I finished the game like a week ago and am replaying it in hero mode but I have changed it slightly...

In Hero mode:

• You receive double the damage from enemy attacks.
• Hearts and Heart flowers will not appear AT ALL unless you hold a heart medal.
• Bugs and treasures carry over from your previous save.
• When you first obtain the Goddess sword, it will charge as quickly as it did when you had the master sword on your previous save.

Now what I changed...

In my Ultimate Hero Mode:

• Double damage
• No pouch items allowed (Only bottle when you need it)
• No shield
• Only one bottle and you can only use it when you have to to advance in the story otherwise it is forbidden
• No Heart containers and Heart peices.

This challenge is  extremely HARD. I have died over 70 times.

Currently, I'm close to the end.

*SPOILERS*

I'm at the Sky Keep. The third battle against the imprisoned killed me about 5 times. My hardest moment was just before you help the Thunder Dragon when you are transporting the timeshift stone to him and you have to go through all those electric bokoblins, beamos, deku babas and those spike balls that move from right to left quickly. It's hard because you have 3 hits until you die. I died 10 times there...

Anyways, try the challenge... IF YOU DARE!!

I also tend to dislike the Imprisoned in general. Thankfully the third fight comes up next according to the guide, then i can focus on the hero's song and exploring some sidequests

Nothing beats that musical note crap the Water Dragon put you through.

Just did that like an hour ago on hero mode. I tried to do it without using the dowsing ability. I drowned 2 times...

The Imprisoned Fights are a lot easier when you attack him vertically. First one: attack him from above. Second one: get above him, stun, attack from above. Third one: this shouldn't be a problem in the first place.

Things I hate about Skyward Sword:
- Unskippable text... goddamit why did you do this Nintendo!

Things I dislike about Skyward Sword:
- Unskippable cutscenes on Hero mode (some become skippable, mostly establishing fly-by shots of new areas)
- Forced help in Hero mode (maybe half a dozen instances where Fi pops up to tell you what to do even though you obviously already know, and 2 or 3 times when another NPC stops you, and doesn't let you ignore them)

Things that could be better in Skyward Sword:
- Why Nintendo didn't just use the IR pointer instead of cocking about trying to prove it's possible to point without it I don't know... sure it works, but it takes more getting used to and is generally less intuitive even after you get used to it.


Otherwise I'm good, I generally don't have many complaints about actual gameplay experiences, I still enjoyed collecting the Water dragons song part, and I like flying around skyloft. Then again I loved sailing in WindWaker but many people find it dull.

Can you get straight to hammering in the spike by jumping on top of him? Don't know why I never thought of that.

Yeah. The first time you fight him? I never realized you could attack his toes. I went into full-on Shadow of the Colossus mode. He bucks you off if you take too long. In the first one it's easy to time it right (takes him forever to notice you're there), but in the second fight you should stun him just before you make the leap.

First time I fought his second form I was trying to hit his toes without using the grooseinator, took me ages because he makes a much bigger shockwave from his feet.

You can do it even then if you use the Skyward Strike from a ways in front of him - horizontal Skyward Strikes, if placed right, will just mess his feets right up.