I got all the items. Beat all the dungeons. Saw the custom bosses and left victorious.

And I have to say, I think playing this through was one of the most depressing things I've done in a little while.

Potential, that's the word of the day. The Randomizer games have one glaring, cancerous flaw, and that's missed potential. There's too much, and the game just isn't built for it. After a while, dungeon busting becomes a slog. And I don't even mean that in just a sheer, repetitious 'too much' sense, I mean it as in before even half the game is over, you have some many items and are so strong, absolutely NOTHING stands a chance against you anymore. What starts as a quest where you work with what you're given at the RNG's expense very quickly turns to a multi hour trudge, wading through enemies who simply cannot damage you, cycling items for seconds at a time to try and take out pol's voices, and lamenting the fact that I'm never, ever going to use this ball and chain over the sword, or any of the alternate swords over the main one except maybe the shotgun spread zweihander.

See, it's not TRULY random. You will ALWAYS end up extremely powerful before you touch a level 9. It's deliberately made so your power growth outpaces the game's by a LOT. I saw and thought the custom Ganon was cool. I liked the effort that went into the bonus bosses too. But they felt designed around a game where you weren't guaranteed ALL the best stuff. It felt like they were balanced around the fact that MAYBE somehow after getting 16 fairies and who knows how many other dungeons that didn't have them, players would still ONLY have the blue mail or maybe not have been fortunate enough to get a high tier weapon. It's easy, pointless grinding after a point.

And worse, why are games ever randomized? Replayabilty. The idea, on paper, is that this quest is different each run. This is not true, all that changes is how fast it is before you hit godmode. You ARE guaranteed godmode. It'd be much more meaningful if you couldn't have every single item in every run. It'd reinforce the "work with what you're given" mentality the final boss even lampshades. It would give us reason to fire it up every now and then when we just want some sort of a classic zelda fix but retain some element of surprise.

I feel like the randomizer idea has been tainted by overambition. Having an 80 dungeon quest sounds awesome, but not when it means that before even clearing 30 of them I'm unstoppable and no longer need to even try. The enemy cast just isn't built for the sort of potential the player so easily ends up with. The items themselves don't support it, with several clearly being tideovers and improvised weapons that only see use early on. There is nothing justifying their existence except just to be there to collect.

I think the next randomizer should... not be afraid to leave items out. It'd make for a much better game if only it was scaled back. 309 possible items, but only give us, say, 50 per run. 36 dungeons, give us 9 randomized from the four sets. Give us a reason to play and replay, discovering new dungeons and items on each new journey. Make me want to use the ball and chain. Give me the possibility to have only a wooden sword still on a 100% run, because there's enough in here that some other weapon I have WILL be adequate.

When the first quest in the Randomizer series came out, I snapped it up and played the hell out of it. It had some issues, but I still found it a fun experience. I ended up not really playing much of any of the later quests though since I’d admittedly gotten tired of the Zelda 1 overworld. So when Randomizer Outlands came out, I decided to give it a shot since I was never able to beat Challenge: Outlands because I am terrible at playing difficult Zelda games.

I’ll start off by saying this is a fun quest. Part of the fun was exploring the world of Challenge: Outlands dumbed down to levels that I can actually play, but I also had fun exploring the new content. The new dungeons don’t seem very out of place compared to the original Outlands dungeons (though it is a tiny bit noticeable who made what without looking at the map names) and there is far more spacing between dungeons here than there was in the original Randomizer overworld.

As far as the randomization, it seems far more likely for Link to not start off with the sword compared to Randomizer Classic, but it’s also far less likely for you to be completely boned if that happens because there is more weapon variety. In my playthrough, I started off with the Ball and Chain and got the Level 2 version of it almost immediately afterwards. So admittedly, I kinda got easy mode with enemy difficulty because of that. A bit of a downside to this though is that I’ve had almost no use for the sword, especially after I got 3 or 4 candle upgrades in a row. But that’s not a huge complaint or anything so much as it’s just how luck turned out for me with my exploration route.

But… while this is a fun quest, I don’t think it holds up as strongly as the original Randomizer (yes, the one that didn’t have custom items, boss keys, and stuff). Randomizer Outlands focuses far too much on being a collectithon. While some degree of it is expected in this particular series due to having to find the triforce pieces/tetra fairies, I feel that Randomizer Outlands takes it too far by forcing you to collect yet another type of key called Bait on top of the regular keys and boss keys, having dungeons absolutely filled with items (the average number of items per dungeon is 3-6 I think), having to revisit multiple dungeons because you need a specific item to kill a boss enemy and/or just to advance, and you end up with several inventory items that have no purpose at all once you get identical substitutes that are stronger like the slingshot vs. the bow & arrows. I think there is too much going on and the random nature of item placement works against it because of that.

