a chance. It's one of the best first party titles on the Switch, and I would love to see where the series goes from here.