rynling: (Needs More Zelda)
Rynling R&D ([personal profile] rynling) wrote2016-06-27 04:19 pm
Entry tags:

A Link Between Worlds, Hero Mode

I started replaying A Link Between Worlds on the plane home from Tokyo, and I just finished it yesterday evening. This time around I played it in Hero Mode, which I've never attempted before. It wasn't that difficult, but the beginning was full of quick and dirty deaths because three-heart Link goes down with only one hit.

Unlike Ocarina of Time, there isn't anything substantially different in the Hero Mode of A Link Between Worlds. Link takes double damage, of course, and at the end he can fight the old man in Kakariko Village who handles the Street Pass challenges. In addition, there's a short diary in Ravio's house, which doesn't contain any interesting information aside from the fact that Ravio debated with himself for three days before leaving Lorule. This unfortunately doesn't answer many questions, such as what precipitated this decision or how long Lorule has been in decline.

Interestingly enough, there is a "philosopher" in Lorule who serves as the counterpart to the "priest" in Hyrule. If Link uses his lantern to light the torch in the philosopher's cave, this is what he says:

Ah, light...! How long has it been since I knew such comfort? Three years...? Or an eternity...? The world outside has long darkened with the menace of the masked. *sigh* What is a little light against the rising dark? No one honors the gods anymore. So beware, child. The end is at hand.

This is interesting, because it means...

...actually you know what, I don't think anyone cares what a paragraph of stupid throwaway flavor text means, Plato references aside.

I think it might be time to take a break from the Zelda series.