Hello and welcome to the first new installment of Randomizer Thoughts! Where we unravel the mysteries and complexities of Zelda randomizers and discuss what’s new in the world of randomizers. This week, we’re diving in to the first thing most people will see when they begin their randomizer journey: the settings menu. From there, we also have an update on Season 3 of SpeedGaming‘s Link to the Past Randomizer Invitational, and our first ever official Zelda Dungeon Randomizer seed!

A little perplexed on what randomizers even are? No fret! We got you with our Randomizer FAQ released prior. Feel free to look that over before we begin. Now, without further ado, let’s get started.

 

Choosing the Settings Right for You

Our primary topic today is talking about the actual randomizer settings. Typically the settings menu is not exactly the peak of entertainment value, but it’s the first real step in a randomizer run, and surprising number of people find their first runs rather ruined by not realizing just how much a single option can change. While a ridiculous run where nearly everything is shuffled sounds like a fun chaotic time, it’s quite easy to get discouraged as you realize critical items could be locked behind a far and out Skulltula or in a completely innocuous grotto that normally just drops 5 rupees.

In trying to understand all the different ways to randomize, it’s best to start with learning the different major presets, so let’s cover those to begin with.

Beginner – Most randomizers have this as a pre-arranged setting, and typically most of the time, this does a shuffle of only major item locations and will typically only require the most minimum of things to get through the game. As one can imagine, this is intended to help people learn the ropes and get into that randomizer mindset.

Swordless/Songless – The default setting of most randomizers is to automatically give you your sword and instrument at the very beginning of the game since you aren’t going through any tutorials, but one can opt to have both the sword and instrument (And songs if you so desire) thrown into the mix of items as well. This usually means extended use of alternate combat tactics like Deku Sticks in the N64 titles, dropped weapons in Wind Waker, and thrown items in A Link to the Past.

Insanity – This covers a couple of different modes, those being Keysanity, Tokensanity, and Shopsanity. Essentially, each of these adds in a large number of items that force quite a bit effort in seeking things out. Keysanity throws in all the small keys from the dungeons of the game, preventing linear progression through dungeons. Tokensanity, featured in the N64 games, throws in Skulltula tokens to the mix meaning that Skulltulas can potentially hold progression items. This one in particular is painful and really is never used in competitive. Finally, Shopsanity puts shop items into the item pool, significantly increasing the odds of dummy items in chests, but potentially meaning major items can be bought for next to nothing.

Triforce Hunt – Available in a couple randomizers as a brand new feature, Triforce Hunt adds in a new requirement to the game of having to locate several shards of the Triforce of Courage, like in Wind Waker. These Triforce shards supplant the vanilla requirements to beat the game typically, and make for a very different experience of having checkpoints to reach instead of the usual progression of defeating bosses to get medallions, masks, crystals, etc.

Entrance Shuffle – This setting makes it so dungeon entrances can potentially lead to any dungeon in the game. Some randomizers include even more complex options of having numerous entrances lead to all sorts of things. I.E. Deku Tree’s door might take you to the Happy Mask Salesman Shop, a random grotto could take you to the Fire Temple. Be careful with this one, it can get very confusing quickly.

Some of the more minor options include

  • Enemizer – This setting shuffles enemies around so you may run into Redeads in Hyrule Field and Beamos in the Lost Woods.
  • Boss Shuffle – Only available in 2D games typically, this shuffles bosses around amongst each other.
  • Traps – This setting will turn several chests into harmful traps, forcing you to have to pay attention to the shape of the chest you’re opening.
  • Hints – This setting allows various items in the game such as Gossip Stones to drop hints of where items are at. Typically only used in Blind play.
  • Handicapped/Hard Mode – Via modding, enemies can be made to do fractional or extra damage to raise or lower the difficulty.
  • Dialogue Shuffle – An amusing shuffle that shuffles all dialogue in the game so characters say ridiculous nonsensical things. Mostly just for giggles though it does make shopping kind of a pain.
  • Cosmetic Swap – Another just for giggles setting, most randomizers allow you to either select or shuffle the model and color used for Link, allowing you to play as a rainbow of other characters instead. My favorite is playing as a Postbox in Wind Waker.

