I wish it were that simple, but this is something I've been seeing for a while now, even from older PS fans. I really don't get where this pushback against a narrative focus is coming from, or why people act like investing so much time into characters means that they have to sacrifice on gameplay. Heck, SM2 alone disproves it. But it's a thing.
Just like I see people who like DMC and classic GoW try to crap on the combat in the modern GoW games because "it's just tapping a few buttons". Like, how do you think you combo'd in the old games??
This is just weird to me.