I was having fun and managed to sink at least 10-12 hours into the quest, but the collectithon just dragged to the point where I lost the will to continue after getting 7 tetra fairies and realizing I was missing one, lens of truthing, bombing, burning, and playing music at the entire overworld in an attempt to see if I missed a dungeon, revisiting every dungeon I knew about and completing my item counts for those dungeons, and still not finding it. It did not help at all that early on I ran into several dungeons with the Gohma variation that required the magic wand… without the magic wand. I also have the problem of thinking I may have accidentally broken the item counters somehow and I dread having to comb through all of the dungeons manually to confirm that. So I gave up. It sucks that I had to give up, but I just couldn’t take it anymore.

For the next game in the series, I really think you need to consider revising the formula you have been using and condense things rather than going for adding more. Like maybe have 9-12 randomized dungeon entrances that go to random pre-made dungeons instead of 30-40+ static dungeon entrances that are all used at once. This way, there's potentially new dungeons to play on every playthrough and the player isn't overwhelmed by the number of dungeons in a single playthrough. Basically, I’m saying it’d be nice to change the focus from just finding items, which can make you super over-powered in late game, to finding dungeons a lot like the original spirit of The Legend of Zelda. You don’t need to have 300% of Link’s inventory or a huge number of dungeons to have a good time in a random adventure. If the problem is the subscreen having emptiness, you may want to consider making a custom one through scripting.

Also, please, please make an actual menu system for your options and seed entry instead of having tiles for the player to walk on. Making menus is really simple considering all the other stuff you’ve been shown capable of doing. It might also be nice to generate random seeds automatically from the get-go as the default so people can share seeds after playing a random layout.

In conclusion, I unfortunately have to give this quest a 3. I know a really significant amount of work went into it because this stuff definitely isn’t easy to do, but I legit feel that this is a weaker entry into the Randomizer series and I don't think it changes the formula from the older quests in a positive direction. It’s still definitely a fun play though.

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Edit: Staff contacted me an basically told me that I'd have to bump up my rating for all quests I have ever reviewed by one star. Note that this does not reflect my own opinion on the matter, or the quest, but just that it was something I was made required to do.
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Outlands Randomizer... completed at 288/300 5/9(?) item collection ratio. This will be more of a critique piece than a review. (Some spoilers present, stay clear if you don't want to be spoiled.)

Oh boy, where do I start with this? It's great, just like the previous randomizers. The fact that it takes the Zelda 1 hack Outlands and makes it a more enjoyable experience is great on it's own, but with the added randomization you get an additional layer of excitement, as you're never quite sure what you'll get. I was ready to give this a 5/5 after I got done whooping Ganon, but there are a few things holding this quest back from being as great as it could be.

First the simple stuff: The music. The quest features songs from various different games, and all of the tracks sound good and fit the areas they are in. However, the volume levels could use another looking over. A few of the tracks are almost impossible to hear unless I bring up the volume. (But doing so makes all the other tracks and sound effects loud.) And a very small amount of tracks are a tiny bit too loud. This may sound like nitpicking, but considering how little time it would take to fix this and how much more consistently pleasing the audio would be, I say it would be well worth it.

Another thing is the item graphics. It's hard to know if an upgrade is the final version of an item or not, and at the end of the game I had five different swords, without any easy way to tell which one would deal the most amount of damage. (Not that it matters since I used the hammer anyway, but, ya know.)

And now to the big one: The game drags out, and there were several points I wished it would just end. Nine times four dungeons, plus two extra final ones, that's a fair amount of levels. And it would have been a great ending point for the quest. By the time I reached the level 9's, I was so overpowered in gear that I didn't need to worry about dying at all. But then, the parallel world happens.

It's a great concept, and a fun surprise... until you get going. Four sets of nine levels again? That's insane. The parallel world is more modern in design, which is probably another nod to parallel world, seeing as that's an Z3 hack, compared to Outlands which is a Z1 hack. This could have been a great opportunity to make Z3 Parallel worlds inspired levels, instead we get revamped and heavily modified versions of the previous level set. While the ALBW references are nice, this whole thing just feels shitty.

By the point I started the parallel world I was nearly unkillable. Out of my 22 deaths in the run, only one happened after I got to the parallel world, and this is despite me using the fast forward button when making my way across the new world and dungeons. Not to mention, the death happened in the True Tree level, which is a post game bonus dungeon! (And I got glitched into a state of being unable to move.) Nothing was challenging about the parallel worlds: Combat went from easy to easier as I amassed all the items in the parallel worlds, dungeon puzzles were easier what with the more modern dungeon layouts. The magic key stops working in the parallel world, but since dungeon keys don't switch over to level specific... I already had a collection of over 30 keys when I got there. (And I found the new magic key fairly fast anyway.)

