Thats exactly my point and just stating  the obvious that AAA developers  are focused and selling there games by pushing  graphics, and cutting edge graphics already taxing hardware add in heavy physics and you need way more time and budget that they just can't afford. its not like i'm saying graphics are the selling point its what all AAA games are doing. you already see games like jedi survivor and elden ring ps5 version can't even hold 60fps

Is it true that they've changed the game engine for TOTK, because the gameplay mechanics weren't possible with the BOTW engine, so they used the Splatoon 3 engine instead?

I'm not saying it doesn't matter I'm saying the average person doesn't care that much. Which has been proven time and time again. I could name dozens upon dozens of games that haven't pushed graphics to a significant degree that have been extremely successful. Games like Cod and fifa are among the best sellers on playstation every single year and they don't push graphics all that much. If graphics were the most important thing every gen the most powerful console would sell the most and the most graphically advanced games would be the most successful but that just is not the case.

They all use lunchpack, just customised. The new mechanics were probably more not possible on the Wii U.

Teardown is next-level thinking, more than anything. It's been suggested a long, long time ago that eventually video game graphics will transition from polygon based to some kind of volumetric based calculations of the game worlds, and Teardown is, so far, as experimental and low budget as it is, probably best example of that future.

Eventually, there will be worlds that are built around premise that everything in them has physical properties and can interact with everything in it, but that will call for significant shift in game dosing as well (so no more axes that go through wooden doors, or big trees, or wooden bokoblin ouposts, etc.).

I feel like you made this comment without doing much research. 

Games like FIFA and Madden are extremely popular, and they constantly advertise updated and improved ball physics. FIFA in particular is actually pretty great at simulating the way a ball moves, bounces, loses speed due to traction, etc. (Which is why some FIFA games, like FIFA 20, were blasted for it's poor physics)

Half Life 2s gameplay is centered around physics (hence the gravity gun). Half Life Alyx also uses enhanced physics for the realism of the world. Half Life 2 and Alyx are both considered some of the best games of their time, so saying that they merely did "good" is an understatement. 

BotW was absolutely praised for its physics at the time. That's how people have so much freedom to solve puzzles the way they want. A quick Google search can show you results of people praising BotWs physics, from developers, to the media, to random people on Reddit. 

Red Faction series praised itself on its physical based interactions. The first two used a geo mod system where you could create your own pathways anywhere, but Guerilla (the most popular entry) was about demolishing buildings with realistic physics applied to them. 

Kerbal Space Program and Microsoft Flight Simulator are both popular (albeit less than BotW), and physics is central to its entire gameplay

Rainbow Six Siege uses destruction and physics simulation in order to enhance the gameplay dramatically. You have to account for people making their own doors, not just watching the doors that are made. You can shoot through walls, floors, doors, etc. Which can be an advantage or a disadvantage depending upon how you use it. 

The Sniper Elite series prides itself on its realistic ballistics simulation. Star Wars Jedi uses physics for it's puzzles, GTAV has a huge community that does nothing but have fun with the physics in the game.

Human Fall Flat, Portal series, Goat Simulator, Gary's Mod, Crysis series, Teardown, Far Cry 2, Star Wars The Force Unleashed series, Crackdown series, the Worms series, Max Payne 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, Uncharted 4, Skate series, etc. All of these games use physics as part of it's general gameplay to varying degrees. Some more so than others, but all of them wouldn't have the same impact without them.

In fact, I recommend you go to the Havok engine website right now and look at all the games that use the Havok Engine for physics. It's A LOT of games. Surprising ones too, like Crash Team Racing and Assassins Creed. That's not even the only physics engine either. 

Here I provided you with new games, old games, popular games, unpopular games, games with physics centered gameplay and games where physics just enhances the gameplay. I also provided you with MUCH more than 4, so I am expecting not to see any excuses for why certain things don't count.

Now, does anyone do it like TotK? No way...but that's why it's so impressive. This idea that TotK created the idea that "physics are fun" shouldn't be spread. People have been having fun with physics for decades now. TotK just pushed that fun even further by expanding in ways no other developer has ever done before. 

I think the complaints are more to do with that the game looks dated as its similar to BotW which was a launch game and that the Switch is limiting the  potential to step up significantly over BotW. 

If all you game on is Nintendo then you wouldn't really notice it but when you got a high end PC or a next gen console they have stepped up over their predecessor.

SO I don't think its a negative but more a wish the game come out the next gen Nintendo system built from ground up to maximise the visuals. 

 Zeldaring is David Jaffe. Creator of God of War but could not make it out of a room for hours in Metroid Dread because he ignored a tutorial and then blamed the game. Then he went and had AI art done to "fix" BOTW by making a picture that is the most generic-looking game ever. Jaffe went full DSP. Never go full DSP.

'Every developer is pushing graphics, except the developer/publisher with the most recognised and highest quality games, responsible for more software and hardware sales than anyone'.

You don't see what's dumb about that statement?

It's that the devs develop a vision of what they want of their new game beyond a "let's have it more polygons, lol". I actually think that focus on making stuff look realistic really hampers artistic vision, and that reaches far beyond the looks, but includes stuff as such crazy gameplay mechanics.