Zelda II is a bit of a black sheep within the franchise. Like Simon's Quest, Zelda II went in a different direction as far as Zelda goes, turning it into an RPG. The game is not exactly easy, and also like Simon's Quest is cryptic in places. Not to the same extreme as Simon's Quest, but it is there. The difficulty got a bit much at times for me and I felt no shame in cheesing the Shadow Link fight. I did it in Ocarina as well. Due to things like this, the game tends to be hated or at least disliked. I can understand where those people are coming from, but I actually really enjoy the game. I don't hate it. It certainly is not amazing or as good as several other Zelda games, but it is still good. If you want to bring the CDI games into it, at least Zelda II, y'know, works. I would still recommend it.