That's not to say that there weren't any good parts to the parallel world though. The "You broke it! Noooo"(Paraphrasing) level is one of the most genuinely funny levels I have had the pleasure to play. The True Tree level was amazing too... well not the level itself, as it was a chore. But it has one amazing thing at the end, that I really dig. Even though I knew exactly what it was as soon as it happened (having seen quite a few scripts in my days, etc.) it was still awesome. The remodelled overworld is also much more enjoyable to explore and has more interesting scenery.


But then, the quest gives you the sidequest from hell: Collecting every map and every dungeon compass in the game. It's optional and it only gives two items if you complete it. (And you can see what they are in advance.) But this side quest is a pain in the ass, and it is given halfway through the game, at which point you might have skipped the map or compass in a few levels. Have fun backtracking and figuring out which ones! If this sidequest was made known to the player at the start of the game, it would have been less of a pain in the ass, but I still don't think it's a great one. And keep in mind that this forces the player to complete all eight Final Outlands levels. As, opposed to the two you have to do regularly (one in Outlands and one in the parallel world). Some levels also don't even have compasses!


This quest turns into a collectors dream... and nightmare on the same time. There is really a reward for collecting everything. But that doesn't mean the reward is good, nor that it isn't a chore to go through it all.


I feel that Randomizer Outlands completely misses it's own point of existing. The high point of randomizing a game is that you can get some fairly interesting experiences, putting replay-ability in the forefront as the intended way of playing the game. But given the size of the quest, I'm unsure if I'm interested in replaying this quest at all! After a certain point it just feels like the items you get pad out the inventory, rather than providing a new avenue for fighting. The earlier sections of this quest is by far the better, as you have to adapt how you fight to what tools you get. But let's get real: I don't need five different swords that shot sword beams in different ways, I don't really need three rows of hearts, and I most certainly don't need an upgrade to Faroes wind! (I could go on...)


Ironically I think this quest would have been better with content being cut. One set of 9 levels + the extras in the parallel world would have been fine. But make them larger, more complex, and inspired by parallel worlds. Heck, even two sets, one ALBW and one Parallel worlds inspired would have been great. A cut down on the amount of items in the quest would have been for the better too. Maybe stop at the range of 200-250? A lot of the upgrades don't seem to matter after a certain point anyway. But hey, at least the quest ends at a high note. The final dungeon and boss fight was both creative and interesting. (Though, not challenging.)


Did I enjoy my time with Randomizer Outlands? Yes.
Would I recommend the quest to others? Yes.
Do I have any interested in replaying it? No.
Do I plan on 100% it for all the items? No.



Unrelated to the review, but here are a list of bugs/weird things I found:

• The exploding boomerang does not seem to explode when I throw it straight right into a wall.
• The brown hammer seems to be very buggy in regards to when it does, and when it does not open bombable walls.
• The later candle upgrades seem to be unable to melt the ice blocks found in some parallel dungeons, even though previous versions had no issues. (I Had to resort to wand + book magic to deal with it!)
• When there are Rune Sword sword beams in the air you're unable to throw the chakram, the opposite is not true.
• You can jump over lava tiles in the dungeons, but not in the overworld.
• There is an item in the parallel world overworld that lies out in the open between two rocks. (In the desert area, but you access it from the north.) The cave on the same screen is empty.
• The walkthrough trees on the regular overworld don't show up as fake with the lens of truth.
• LikeLikes don't actually seem to eat your bait, even though you were warned of this.

Is there a item list to see what everything does some where for these randomizers?

https://youtu.be/yzkcCxI5itM what doe sseed mean?

I hope this isn't interpreted too badly, because I don't mean to knock on the effort that was put into making this.

I feel kinda bad about this because I loved the other randomizer quests but the graphics for this are just distractingly bad for me. The sprites and icons having outlines on them make everything look too squished, and I sometimes have a hard time trying to make out what things are supposed to be, even though I recognize them based on movement patterns and such. The item graphics seem muddled and the sprites are all so busy-looking and bright it actually bothers my eyes a bit playing this. I picked up that blue blob item that's shown in the first screenshot, and it's really fun to use, but I can't make out what it is. At first I thought it was a magic lantern, but it also kinda looks like a white glove getting ready to squish a fairy. The sound effects aren't terrible, but definitely feel like a step down based on the original game. They feel a little too muted compared to the original, louder sound effects you would hear in the normal game.

I'm not against the idea of a graphical makeover, and I'm not really sure what I would do even if I were capable of doing graphical art myself, but I hope it's toned back a bit if the creator decides to make another randomizer.

I really dig this part: https://www.youtube....h?v=XAGlpcxbhsU
;P

Level T - no exit ? Startet in room with Manhadla , room with treasurebox has no exit

Edit : ok there IS an Exit ( walkthrough wall in room with Treasure Box Counter ... very tricky)

Hm ... i found a swich stating "Parallel worlds, confirm download" ... but what happend ?