I hated Skyward Sword.

First off, the world was boring. Wind Waker had the Great Sea, which despite being massive only had 49 islands, but all of them had something. Either there was a story purpose or there was some secret to be found. Skyward Sword's hub world above the clouds had dozens of tiny rocks floating around, but most of them were utterly barren. So there was this massive hub world that took a couple minutes to fly from one side to the other, having to actively aim in the direction you want to go and occasionally flap your arm up and down, and nothing to distract yourself with on the way from point A to point B. And of course, there's the fact that there were only 3 places to go on the ground. You have to go to the forest, then the volcano, then the desert, then the forest, then the desert, then the volcano, then the forest, then the volcano, then the desert, and finally to the forest. Now, admittedly, there was some change within the areas. The forest had a lake and a localized area of the past. The desert had a lake and many localized areas of the past. And the volcano had more volcano.

Secondly, the motion controls were a mess. Every single time I swung the wiimote, it took the game a moment to register that I wanted to attack. During that moment, enemies would shift their guard to block where I was attacking. Then after a couple attacks I would have to recalibrate because even though I was holding the wiimote straight forward, Link was holding his sword off to one side, which made attacking weak spots even more impossible. I almost invariably found that the best way to attack was to shield bash them, then wave my arm around like a lunatic. Oddly, that didn't decalibrate the controller.

Third, Fi. Now, I can't speak for anyone else, but I really didn't need to be told that there was an 85% chance of a boss being on the other side of a boss door. I didn't need to be told that maybe I should save when I'm already on my way to a save point. I didn't need to see some sky figure skating when I finish a dungeon. I would list more complaints, but really those are my only issues with Fi. The problem is those issues persist through the whole game. It's not a one and done deal with any of these. Fi is constantly popping in to see if I need to be told how to play the game.

I dug the aesthetic though. Thought it was a good looking game, even if I couldn't get into anything else about it.

Games didn't do that when I was a kid trying to learn how to play a game and I got by just fine.

Sure, but not all kids are created equal. There are some really dense people out there. My Niece, for example, needs everything explained to her four or five times before she 'gets' it and then she'll just forget two minutes later anyways. Like I said, it'd be nice if you could adjust how much hand holding the game had, but some kids need all that's in the game and more. Never underestimated how stupid someone can be.

Skyward Sword is the first 3D Zelda I have actually finished.

Soooooo yea, its pretty good.

It's not that I didn't like Skyward Sword. At the end of 2011, I'm pretty sure it found its way into my top 10 of the year. It's that I hold the 3D Zelda games in exceptionally high esteem. It's the same issue I have with the 3D Mario games - none of them are bad by any means, nor do I dislike any of them, it's just that certain entries didn't live up to the high standards set by the other games in the series.

So I suppose you could say, yes I disliked Skyward Sword. Comparatively. I found it to be the weakest of the 5 3D Zeldas, and by a significant margin too. Some of that actually is attributable directly to its misfortune of being the 5th 3D Zelda released and the 5th one I played. The world wasn't as memorable for me, the villain was weak and uninteresting, despite being released in 2011, it felt archaic in its game design (that fight - you know, THAT godawful one - repeated 3 times, reusing the illuminating the world mechanic from Twilight Princess, going through the same areas over and over).

That being said, it is still a solid, competent game. I really liked some of the dungeon design (the sand ship stands out in my mind proudly). This game's depiction and explanation of Ganon/Ganondorf was incredibly interesting.

OoT and MM had worlds that felt huge to me. And full. TP felt huge too, though with less memorable areas and seemingly more empty. WW and SS both portend to be way more massive. But while WW is purposefully empty, the sailing mechanic executed very nicely, SS boils down to a collection of exceedingly narrow, unexplorable corridors that you follow through the lower world.

But thankfully we've had some truly great non-Zelda Zelda-style games over the past few years. Okami, Darksiders, the Souls series - all I have scratched a somewhat similar itch that Zelda games have in the past. Plus, A Link Between Worlds was just delightful.

The whole reason the game even existed was because of motion controls. They did a superb job with the integration. More games should've done motion controlled sword combat this awesome.

Well, I really feel like they returned to what you're describing with A link between worlds. Hopefully they can take that into future zelda games, and especially with this new one it sounds like they're trying.

Not exactly bad, but there are a lot of annoyances that make it way less enjoyable than it could have been.

