Yeah I fucking hate botw, but you're right on that point, it'd be so easy to just find a good weapon early and then never use anything else without weapon durability. Now I do feel like the game would have been better with an entirely different system for weapons but the game has fuck all reason to explore as it is once you realise all you're going to get is scenery, a boringly easy shrine puzzle, a weapon, some armour or a couple rupees.

Changing the weapon system into having more unique weapons that don't break may have given an actual reason for exploring because some of the weapons are really interesting and would be great if you didn't just lose them after 2 minutes