Legend of Grimrock is definitely the superior blobber. I'd hazard to say that Xulima isn't even a blobber at all, just a cheap knock off, and while the combat is reminiscent of what you would find in something like M&M or Wizardry, it has its own flavor that puts it a little closer to something like Kings Bounty.
LoX just didn't work for me. The first sin the game makes is saddling you with a predetermined MC, the second one follows directly afterwards: LoX demands you create 5 characters before you can continue. Later, you find out there is no multi-classing or ability to swap out characters for others. The story is bad, at least from what I hear. Definitely not compelling in the slightest, and while this doesn't necessarily detract from a game for me, it's just endemic of this games whole condition.
Many elements clash or just outright make no sense. Outside of Hardcore mode, saving is only restricted in a few choice areas in order to protect the illusion of the games "interesting puzzles" (the much touted Golden Forest comes to mind). The whole game is isometric until you enter combat, where the game is tactical-precision turn-based, which just isn't a blobber thing; it's closer to a Dragon Quest thing while the combat pillages more from (more focused) strategic rpgs. This game just rubbed me the wrong way at every step. It's interesting that you can clear enemy lairs, it's annoying that the game often blocks progress with "Impossible" or "Titanic" enemies. The riddles allow multiple tries, but there isn't any context to them. Chests typically contain decent loot, but the lockpicking minigame is (like most of the dungeon puzzles) vapid and only serves to add to the facade of "resource management". It's nice that the early "missions" give you a semblance of an idea where you should be grinding/exploring, it's annoying that after the game opens up, the story and gameplay stunt any desire to explore. Collecting herbs to turn into stat-ups is nice, but its unfortunately pointless since it relies heavily on the herbalism skill to maximize the benefit. It's nice that you get so many skill points per level, its unfortunate how rare meaningful equipment upgrades are.
The resource management itself is imbalanced as all hell as well, mostly since in the early game, you'll be resting after every other combat (sucking down all the food in the process) but this is fine because food is incredibly cheap, and with how rare equip upgrades are, it puts all that gold you'll be hoarding to good use. Or, if your broke, just go around and collect food as it regrows. You'll never run out until you start looking for another town, maybe. Consumables are also annoying in how they work. Potions will heal the user, but there are also other consumables which can be used on characters near you (just to beef up the facade of itemization), while your cleric can cast healing on their turn. 3 cheap sources of healing right out of the gate. And once you get to about level 5 or so, you'll start steamrolling combat since everything will fall into three catagories: Impossible (meaning you're smart enough not to let them fuck you), Challenging-Troublesome (depending on the amount of enemies, you may have a rough time, but you'll pull through) or the far more common balanced which basically means, prepare to steamroll.
I can see the appeal of this game from a certain perspective, but its ultimately extremely droll, tedious, and perplexing. It plays more like some experimental game, where all of its elements were pillaged from different (more focused) games. IMO, it wasn't worth the asking price. It looks like a browser game and plays like one too.
Tl;dr Lords of Xulima feels more like a Frankenstein mishmash of elements the designers thought were cool. The game is barely competent as a professional product, and most of all, lacks any sort of focus. Before any of that, it just isn't a blobber, and shares more things in common with early console style rpgs with slightly more visual polish.
