Zelda ALttPR: Retrance (seed generated and played 2025-01-11)

Maybe because the daily challenge for Christmas was one (though with Pedestal goal, Beatable accessibility, Vanilla swords, boss shuffle, Hard item pool, and some very nasty placement that made most swords unobtainable and forced multiple Trinexx fights, after Kholdstare on ice without the Fire Rod) I'm kind of feeling Retrance, so let's do that!

At its most basic, the Randomizer shuffles non-dungeon items around all over the game. In previous streams, we've also seen some of the more extensive options for changing things up, including Keysanity (keys are shuffled beyond their dungeons), Inverted (the Light and Dark Worlds have flipped functionality), and Enemizer (enemies and bosses are randomized).

So, what's Retrance? It's a mashup of Retro (which adds some Zelda 1-like mechanics such as a rupee-powered bow and universal keys) with Entrance Shuffle (building and cave entrances are scrambled). We'll be using the Crossed Entrance Shuffle setting specifically, which allows indoor locations with multiple exits to connect both worlds.

The two modes actually play fairly well together, with Retro's universal keys meaning locked doors aren't a problem if you have the money to buy more keys (not always a given, though money is easier to come by than usual) and giving sort of a Crosskeys-like effect, while the shuffled entrances mean you're poking your head in everywhere anyway so looking for Retro's dangerous-to-go-along-take-this sword and potion/heart pick-any caves isn't such a chore.

We're going to be taking notes for this one. I've tried, and even eventually succeeded in, playing an Entrance Randomizer seed without writing anything down before, but it's far too easy to forget where things are, and there's no reason to drag things out unnecessarily. That said, Entrance Shuffle does feel like it has a certain extra puzzle solving aspect to it that appeals to me.

The rest of the settings are the defaults: 7/7 Defeat Ganon, Randomized sword placement, 100% Inventory accessibility, and none of the other weird stuff.

Well, except maybe an MSU pack. I'm thinking I might change up the music just because the option is there and I've figured out how to get it to work. That doesn't affect the gameplay any, though.

- - -

Turns out that's not the BS Zelda girl (who has a red ponytail and no hat), but "Link Redrawn" by Spiffy. Something about the sprite just says "girl" to me, but then again, Link IS known for being androgynously pretty.

As noted during the stream, the music used came from Chrono Trigger, with remastered instrumentation. The MSU-1 pack is called "Chrono Trigger (Synthetic Origins version)" by bdjeffyp, with music by Yasunori Mitsuda/Nobuo Uematsu and instruments remastered by Mathew Valente.

And for the curious, the spoiler log says the last sword was in the Skull Woods compass chest.

Come to think of it, I meant to talk about the Christmas daily challenge seed during the slower parts of this. Basically, Vanilla Swords plus Pedestal Goal meant the only swords in the game were on uncle, blacksmith, and pyramid faerie. Uncle was in his usual place, so that one was easy enough to get, but the others?

Blacksmith (except in Inverted) always requires Titan's Mitts. Pyramid Faerie was in the Mire area, which (with no connectors there and not being Inverted) also required Mitts. And the Cane of Somaria was in hype cave, which was also in the Mire area and therefore required Mitts.

This is important because the Mitts were on Turtle Rock laser bridge, and that entrance went nowhere, so you had to get there through the dungeon. Which means you needed the Cane. Which was locked behind the Mitts. No sword upgrades for you unless you can hover through the dungeon or overworld glitch into the swamp!

And the Fire Rod was behind Kholdstare in the frozen boss room in Ganon's Tower basement, so that meant fighting that battle on ice with no Fire Rod and no advanced sword. And after that, you had to fight Trinexx twice to get pendants. Which frankly almost felt easy after that Kholdstare fight.

Anyway! That's the kind of nonsense Beatable accessibility can result in.