3. Difficulty level remained the same
I like challenging video games; after honing my skills for almost two and a half decades it feels good knowing that there are few games out there that can give me a challenge. Hero mode, was supposed to be a more challenging mode that the first quest. At minimum, that should mean more (or at least tougher) enemies, improved enemy AI, and less drops. In “Hero mode”, enemy toughness has not increased Link merely takes double damage from everything; their intelligence has not increased whatsoever. For example, Deku-babas (plant monsters) still try to eat bombs that tossed at them and Lizafos will still taunt missed attacks allowing you to black flip slash them onto their backs. What was almost Hero mode’s single redeeming quality was the fact that hearts no longer appeared in the wild, not did heart plants grow any longer. This genuinely made it feel like a challenge as it forced gamers to rely on potions and sitting to regain health. That is, until I found the heart medal.
4. Heart medal makes Hero Mode pointless
The only challenge that Hero mode seemed to present was the fact that the only way Link could replenish health was by utilizing potions, or by sitting on random and rare stools found throughout the game. Enemies no longer dropped hearts, breaking pots and cutting grass stopped producing hearts, and heart plants became extinct. Then, about ten hours in, I activated a Goddess Cube in the southwest region of the Lanayru Desert and unlocked the heart medal that had the ability to reintroduce hearts back into the game. At that precise moment, Hero mode had died. Sure, I could have chosen not to carry the stupid thing around and make the hearts disappear again, but I cannot actively make a choice to make the game tougher. If I could do that, I would never have equipped my shield during the first quest; why did they even put this item in the game? The sole purpose of this medal is to undo what Hero Mode does.
5. Cannot skip any additional cutscenes
It was a breath of fresh air when gamers began to play Skyward Sword for the first time and noticed that, unlike previous Zelda titles, we were able to skip a large percentage of cutscenes. There were still quite a number of cutscenes that were not optional but these were few and far in between. Mostly these cutscenes contained valuable information as to what the next step in Link’s quest is. Being the fact that Hero mode would indicate this is the second time around for gamers, one would think that these informational cutscenes could then be skipped since we have already been through it all once before. This is not the case at all as there are no additional skip options, and gamers must wade through the shoveling of now pointless information.
If you do decide to give Hero mode a shot against my advice, be sure to check out our regularly updated Skyward Sword Ultimate Wiki Guide by clicking the banner below.
Wally-G.
December 10, 2011 at 11:05 AMWhy you’re still surprised by anything Nintendo does is the real shocker here. So glad I passed on this waggle crap they only put out to save face.
Lensoftruth
December 10, 2011 at 2:05 PMBull. Just beat hero mode and found it very challenging and fun. Especially the boss rush. Not to mention the instacharge the master sword gets is amazing. The heart medals don’t make it pointless either. You still take double damage and can’t use the medals for boss rush. Fi isn’t annoying either. If anyone is annoying, it’s people who whine about story related dialogue.
Addae
December 10, 2011 at 6:40 PMYes, this is something that must be addressed in later installments. Zelda needs some kind of achievement system, or second quest is customizable.
Enemies: Regular Hard Really-Hard(This makes em SMARTER)
Health: Regular only-hearts no-hearts no-potions NO-CHAIRS!!(oh yea, twice the damage)
What i really want is to run into enemies in the overworld that i am truely afraid of. Enemies i give a second thought before i fight. I want rally smart enemies!! I want a really challenge, but not annoying at the same time. It is possible and Nintendo needs to achieve that.
wandering_goat
December 11, 2011 at 3:03 AMSeems pretty much pointless to complain about the heart medal if you can just ignore it. It’s there for gamers who want a bit more challenge on their next playthrough, but aren’t up for going without recovery items.
Good news is that there are codes that you can use if you have Wii Homebrew installed that can take away messages for treasure/bug pick-ups, some Fii warnings, etc. I’ll be using those myself when I decide to play Hero mode.
Opti
December 11, 2011 at 9:41 PM1. So the Exposition Fairy is useless because you’ve already played the game. So what? Are you trying to say you should never replay games because you know how stuff works?
2. …it’s the same game? There aren’t tutorials. The only thing like that is the five second description from Fi. And you know, someone might be playing Hero Mode without it being their game, so they wouldn’t know how to do stuff.
