After you guys gave me some positive feedback and also some very helpful tips I decided to start all over again and give the game another try.
It's definitely not as bad as I originally thought.
In reference to my original post:
*I still miss the fog of war. This game practically insists you need to explore every nook and cranny. Without a fog of war its virtually impossible to know what corners of the map you might have missed.
*The fact that merchants are not shown as an icon on your map is still frustrating though it can be overcome somewhat by the use of your own flags.
*In the pc version holding the middle mouse wheel button down allows you to rotate the view while in pause mode. Thanks for pointing that out.
*I found out why I was having such a hard time jumping over things. I had remapped my space bar to "pause". Then I hot keyed my ALT key to jump. But for some strange reason by doing that you get a strange jump motion. You can jump up and down and produce a weapon but you cannot jump forward. It was only after I remapped my jump key to my CTRL button that I was able to jump forward. Perhaps there is a conflict in the programming, but worth keeping in mind for new players.
*Enemies actually do show up on the minimap as red dots. The first time I played I didn't see the dots. Perhaps a bug? Starting a new character has fixed that problem.
*The 8 hot key limit is still a bit limited in my opinion but by pausing and then clicking on show all items and skills you can access the lot. Just seems a bit clunky to me.
*After getting further in the game the npc's seem to have toned down their animated gestures considerably. It's no longer a problem for me.
*I still get frustrated with the quest system. Its probably more a personal choice but I appreciate a game that shows me where my next quest destination is.
*I am getting used to the camera, but I still don't like it. I still think it can be improved upon but I understand that the view and the rotation is limited due to the game being available on consoles. Perhaps a pc mod will be made one day to allow much more freedom in the available views.
I was quite negative about the game when I originally posted. I have since given the game more time and have to say I am starting to enjoy it. The game and its characters are getting more and more interesting the further I get.
However I still get frustrated at times with the fact that at anytime you can find yourself fighting enemies twice your level with no warning. I have since found F5 to be my best friend.
For those of you that bothered to read my rather long winded post..thank you.