Characters talk way too much, which wouldn't be a problem if the dialogue was actually interesting. Unfortunately, it's not and being told (for example) three times in less than 10 minutes how to swim underwater is really irritating. The game explains too goddamn much to you, and it got on my nerves.

The other big problem I have with the game is the controls. Most of the time they work well enough, but even then I don't feel that they add much to the experience. When they require actual precision, such as stabbing a scorpion's eye, they become really annoying. Didn't help that my right shoulder is kinda busted either.

And finally, the flying sections. Those could have been skipped entirely. Most of the time you're just flying from one location to another, so I don't understand why there wasn't just a fast travel option. Controlling the bird is incredibly frustrating too.

So those are my main problems with Skyward Sword. Some parts of it I enjoyed, even loved, but overall I just found it frustrating. A shame, really.

I would say games have gotten a bit more complicated since then.

Sure, but they've also gotten far less obtuse. Games without direction like Castlevania (and especially Simon's Quest) used to be the norm. Faxanadu was one of my favorite NES games as a kid, but fuck it if I didn't try to play that game for literal months before being able to even make sense of the first 15 minutes. Games have gotten very good at interactive tutorials, but it's a fine line to walk, and according to most people, Skyward Sword walked the wrong side of that line. Don't underestimate kids; they're a lot smarter than most people give them credit for. There are adults that need three or four huge flashing tooltips in front of their faces before they'll finally read them (I'm sure we all know a few), and there are adults that read something one time and won't forget it. Kids are no different.

I'm a big Zelda fan, to the point where I'm always playing through the various games multiple times. I love just about everything there is to the series, soak up all the lore, nerd out over the timeline and the various implications therein, etc.. I'm a fanboy. I'm way biased in favor of anything with the name 'Zelda', and I'll not apologize for it.

The first time through Skyward Sword, I enjoyed it. Loved it, even. It was a fun romp. But the second time through? I dunno... I actually got mostly through the game again, but I didn't finish it. I got bored. Which is particularly damning in my eyes, because that's never happened before with a Zelda game. Its charm was limited, where the other games are just plain timeless.

The problem, I think, in a nutshell: it's one of the most sparse Zeldas, yet it insists on being the longest Zelda. Too much of the game is filler, and run-here-run-there quests that only serve to make you run over the same ground again. Hell, it's the only game in the franchise to make you return to a dungeon. And for sidetracky, not-actually-related-to-the-plot-or-any-kind-of-progression reasons too. It didn't bother me too bad the first time around, because I was hyped up to "see what's next!" and that gave me the energy to slog through it all. But now that I know what's coming up next -- that it's 45 minutes of running around the desert before I see anything cool -- it really takes the wind out of my sails. Collecting music notes in a flooded version of the forest you've already revisted a time-or-two is a chore rather than a cool moment to look forward to.

Granted, every Zelda game has its moments of tedium. But they don't take as long as they do in Skyward, nor are they as plentiful. Even the infamous Triforce quest in Wind Waker doesn't take much time at all if you've planned for it. You can't plan for anything in Skyward. It's going to take just as long every time, because everything is so rigidly designed to fill for time, and so linear you can't really mix it up (except for one part later on where it graciously lets you revisit the game's three zones in whatever order you please. Hoorah).

Okay, I'm getting kinda ranty and I don't think that's helpful. Here's the thing: I still like Skyward Sword. The few bosses that were in the game were cool. The characters were cool. The game's aesthetics were great. It has a lot of great moments, and some cool story implications for the series. But there's too much uneventful tedium between it all. It could have been a really awesome shorter game -- really tight with great momentum. But instead, it's a long game with huge pauses. It suffers greatly at the part where it's supposed to be game that's fun to play.

I consider it the worst Zelda. Now, I love every game in the series, so that's not such a bad insult. But yeah. They can do better.

Keep in mind that Skyward Sword isn't an awful game in the grand scheme of things. There have certainly been much worse games. But when you have The Legend of Zelda attached to your title, you have a high standard to meet, because it's the series that created that standard.

All in all, it's a thoroughly mediocre game, and for a Zelda game that's bad.

It's really good, it just drags at parts, the final boss fight is one of the best and really satisfying.

They overdid at times but you can ignore most things. It's a great game.

In the past games were much simpler so that was the way to add difficulty. Games nowadays are played different naturally as we live in a different era and so they must adapt. It was common to get stuck in a game and never finish. We remember fondly about that time but when you think about it, it was a pain to play games at times. You'd get lost without a reasonable clue about what you were supposed to do next so you'd wonder around aimlessly until something happened. I do agree SS took it to far though but if you can get past that it's a very good game.

