So my journey with SS has been an overall fun one. Me & my brother had pre-ordered the Wiimote Plus bundle (since he technically paid for most of it he took the wiimote with him when he moved out). As for pre-release, I still distinctly remember playing the demo at one of my first ever PAX years, booting up the boss battle demo (which is the first Ghirahim fight but you have full hearts & I wanna say the Hylian Shield)... and getting BODIED. That was the moment I went "oh. Oh combat is gonna be FUN once I get the proper start of the game curve" because like you said, every fight is a puzzle & that demo knowledge checked the fuck out of me. As for when the full game came out, yeah it was my favorite Zelda for a good while. Ghirahim is still one of my favorite antagonists in any game with how many times he almost wins (and technically does at the end since he wanted to revive Demise & DID until Demise went "1v1 me bro"), these versions of Link & Zelda are still some of my favorites if not my actual faves, THE GROOSE IS LOOSE (make Hyrule Warriors 2 & put him in it cowards), & I didn't even mind the backtracking during the story since almost every visit is different in some way (even if like you said Scrapper is a right bastard who needs to get patience programmed in him). I also really enjoyed the side content since the main collectable is literal crystals of happiness. Being able to help people & that directly contribute to helping a friendly demon become the human he desperately wants to be just feels GREAT & helps get you invested in some of the townsfolk's mini-arcs. Also can't forget how this was the first introduction of Hero Mode with them even adding the final boss gauntlet to the boss rush minigame in that mode. Always love those extra rewards.