3. What, double damage and no hearts aren’t hard enough for you? Thanks, but the enemy AIs are difficult enough. This isn’t supposed to be impossible.
4. So don’t use it. If it wasn’t included, people would complain that Hero Mode was too hard.
5. There are virtually no cutscenes that are longer than thirty seconds. The only ones you might want to skip are the plot ones, which you can.
bleh
December 12, 2011 at 11:59 AMOne reason why this post sucks:
1. Writer is a douche.
Heavy E Munny
December 15, 2011 at 2:09 AMI’m surprised how many people disagree with him. I think all his reasons are legitimate. After playing normal mode and seeing how easy it was, I was looking forward to Hero Mode and thinking (hoping) it would turn out to be similar to what they did in Master Quest. In my first play through of the game, I was just a little disappointed how linear the game was. There was not much to do outside of the main story. Sure you can find Goddess Cubes and search for them in the sky, but other than that and Grabitude Crackles, there wasn’t really anything that you can find/do that someone else playing the game might have missed. Every time I thought I did find something, it ended up being part of the story later in the game. Also, health was never an issue for me even though I was very reckless when going up against enemies. I might eat these words when I do play Hero Mode, but I doubt the lack of hearts will be a big challenge considering I can still use potions, something I barely had to do in the normal game. Also, the fact that I was able to buy everything in the game before I was half way through the game was a little frustrating. I had so many rupees to spend… but what could I buy? Just upgrades and potions. Not to mention I could sell all my treasure and bugs for even more money. The puzzles/dungeons in this game were also not as hard as I’d hoped. They were awesome and some ideas were really cool, but I never once got stuck for more than 10 minutes, which happened on just two occasions. Some of these issues are what I was hoping Hero Mode would fix. So it is reasonable that some of us would be a little annoyed to find out that all it does is double the damage and get rid of hearts. I also understand what Price is saying about using the heart medals and I agree, to an extent, that I’m not going to purposely make a game tougher for myself if I can help it (unless I’ve played the game too many times and I’ve gotten sick of it). What we’re saying is we were hoping that we wouldn’t have to rely on ourselves to make the game more challenging and fun because it just feels weird to ignore an option that will help me on my quest. And I can see they tried. It’s just a little… underwhelming. And lastly, Fi was annoying the first play through, so she will be even more annoying the second time around. Cut scenes I can deal with though. They weren’t bad to watch. I’m not saying Hero mode isn’t worth trying though. I’m definitely going to play through it again. I just don’t think it is going to be as enjoyable as the first time.
Overall I did enjoy the game, however. The temples were fun, the story was great, and there were a lot of cool ideas in this game.
HeroModeNewbie
December 15, 2011 at 4:51 AMI just got to the Lanayru Desert and activated the Goddess Cube behind the tower you initially descend on, but this chest only contained a silver rupee and no heart medal. Is the goddess cube order different in hero mode? I am very confused…
Nahamisse
December 17, 2011 at 5:24 AMHasn’t the “hero mode” almost always just been another lap ’round the game in the Zelda series? I assumed it would include the cutscenes and tutorials…
Pandaboy
December 19, 2011 at 8:26 AMLol, after beating the final boss, do not do the same mistake as I did.
The game asked me if I wanted to try hero mode, so I pressed “yes”. It then said that my progress would be lost, which I assumed meant my progress since the last save. I then clicked “no”, which led me to a menu which said “quit without saving?”, but, as I wanted to save, i clicked “no” again, which led me back to the hero mode question, which again said progress would be lost. So now I feel like I’ve played zelda for 45+ hours for nothing, as I had spent lots of extra time completing side quests. Fuck you, nintendo.
Begeegee
December 19, 2011 at 11:53 PMI’ll have to disagree with this article entirely, but I’m glad several commentors seem to have the right idea.
For crying out loud, I’m doing a degree in games design, and no, we don’t just learn how to make games, we critically analyse them to a depth you’ll never understand.
It looks as if you just don’t like Hero Mode, and won’t look at it from an fundamental view.
Pardon me if I sound rude but reviewing games or parts of them like this won’t get you far.
Cyrus
December 21, 2011 at 11:31 AM> we critically analyse them to a depth you’ll never understand.
