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I don't think gameplay necessarily needs to be deep, difficult or mastery-based to be good. My point is that KOTOR's combat is almost an idle game. Most encounters literally play themselves through auto-attacks, with very little need to use abilities, zero worry about positioning or need to make tactical decisions. And because the character-building systems are so shallow, there isn't much meaningful preparation or strategic decision-making either.
It's almost like a rollercoaster where each seat has a toy steering wheel that gives you the feeling of controlling the ride, even though turning it barely affects anything. The rollercoaster might be a fantastic experience, but that doesn't make it a good driving game. That's kind of how I feel about KOTOR's combat. You have the appearance of participating but barely any actual influence over what's happening.
Would KOTOR really have been a worse game if it had tactical turn-based combat like BG3 or XCOM, more action-oriented combat like Jedi Outcast, or more involved RTWP combat like BG2, where positioning, abilities and character builds (or perhaps more accurately party composition, item and spell choices) actually matter? I don't see why being a story-focused RPG means the combat has to be this simplistic. These things aren't mutually exclusive.
I'd actually argue that most of KOTOR's meaningful gameplay is in the conversations, making decisions, defining your character and their relationships with others. That's where you actually get to make choices that matter. The combat is largely just something you sit through between those parts.
And as you say, some people don't particularly care about that, but I think that just illustrates where the game's strengths actually lie. People enjoy KOTOR because of its story, setting, characters and production values (like the excellent music), not because of its combat. They can stomach the mediocre gameplay or even appreciate it as something that provides pacing between story sequences, but that doesn't make the combat good.
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