The worlds are largely empty and boring to explore even compared to some much older open world titles
movement/controls are clunky
the combat system is incredibly simplistic especially compared to other games and makes combat largely uninteresting and unchallenging
the weapon durability system is terrible and not only discourages exploration (to save your good weapons), but also prevents more complex combat mechanics from existing at all
the plots really aren’t good at all
the shrines are repetitive
the side quests have no good rewards and often aren’t worth bothering with. This is due to any substansial rewards (health and stamina) being locked to shrines, main tools being given to you at the start, a lack of proper progression, and other tools like weapons being disposible.
Because they give you all the tools at the start of the game, there’s really no sense of progression making the game feel stale a lot more quickly then it otherwise should
TOTK doesn’t really address any of these problems from BOTW. It does address things like enemy variety, and dungeons/bosses (barely), but both games share so many of the same issues I struggled to get through TOTK.