It’ll be a cold day in hell when people with a degree in game design realize that people without one can have an informed opinion on the quality of game design decisions too (and like me, may even work in the industry in said field).
I for one find the constant, non-optional hand-holding in Skyward Sword atrocious and the fact that much of it has carried over to the second playthrough makes me doubt the competence of Nintendo’s finest.
HONDA BLANABBA
December 24, 2011 at 10:43 AMWho ever said Zelda needs an achievement system is brain dead. Achievements are just excuses to give bad games replay value. Zelda is not a bad game. Zelda is perhaps the greatest game series ever IMO, and an achievement system would just ruin he fact of 100% because there is already side quests, heart pieces, poe souls, gratitude crystals, gold skulltulas, masks, etc. Those are achievements enough.
Crybabies
December 25, 2011 at 1:27 AMThis is the perfect example of how sensitive Zelda fans are. It feels like some commentators here are seriously offended by an article that has several valid points. I love the Zelda series to death and yet even I agree with some of the main reasons of this article.
They could’ve done a bit better with the Hero Mode, no if’s and but’s about it. It lacks polish, even though its still something to be grateful for.
Saad
December 31, 2011 at 8:59 AMOK, lets break this down
1. Fi is useless? Alright, that is true, whatever she says is something you will know. But is that any reason to ignore Hero Mode, higher difficulty has NOTHING to do with parters
2. Dialog Barley changes. What were you expecting? The dialog changing is supposed to make the game more difficult? And do you seriously lack one messages’ worth of patience?
3. The difficulty changes. You said in the point that the game was much harder until you got the Heart Medal. You JUST said that the game is harder, so why are you complaining that it is not hard? You are contradicting your own point.
4. Heart Medal makes hero mode useless. First of all, the chances of hearts appearing is next to nothing. Secondly, do what I did, Keep it in your Item Check. There, still massive difficulty!
5. Cannot Skip cutscenes. This is the ONLY point I agree with, but that is a game flaw, not a reason to not play Hero Mode.
I know that there are some flaws with hero Mode, but this article covers NONE of them.
Crispus
January 2, 2012 at 8:45 AMThanks for the heads up. I’m nearly finished SS and was considering Hero mode, but I probably won’t bother now.
One thing about SS that pisses me off, which I’m sure they haven’t changed for Hero mode is the fact that the Sail opens automatically (at major drop points). I hate this feature so much! It takes away such a feeling of freedom and achievement. They should have made it so that if you didn’t open your Sail, you’d hit the ground and be left with just one heart. Or even just a quarter of a heart…players would have learnt their lesson very quickly.
Benjy
January 3, 2012 at 1:40 AMMy only concern with this article is the writer mentioned that the game was harder until he got the heart medal, and used it, and said it made hero mode too easy. He then said that he used it because he can’t let himself make the game harder intentionally. Using this logic, the writer would also select the easiest difficulty in games because he doesn’t want to make the game difficult for himself. It’s your decision, if you don’t like that an optional item makes the game easier, don’t use the damn item.
Phillip Price
January 3, 2012 at 1:54 AMBenjy, my whole point was that I could choose to make the game harder without playing Hero mode. The heart medal makes Hero mode a complete waste of time as the only difference at that point would be the fact that Link takes double damage.
Benjy
January 3, 2012 at 5:35 PMMy point to that being don’t use it. I understand you being mad about it being in the game in hero mode but if it makes you this angry, the simple solution is to not use it. Also, double damage does make things much more difficult in my opinion.
Casey
January 4, 2012 at 12:04 AMwell to be honest i was gonna play through hero mode with only 6 hearts, that should make things interesting. i don’t think there is an enemy that does more than 2 hearts (4 for hero) so i think it’ll be cool to try. always did that with all zelda games that allowed it, don’t get extra health.
Zerker
January 4, 2012 at 9:19 PMDid everyone on this website forget that this game is meant for children?
I mean, seriously.
Nintendo is for kids.
jon
January 7, 2012 at 3:12 PMDouble damages sounds more challenging to me. Anyway just beat the game. Will probably do heroic mode one day, but sounds like I shouldn’t rush into it until I have 100% completion and there is nothing more to do.
