All of this honestly. The obsessive need to inject oversexualisation into the game ends up, unsurprisingly, running at the detriment of good, interesting parts of the game. It's not only unnecessary, but it cheapens the game by thinking it needs to harvest fruit that's on the floor in order to be appealing.
I love that review - "You can like Stellar Blade's sexualisation without going on a hate campaign against all other types of women in games, and women working in the games space, but then admitting that would make too much sense." Truer words were never written.
I think playing this game, and understanding and identifying that overt sexualization is at its core and fundamental to the game identity is a huge part of it though. Developer's choice, and vision - that's their call. I do wonder what it may have looked like without it, but considering that was a primary focus and it went viral because of it, I don't see how it would be detached from that. I mean if you're in for an action adventure game with a ton of outfits, you've come to the right place. The spirit of Itagaki is alive and well.
That end bit about the hack and slash, or odd dialogue is actually hilariously endearing. It's like let's talk about the fighting mechanics of DOA without mentioning those outfits, such good core mechanics! Or maybe the brilliance of Bayonetta's combat but maybe don't mention the climax punishment poses! I don't think there is any avoidance of it, and I think it does disservice to pretend it wasn't a core pillar of design. Alongside all of its strongest aspects, good and bad.
