I only just beat this game last week. I sat it down last December due to traveling and a tough Spring semester at university. But there are a few things I loved about Skyward Sword:
- The motion controlled swordplay
- The crafting/upgrade system
- The medal system
- The dash meter
- Rupees actually mean something
- Adventure pouch
I think these are things they should keep. It made me feel like I was really upgrading and building my character. I would like more depth the next time around though.
Things I didn't like:
- The incessant handholding (I don't need Fi to spell out obvious information for me and break puzzles with hints I didn't ask for)
- Difficulty set a pushover (seriously, Nintendo - when are you going to let veteran Zelda players get the challenge they deserve?)
- Horrible button layout (why they didn't just use the Twilight Princess layout is beyond me. It's far superior.)
- Not enough areas (The three main areas in the world below were fine but I found the return to them to do trials and collect the parts of the songs were just filler)
- The......slow.........text.......scrolling. (Seriously? Why? How did that get overlooked?)
- The dungeons were too tiny (I kept waiting for a dungeon with multiple floors and tons of rooms but they never appeared. I like big dungeons in Zelda games)
- The music was just okay (Only the Lanayru areas really gripped me with its music. The other areas were good, just not up to the quality of that area. Bring Kondo back as lead composer please)+
- The Gratitude crystal sub-quest was not even a fraction as compelling as the Bomber's Notebook (Aonuma overhyped this part a tad bit)
Overall, great game. But I was expecting a bit more. They improved in some areas but fell off in others, so the net progress is no better than Twilight Princess.
EDIT: I forgot to mention, upon reboot, do I really need to have the game paused for every bug I catch or piece of treasure I score!? So annoying!