Zerker – Anyone who calls Zelda a kids game is obviously not a gamer and never will be. Go back to your mindless shooter games and leave the real games to the big boys.
Dbl07
January 11, 2012 at 11:37 PM@saad
1. Yes, partners do have to do with it.
They could have at least considered it would be harder without her, let alone how annoying she is. Plus the fact that they left her in Hero Mode after already angering you only gets you angrier.
2.It’s more annoying than you think. Maybe you have more patience than us, whatever. It’s pointless to keep a gamer in a cut-scene he already knows.
3. That isn’t contradictory, he meant that the game was as “hard” as it could be before the heart medal.
4. No, he just said placing it in the item check would be changes the game to make it harder, which goes against his own rules on playing games.
5. Okay.
Sol
January 14, 2012 at 6:44 PMIf you’re wanting “Hero Mode” to be more of a challenge, then don’t pick up the Heart Container’s you receive after every boss fight. That should make things more difficult. Also, don’t buy a shield. (not that they were used much anyways…) Just a couple of suggestions…
If you don’t find that challenging… I dunno what to tell ya. :/
waddle doo
January 16, 2012 at 5:26 PMWait what else should you do if you completed the game.Sure you can do side quests but you have done everything you had to do.So hero mode is great idea because it also makes enemies strong sure there dumb but if they were smart would you even have a chance to beat them.Also if you think Fi is annoying then just ignore her =l.
Commentator
January 17, 2012 at 7:56 PMAre you crazy? Fi is a magical, floating blue sword spirit. She’s sexy. :P When she comes to life and stabs the guy who started this whole mess, I may chuckle a slight bit. Most likely, I’ll grab some popcorn and my wiimote and get back to the game. I enjoy Zelda. Nintendo is on the right track. Let them do what they do best and stop complaining. Try ignoring said heart medals; heart container ignorance is another way, I guess. I prefer the cutscenes. They improve the tension and adrenaline this game provides. Seriously, as a nerd, do you really think I can find other ways of adrenaline better than playing video games and moving at the same time. (Without moving my legs)
brian
January 21, 2012 at 8:54 PMWally G. is an idiot. Passing up a game because of “waggle crap” (which actually works quite excellent) is stupid.
This game is excellent and shows that Nintendo still can but out quality titles . This is my personal game of the year though my favorite game of 2011 is Skyrim. I’ve had more fun with it, but Skyward Sword is a better game overall.
CaptainLorax
January 21, 2012 at 11:07 PMHarder difficulties should make games harder. It’s not the gamer’s job to make a game harder on himself – it’s his job to have fun and win. If I was playing hero mode I would get upgraded equipment because I like using the best equipment. I would not avoid good opportunities to make “hard mode” even harder – afterall, winning is the main objective. Just like it would be stupid not to use a heart medal if you thought it would help you win, it would be stupid to always use the slingshot even when you have a bow! You’re not crazy for wanting a harder game while choosing to use your best equipment. I REPEAT, it’s the game designer’s job to make hard mode HARDER, not the gamer’s.
If I was playing a video game and nightmare mode was essentially the same as expert mode – I would think it a chore to go through one to get to the other (if you had already beat the game on normal). It comes down to whether or not harder modes are much harder than the regular mode that you won with. If it isn’t much harder, then yes, it could feel like a waste of time winning again. In games like that I usually choose not to play an unlocked, harder until years later when I may have forgot parts of the main game. Especially if I’m not going to get a bonus special ending.
ZeldaFan64
January 24, 2012 at 11:13 PMHey Wally-G! You’re a piece of shit
Anonymous
January 29, 2012 at 2:02 AMIt’s amazing to me that there is no one here who can see even the slightest degree of balance. The article says nothing positive about Hero Mode, and all the comments either 100% agree or 100% disagree.
There are some decent points in this article, and some crap points. The fact that not a single person here seems to be able to see that doesn’t bode well for this site or its readers.
1. Yes Fi is almost Navi-like in her levels of annoying, but she might remind you of something you forgot. If Nintendo had added a way to ignore her (maybe up on the d-pad would make her stop bugging you as if you’d actually pressed down and read the dialog) she’d be a lot less annoying. But yeah, I don’t need to know every time my batteries run low, that’s what the flashing red icon in the corner is for.