Hopefully now armed with exactly what all the various settings change, you can work towards creating a perfect randomizer run for yourself. Always bear in mind that every single item you add to the pool will inherently add more time to the run, and the game will inherently be harder since you’re not following the typical progression and especially if you’re racing, won’t have much time to pick up any health increases. If you find yourself frustrated, don’t be afraid to quit and reshuffle with different settings. It can take a little while to figure out what’s fun for you.

 

League Update

Next up, we have some news from the world of Randomizer Leagues, a community of folks who specialize in streamed one on one matches through the race format of randomizers.

Currently in full swing is Season 3 of SpeedGaming‘s A Link to the Past Randomizer Tournament. This last week was the 5th week of the competition, with the seed themed as Mystery. Players essentially were running double blind, having no access to the spoiler log and having no idea what the conditions for the seed were in the first place, lending to a rather frantic and grasp-in-the-dark style of play.

Within the Invitational tournament, the start of the week within the Light World Conference saw teams “PugTrio” and “The 2019 Titan’s Mitts of 2019” tied for leading the Kakariko Division, and “Last Locationers” leading the Lost Woods division, all with 21 points and 7 wins across the board. Over in the Dark World Conference, team “Shaktool’s Digging Game” holds the lead in the Misery Mire Division with 21 points and 7 wins, while “Phendrana Drifters” leads the Skull Woods Division with 24 points and 8 wins to their name.

This upcoming week will be seeing All Dungeons-Keysanity seeds presented to the teams, forcing players to complete all the dungeons in the game with small keys scattered across the entire map of the game. With many of the scores pretty tight in the upper margins of all the divisions, it will be interesting to see how they’ll be going into the final weeks of the wider divisions. We’ll have the results of Weeks 6 and 7 next time. To see the matches live throughout the week, check out the tournament’s schedule on SpeedGaming’s Twitch, and see the players and current standings on the A Link to the Past Randomizer League’s website.

 

Zelda Dungeon Seed #001 (Keeping it Easy)

Finally, we have our first ever official Zelda Dungeon Randomizer seed! Essentially, using the seed provided here, you can receive the same exact randomization as anyone else who uses the seed. This allows for both potential discussion of the contents of the seed among others and an opportunity for the particular run to be quality checked beforehand to ensure it’s fun and engaging and meets certain themes. I will be alternating between Blind and Race seeds, so there will be one of each, each month! Race seeds will also come with a Zelda Dungeon time (set by yours truly) to try and beat.

This week, we’ll be doing our first Blind seed! This is a beginner seed designed to ease people into the idea of randomizer runs, featuring the most popular Zelda game of all, Ocarina of Time! The settings are set to be fairly simple, but there are a couple little twists included for some fun along the way.

In order to play the seed, you’ll need to go to this link right here and submit your Rom into the randomizer. Note, that it will need to be clean copy of Ocarina of Time in order to work. From there, it should just take a couple minutes to patch the rom and then download. From there, stick it into your preferred method of play and have fun! Submit stories and screenshots of your most bizarre experiences and achievements, and you might be featured in next month’s Randomizer Thoughts!

A couple hints for your run!

  • The Kokiri Sword, Fairy Ocarina, Master Sword, Weird Egg, and Zelda’s Letter are not shuffled
  • Pay attention to what some NPCs say and you might be able to save some time
  • You will need all 5 Medallions to get to Ganon’s Castle. No Spiritual Stones are Required.
  • The Medallion and Stones are shuffled though.
  • The Door of Time, Zora’s Domain, Kokiri Forest, and Jabu Jabu begin as opened.
  • You begin the game with Epona already. Just play Epona’s Song and she’ll come.
  • Make sure to check the shops if you’re feeling stumped.
  • Most Gossip Stones have hints about item locations!

That’s all for now, but check in next time where we’ll be talking about casual vs. competitive randomizer play!

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