The beginning is awful. That is my only complaint.
Haven't listened to the podcast yet, so bear with me.
By "awful", do you mean slow to get going? Because if so, one could argue that the beginning of every 3D Zelda game is awful. However, I could see people feeling that the game takes longer to reach it's stride than others.
That being said, I friggin' love Twilight Princess. Whenever I hear someone attempt to belittle it by saying that it's too similiar to Ocarina of Time, I have to chuckle because I happen to enjoy it
more. To me, Twilight Princess surpassed my every expectation while Ocarina of Time unfortunately did not.
While still a great game, I always felt like Ocarina of Time was missing something. Of course, I was hyped beyond belief for that game. I anticipated it 24/7, so when I played it I expected to be blown away at every turn, but I just wasn't. Twilight Princess, on the other hand, had continuous moments where I marvelled at what I was experiencing while I played (in the interest of brevity, I won't list them in this post, but if anyone is curious, just ask). I fully believe that this game has the best dungeons in any 3D Zelda game and some of the best in the entire series.
I recall hearing an NWR staffer remark on one of the podcasts that they were hyped for Ocarina of Time because it was A Link to the Past but in 3D. I've always felt that a more apt comparision would be OoT and Zelda II, specifically because the worlds seem sparser, and because both A Link to the Past and Twilight Princess are more fully-realized as games.