2. No kidding the dialog doesn’t change. It’s the same game – if you expected the dialog to change, you’re probably about as bright as one of those NPCs you’re complaining about. But yeah, making all dialog skippable would be nice, since it is a second playthrough.
3. The difficulty is absolutely not the same, since each hit carries twice the consequence (and is not as easy to heal). And what you’re asking for isn’t smarter enemies, it’s completely different enemy behavior. Lizafos taunts are an integral part of their behavior – and how smart, exactly, did you want a plant to get? Besides, if you throw a bomb at it, it’s screwed anyway. What did you think it was going to do, grow legs and run away?
4. Hero Mode with a Heart Medal is still far fewer hearts than normal mode with no Heart Medal. And if you’re so good, then yeah, leave the Heart Medal behind and load up on Rupee, Treasure and Bug Medals – it’s not like you’d just be leaving it behind for zero tradeoff.
5. Yeah, I can’t argue there.
So it’s not black-and-white, guys. Maybe pull your heads out of the sand and actually examine the thing for what it is, rather than predetermining “great!” or “crap!” and then making up evidence to fill in the blanks so you can get the answer you wanted.
Phillip Price 2
February 1, 2012 at 8:29 PMHey isn’t this supposed to be a KIDS/adults game? Kids wouldn’t care about a second time threw they’d just want to play it for fun. Not because it’s harder for FUN.
justin76
February 4, 2012 at 4:17 PMWhen I played through the first time I wanted to leave the temple and check out the areas in the past. Which in hero mode would be great. Increased difficulty and new areas(or differently mapped areas) would definitely add challenge
Free LAN Games
February 6, 2012 at 1:30 PMI disagree with you about the Heart Medal. The hearts are still quite rare, and you could always just not use it.
I agree with you about the dialogue though. It would be great if it was all very different; not just for tutorial things, but some regular dialogue as well. That would make talking to people cool and interesting, just to hear what they will say differently. And I don’t think it would’ve been hard to implement either. Dialogue is just text, and text takes up mere kilobytes on the game disc.
master_lawl
February 23, 2012 at 9:53 PM“I cannot actively make a choice to make the game tougher.”
Uh… what is the game forcing you to do, exactly? You can literally play the entire game with zero items… no shield, no medals, no bottles, no nothing. Nothing forces you to block or drink potions… it’s just easier. You could’ve done this any time… hell, you could have done it in regular mode.
Seriously, does that concept completely blow your mind or what? You could have been playing a more challenging game THIS ENTIRE TIME.
MDS82n4
February 27, 2012 at 9:21 AMI’ll be 30 yrs old this July, and have been playing this series since the DAY it was released. I have no complaints whatsoever about something as trivial as content of a 2nd playthru (Hero mode) when your talking about whats most likely the greatest game franchise ever. Hell, they could have not added it at all and erased your gamesave at the end, right?
With this caliber of gameplay, style, story, characters, soundtrack, AND they change things up a bit for my next playthru, I for one am not complaining.
So if those are the reasons not to play hero mode, what are our other options? Either dont ever play it again… at all (fat chance), or play it again on normal difficulty (why?). I HIGHLY doubt the author will/did choose either of those options.
Also, just wanted to add, i see alot of ppl only clocking in around 50hrs or so? They arent playing this game to its potential! I logged 124hrs on 1st playthru (every item/heart/cube collected & did boss-rush 3 times plus MANY treasure/bug hunts). Did the same with Twilight Princess too. These games are just too enjoyable to scrutinize… So dont!
P.S.- game has THE BEST soundtrack ever. Period.
Tinne
March 26, 2012 at 3:26 PMSee, I understand why you would say Hero Mode sucks. But as a Zelda newbie (it’s the first game I ever tried), I, as for my own experience, have to disagree. You see, I absolutely loved the game, and still do. I am now halfway through Hero Mode and I don’t regret starting it at all. It allows you to relive the game’s, well, epicness, and it DOES become harder, Heart Medal or not. I do have a hard time defeating enemies now they slay me twice as fast and it still gets me excited to defeat the bosses, to the point where I’m jumping through the living room. Truth be told, I don’t think anyone would bother this much, only indeed the diehard gamers who are so good at this sort of things that they beat the game twice with their eyes closed. For me, still, this is about having a good time, beating own records, exploring things for which I hadn’t had the patience before and maybe become as proficient like the videos you find on youtube, in which people beat for instance Demise in less than a minute with no damage and perfect combos.
