Maybe not THE most scrutinizing but somewhat. After such a long history people do expect it to be good. I have liked every Zelda myself, including 2 and Skyward Sword. As some other people have said the Final Fantasy fanbase can be really divisive.

Zelda remains a critical darling, certainly, but how much hate does Skyward Sword receive on this very site, both from the Nintendo community and from others (often for quite different reasons). The game gets savaged from multiple perspectives, and others do too. Similar to what Sales2099 said, too, except beyond the camps that feel that Zelda isn't "modern enough", whether in terms of trying something more open-world or embracing voice acting, there's a very vocal segment that feels Zelda is too modern already, and should more closely adhere to the formulas of the NES and SNES games.

Isn't that the purpose of Link between worlds? Appease the older fanbase so that there's less complaining when Zelda adopts some more modern game mechanics?

I'd like to agree with you, but the fact is that I find Skyward Sword seriously overrated. Arkham City as well, but that's another discussion entirely.

In all honesty, I think you only have to get on Metacritic look at the difference between the metascore and the user score to see the issue. The difference there is the largest disparity between critics and players of any Zelda game. 

Sales-wise, Skyward Sword may not have been a failure, but it was a disappointment. Sales did not pan out the way many expected them to.

By who?

Skyward Sword has received critical acclaim, gaining perfect scores from at least 30 publications,^[11][12] with an average rating of 93.25% on GameRankings based on 59 reviews,^[12] 93 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 81 reviews,^[11] and 9.8 out of 10 onGameStats.^[46] 

 Skyward Sword's first review, from Official Nintendo Magazine on October 20, scored 98%, praising the title as the "best Zelda game ever made".^[98] 

A day later, Edge gave the game 10/10. Edge's review said "How apt that this ultimate tale of hero-making should see Nintendo’s hardware become the console it was always meant to be", describing it as "a game made for Christmas Day and or week, released an agonizing six weeks before".^[47] GamesTM gave the game a 9/10, and said "Spellbinding, dramatic and absolutely epic in both the world it paints and the story it tells, Zelda: Skyward Sword is a hugely important event for the Wii, for Nintendo, and for anyone with even a passing love for the venerable series it celebrates."^[55] 

 Game Informer said "Skyward Sword is one of those rare treasures, a 10/10 game."^[53] The Guardian 's review stated, "nobody could argue that it's anything less than a masterclass in the art of crafting video games."^[71]

IGN awarded the game a perfect score of 10 out of 10. IGN's reviewer Richard George said it "is the greatest Zelda game ever created. It's the best game for Wii and one of the finest video game accomplishments of the past 10 years."

All these guys are probably zelda fans too.

*raises hand*

Not trying to start a fight or anything, but it certainly does not have universal acclaim.

Scrutinized? If anything it gets a free pass by most gaming sites and fans alike. Gran Turismo and Sonic on the other hand....

yeah Zelda is much better than Batman. i agree.

I thought Skywards story was perfect. And had no issues towards that aspect. But Fii is what made me leave it incomplete. Come back with an assistant that won't repeat itselve. And act as spam. I swear it was like the Zelda team intentionally went out of their way to make a worse spaming character than Navi. I can't buy it that no one at all the beta testing thought Fii was fine in her state. That game seriously needed a Fii disable patch.

Zelda or FF.

But specific to your OP, SS had several serious flaws while Arkham was extremely good. Not saying Arkham is better, but it made some fantastic steps forward in presentation, combat, pacing, story and style that SS doesn't even come close on. Even the helpful sidekick is much, much better and doesn't solve every puzzle for you. I would love it if Zelda U learned some things from Arkham.