But you could go from Kokiri Village to the Hyrule Field to Lon Lon Ranch to Gerudo Valley, etc...

The problem with the SS is that you go from the sky to Faron Woods then back to the sky to Eldin Volcano then back to the sky to Lanaryu desert back to the sky... which means you get sick on the sky pretty fast. I'll address this in my coming review of the game.

Strange. I remember there being a fair amount of side quests and interesting NPCs in Skyloft... but then again I actually 100%'d this game. :P
Anyway, I will agree that Skyward Sword could use more points of connection between it's three main areas. Perhaps the bird statues could've doubled as warp points, like the statues in Majora's Mask.

I never managed to get past my second session with Skyward Sword. Motion controls aside, it simply felt far too familiar to someone whose most favored gaming experiences included A Link to the Past (still engaging after all these years), and Ocarina of Time.

I felt the same with Twilight Princess and can't help but wonder if I've simply outgrown the franchise after all these years.

And yes; relative to games like Elder Scrolls, the world in which Zelda currently exists feels tiny and constrained.

I can't say I've brought myself to buy SS yet... mainly due to the fact that the Wii's controls are just so... Well let's just say motion controls suck in my opinion, real gamepads ftw!

And for some strange reason I could just not get hyped for SS even though I loved MM, WW and OoT.

Skyward Sword's biggest problem was how the developers put so much attention to stuff the majority of people simply don't want to see in a Zelda game.

Huge focus on "the people" of Skyloft - but that's not what customers want from Zelda.
Big focus on making the overworld "a puzzle" - but customers don't want that.
Also big focus on "creative" missions to change up the way you play - but that's not what customers want.
A lot of work was put into the art style - but the market prefers realistic Zelda over cartoonish Zelda.

In general the game is incredibly detailed on you can feel how much work the developers have put into it. Unfortunately they put a lot of time into stuff that makes the game feel "less Zelda". That's not to say the game is bad. Skyward Sword is a good game. But there were times when Zelda games were copied by other developers and set the bar for epicness and gameplay. Zelda was the game you'd buy and constantly think while playing "THIS is possible in a video game???" Today Zelda has fallen behind other games in a lot of ways. Skyward Sword is still good but not amazing. Which is a shame as it is a highly polished game. Just polished in the wrong way.

First of all, Zelda needs to stop regressing and adding bloat.

Motion control was a great evolution, but the de-evolved overworld, tedious intro, and unnessecery flying vertainly maked it feel like a de-volution.

From a BUSINESS perspective Nintendo has the biggest challenge in the gaming industry, which is to develop a game that tries to appeal to a "wide range of audience." Those who play WOW, Skyrim, Witcher etc. may be asking for too much and almost always will end up dissapointed with some of the pacing or mechanics. You are always comparing. They want to keep the Zelda franchise unique.
Experienced developers vs Consumers (gamers).

They develop and design their games so it stands on its own.

The biggest problem with the modern Zelda games is simply that they are far too linear and hand-holdy. There's just no sense of exploration or joy of discovery anymore. Everything is "go here and do this, or we won't let you proceed any further in the game. Oh but first, let's have you go through a couple hours' worth of meddling side-quest-like "training" objectives and sit through tons of unnecessary expository text dialogue before you go off on your way, oops, I mean OUR way."

This is in stark contrast to old school Zelda games which allowed you to at least venture out and get a feel for the world and explore a bit while tackling the main dungeons, many of which were accessible out of order as long as you had the tools to get there. Nintendo really needs to take a cue from western developers and the success they've been having with their action rpg's in recent years. Not saying that Nintendo has to turn Zelda into a WRPG, but it could definitely borrow some ideas, namely a more open world and not as linear quest/dungeon system, and maybe a more robust weapon/item system as well.

 We can name countless games that's like that my friend. *Facepalm*

As you play ask yourself what was the developers intention of this game? What is their philosophy if any? I do that with every game.