Jonathan
April 19, 2012 at 6:15 PMOnce this game prompted me to delete my progress and start Hero mode, I did some googling and was brought here. I am not going to save. I will simply copy my progress to another folder and play Hero Mode on another save file. I had fun this Zelda game, but I don’t think it is worth another playthrough. Was anybody else very annoyed at flying the bird?
DJDALLYDEE
April 20, 2012 at 10:58 PMOne reason why Skyward Sword’s Hero Mode is ABSOLUTELY worth your time:
The game is amazing and is enough for second play through, let alone a third or fourth. I just lost all respect for this website because of this post alone.
pcc25
June 26, 2012 at 6:05 PMLook this game was great. I hated the sprit test but Zelda games are number in adventure gaming. This like other Zelda games had action good vs evil also which they hadith new bosses because fighting the same boss four times you know his moves on the other the new ones they added on we’re great. Demise was great as a final boss he really wanted to get rid of the good. They should keep but Manuel have the sword fighting as the final part of the boss fight keep up the great. No other adventure game gets close to Zelda keep making theam And hero mode was great Pepole that complains about Zelda are annoying
pcc25
June 26, 2012 at 6:06 PMIn hero mode the bad guys take away two hearts when link gets hit by one if there strikes
blahblablah
July 17, 2012 at 4:07 AMI actually thought this game was pretty difficult. I’ve never had to resort to a walkthrough with Zelda before, but there were some parts where I just had no idea what to do, like around the end when you have to find the thunder dragon and the door into the mines is locked and you have to find the key. I spent almost half an hour roaming around looking for that key until I finally googled it. And some of the bosses (cough cough the Imprisoned) took me several tries to beat, although some (Molderach in particular) didn’t even take a full minute. But I really thought this was the most challenging Zelda as far as the puzzles go, and I liked it so much I deliberately only played it every few weeks to make it last (I’m only just now about to enter the final dungeon, and I really don’t want it to end). The only bright side to it is that when I finish it, I’ll be able to pick up Majora’s Mask again and finally finish that! Lol. And as for the cutscenes, I love them. One thing I love about Zelda is the storylines, and the story and dialogue in Skyward Sword was especially entertaining (especially with Ghirahim.. ;D).
Pat
July 23, 2012 at 11:58 PMI think that the game is simply awesome. The puzzles with the timeshift stones are some of the best in the entire series, although the silent realm was hard to do. I don’t agree with those who say that Fi is annoying since I don’t want to get an item without being told how to use it. The cutscenes help you enjoy the storyline or explain what you have to do next. If you don’t enjoy dialogue, be a loner and don’t talk to anyone. Just to point it out, its not hard mode, it’s hero mode. That means that you go up against more powerful enemies. That’s it.
CC-chan
August 1, 2012 at 8:42 PMWell i agree with this in some ways and oppose it. Yes, it was annoying that they showed like all the tutorials again, like the first time you go back into the silent realms and fi explains EVERYTHING for like 5 minutes. And it would be cool for Nintendo to have made the bosses and enemies smarter now that i think of it. But it was still a challenge. i kinda wish i played hero mode as my first run through because i love a good challenge to the point where i rage quit and come back later. but since hero mode was only available after what you were doing, its kinda the same more or less… and you don’t even have to have the heart medal. i got it but always left it in item check just to keep the challenge. i haven’t gotten back to the lighting round challenge yet, but i can’t wait to see what kind of hell that’ll be with no potions!! so yes, hero mode could have been improved, but it was still good
oh, and lets not forget we have to respect the younger fans and the not-so-game-savvy too. what kind of fun would they have if the game was too hard and they really couldn’t get through it?
