I love 1.16.5. To me, it felt like the "last" version of the Minecraft I grew up with since Java 1.3.2. The game felt complete for some reason: there were End cities, the Nether has new biomes, the Overworld villages and villagers have a new look (not to mention have an amazing economy), and there were already so many biomes to play in :D
Once Mojang/Microsoft added the new caves and world generation, the game felt like a new game, rather than a continuation of what I grew up with. It's not bad; I just don't think I've gotten used to it (the problem might be me). This is a personal opinion of course, so I'm okay with anyone who might disagree.