I personally dislike the toon link games as well. It is not simply the graphics, I actually understand their use on the systems they were used efficiently and added a new look to the franchise. However, both games had aspects that artificially upped the amount of time spent with the game and both used incredibly boring systems to do it. For anyone that loves Wind Waker I am truly sorry that you missed out when Link to past or Ocarina were new and cutting edge. I realize their was a gap in time there but when each of those came out they were incredible. I will be the first to admit that N64 3d games do to stand the test of time as well as 2d games, but they were marvels at the time.
Now back to two toon games. I want you to add up how many hours you put into you first complete playthrough the game, then I want to subtract the amount of hours you spent just sailing around fending the occaisional (and mundane) enemy. You get warps that are only near your target about 2/3 of the way through the game..... Now subtract that sailing time again because it is actually very boring and the opposite of fun.
Phantom hourglass is no different. Thankfully the boat rides are shorter, but as some other point out the temple was the dumbest idea I ever seen in a top rated game. SPOILER, sort of, You even make it to the bottom only to find out that a door you visited earlier actually leads to a whole other huge section of the temple....boring. My gripe is that if you remove the terribly boring, and lets be honest unfun parts, you are left with just a few hours of truly enjoyable game play. It is not worth it. I worry about this new one because something tells me that the train will only go one speed, and you will probably be on it a lot. I am a huge fan of the Zelda series, but they are running out of ideas, and I can't blame them for that, I feel it is okay to take the franchise in a new direction that does mean that you have to fill the time with very boring and very repetitive game play.