I'm surprised you think this given the time you spent on it, I thought you liked it a lot more. I also find your point on the world being empty to be weird since there's 120 shrines, 4 dungeons, and 900 korok seeds it's hard for me to agree. Also Epona isn't the best horse. I also find graphics being dated to be a poor argument since the graphics are still better than every Zelda game prior.
But to each their own, for me I think it's my favourite Zelda game.
It seems that the split between loving it and not being terribly fond has a lot to do with what games in the series were people's favourites. A lot of WW fans seem to love BotW, but a lot of TP fans seem to not be big fans of BotW. I wonder if there's a connection, because I don't see much of one, but perhaps it's more than a coincidence.
I also find this trend to be there as well. It's strange to say the least. Wind Waker is one of my favorite Zelda games.
Now, I am not prepared to say that BotW is my favorite Zelda game yet, as I want to give it some time to sit before saying it definitively(and I haven't even beaten the game despite my 60 hours of playtime). But it's definitely up there in my top 3 Zelda games, that's for sure.
I agree, games like the witcher 3 had too much open space but that doesn't excuse zelda because other games have that flaw also.
Twilight Princess was dated before it came out.
Breath of the Wild is less empty than Twilight Princess though. Even though there may not be enemies around, in a seemingly empty field, that doesn't mean it's empty. You can find assortment of insects to make elixers, in many cases you can find minigames for horse riding, you can find Korok seeds many times as well. And: if all else fails, if you truly are sick of that open space(which really isn't empty), set the grass on fire and use the updraft to take you someplace more interesting.
Also, you must admit, though the "graphics may look dated", it actually presents some of the best animations within gaming. Particularly the physics based animations of the horse, and especially the grass. No game, not even the Witcher 3 has taken such a detailed approach to grass on the scale BotW does, and it does really make it seem alive.
I'm also starting to think that people's experiences with the game differ radically with play style as well. And how observant the player is to the "smaller" mechanics of the game. For example, my play style is one of creativity. Whenever I see a batch of enemies, I rarely if at all use my weapons in any conventional matter. I look for weak points in enemy defenses, seeing if there are any bombs to blow up, any trees to cut down, how can I use fire to exterminate the enemies, how to sneak up on enemies. And I use very specific tactics when I do use weapons, of distracting enemies using magnesis, or stasis(this actually allowed me to beat a Lynel, and the Most Powerful Shrine guardian before even beating any of the dungeons). This is why I think weapon durability isn't a problem, whereas someone like
@Deus probably approached it like TP... Where you run up, start wailing on some guys. This makes something like weapon durability very annoying to him, and a burden to him, but for me, leaves it really fun for me to experiment on.
I think this is also related to the story as well. Since everyone unlocks the story in a different order(and even some text changes due to this as well), this creates the radical viewpoints of the story either being underwhelming, or really good. It also has to the be the point of proper pacing too, and how often the player unlocks the story.
I'm not going to be the one that says "you're playing the game wrong", but I think this accounts the experiences of those who had a fantastic experience with the game, a pretty good experience with the game, and a semi-negative experience with the game.