Those games are explicitly designed and marketed as collections of minigames though, whereas Spore seemed to be presented as if it was supposed to be a more cohesive experience.

Yakuza Zero as a counter-example. I think the problem with Spore is that it lacked depth, lacked the breadth of even contemporary RPGs or open-world games, and attempted to appeal to a mass audience by focusing on the wrong things. Minigame is just a concept. It's not good or bad.

The core gameplay in yakuza zero is still just combat. Everything else is completely optional, apart from few hostess missions.