Beginning with ALTTP, most Zelda games fell into a slump regarding their story structrure. They always feature a largely absentee villain (usually working for some bigger villain who totally isn't Ganon) appear and kidnap/threaten a Princess Zelda character. This prompts the exploration of three temples (always based on some basic element like fire, air, or water), after which a magical sword will be introduced. This leads to the secondary chain of temples, which is concluded by a fight with a Ganon who shows up almost exclusively during the last 5% of the game.
And Link most definitely is not well characterized. He's a cardboard stand-in of a character with no meaningful character traits or personality. A dozen games have handled silent protagonists better than Zelda, and I'm sure a dozen more will continue to do so.
First off, you said beat for beat, what you are giving here is a gross oversimplification of the majority of plots. Saying that the stories are all the same just because the structure is similar is blatantly disregarding the story being told. If we want to go this route than literally every story ever told can be divided into at most a handful of categories. There’s nothing wrong with the way Zelda has been telling its stories, it’s perfectly blended them with a gameplay structure that works.
2nd, you’re not even right. The structure you have described can be applied to LttP, OoT, TP, LBW, and
maybe WW and SS, and even then there are points in that description that don’t even remotely apply to OoT. You’re blatantly disregarding LA, MM, OoX, FS, MC, FSA, PH, ST, TFH, and BotW. That’s 11 of the 17 games that you called out.
This isn’t the first time we’ve had this kind of discussion on link, and it’s probably not going to be the last. Link has enough of a personality for what he’s trying to accomplish. He has motives, characteristics, and in some cases a rather fleshed out personality. I’m not trying to say that he’s the most well-written character out there, no one is, but calling him a “cardboard stand in” is stupid. He’s a believable character, while not being too in-depth as to alienate the player.
Now for the other thing
Then go play those dozen other games and let us enjoy Zelda.
I don’t necessarily agree with this, but I definitely see where you are coming. I don’t think I have seen Bowsette say a single good thing about any title but BotW (and
maybe LttP). There is definitely a case to be made that he doesn’t seem to like Zelda as a franchise. However I feel like blatantly saying that is jumping to conclusions.
Now for the other side.
Its one thing to say that a series should take inspiration from another. It’s another thing entirely to
only say that it should be doing that. From what you’ve been saying, it seems that your proposition is to make the series exactly like every other series under the sun, which is completely disregarding the uniqueness Zelda has as a franchise. There is truly nothing like a Zelda game, sure there are similar titles, but none of them have the same kind of humor, mechanics, style, etc. Now this may not be your intention, but when almost everything I’ve seen you say about this series is negative, there’s bound to be a discussion like this.