danish
August 9, 2012 at 1:02 PMshut up u skyward sword haters it is worth playing it u can have fun and become a pro at the game and thats the end off this conversation thank u (this is not to the people who like hero mode or the people who r not involved thx again
Think inside
October 9, 2012 at 12:13 AMFrankly i cant wait to play hero mode, this game does have its flaws but what game doesnt? If you think that having to listen to a few dialogs over again is such a big deal ten you shouldnt even be playing nintendo at all. I bought a wii just to play the zelda titles, and i plan on beating the crap out of everyone that i can get my hands on. If the heart medal is available in hero mode then youre damn right im gonna use it. (xbox is great, playstation sucks)
Cdwoods
November 24, 2012 at 1:18 AMThis game fills me with rainbows. Both modes are great.
rob
January 12, 2013 at 9:12 PMAll hero mode is is basically replaying a game on “nightmare mode” after completing the game which would otherwise me greyed out. “hardcore gamer” my ass. Learn how to replay through a game on a harder difficulty without crying about it.
Panopticon
January 31, 2013 at 10:27 AMPsh, I always make up my own challenges for games or look up creative ones.
People complaining can try the following on Ocarina Of Time:
*No Sword Run* – you need to use Megaton Hammerto kill Phantom Ganon and Bongo Bongo with deku sticks (“on B glitch” on Gamecube/Virtual Console) or shadow temple as a child. You can add collect no heart containers to that even etc.
Or a naked Alucard run for Castlevania Symphony Of The Night is quite the insanity but I love it.
Joe Shmo
June 9, 2013 at 3:47 PM##################### READ THIS ################################
Zelda is a fun game. Keyword: GAME! Its for enjoyment, so people can have fun. Once you beat the game, what happens? You get the great feeling of defeating evil and saving a princess. If those reasons are why you shouldnt play hero mode, then why play it in Normal mode in the first place? To have fun. Well is playing the game again, just a little more challenging, not fun? If it isnt… you should stop playing games anyway… :/
################### COMMON SENSE ################################
Mr. Palindrome
July 7, 2013 at 11:04 AMI was thinking of playing Hero Mode once I beat the game, but I don’t really feel like it. To me, games of the Zelda series are a one-time thing. I guess it’s the design of the games, because the whole point, the novelty and the new experience that comes with every part in each game is not really there the next time you play it. But until that time comes, it’s one hell of a ride.
I don’t think video gaming has produced anything quite as exquisite as a Zelda game.
Adrian
October 26, 2013 at 2:11 AMI just beat the game. The last boss was a bit easy, took about 2 minutes on my first try, but whatever. I saw the hero mode thing so I looked up this article, and I gotta say the changes aren’t much, and I agree with most of the articles points.
I know this is an old article, but so many people were ragging on the author for talking about the heart metal. All I have to say is I AGREE WITH THE AUTHOR. I hate when games put in features that make it too damned easy. Skyrim for instance, even on the hardest difficulty, is ridiculously easy. I had to purposefully make my character weak just to not be godly strong in that game, and I hate that. I want a game where I am struggling to survive, not a game where I have to create my own challenges to fabricate difficulty. Eff, that.
Anyways, GG, I enjoyed SS for the first 30 hours….but then I had bought everything that could be bought and it got kinda …not exciting after that. Hopefully Zelda U will be awesome!
Satan915
December 31, 2013 at 3:30 AMOf course someone’s going to complain about cutscenes, dialogue and tutorials on a site called justpushstart.com. But seriously, I agree with him. It can’t be that much effort to make/KEEP it so cutscenes and dialogue can be skipped for those who don’t want to see them (again). Tutorials in Hero Mode? They should be permanently banished. Hero Mode is SUPPOSED to be a SECOND playthrough, and a HARD one at that. You should already know what to do, or figure it out for yourself as punishment for forgetting in this mode; tutorials here are unacceptable. What is there to disagree about here people!? If you’re complaining about it being (or would be) too hard then hero mode is not for you.
Zelderp
January 29, 2014 at 6:18 PMNot to stirr up old trouble but the only reason I reconsidered chosing Hero mode was the Silent Realms… They had my heart racing and I was so happy to have finished every single one… I don’t think I could do it again; but that’s just me..
Besides the Silent Realms and Fi’s tendancy to explain the obvious at every chance she gets, the game was amazing and the ending was beautiful; I couldn’t have expected more.
P.S: I agree with what one of the commenters said above, Zelda games to me are one time things and the main excitement comes from discovering each area and progressing for the first time.. That’s just my opinion..