Honestly can't relate. Some of the things you see as problems are things that make the game better, low stamina, horse riding and even game difficulty. The idea of an open world it that you can go anywhere, but not always you really have the ability to be there. Recognizing your own limitations and understand you sometimes need to took some time before exploring certain areas is part of the experience, and I don't find it frustrating at all, I actually find pretty rewarding even the smallest dumb things like when I got enough stamina to climb some hill I couldn't before

I can't disagree about the battle system, because I always sucked hard with controls in battle/action games, so the fact I suck in this one is nothing new for me

About the story, the game have a good one, it's just not tell in a traditional linear way. Many people even finish the game before collect all memories tbh

Maybe the way the game was designed just doesn't appeal to you. No game will be liked by everyone

I also wouldn't place too much emphasis on following the story, or at least expecting a deep and complex narrative from it. That's not what BOTW is about; it's about the stories you make for yourself by adventuring and experimenting.

Instead of playing for the next story beat, try to focus on working towards the next improvement for your character, whether that be the next boost to your health or stamina, that next awesome weapon or shield, working to complete a set of armor, etc, or reaching that next shrine, tower, or divine beast, or overcoming that enemy who kicked your arse before.

The game opens up to you once you start gaining more stamina and better ways to travel. Its a type of game you just take your time with, explore etc.

Good to hear! Hmm at the moment i don't have any specific guide in mind but some tips I can say that will help out for early game is to find Korok Seeds, and than go to Hetsu, he will increase your weapon, bow, and shield space if you havent yet. You can learn how to deflect guardian lasers to trivialize them pretty much with any shield even a pot lid, its pretty easy once you figure out the timing. Also if you want to take the risk you can go to Hyrule Castle and basically loot everything you see, it has various ways to enter it that way you can find tons of rupees and very strong gear like nothing if you take the risk of going there early. Also when a blood moon happens items that are in the world respawn (not items that were originally in chests). Oh and try not to sell all your resources or throw them away, you can upgrade all your armors to 4 stars if i remember correctly, so if you are wearing the Hylian set that basically jumps your defense from 9 to 60 with each piece fully maxed out so youll wont get one shoted constantly.

Not only should you not try to find all of the memories early in the game, you can't even get to many of them just yet. Find ONE memory, go back to Impa and continue your journey.

Finished my second playthrough (appreciated it so much this time around with all of the knowledge I had from the first time). I suggest climbing every tower you see and doing any and all shrines on the way to them. Maybe some Story elements will pop up along the way...

I would encourage you to play a bit more just so that you get a bigger stamina wheel and heart containers, and maybe a bit of upgraded equipment/storage just for the sake of making the experience a bit more enjoyable. I find that the harder (or rather, "more annoying") part of this game its just starting it. It starts slow for me, but it does get more enjoyable. That said, if you dont like it, you just dont like and thats about it. Not every game is for everyone, this one included, even if a lot of people would wanna make you think it is.

Okay, UPDATE: Started playing last night, just intending on playing for a couple hours, and I ended up playing until 3:30am. I’d say I’m pretty hooked.

I’ve started to adapt more to the control scheme. I did change my jump button to B, which helped. That was the only option for control scheme change I saw.

I got to 8 Spirit Orbs and took myself from 3 to 5 heart containers. Man, this made a big difference in lessening my annoyance. Less deaths, less of the constant pausing/eating, and less meal creation. The first upgrade I had done was for stamina, and I feel now that that was a mistake.

I also started to get more higher level weapons and shields more consistently, and this has helped improve my enjoyment as well. The weapons seem to be breaking less frequently, and that has been a very welcome occurrence, as I’m not crazy about the weapon/shield breaking mechanic.

The main thing I did last night was travel up the mountain to reach the Zora and face the Divine Beast. I ended after I defeated Vah Ruta (water elephant) and the water Gannon creature inside it. 

