I don't think you're getting it. The game structure is made in a way that is relaxing. The main story beat is one of detective work and exploration. When given the chance, to mix it up a bit, you can do side things. You could do nothing but side things. You can do nothing but story. Camera is fine. Again, they aren't using a basic feature (zoom with right trigger) because they're incompetent. It's a third person adventure game with open world stuff in it. It's camera is fine for what it is. Its controls are also fine. They get better with time. For the type of game it is, they're adaquate. Not good or even great, but they do the job. Certainly not terrible. It's an adventure game with the occasional fight. The controls are decent. And again, would be made better if the guys actually used the zoom feature (you can scroll through things using dpad) rather than pinpoint Ryo in an exact spot) for instance. Given practice and time, Shenmue 1's controls are pretty chill.
Whether or not the game is boring or not is dependent on your tastes. It's definitely got an emphasis on every day things and slice of life values. If that's not your thing, that's not your thing. Then again, your avatar comes from a game where kids go to school half the day and go to class and have to answer history question answers. So you probably know a thing or two about that.