For me the reason LISA stands apart from other "quirky earthbound-inspired RPGs" is that it actually wants and tries to be an RPG at its core. Undertale/Deltarune are just a bunch of minigames disguised as an RPG as a framing device. OFF always felt like a game that was never really meant to be made in RPGM and would probably have very different combat if the developer could do it at the time. In many other "quirky RPGs" the RPG gameplay feels like it's only there because the devs couldn't do anything else, or because it's "the retro thing to do". Meanwhile in LISA you actually have meaningful exploration, squad building, resource management, optional locations and fights that don't have anything to do with "deep lore" and so on that make it a complete experience even outside of the story.

That's also the reason why Joyful fell so flat, it throws all of that out in favor of "press right for more story" and most combat in it feels like some kind of artistic message about how pointless it is complete with a laughable timed attack mechanic that was tacked on just because. When the game set up an epic confrontation with a pseudo-god figure complete with a banging final boss soundtrack and it just turns into a hallucination sequence like 5 turns in, that felt more like a middle finger than the literal middle finger statue in Painful.