Same here, I really did not enjoy BoTW for many of the same reasons. It just felt more like a typical open world sandbox RPG, but that had been done better elsewhere. The lack of true bosses and level and constantly breaking equipment just made it unfun.

I kind of enjoyed BotW, but once the awe factor of the landscape wore off it was just a load of mostly unrewarding traveling to too many shrines that were too small. Combine the 120 shrines into like 20 that were 6 times longer each and they would have been cool mini-dungeons that I would have happily done, but as it was I was so bored. The main dungeons were good and I still put 80 or so hours in, but unlike everything pre-Skyward Sword I'll never revisit the game.

Then Tears of the Kingdom was like hey here it all is again but there's three times as much and this time there's no WiiU version to emulate so the performance will be so much worse. Nah.

I don't think most people consider Zelda games to be metroidvanias, so we shouldn't hold that against those two games.

While I haven't played TotK, I did enjoy BotW, just less than other games in the series. I felt it was unique, had great atmosphere and music, was incredibly polished... but very shallow. The long, well-crafted dungeons were replaced with many mini-dungeons that only rewarded you with more stamina or more health. Every single time. I eventually stopped even checking out the shrines I found. Also, I understand why they implemented the weapon degradation mechanic, but it's definitely not for me. And the missing story. All the cool events in the world have already happened. Which fits the atmosphere, but it's less fun, and gives us less story-driven things to do...

I felt ambivalent about BotW mostly because I thought the destructible weapons were bullshit. I'm a completionist for Zelda games, and this one didn't let me feel I'd completed it.

Still, I didn't hate it. I guess the open world was impressive?

Then a few years later Elden Ring came out and I realized that BotW's open world is actually garbage. In Elden Ring I see something that looks interesting in the distance. I go to it and find a new, unique dungeon. When I finish it, I get a reward, usually some kind of new weapon or spell. And even if that weapon or spell doesn't fit my playstyle, I can totally imagine a scenario where it's actually really great.

BotW I see something that looks interesting in the distance, and it's just another fucking shrine or Korok seed or some other bullshit.

I had a similar experience. Played through BotW and enjoyed the game, but it didn't feel like a Zelda game to me.