I actually really liked Skyward Sword. The main thing that annoyed me was unskippable text, especially when you've read the same line 5 million times, like the bamboo cutting game where the guy who you pay keeps repeating the same lines every time you want to try again. SO ANNOYING, it's almost like they forgot to test the game in that regard. So this was back to OoT annoyances. In both Wind Waker and Twilight Princess most text was skippable.
In all honesty tho, Aonuma has not done his job well enough with the Zelda games, and it's time to give someone else the responsibility. The sales of Skyward are scandalously low, so low that it is hard to understand that Nintendo will want to prioritize big-budget games like these, when they can make a new mario kart or 2d mario for a 5th of the cost and sell 20 million copies.
I am torn with this tho, because Aonuma has done some of my favorite games, Majora's Mask was brilliant, the whole exploration and freedom feeling of the Wind Waker (least linear Zelda since Zelda 1) was great, but there is too much empty space in his games, and he doesnt stop using it.
Wind Waker ocean sailing got boring, riding Epona in TP got boring because of the size of Hyrule and how empty most of it actually was, Spirit tracks is a whole chapter of boringness and that he was allowed to make that game is shocking, Miyamoto should have stopped him. Flying around in Skyward was boring too, so enough with the lame transportation methods.
Motion controls were OK I guess. Annoying at times, but I got the hang of it after a while. certainly made combat a little more challenging, which has been too easy for the past few games. There are too many puzzles, but more importantly the puzzles aren't hard! Pushing a block into the only open hole in a big room is not a real puzzle, it's a mundane task. The make the eye follow your sword puzzle early in Skyward was cool, but apart from that I havent seen a puzzle where I had to think in a very long time.
So, to sum up, Zelda needs a fresh take, and a new man in charge. Aonuma did some memorable stuff, but he is running out of ideas.
edit: Forgot to mention the second annoying thing with Skyward (along with unskippable text), the opening sequence was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO long and boring, just let me play the game already! And enough with the tutorials. We learn as we play. OoT did it right (first dungeon is basically a big tutorial), even Wind Waker did it ok. Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword had HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE openings, complete snorefests. Miyamoto is usually anal about this stuff, but I guess he is not involved much anymore. Shame. If your game needs a big tutorial to be played, then something is wrong with the game design.
