It is, I think, my favourite Zelda game --- it looks superb, the characters work, the story's interesting (even Ganon actually comes across as a bit sympathetic

It is, I think, my favourite Zelda game --- it looks superb, the characters work, the story's interesting (even Ganon actually comes across as a bit sympathetic!), fascinating dungeons, the world is endless fun to explore... I just kinda wish they'd finished it: they way the last part of the game devolves into a series of treasure hunts was disappointing. I gather they ran out of money and there was supposed to be another round of dungeons. There are also some epic design failures: the biggest one, to me, is that the games give you the boat before it's ready to let you explore. Instead it walls off big chunks of the world to railroad you into going to Dragon Roost Mountain. As soon as I got the boat, of course, I headed straight for the nearest island to see what was there, hit a wall and was turned back. I found that showing me the open world and then not preventing me from going there, and in such a clumsy manner, was very disappointing. I think they'd have done better to have simply moved you to the island outside your control, and only let you take command of the boat once you pick up the baton. A lot of what gives the game its character was the seamless loading between islands. Twighlight Princess, which was a perfectly decent game, seemed much smaller to me because of the endless constrained environments and loading screens. Meanwhile, I still haven't finished Skyward Sword.