I've not played Skyward Sword yet. I own it and intend to play it soon. Given how divisive the game appears to be, I'm going to be interested in how I respond to it.
My question is this: If Zelda truly has the best music "by far", I take it you are confirming it actually dwarfs the gameplay-enhancing, meticulously-calculated music and audio of Portal 2? In that game, the music shifts to provide the player with auditory information on the status and active variables in puzzles so that we know what state they are presently in without visual confirmation. The music also uses ambient sounds to weave melody from mechanism, in a feat I have never seen so exceptionally implemented before or since.
I'm asking because I've completed every previous Zelda out there, CDi not withstanding. While the games do usually have excellent music and soundwork, none of them have taken calculated use of shifting music to relay the sheer amount of environmental, puzzle and narrative information that Portal 2 does. The game even uses modernising timeshifts in the Aperture Science anthem to indicate changes in the company from era to era, weaving a hugely realised music timeline to the lore of the game.
I take it from your post that Skyward Sword's music, being "by far" better than any and all competition, utterly destroys Valve's meticulously calculated and delivered work by comparison?
Again, I ask because I've not played it yet.
Even though I've casually played portal 2 I have to say that I did not pay much attention to the sound quality. But if what you've been saying about it is true then no, SS does not compete.
Read what I've written about SS. It has fantastic sound quality, but I don't think it goes as far as Portal did.
What's fascinating to me is how often the "its too similar to past games" argument eventually turns into complaints about how its too similar in terms of story. Like...it feels stale because you still play as Link saving Zelda
It's franchise fatigue, there's really no other explanation for it.