Yep I definitely get it, I've had slow internet connections and as a computer user I'm quite conservative with bandwidth myself.
I've used Phaser in the past during a game jam (for Citizen Âne), and what prompted me to move to Godot was
- I had spent most of the time in that jam (5 days part-time) programming, not game-designing or iterating, and that's not what I enjoy. I know I can program, but I want to make games
- I had to write code to integrate every asset that my teammates made, and that made me the bottleneck for getting the game done and knowing where we're at
Using a game engine empowers everyone on the team to change something and iterate quickly. It also helps me move faster and do what I like most. I don't have to write asset-loading code or 2D animation code by hand anymore, and I'm quite relieved.
So it's a conscious decision: yes the game size is bigger and sadly it makes the game less accessible, but what I care about is making stuff with other people and enjoying it, and being able to implement/play/redesign/reimplement quickly.