I think the issues most people have come from the fact it's not the Zelda they want. It happens every single time (Majora's Mask, Wind Waker etc) and then people start loving it many years later. That's especially true outside Japan where people always want something grittier and darker.

I quite liked it. I get why many did not, but for me, it was a great Zelda game for bonding with my little brother.

It's not "bad" but it's boring and redundant.

I recently started Skyward sword and I'm really liking it so far. I just need to get a Wii to play it on since it looks kinda bad on the Wii U.

First Zelda game to date that I have started and not finished. So there's that.

Skyward Sword was fantastic.

It has flaws for sure, but I found the padding/filler between dungeons in Skyward Sword more enjoyable than that in Twilight Princess.

I'm pretty sure it was because they made Link right handed. People hate that.

Also, no Ganondorf.

I've been playing through it for the first time over the past couple weeks and I started out liking it but it has only gotten worse in my opinion as I progress. I just got the Master Sword and it is tough to keep playing. The dungeons are way too easy and boring in design for the most part. The enemies are all the same for the most part and the combat is god awful whenever it demands you to be precise. The hub world really only exist as a shop to me cause there is little else to do or explore in it. The way the game holds your hand the entire time is incredibly annoying too, one of the reasons I normally don't play many Nintendo games.

It makes some good steps forward for the series though at least, the upgrading of equipment and traversal stuff is nice I guess. I still don't own a Wii U, and likely won't for a while, but if the next Zelda game keeps up the dependence on motion gimmicks I will probably skip it.

Skyward Sword has its issues like the hand-holding early on and Fi being incredibly annoying at times, but the motion controls were fantastic, there were many great boss fights, and it's still Zelda at its core. Zelda may be formulaic, but that doesn't make the games bad. I really enjoyed my time with it.

I watched a roommate play it for hours through a lot of the dungeons before picking up the Wii mote after he was done and just couldn't get into it.

The overly long tutorials just were too much of a slog to get through. What I did see seemed interesting but the Wii mote gimmick was already spoiled for me so doing the motions myself so those experiences were already watered down.

Overall, for me, it wasn't the Zelda experience I enjoyed as a kid and married with just super slow tutorials was a death sentence in my book.

It's better than Wind Waker, but otherwise a pretty middling Zelda game.

I would never call it bad, though.

OP, as you can see the game is very polarizing. I think it's impossible to say either way because people have such differing opinions on the game. Some love it to bits, some think it's meh, some hate it. The best thing to do would be to make your own opinion of it, but by no means is it a bad game. I don't think there exists a bad Nintendo-developed Zelda game; they are all of very high quality.

It's as much of an origin story for the Master Sword as it is for Ganondorf himself. He's not in it because he didn't exist yet but an equally badass villain is present. But they do something REALLY cool with the villain... man I love this game.

No, Skyward Sword is amazing.

A middling Zelda is still miles ahead of most games. People forget that with Twilight Princess, as well. That game was fucking stellar.

I haven't played Skyward Sword, but for what it's worth, I don't even think Twilight Princess was a middling Zelda. It may be my favorite in the series, in fact.

It was really disappointing to me. I think it has some great qualities to it, but overall I would only consider it good. One of the weaker, less talked about (at least in my personal life) Zelda games ever made. It doesn't help that everyone I knew of that had played the previous Zelda's didn't even play it. While I also consider it less than great overall, I don't really agree with those that say it's due to motion controls, I liked that. For me, it comes down to execution of things mostly, like the assortment of quirky characters, and some bosses (especially the final, which in itself made me feel like I wasted many hours playing it to get there). That being said, the theme is the Zelda lullaby backwards, which is neat.

As my number of play sessions increases, I find myself dreading picking up any bugs or crafting items because the game feels the need to explain to me what each of them are the first time I pick one up after reloading. It's not like they're useful descriptions either, just "Oh, this bug is cute and lives in the forest!". Whoopty fucking doo game! I didn't care the first time you told me, why would I care the eighth? It's especially hilarious when after describing the item to me again, it cuts away to the item screen and shows my total collected go from 13 to 14! This often happens in the middle of combat...

I think it is the worst 3D Zelda, but all Zelda games are great (except the CDI ones of course).

My girlfriend is a huge fan of the series and she's just now playing it and loving it. I think it's a pretty damn good game, everyone's too harsh.

