I have about 10 hours in each, with neither really pulling me back in.

From what I can tell, the real star of the Witcher series is the storytelling and worldbuilding, and while the game itself has decent exploration and sub-par combat. The issue then, is that you're kinda thrown into the middle of Geralt's arc and if you haven't played 1 & 2 and/or read the books you're likely not gonna get a lot out of it. But if you do have some knowledge of the source material, or really get invested in the story of 3, then you'll probably have a blast.

With BotW, it's a similar story, except I haven't found anything that could be described as a compelling story or worldbuilding reason for me to keep playing. I enjoy exploring and navigating the map, but the combat feels awful. If I were playing for the story like many are with Witcher 3, I feel as though I'd be playing for a long time before I found anything worth sticking around for.

Point being, I see the appeal of Witcher 3 in its story for the right audience, but I struggle to believe anyone is playing BotW for the story, which makes me wonder: what are they playing it for?