just because you found those mechanics to be not to your liking doesn't make them invalid. A whole lot of shallow gameplay can easily add up to a game that is fun, because it is full of small activities that are each fun for a little while. If that wasn't true, Mario Party would be no fun
"shallow" is also /definitely/ your opinion here. it's okay to not like things, but that doesn't make them objectively bad. it's just not to your taste.
I've played NMS on and off since launch and it's a totally different game now in MY humble opinion
Shallow is the observation of many, many people who usually just get ignored, or worse in today's vote-centered social media platforms, suppressed, for going against the popular narrative.
If it's true that not liking something doesn't make it bad, then liking something also doesn't make it good.
