Skyward Sword Blade Journal, Hero Mode

So, after writing the sidequest guides for ZeldaEurope and farming like a lunatic I've finally started playing the Hero Mode. I will share my experience here similar to the Blade Journal, though probably not as thorough and interesting.

For starters, the Hero Mode is a simple 2nd Quest that features the following differences:

• you take double damage
• there are no hearts to heal you unless you're carrying a Heart Medal
• the Goddess Sword already got the fully powered Skyward Strike
• the True Master Sword now instantly loads Skyward Strikes
• the Sheikah Stones offers you all visions right from the start
• you keep your collection from the previous savegame
• you can also fight Demise in the Lighting Round Boss Battle mode

That's about it. It all would be pretty cool, if they changed some more things. I would like to face tougher enemies like the rare Stalfos on a more frequent basis for example. But that's not the case, the rest of the game stays the same. Or they could have mixed up some sidequests like placing the Goddess Cubes in different locations. But they haven't. So, there's a lot of wasted potential here and all we can do is enjoy what little the Hero Mode has to offer.

Well, the problem with the missing hearts and the double damage can be quite tough in the beginning. Three hits kill you and this can easily happen, if you're surrounded by Bokoblins. However, it gets balanced by two things. You can now use the full Skyward Strike right from the beginning, which deals four times as much damage as the Goddess Sword itself. This is usually the best way to fight normal enemies from a safe distance.

Secondly you get to keep your collection, which was the main reason for me to farm items to begin with. And my collection is crazy. I got full 99 of each insect type and of 11 treasures. I didn't fully farm Eldin Ore, Ancient Flowers, Evil Crystals, Golden Skulls and Goddess Plumes, because there wasn't a real quick and effective way of farming those. However, I still got between 40 and 50 of each one of these. So, yeah, my collection is MASSIVE. This has two advantages. First of all you can now upgrade all items early, because you got all the necessary resources right from the start. The only remaining issue is money. However, Rupees aren't an issue at all, which is the second advantage. You certainly don't need so many insects and treasures, not at all, so you can sell them at night and make a lot of money. For example the Blue Bird Feathers are worth 100 Rupees. I collected 99 Bird Feathers, that's 9900 Rupees, which is the maximum your wallet could ever hold and more than enough to buy every last item. I'm not far into the game, but my equipment is already pretty impressive. I just got the Slingshot from the woods and the next thing I did was buying every single item from Beedle's Airshop except for the Piece of Heart (I need another Wallet Upgrade first). I got all three Extra Wallets, all three Adventure Pouch Expansion, the Life Medal (which might be a life savior), the Bug Net and the Bug Medal all at once. I also fully upgraded the Wooden Shield, the Slingshot, the Net and my first Seed Satchel, as well as my Heart and Revitalizing Potions.

When you first play the game you can't effort all this stuff for a long time. So, being able to buy all of it right away really feels great. I'm fully powered and ready for the first dungeon.