For the easy part, I will name Link, Link. How I usually play Zelda games I like to feel I’m watching a story, so I try to make Link, simply Link. I wouldn’t mind if Link had personality, because that’s actually how I imagine him, as not myself but another person. This may be different for everyone, but for me, he is not a vessel, he is Link. I actually try to keep things like this, even for naming Epona in Twilight Princess, unless I’m trying to be funny, I will always keep her as the name suggested.
As for how I play the game, I usually stick to the main story and ignore side quests. Yes, I know, who does that right? I’m usually just really excited to progress through the story as fast as I can to see what happens, and really love the main story. I wouldn’t want to waste my time on a side quest knowing other people are in danger! What ends up happening actually, is I’ll get stuck on a part, get frustrated and ignore that part of the game. During this time, I will explore the scenery, talk to tons of NPC’s and do side quests until I feel like getting back on track. This happened to me tons in Ocarina of Time, that was the only reason I got the Biggoron sword was because I was stuck in the Water Temple so I decided to go dink around in Hyrule.