Welcome, once again, to another episode of this The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Randomizer LP. We're three episodes in now, so if you're just joining us I'd highly recommended starting here, or using the table at the end of the blog to catch up with this playthrough as well as learn more about what a randomized Zelda game entails.
When we last left him, Garflink had found what seemed like half his arsenal already and had almost fully explored the first dungeon of the game - the Eastern Palace - before getting stymied by the lack of a bow. Instead, we're going to check out the other two dungeons in the Light World and hope this remarkable lucky streak holds out. Which it should, unless I decided to start updating on Mondays...
Before heading to the Desert Temple to the southwest, I decided to explore the overworld a bit more. You really can't leave any stone unturned in a randomizer run: any old cave or box can hold a story-vital artifact.Talking of turning stones, our profound fortuitousness strikes again with the recovery of the Power Glove!
Side-Note: The Power Glove is capable of moving heavy objects and lifting the light grey rocks; the latter being the more common use for the item. The Power Glove is perhaps one of the most handy (so to speak) items to pick up at this part of the game, not only because it's the item normally found in the Desert Palace - meaning we can now complete that dungeon - but it's also needed to reach a lot of bonus treasure rooms and alternative routes. And, yes, I love the Power Glove because it's so bad.
The "Garfield wants to sing and gets pelted with crap instead" recurring set-up always seemed out of character to me. Not as unusual as a shoe going "Kachung!" though.
We still have the rest of this ornery man's precious treasures to steal, so let's get to it. Next, this ridiculous amount of money that I have nothing to spend on.Oh hey, our first quiver upgrade. Not that I have a bow yet, but...Ah, nuts. That's going to do it for this secret area, I guess. More exploring!I took a detour over here, taking the south route around Lake Hyrule. I think I'm supposed to get one of the rods here?Instead, I get a full heart container, which I think on the whole I'd probably prefer.Aha, our first chance to visit the Dark World. Brace yourselves.Wow, the creators of this sprite edit thought of everything.
Side-Note: So, a quick primer on how the Dark World works in case you're unaware or forgot - The Dark World is where most of the game's content is found, and can be first accessed on Death Mountain after obtaining the Magic Mirror from the lost old man. However, without the Moon Pearl treasure in his possession, Link transforms into a reflection of his true nature: in the old game, that was a pink rabbit, but here's its our good friend Odie (which raises all sorts of Garfield lore questions, frankly). In his transformed state, Garflink can't use any weapons or items and thus cannot explore effectively. You also need the Magic Mirror to move back and forth between worlds, which can occasionally give you access to some helpful items if you use it in the right places.
To summarize: You need the Moon Pearl or the Magic Mirror to do much of anything in the Dark World. Currently, I don't have either.
I also can't leave the above enclosure, so instead I took a quick glance at the Dark World map before saving, quitting, and restarting from a Light World respawn point. It looks like the Pendant of Power is now in the Palace of Darkness to the east, while the Pendant of Wisdom is in Misery Mire to the southwest. I really hope I don't have to complete Misery Mire to get the Master Sword. It's not a nice place for a low-level hero. (Coincidentally enough: Thieves' Town, Ice Palace, and Turtle Rock all have their right treasures.)I might as well get started setting up the Ice Palace while I'm passing through.This underground sluice gate business actually has two treasures for me. One's in this chest, though it ends up being more rupees.And the other, which is normally a piece of heart, is revealed when the water subsides. Instead, I'm being mocked again.
Oh hey there Lyman. So this is where you ended up, huh?In the desert, I find another secret cave with a heart piece inside. This was probably a heart piece to begin with though. That brings our current total up to two and overall total up to six.Passing through the desert, I couldn't help but notice the Fire Rod just sitting out in the open like it belongs there. It does not. However, I'll need to make it into the Desert Palace before I can reach it.And to get into the Desert Palace I'll need... right, the Book of Mudora. I suppose I should check to see if it's in the library. South Kakariko village is full of silly mini-games, including this one where you're supposed to run through a maze as quickly as possible. You ideally need the Pegasus Boots here, but it's doable without them. This is another heart piece that didn't get randomized - or, more likely, it's a heart piece that was taken from somewhere else. At any rate, that brings us up to three pieces currently and seven pieces total.I played this shell game for a bit, before realizing that there's no heart piece (or randomized equivalent) to earn here. You simply earn one of three sets of rupees: less than the pay-in, equal to the pay-in, and more than the pay-in. Waste of time for me and my plenteous cash reserves.AH! The Moon Pearl! That's... that's something I'm really, really going to need soon. Well, it's good to know where it is, even if I can't reach it without the Pegasus Boots. Hopefully I find those soon.All right, so Desert Palace is a bust for right now. Before heading to Death Mountain, I wanted to take a quick detour to the Zora Domain to see if I can acquire something useful from their King.Aaaand I just spent 500 rupees on a batch of 100 rupees. Great. Thanks a lot, Your Highness.Death Mountain is accessed through this cave, but only once you've found the Power Glove. At least something went right for me this episode.Unfortunately, it's not easy to locate the path through this dark cave without the lantern. The hookshot and sword at the best means of tracking my progress through here, but some joker put pits everywhere for me to walk into. What is this, Shadowgate?Ahhh, fresh air. I won't bore you with the details of how long it took to get through there. Seriously, nobody needs to know that.So I think we'll end this episode here at the Mountain Cave. The game's kind enough to turn this place into the third respawn location, along with Garflink's House and the Sanctuary, so I won't have to feel my way through "Oops, All Pits Cave" again. We also obtained another piece of heart (though the Magic Mirror, which I'd normally obtain here, would've been better) so that grants us another full container. Sweet!
All right, let's recap this episode:
Despite some bad luck we managed to obtain the Power Glove as well as another two heart containers, so it's not a total wash. We also have our first quiver upgrade, of seven.
However, we'll run into some dire problems soon if we don't locate the following: the Pegasus Boots, required for obtaining the Moon Pearl from the Kakariko library which in turn will open up the Dark World to us; the Bow, needed for completing the Eastern Palace, which will grant us an item from Sahasrahla (normally the Pegasus Boots, but it seems unwise to bank on that happening here); or the Book of Mudora, required for entering the Desert Palace which will guarantee us the Fire Rod if nothing else (and I could use a light source). I'm hoping at least one of these items will be found somewhere on Death Mountain, or in its dungeon the Tower of Hera.
We'll also get an item from the sick boy in Kakariko Village if we show him a bottle. Given that there's four bottles in the game it's weird that we haven't come across one yet. Also, if I find the Zora Flippers or the Titan's Mitt I'll have the means to find more optional treasure rooms hidden across the Light World's overworld.
Even though we're three episodes in, we actually have yet to complete a dungeon. However, given that I've found two full heart containers in the wild so far and seen a couple more, I can reasonably surmise that the rewards for defeating bosses have also been randomized. In which case, that's three more opportunities to grab some necessary items before I run into a brick wall with this playthrough.
Next Time, on A Randomized Link to the Past: It's time for Broke Cat Mountain. We're Pegasus Boots or bust for this next episode, and we've only a few places left to check. I'm sure the randomizer wouldn't make this game unwinnable, would it...?
