Oh my gosh... I can go on forever about everything that is wrong with this game.
I have not played the CDI games, Triforce Heroes, Spirit Tracks or any Zelda game which are considered one of the much weaker/forgettable entries to the series, I just played Majora's Mask, Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, Four Swords, and Breath of The Wild and so far, this is the worst Zelda game I've ever played and I will tell you why.
The story is the worst the series has to offer. It has a much more emotional and romantic story that no Zelda game came close to. Containing approximately ten scenes of crying from Groose when you go to his room to talk to him after Zelda has been kidnapped, when Link tells him about surface, when you talk to him as he was pounding the wall because he was useless in defeating the First Imprisioned fight, when Zelda wakes up, and when the old lady disappears. Link also seemed to have cried a little after Zelda seals herself and so did Zelda in that scene but it was easy to miss the tears she shed. Cawlin cries when his confession to for Karane is rejected. And Zelda cries again when she gets her happy ending.
If I recall correctly, TP had Beth crying, Ilia weeping, and Midna at the end of the game, I'm not for sure if there are more but that's still much less crying scenes than SS has and it is the longest 3D Zelda game. OOT had a Goron boy crying once and that was it? I haven't played the game in a long time. But I wished SS would've kept the crying scenes to about 3 maximum or less.
Now, about the romance, Link dives into the surface to search for his childhood friend (and girlfriend?). The main plot has Link going to save someone out of love and I haven't played a Zelda game that had Link driven by love in the main plot. At the end, some people have been debating whether Link stayed on the surface out of love, if that is the case (which I don't think so in my opinion), that does add to the unnecessary romance this game has, these two are 17-19 years old! They are too young to get married, have sex, and to live together. It's okay to fall in love with someone, it's normal for an adolescent but you can't take it too seriously such as having sex or living together (especially when living together before marriage could cause problems), which parents have a problem with. But Link doesn't have any parents to talk with about this and Zelda just has her dad but I don't know if he said anything about this or not even though Link is the one being clingy to Zelda for I don't know what reason.
There are plot holes in the story, I wished they'd explain more about why Fi had to leave Link, why Link wanted to stay on the surface, how did Link and Zelda live their lives on the surface and did others come down to live there, and what happened to these kids' parents? Zelda just has her dad but Link has none. I wished that Nintendo would consider whether or not to give parents to Link and a mom for Zelda that they can talk to about their relationship.
The characters act too Japanese. Aren't these characters British or something? British people are more reserved, formal and quiet and Zelda here is just too extrovertedly cheeky, emotional, lovey-dovey and talkative. I mean, why not Zelda just suppress her tears of joy? She was in front of non-relatives, I wouldn't freely cry in front of people that are not my relatives or soul relatives. And she sounded and acted like a 13 year old, burying her face in her hands, sobbing and she's way older than 13. I thought 13 year olds would cry over the world being saved. And Link didn't cry, Zelda shouldn't either. And what made the scene worse is that Link stood there not saying "Don't cry" or something. He showed no compassion to the girl's negative emotions. Link seems too lovey-dovey. And even if the other characters are a bit closer to British people, I guess; Gaepora is a stupid father who doesn't consult his daughter who clearly is falling in love with Link, Groose was a selfish bully to Link at the beginning of the game (but at least he gets better), Impa is too insulting of Link when she says that he's late, Fi is like Navi but worse, she states obvious things or she just annoys me with her insensitive personality and there are some NPCs who like to scold Link. And aside from being saccharine throughout the game, Zelda also becomes a helpless, damsel-in-distress at the end even though she is a major character, I think she should've been more useful.
The character designs for Link and Zelda are pretty ugly. They could've done better with this cel-shading and realism combination but I like how expressive Link is. Zelda looks like a monkey-eyed girl with a hippopotamus-frog mouth when she opens it and a lip shaped like an O. And Link's lips are too big and his pants are baggy.
The gameplay is relatively good, but it's too linear, the motion controls are so frustrating, too much handholding and railroading, and some repetitive dungeons and bosses.
They could've made this a book instead of a game. It has some developments, and it has far too much soap operaish crying and romance to be a game.