Reset to Initial State vs Variables

I have a slide that contains several buttons that each display a different layer and then launch to different groups of slides. My original problem was that when the user was re-routed back to the main slide (with the buttons), the last viewed layer would display instead of the Base Layer. In reading the online resources, I learned to reset the slide's Properties to "reset to initial state" when revisiting...

Now, after reading more, I think that I may need to track visits to each button's contents with variables/conditions, so users can see which button(s) they already visited when they return to the main slide (with the buttons).

So my question is: Since I already "reset (the slide) to initial state" (so the Base Layer will always display), will setting up variables/conditions trump the "reset to initial state" setting? If not, how do I get the slide to always show the Base Layer AND track the visits with variables/conditions?

Thank you in advance for your help!