I'm pretty sure that if you have an unmodified install and no .emacs that is configured otherwise, when you start emacs you are prompted with a help screen that includes instructions on using the built-in tutorial. If you do that, you'll learn the basics in about 10-15 minutes. If you skip that, yeah it's pretty different from most other software conventions.
And if you don't have anything configured, graphical Emacs will have a tool bar with a button to save and a menu bar that also gives the binding for the command.
GUI is different because there is no tool bar, but in Emacs 31 `xterm-mouse-mode' will be enabled by default so you can use the menu bar like a TUI.
Yeah the entire emacs tutorial might take a long time. I don't think I ever went through it to "the end" but learning cursor movement, opening and saving files, etc. is right up front.
