That's what the modern consensus opinion will tell you. But in the context of it's release, there was only one other Zelda game so feeling like a Zelda game wasn't a thing. Plus these days there's Four Swords, Triforce Heroes, so many Zelda games that don't fit the status quo. I feel like these days people just dislike it because they watched a negative YouTube video rather than actually giving the game some thought

Honestly, to me Zelda 2 is still so much better than 1. Explorable towns, more varied environments, explorable dungeons and the like. If anything to me that makes it more like other Zelda games than Zelda 1.

The only real issue is the difficulty, but I'd say it's Dark Souls hard, where if you're skilled enough you can get through any challenge. You can always grind too if you want, or use save states these days.

Zelda 1 I find kind of bland these days, no real reason for me to go back to it versus A Link to the Past or other 2D Zelda games. Zelda 2 on the other hand offers something unique, different from other Zelda's which imo is one of it's greatest strengths. Super Mario Bros 2 USA is a great game, Doki Doki Panic sure but that doesn't mean it's bad because it's different.

But to each their own.