HW does get a lot of praise fom Nintendo fans.

For example, _____________.

Seriously, who pissed in your wheaties this morning? Was...was it Miyamoto again? That elfin bastard!!!

WiiU has two other musou games: Warriors Orochi 3, One Piece, and Ken's Rage. They have been around for a while. The latter is a literal piece of shit, and Warriors Orochi and One Piece are decent. The other games are not on the platform and many who happen to have liked the concept from HyWa exposure wouldn't have comparisons to draw.

The problem then becomes one of lore and investment because musou games are inherently repetitive. You can definitely get lost in the lore and lose interest if you have no connection to it, irregardless of how good the mechanics are or are not for the musou game. For many Zelda fans, this game was something they could comfortably fit into and enjoy because of the fanservice.

On the flipside, as someone who's played many musou, I can tell you quite easily that: HyWa is probably the best gateway musou ever made, and one of the better made in general. It lacks features of others and has some glaring short comings (bosses are sponges and boring, lack of online modes, not optimized very well) but, at the same time, it hasn't been itterated upon nearly as much as other titles either. There's certain smaller aspects that have found their way into Basara and Warriors titles over the years that are sorely missing from HyWa like more mid-battle objectives that can really change the course of the encounters but that's also partly limited in applicability here because HyWa has very short mission structure and there's no time for mid-battle objectives to get crammed into it and be of any relevance.

Also that Ganon fight it pimp.

Hmm to be fair, the Warriors games aren't Sony exclusives. For example Warrior Orochi 3(a mashup of Samurai and Dynasty warriors games) is available in WiiU too.

Also, Samurai Warriors chronicles was -arguably the best- 3ds launch game. Also SW3 was english-exclusive on Wii, so Ninty fans have access to warriors games witouth owning a non nintendo console.

That being said I have to agree with you, Hyrule Warriors is praised because of its Zelda coat of paint, while the rest of warriors games gets mediocre user reviews. Personally I love the warriors franchise (even more Samurai Warriors!) and love Zelda so HW is a win win for me

Jokes aside,yes the fact HW is an exclusive boost the "quality perception" of the game.To be fair,almost all exclusive games suffer from that.

Additionally, many reviews stated that, while there was only 16ish characters in the game (three are free DLC), each with two weapons to use, they each played very differently and distinctly, while that isn't always the case in DW games:

"Each of the game's thirteen playable characters have a unique fighting style, though utilize the same combo system for controller-bashing simplicity. As opposed to characters found in Dynasty or Samurai Warriors, the attacks performed by Hyrule's roster are all incredibly varied and flamboyant, from Agitha summoning giant beetles, to Ghirahim using his attacks to lock onto enemies before sending dark energy charging toward them. Combo attacks are more than just slashes and swipes, each one being an extravagant affair that's visually exciting, though often prone to leaving players vulnerable." -Jim Sterling

1) Virtually nobody in the west gives two f*cks about the Warring States Period of China, but I can't think of a single Western Gamer who doesn't know LoZ.

2) Hyrule Warriors has far more effort put into it than Dynasty Warriors Hyper Orochi 57 or whatever number they're on now. For example, Lana could easily have been a DW character, but she's in Hyrule Warriors and she's got one of the best move sets in the genre.

3) Hyrule Warriors is far more objective oriented and less focused on enemy elimination, slightly dulling the repitition.

4) Hyrule Warriors has tons of Zelda elements added to it. Cuccos, hookshot/bombs/bow/boomerang, familiar enemy weaknesses,  familiar weapons, familiar attacks, familiar faces, familiar areas, familiar sound clips, familiar and awesome music, treasure chests, skulltulas, Z-targeting, and more.

5) Adventure Mode. It's probably the best game mode in the genre. Nostalgia mixed with challenges, and a lot of upcoming support adding more meat to the bones of an already beefy campaign makes it great.

6) Wish fulfillment. Many players have always wanted to go to town on enemies with their legendary weapons, or play as characters that they never could before. Now they can.

http://thegamefanatics.com/game/hyrule-warriors-review-70-musou-30-zelda-100-fun

It's a proper crossover. It's something different created by blending two games together instead of flaying Zelda and letting Dynasty Warriors wear its skin.

Playstation fans are always praising The Last of Us. Is the same thing: exclusive game

I'm not very far in it but this game has a surprising bit of depth. Using the weapons you find to defeat a specific boss adds to the strategy. It's actually a little deeper than I expected it to be.  Leagues better than the last games of this style that I've played (N3).

Hyrule Warriors isn't even comparable with TLOU.