I can see why some people didn't like Skyward Sword, in the sense that it is not the direction most people want to see the series go in, but I really enjoyed it. The game was all about Zelda gameplay, meaning streamlined dungeons and motion controls. It had the best gameplay and mechanics out of any of the Zelda games. If you are looking for reasons to be critical you can be but if you actually want to play and appreciate it for what it is you will recognize this is another excellent entry into the Zelda franchise.
I don't think its simply a matter of chilling out and realizing how good the game is. There are myriad legitimate complaints and design flaws. This isn't to say that it is impossible for many to love the game and get enjoyment out of it, but it is not so clear cut.
I am kind of surprised by all the praise for the dungeons, especially coming after the absolutely phenomenal dungeon design in TP. The dungeons in SS aren't terrible, but they
clearly show the teams roots in making handheld zelda games. There was poor sense of scale and verticality in most temples (the biggest exception being the water temple). It reminded me very much of Minish Cap, where you just run from one room to the next, and if you're ever faced with a puzzle, the solution is immediately obvious and its just a matter of fighting the inconsistent controls to advance.
The bosses were altogether quite good, but not the series best. And then, for me, everything that happened outside of the dungeons was pretty garbage. Boring, dead environments with very sparse secrets that you had to backtrack across again and again collecting things. Rarely were there other characters to interact with (outside of the one town), or substantial sidequests to pursue.
I also think that the game has the worst story in a console Zelda. Outside of the beginning when you're chasing Zelda around, it just never felt that epic or important. Compared to saving the world from darkness in LttP or TP, it just felt very inconsequential, due in no small part to the way in which it was told.
Having said all that, I don't hate the game. It's just not a great Zelda for me, and ranks down there with portable entries like Phantom Hourglass, Minish Cap, and Spirit Tracks. I feel like it owed too much to the portable tradition of the series, and not enough to its console heritage. They felt the need to overly streamline everything so that casuals could play without thinking, but they obscured this behind a difficult to learn (though admittedly awesome and worth the risk) control system. Sometimes I wish nintendo would just pick a slightly smaller audience for some of its games and fully concentrate on making that cohesive experience. Interviews seemed to lead on that this was some sort of refocusing of the series, but it seems muddier than ever to me, and for the first time ever, I don't have high hopes for future titles.
