Transistor

I never claimed it to be an RPG

And I never said you did. But despite what you said, it is an (A)RPG, albeit a poorly fleshed out one IMO.

Unfortunately, pretty much everything else you said is irrelevant to my opinion. I don't particularly care if the combat eventually gets more complex/difficult, because for the hours that I played the game it wasn't, and the game didn't hold my attention well enough to get to the "good parts." For the record, I am of the opinion that if I have to force myself to play through hours of boring content (particularly in a short game as you've described it) to get to the "good parts" the game is poorly designed.

As far as the story being a "quest for answers," I just don't see it. It felt more like watching LOST where I have far more questions being generated by the content than answers, and at a point it just became too much for me. I had to be close to halfway through the game and yet I literally had no clue what was going on.