It is not as bad if you approach it with open mind. I'm the person who quicksaves twice before hitting "save and exit" so it definitely took effort but the saves are not that bad. It is definitely more tedious at start, later you have enough resources to use the Saviour Shnaps (the item that lets you save whenever) more. Game also saves when you sleep so you just need to go to sleep when able and it's alright. I don't remember gear breaking tbh but you probably do have to do some maintenance on i to keep using it.
As OP says, it is very slow burn and can be difficult at start because the combat can be a bit janky, due to it being very different to what you may be used to - uses direcional inputs in a similar way as For Honor does, but has more directions. So you have to get used to thay but also your character is literal peasant who knows shit (you even have to learn to read) so it takes time for both you and your character to get decent at stuff. But I found it worth it.
I will provide a point of view of someone who is a bit more pro "live service game" concept.
While I agree these can be scummy it depends on the game. I see them as evolution of the subscription model on which most MMORPGs functioned back in the day (and few big ones and several niche ones still do). You used to pay monthly sub to be able to play the game, now you have the opportunity to pay for the season pass. Depending on specific game you get content for free (no neex to pay the sub to access the content) and alonv with the content they will launch a season pass which gives you some goodies for playing. Gives them engagement numbers and expectable revenue stream.
In the above model, I usually decide whether I like the content that they bring and if I would realistically play it enough to get majority ofnthe rewards from the pass (because, and this isnthe worst part - once the season ends in 99% of the cases the pass goes away and its rewards are gone forever if you didn't have time to earn them). Then there are also games like Destiny where the content is not free but tied to the pass, so you basically purchase x months of content (+the rewards from the pass).
There are many shades of season passes - some could be considered fair, some are alright, some are ignorable and some are bad. All of them are made to make money - which in a live service game is I think fair, as they need to fund the ongoing developement. It all depends on the way they want to takenyour money: can be used as a nice bonus you can purchase if you are enjoying the game - in which case I'm fine with it. It can be used so they want to manipulate you through various way to feel forced to purchase - in which case I'm very much oposed to it.
Though I think we all agree that the part when the rewards you purchased are only available temporarily is a scam and shouldn't be a thing - and I do realize I will be called out here for sometimes purchasing them. I try to view them as simply making a voluntary payment for the content I got from the devs. And the rewards tied to it a bonus.