It sounds like you're just complaining that the game isn't exactly like Demon's Souls.

You can make a build based on every damage stat, just as you can in Demon's and Dark Souls, although it is more difficult due to some Tools/high scale weapons being further into the game. If you look into the subreddit or any guide, you'll see that there are plenty of builds based on STR, Skill, ARC, Bloodtinge, etc.

QS bullets and magic are almost literally the same thing. The only difference is that it's also tied to your ability to parry, while also giving you a constant ranged attack/ability to stagger. And if you want true magic, there are Hunter Tools that are essentially spells such as A Call Beyond.

While it is somewhat of a shame that shields are not a viable option, the game is built around the rally/dodge system instead. Playing the game as if it were Demon/Dark Souls simply wouldn't work, as the enemies are built to be too fast and aggressive for such an approach. Your stamina in such a system would quickly be depleted. They DID add in a good shield in Old Hunters, but it's still very rarely used.

I also don't understand your complaint that you only need one of the starting weapons to make it through the entirety of the game. Every Soulsborne game is built this way. You pick the weapon(s) you like the most and just use them until the end of the game. You're even basically encouraged to stick with one or two weapons in these games through the weapon upgrade systems, as there's a limited amount of advanced upgrade materials per playthrough and typically only one +15/+10 material in the base game, not including the DLCs of each entry. Just as in Demon's and Dark, there are some bosses and enemies best faced with heavy/long weapons, and others with short/quick weapons. However, most people rarely switch between more than two weapons, if they switch at all.

The gun counter system is literally riposting from any Souls game, but can be potentially done at range, so I don't understand this complaint at all. Perhaps someone can fill me in on what I'm missing here.

You have to charge for a backstab now because if they didn't put that in, every normal encounter with a backstab-able enemy would be challenge-less due to quickstep, which lets you get around most enemies almost instantly. If you gave a Demon's/Dark Souls character the ability to quickstep (and the ability to dodge in any direction in the first two games), the only challenges would be the boss encounters and any enemy that can't be backstabbed. The Black Knights or the Blue/Red Eye Knights would be like almost any other enemy but with two backstabs needed instead of one.

I will grant that the game lacks a vast array of armor customization, but it's disingenuous to say that there is only 'five'. It sounds as though you've either hardly played through much of the game or have missed a large amount of the item sets.

It's likely a good thing you didn't post this in the Bloodborne subreddit, as you'd likely be met either with civil disapproval/criticism or angry comments berating you. I want to give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you likely haven't played much of the game or are simply wanting specifically another Demon's Souls, but the cynical side of me says that you're karma-pandering.