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Immortals Fenyx Rising better
I almost have the opposite opinion of it.  BotW was a really good game, but it was a terrible Zelda game.  So many of the elements of the Zelda series were missing or changed so much they were unrecognizable. >

I think a bit of both, but it’s your opinion. 
What made it great for you? >

I enjoyed the paraglider. And the flurry rush system. >

The paraglided was needed! Without it, I would have never completed the game. >

It was kinda designed around the paraglider so that’s kinda dumb to say >

Well of course, you climbed high and jumped towards your new destination. I just felt that with the stamina gauge it felt like forever transversing anywhere. I don’t get much of a kick from the climbing and going nearly everywhere. I need to be at least rewarded if I’m going to spend time doing that. >

It really feels like a bunch of neat gimmicks/tech they wanted to try out, but didn't have an IP for it so they tried to turn it into a Zelda entry. Now when I use Zelda as a comparison game to explain another game's style to someone, I have to clarify that I don't mean BoTW because it diverges so much.
people like to say its an explorer's game but I don't know anything thats actually worthwhile to find.
Its not like Skyrim where you accidentally stumble upon some dwarven city full of items/weapons that are unique to that one spot. Or like Far Cry where there's some giant enemy outpost you can raid for a thrill. >

Exactly! I explored more in Skyrim or even another barren game No Man’s Sky >

"Only"? I don't think so. >

Why though? >

BOTW broke away from the typical formula for Zelda games and employed a lot of subtlety and detail that attracted new people to the series and excited a lot of pre-existing fans. And that's no small feat. >

Maybe that’s why I didn’t enjoy it. It took all the things I liked and added things I don’t care for >

It's my favourite game in the series, but before its release my favourite was Majora's Mask so I think you'd agree that's not too surprising. But it's not for everyone and if you preferred one of the others that's A-okay. >

Yeah, I can see how that’s true haha. >

I think a lot of your critique is fair but looking at other big title Nintendo games for the wiiu/switch I think it was pretty revolutionary. Making an open world game with limited tech is challenging. I agree that I feel like there should have been more in the world to explore, I found that the less you look for the less you will find.
My fiancé refused to play this game for a long time even though I loved it. A big argument of his was that it seemed boring and empty and when he started the game it seemed that way. Then he stopped playing the game the way the game was pathed/intended and starting having way more fun. Finding ways to abuse powers, fighting shit that you are clearly supposed to just avoid at the beginning, solving puzzles in the most obnoxious way possible just to see if the game would let him. THAT is where the fun of BOTW is, because 9/10 times the game does let you solve puzzles in unorthodox ways and that is a lot of effort on the game developers end.
I do think the game could have benefitted from more variety and certainly from having more NPC's to interact with. The side quests aren't really that rewarding either most of the time.
That being said I don't think BOTW is popular only because it's a Zelda game, though that certainly helps, it was a game that was doing something Nintendo hadn't really done on a major title before. It was novel at the time and that pushed a lot of interest and sales. It was a departure from form and I think that sparked a lot of interest. >

Fair enough. Then maybe it should be called amazing for Nintendo, but not considered one of the greatest games around as it’s constantly citied >

Breath of the Wild is a pretty good representation of Nintendo development at the moment. Easy game to pick up but difficult to master, designed so that you can approach the game in whatever way you find fun, and the core design elements are about reinforcing a player's intrinsic motivation to play the game.
This is very different from how most other games are designed, and I would say you need to approach these games with a different mindset. If you try to grind through these games, and 100% everything, you will burn out and hate the game. If you focus on doing what you're enjoying at the moment, and play the game as you see fit, the game is a joy. >

I never 100% games. I play them just for fun and I found just enough to force myself through this game.
This was a grind for me. Nothing seemed to be fun long enough for me to get hooked. I liked some things, but it just didn’t have enough to make me want to play it. I just passed the main story as I hate at least not trying to do that. >

I agree with most of your criticism, but I poured alot of time into it and really enjoyed the game. The open world was great if you ignore that it was largely empty and devoid of things to do. It's certainly not on par with Skyrim but it inspired the same sense of wonderment Skyrim did for me. At that time, I was very much into the "I'm gonna go over there because why the fuck not?" explorer vibe.
I think if it was a fresh IP it probably wouldn't have done as well, the branding power of Zelda carries alot of weight. But I don't believe it's success is solely due to it being a LoZ game. 
I kind of put BotW in an "amazing game that I really enjoyed but will realistically never play again" category. >

Okay, maybe I’m being a bit harsh.
It’s not a bad game, but I feel that it doesn’t deserve the grey tag either. 
Even people here tried to say the open world part was revolutionary! I’m just glad you mentioned Skyrim as it was down before and had just as many different things as Zelda but with a bigger overarching story. >

I agree in the context the game felt "hollow". The world was big but felt empty where I was running over hills, mountains, etc and yeah I would see the random thing to get X but because there was nothing else there. A little more scenery would have been preferred. Hell a small leveling or damage buff system would have been sweet as well >

That’s what I thought as well. Give me something to worry about, or something to get interested in. I really don’t understand how people just explored and thought this is fun, when it had basically been down with other games as well. >

No. Sorry. Open world was revolutionary shit no matter how meek it was. Case closed >

Saying "case closed" doesn't make you right. Case closed. >

Fine, Case sealed.