I think both aren't nearly as important to me as random little micro-changes in the same situation. Sifu can give me all the freedom and skill ceiling in the world, but once I figure out that Palm into the wall nukes the game, I'll do that. It's not in my nature to play sub-optimal unless it feels rewarding (i.e. styling in NGII on Master Ninja, since it requires a ton of skill to even survive, let alone play with your food).

That said what keeps me coming back to a game is those games that, no matter how good you get, always have little things that can happen. I think the best two examples are Death Stranding and Ninja Gaiden II. In DS, every time you walk you can have a micro-adventure. You might take a side path, a new route, or you trip and your package ends in a river with you scrounging to get them, despite this being the exact same A-to-B route you've walked 10 times. There might be a porter you pass by. You might find a truck from online. You might find an online-construct that you can upgrade. It's always engaging.

NGII has the same. Take the first big fight in Chapter 2 on Master Ninja (the one near the muramasa statue). It's about 10 IS ninjas and a few mages. No matter how many times you do that fight, it always plays out different. Sometimes a delimb won't proc. Othertimes they'll swarm you. Sometimes the fight takes place near the wall, other times up top, or around the corner. It's all very organic but so different.

Compare that to (oh boy here we go) DMC5, even on as early as my second playthrough most fights played out the exact same way as on my run before. This is also why I think DMC3 is still so beloved by me, since it's high agression at least made every fight different on subsequent runs. You can play Mission 2 nearly 10 times in a row and always things will be slightly different without...actually being different.