Just finished Skyward Sword for the second time, wanted to share my thoughts

Second time through, and my first time really playing it since it released (can't believe it'll be five years this year!). Overall, I liked it more than I did my first time through, but ultimately, the final section of the game still drags down the experience.

First, I'll say that the controls were better than I remembered. I don't know what else to say, other than that they work! I brought a bit more patience to the combat this time, and it made the entire game a bit more enjoyable.

The art style continues to be beautiful, and I absolutely love the character designs. I spent more time trying to do some of the sidequests and take my time in the sky this time, and I really enjoyed the quests. May return to finish getting all the gratitude crystals.

The opening of the game wasn't as long as I remembered it being, and it feels like the game gets going faster than Twilight Princess. That being said, it still starts way too slowly.

The change to make the overworld more "dungeon-like" for lack of a better way to describe it is a good one. It's makes the rest of the gamplay outside of the dungeons significantly more engaging, and it works well. Unfortunately, this seems to impact the dungeons overall. For the most part, I found them a bit too linear for my tastes, and small (especially coming off of a replay of Twilight Princess). My favorite was probably the Sandship because it felt the least linear. Maybe I'm just too good at these games, I don't know.

I like the Silent Realms more this time than I did the first time through, and thought they did a good job adding to the variety in the gameplay. My biggest criticism from the first time through remains, however, and that's the Song of the Hero quests at the end. Especially flooded Faron Woods. Both times I played through the game, it just completely stalled the momentum of the game, and frankly, it isn't fun. I am actually genuinely curious what the thought process of the developers was when they made this section, because as someone who's played games for a long time, it doesn't make any sense to me.

Speaking of something that doesn't make sense, remember where you're escorting the robot up the volcano? It was one thing to fail it because an out of the way enemy I didn't see was shooting it with flaming arrows. But literally none of the enemies respawned when I returned to the bottom. It really only seems like the only penalty was to waste your time. The entire segment seems like a waste of time. Ultimately, that's the biggest problem with some of this stuff near the end of the game - the first section of the game, after the intro, has almost no fat. Then it feels like they added filler at the end of the game. A well paced 20-25 hour game is much, much better than a 35 hour game with filler.

That being said, the middle section of the game is among the strongest Zelda has ever had, especially from your first visit to Lanayru through the Sandship. Something else that worked well was the treasure system - I just wish there was more to do with it! This has a lot of potential in a more open-world Zelda, and I'm curious to see if they improve on it.

The final thought I have is on the music. It was really good - actually, better than I remembered. I'm actually curious to see what peoples' favorite tracks are, if only so I can see if there's any good music I didn't get enough listen.

Finally, I'm really curious what others people's thoughts are on the game, especially the game's structure. Do people agree with my thoughts? Does anybody disagree?