Skyward sword is truly one of the most mixed games I've ever played. In some ways, it far outshines its predecessors and even some of its successors. It has some of the best dungeons and bosses in the series, one of the best scores, a beautiful art style, one of the only stories in this entire series that's actually worth paying attention to, and some of the best combat in the series when the controls decide to work properly.

But on the other hand, this is one of the worst Zelda games in many other regards. No other Zelda game is this painfully linear with barely any exploration to be seen. No other Zelda game forces this many tutorials and unskippable dialogue from your companion character. No other Zelda game recycles this much content, especially this much BAD content (the imprisoned). No other Zelda game relies this much on gimmicky controls that are annoying at best and downright non-functional at worst.

I fully believe that in spite of all its flaws, there is a truly excellent game to be found here. But I cold absolutely not fault anyone for not pushing past the game's abundant issues to get to that point. For me, it's one of my favorite Zeldas, but I was able to find the fun. Not everyone will.