I loved Skyward Sword. I found the items to be streamlined and fun to use, I thought the story was engaging, and I found the motion controls not only to work well but also add a level of skill to the combat that the series was previously lacking. Hell, I even liked revisiting areas after significant changes. The water areas, both the forest retread and the desert level, were amazing in my opinion. To sum it up, Skyward Sword is a fantastic game worthy of the Zelda name.

Maybe I should replay it...

Skyward Sword is great. One of the best in the series.

Controls take getting used to, but it's one of my favorites.

It's the Zelda game I'll probably never play more than once. The hand-holding nature of the game is just too irritating for me. It wouldn't be so bad if it didn't interrupt gameplay every single time.

No, and neither is Twilight Princess.

Yes, I hated it an awful lot. The more I've gone back to it and tried to see if I was just in a bad mood, I've seen that it's just a mess of a game. It has a smattering of good ideas, but the inconsistent art style, the omnipresent obnoxious, personality-free sidekick character Fi, the complete lack of navigational freedom, the boring dungeons and bosses, and the gimmicky controls ultimately just led to me hating nearly every moment of the game. I've seriously played every game in the series multiple times, and I think I'll never go back to Skyward Sword because it was such a lousy experience.

I ruminate on each game in the series and where I'd place them in a numbered list here, if you're interested. I really love the series in general but man, Skyward Sword freaking sucks. It's a good thing A Link Between Worlds was so good, because I had just about lost my faith in the series as a whole after Twilight Princess was kind of boring and uninteresting too.

I thought Skyward Sword was at least decent and certainly any Zelda fan should play it.

It's been a long time since I played it but I think my complaints were that it was super hand-holdy through the entire game or something and that it was shame it was on the low res crap system because even on the Wii it didn't look too bad. Oh and the Wii Motion Plus was fairly well done except for the specific monsters where you had to do a series of attacks or something and then kill it with a stabbing action. The stab thing would never work for me. I think I remember screaming and cursing at the game trying to get it to perform the stabbing action.

Also Twilight Princess wasn't bad either from the little I remember.

I keep flipping through my Hyrule Historia book, and man I do love their attention to shape on character designs. I want to replay it on an emulator and crank it up to 1080p.

I'm playing through it for the first time now. Really enjoying it...the first dungeon / boss fight were just okay, but the second one got much better (just finished that one today). I really like the art style, it just doesn't look all that great on an HDTV. The controls are okay...controlling that freakin bird is killing me, especially when approaching an island. But overall it's very good so far.

Watch the newest Sequelitis by Egoraptor on YouTube. While it's not the focus of the episode, he definitely gives a strong but well thought out opinion on skyward sword that makes sense. Not saying I agree with it, but it does seem to be a common perspective.

I can't stand the sword controls.

The opening is just painfully, frustratingly slow and tedious.

I thought it was bad. I think Egoraptor sums up my feelings best.

I enjoyed it.

It's a great game. It's not Majora's Mask, but it's a great game

I think it has more to do with it being a Wii game at a time where just about everyone had written off the Wii. Skyward Sword came out at the same time as Skyrim, and was completely swallowed up by it. Everyone was looking forward to playing Skyrim and we had forgotten that a new mainline Zelda game was even coming out.

I recall seeing a demo of the game at a Best Buy and just looking at it, i thought it was quite pretty. Unfortunately it was a game that SCREAMED to be in HD. The chunky lines and low rez textures only hindered it. It should have been on the Wii U. The ancient hardware of the Wii was only holding it back.

I think it was pretty good. I enjoyed myself up until the last 10% when I got a little tired of the formula. As with all Zelda games I have a mental block that results in me getting lost and confused in dungeons so I am always frustrated with them at times. That was a charitable way of saying I'm stupid. I think if I didn't always have a list of upcoming games I wanted to get onto then I would enjoy the cadence and challenge of games like Skyward Sword more.

I thought it was one of the best Zelda games in the series. I think the biggest problem that its has hands down was the motion controls. I loved the art style and the how the story played out. I pretty much loved everything about the game except the controls. They worked fine but were just tiring and frustrating at times. I didn't want to be swinging my hands and arms around in an epic Zelda game when I want to just melt into my chair and be sucked into everything about the world. Swinging your hand and arms around can take you out of it. If they ever re-released and HD version with non-motion control support it would be one of the best things that could ever happen to the series. Its not bad at all. Its outstanding with a few hiccups. Play it for sure