We’ve mentioned Breath of the Wild’s Hero’s Path mode on these pages before. Having nothing better to do, since Nintendo has yet to release the sequel to BOTW – when? when? – today we explore the topic in more detail.
Available with the Master Trials expansion, Hero’s Path mode displays, on a map of Hyrule, Link’s travels over the past 200 hours of play.[1] The resulting trail is sketched in green. To review the path is like cuing up a DVR recording, or a VCR if you’re old enough to remember those: You can skip the commercials and just enjoy the show. To further the analogy, the commercials in BOTW could be considered the actual trudging and climbing and fighting of enemies en route to a shrine; the recorded show is the green line that unfolds to illustrate Link’s route to said shrine.
Sometimes the line goes this way, then that, perhaps in a circle; occasionally the hero disappears entirely, starts somewhere else, and the green line begins anew. As the journey unfolds, the map becomes crisscrossed with more and more green. Occasionally, a sad little red X appears to indicate the hero’s demise.
One can move the show forward faster or slower, just as with a DVR. It’s also possible to pause at a given point, although pausing doesn’t allow switching from Hero’s Path to live action in the same fashion that one can jump into a movie in progress while using a DVR. (Now, THAT would be a feature! Nintendo, are you listening? Players could relive not only the path to destruction but the actual destruction itself! “Say, Itzal, let’s cue up July 2, 4 pm; according to the Hero’s Path, it looks like we were avoiding flying Guardians, but it all ended in a Red X, let’s see what we did wrong –” “This is not like watching football training films, Demelza!”)
Since Hero’s Path mode traces only the last 200 hours, time played in excess of that amount results in older activity dropping off in favor of more recent. For players our age – ahem – this is rather like real life memories…
If you’re a speedrunner, you might not have more than a couple hours’ play to review, unless you’re perfecting your speedrun to shave off that last five vanity seconds. For us? Oh, we had 200 hours and then some. Had we known about Hero’s Path earlier, perhaps we would have explored more expeditiously so we could watch the heroic map-show from its wondrous beginning on the Isolated Plateau to its satisfying conclusion on Hyrule Field. But alas, our Hero’s Path commences well into the middle of our adventure: We know this because our green line begins at Tarrey Town, while in real life – er, make that in real gaming life – we didn’t visit the future locale of Tarrey Town until we had many days’ play under our belt.
Nonetheless, we recently enjoyed hitting the play button on Hero’s Mode. Our takeaways:
- Demelza spent entirely too much time hunting crickets and lizards.
- Itzal assiduously avoided Lynels or died when not assiduously avoiding Lynels.
- Demelza spent entirely too much time with the Amiibos.
- Itzal assiduously avoided Eldin region.
- Demelza spent entirely too much time visiting the Great Fairy Fountains.
- Itzal assiduously avoided Eventide Island until it was the last shrine standing.
- Demelza spent entirely too much time chasing down Teli, the wandering salesman who sells ancient cores only when the weather is inclement. (The Hero’s Path provided an excellent visual report of weather past.)
- Itzal assiduously avoided the Yiga Clan hideout until Demelza found a cheat.
- Demelza spent entirely too much time researching cheats.[2]
- Itzal assiduously avoided Hyrule Castle, until there was nothing left to do but Hyrule Castle after assiduously avoiding everything else.
We could go on, and generally we do; but suffice it to say that Itzal avoided many things whilst Demelza spent entirely too much time on others.[3] Indeed, it is easy to tell who was wielding the controllers at any given time, based on where the Hero’s Path is putting down green lines. That verdant swath around Lurelin Village? Oh, that was all Demelza. Those great empty spaces in the Hebra and Eldin Regions? All Itzal.
Before writing this post, we[4] did some Googling of the Hero’s Path mode to see what others were saying (or likely said four or five years ago, since we are so late to the game). And in doing so, we discovered yet another subset of player, kin to the speedrunner, which both amazes us and befuddles us: players endeavoring to achieve a “linear” green Hero’s Path, from start to finish, with no red Xs, no reloading of save files, and no warping. We found Internet forums and Reddit threads devoted to the topic, in which players bemoaned the linear path’s impossibility, because certain actions, such as when battling Divine Beasts or Ganon, perforce warp Link elsewhere.
Where to begin? Our path was not only not linear, it was twisting and serpentine, tortuous and tortured, meandering and errant. And often repetitive, which accounts for a triangle rivaling Bermuda’s with Dah Hesho, Tarrey Town, and the Great Fairy Mija as vertices.
We can see where we waited, in vain, for Naydra the dragon to show up. We can see ourselves following Oaki, time and time again, in the Lost Pilgrimage quest.
We can see where we took off for Eventide Island, then discovered that our carefully cached items on the raft rolled off into the sea and we had to start again.
We shall make no comment on the red Xs that may or may not litter our Path. The reader would be wise to remain similarly mum on this topic.
In short, had we aspired to a linear path, it would be akin to storming Hyrule Castle in our underwear and with similar chance of success. We are neither speedrunners nor, we must now conclude based on the evidence, linear pathers.
We are, however, enjoying a Midori Margarita as we contemplate the verdant green of our Hero’s Path. (Demelza considered garnishing the drink with a maraschino cherry, to commemorate the occasional red X, but thought better of it.)
[1] According to our research (okay, Demelza’s), time spent in shrines and Divine Beasts does not count against the 200 hours. We cannot absolutely verify this on our own, except to say that if time spent in shrines and Divine Beasts counted against the total, our Hero’s Path would be sorely truncated. Ergo, we believe it to be the case. (Itzal also wonders if this footnote is some veiled criticism of his playing skills.) (Demelza is silent.)
[2] True, one must infer this from the photographic evidence, but trust us: Demelza researched a lot of cheats.
[3] It might be said that Itzal spent entirely too much time making cocktails and Demelza assiduously avoided brown liquor while this was happening, and here there is other photographic evidence on our recipes pages.
[4] And, it probably goes without saying but here we are saying it, “we” means Demelza.