I think I’m beginning to understand at least one significant part of the massive allure of this franchise; the world and lore-building is impressive, and at times, magical. The design of the Zora homeland was creative and beautiful and had that magical feel. 

Oh, and there was some voice acting! I had accepted that every scene was just going to involve me reading all dialogue ha, so that was welcome. Some of the negatives I mentioned in my OP do remain negatives in my mind, including the amount of dialogue reading, but the positives are now far outweighing the negatives.

Honestly, I got barely any sleep last night, but the main thing I’m thinking about today is playing this game again. Wish all my patients would cancel in the afternoon so I could go home and play. Maybe I’ll tell my lady not to come over tonight :)

Thanks to everyone for the insight and tips! I appreciate the time everyone took. I’ll try to keep updating as I go along.

One pro-tip I can give you is hoard as many fairies as you can. Cut grass (doesn't matter which type) until you find them and add them to your inventory. Under normal circumstances you can only have up to 3, but if you have unlocked a fairy fountain you can have 6. For this, you have to gather 2 fairies from grass and then you have to collect the 4 fairies sorrounding the fountain. You can only do it like this, if you collect the fairies from the fountain first the ones from the grass won't pop up, and if you collect 3 from grasses there'll be no fairies at the fountain.

In the end, the fairies allow you to be revived up to 6 times.

Also, if you could bother buying amiibo cards, either by making them yourself or getting them off from someone, it could be worth it because amiibo tend to spam elemental arrows, which are easily some of the best items in the game. I don't recommend it because it's another investment and more effort, but it does make the game easier and more enjoyable because it skips you from the poor equipment that mobs usually drop.

As people have brought up, Zelda has never been much about narrative story telling. Most have a very bare-bones fairytale plot. The original Zelda game had almost no narrative and focused on a more “your adventure forged is your story” type emergent storytelling, Breath of the Wild does something similar. There’s actually a lot more dialogue and sub-plot in Breath of the Wild than others, but the game is designed mainly to tell your own story in this vast world. It’s not a “Cutscene for plot point 1” then “cutscene for plot point 2” “etc...” type game.

In short, Breath of the Wild is emergent storytelling rather than a plot based story.

Controls, I think it’s just a matter of getting used to. Same with most new games. Breath of the Wild is more advanced than any previous Zelda game in this regard, though, due to the large number of weapons. Older Zelda games leave you with just 2-3 basic attacks (slash, stab, spin attack), and a few secondary ones. Anyway, for a full Zelda experience:
Zelda 1 and 2 for the roots, Link to the Past for 2D games, Ocarina of Time for the 3D formula, and Breath of the Wild for the next big step that kind of unifies everything, and then expands on it significantly.

One tip is that it’s best not to look at Breath of the Wild as a linear experience, rather an exploration one. When you come across a challenge that causes you to get stuck, go someplace else. After the Great Plateau the only thing on the critical path is finishing the game. The rest of the game provides you with cash, items, and power-ups that will make that task easier. It’s really about exploration, and not trying to do everything you come across.

A second tip, some enemies are a lot more difficult, it’s not necessarily because you shouldn’t be in that area, almost every area is filled with some enemies that are much more powerful. It just means that you should go around them instead of through them. You can explore anywhere you want to, really.

Register your horse at a stable.

Third tip, don’t try to 100% it. It’s not designed for that. I think every player I have come across who attempted it complained about it. Some even said they should cut down on content so that it is easier to 100%, which really hammers the point home that the game is not designed to be played that way. Nor should it be.

Glad to hear it's finally clicked for you!

Now that you've beaten Vah Ruta and got Mipha's Grace, which revives you upon running out of health, that should also cut down on the amount of times you get killed.

Regarding the weapons; the special ones you're given that previously were used by that race's champion can be reforged, and the best approach in general is to use rather than hoard your weapons. Don't be afraid of losing them, you'll get new ones.

Investing in armor sets is also well worth it.

Hope you continue to enjoy it!