The Bayonetta series was like this for me. Bayonetta 1, I basically had to force myself to get through it. Without going into details, I got zero enjoyment out of Bayonetta's personality, the generic anime plot and the visual design of the angels and "generic baddie of the day" boss fights. The combat gameplay is excellent and single handedly carries that game because I hated eveything else.
Bayonetta 2, I only gave a chance because my favorite reviewers (Gametrailers aka Easy Allies, RIP) gave it a 10/10 which is unheard of for them. I tried it and was utterly blown away. To this day, it's a top 3 action game for me only surpassed by DMC3 and God of War 2. The game stopped taking itself seriously and instead leaned into the DMC3-esque craziness of it all and the game improved upon every single flaw I had with the first game. Every second of it was incredible.
I can't speak for Bayonetta 3, I just started it and am only like an hour in.