When I first started playing Skyward Sword I thought that the beginning was a bit too slow (understandable, considering new controls and everything, also it built up the story and relations between characters nicely) and I was afraid I'd been overhyped. But the more I played it the mroe I loved it. It actually ended up becoming my absolute favorite so far (wouldn't have believed MM could have been beaten, but it happened).
The game just...worked so well for me. The story was well-built, it had the both happy and sad moments and I always like when they decide to have Link share a deep relationship (whether platonic or not) with someone - it gives the story some depth. Characters had all some charming qualities and development (also Skyloft sidequest were nice, made Skyloft more important for the rest of the game than say...Ordon in Twilight Princess, where you had to return only a couple of times, Skyloft on the other hand changed a bit after each dungeon). Though I fell like an idiot for restarting the game on Hero Mode before I'd managed to finish it 100%...
Ghirahim is also the best Zelda villain ever and Groose is just magnificent.
I also loved all the little details, references to previous Zelda games - for example, the moment Link goes to the dungeon is so much like in the first game. We look him from behind, walking down the stairs and the screen goes black for a while (you know, with that "walking down the stairs"-sound). It was so nice to try to spot as much references as possible. The entire game was fun to play (even if a tad easy at times) as well, which is always plus.