@Gwendolyn The game has a very wide range of genres by the time you'd played through it a few times.
That said, it's primarily an open area 3rd person action JRPG. Maybe a bit like Xenoblade Chronicles, map wise, there's a few areas you revisit as "home" but they're not really "home" if that makes sense.
I feel similarly as you do about the art and the fan base. Rest assured, the game itself is pretty separate from that and quite good. Definitely worth replaying a few times.