Ocarina of Time Race

[Colorful Arty]

This is an idea I had today that I would really like to try out. Would anyone be interested in doing a race to see who can complete The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time first? My idea is that we set up a session where we all play the game while talking with each other, we each record our own game footage, and then once it's over, I take all of the footage, put it on one screen, and upload it to Youtube.

This could be myself and 1-3 others trying to beat the game as fast as possible, or alternatively, I would also be interested in racing someone who hasn't beaten it before to see if they can beat the game before I can beat it 100%. If anyone is interested in this, PLEASE let me know, and I'd love to set up a session; I think it would be a ton of fun!

Also, I'm not talking about a hardcore speedrun exploiting crazy glitches like the Door of Time Skip or Wrong Warping; I'm thinking of a very casual race between people who aren't experts, but have beaten the game at least once before.

[Flopsy]

Seems like a good idea and didn't someone mention doing something like this with a Lemmings pack once before?

I'm interested in doing something like this myself but I have no interest in Ocarina of Time.

Also can't we race Sonic 3 and Knuckles instead?

[Nessy]

I'm so down for this

The only problem is that I might have to emulate the game on my computer as I don't have access to the original hard copy of the game right now and no capture card even if I did

[Colorful Arty]

Yeah Flopsy; Simon and geoo raced kieran's Lemmings 2 pack a while ago. If you want to start a separate topic for a Sonic race, that'd be sweet! I'm sure people would join that one and I'd love to watch it!

Nessy, if you have to emulate it; that should be fine if you're willing. It may lag a bit, but so does the N64 version.

[nin10doadict]

Sounds like a neat idea. Could even try randomizer seeds and give everyone the same randomized game to mix it up even more.

A downside for me is that I can't record more than 10 minutes at a time without having to reset the recording...

[Colorful Arty]

Doesn't the randomizer require you to be able to pull off the crazy glitches though? I don't even know how to pull off bomb hovering, let alone major skips like the Door of Time skip.

Also, is your 10 minute limit due to recording software? If so, OBS is free and has no limit to the length of footage you can record at once.

[nin10doadict]

My computer is too old to run OBS.
Edit: Scratch that, it works fine. Maybe I was remembering some other program I couldn't use, or maybe it's since been updated? Either way, looks promising...

The randomizer can be set up so that it forces a glitchless run to be possible. However, there is still the risk that key items could get put in really unpleasant places, such as behind the fishing minigame or the ten Big Poes...

[Flopsy]

Isn't a randomiser run not really a race though because it's not going to be equal for everyone, some people will get bad runs and some will get good runs?

I might start a S3&K race in a separate topic if there is interest but there's no point doing it right now while this topic is going.
Arty, you should join the S3&K race too because even though you haven't played the game, Nessy was able to beat it quite quickly on his first try.

[nin10doadict]

The point is to give everyone the same randomizer seed. The game will be randomized but it will be the same for everyone.

That all said, randomizers are better for people who are very experienced with the game in question and who know where everything is in vanilla. It's very easy to get stuck by having a key item that you need get placed in some obscure, easy-to-forget-about location.

I could try racing Sonic 3 as well... I've only played it a tiny bit and am horrible at Sonic games in general though.

[607]

I've never played Ocarina of Time, but this sounds like a fun idea. I don't think I could beat it blind, though. (certainly not in one sitting)

[Nessy]

nin10doadict is correct. Technically a randomizer run is equal for everyone if they use the same seed: the items will be switched up randomly but they will still be in their same random place for everyone using that same seed (correct me if I'm wrong). However you can always get the bad luck of going through all the trouble of completing a longer task (the 10 big poes for example) in order to get a random item that wasn't worth it at all while the other player got a more useful item with a shorter task. However, the player that got the useful item might check that same longer task item the other player completed already so it might still balance out. Regardless there will always be that bit of luck involved for everyone still.

I think we should keep it simple and just do a normal run. I think those types of runs can still be fun because there are still lots of glitchless tricks that causal players can do in order to go faster. Walking backwards is an extremely simple and good example. Thinking on the spot and quick planning are more complex yet very critical, glitchless ways to go faster. A player can think about what optional items are worth going out of their way for in order to get a good advantage. For example, if the player needs more hearts then what pieces of hearts can they get quickly? How many empty bottles are they willing to get to have multiple items in them for later on? It'll be interesting to see each player's thought process on that.

One last question though: how far is to far for a certain trick? Will it be a "whatever wasn't intended in the first place isn't allowed" or is there some wiggle room? Some things like getting the Golden Scale early is definitely a glitch, but there are some gray areas. For example is damage boosting with a bomb item in mid-air already going too far? Is crossing the Haunted Wasteland without the Lens Of Truth too much? Is taking a death on purpose to warp to the beginning of an area okay? These aren't as hardcore as wrong warping but they could help give an edge since this is essentially a race.

Anyway look forward to this

[Proxima]

I just posted in the Sonic race topic, so I'd feel bad if I ignored this topic completely.

I've never played any Zelda, and I've already decided how I'm going to make my debut. I have a short list of games I intend to LP when I have time -- and since I've just started a PGCE, that might not be for a while -- including A Link to the Past. I don't want to spoil the experience for myself, so I'm staying strictly away from Zelda until then.

All the same, I hope this race goes ahead and everyone has fun

[Colorful Arty]

So it looks like Nessy, nin10doadict, and myself are interested in this. Let's try finding a time that works for us all. It's going to have to be a weekend for me, since I work Mon-Fri and we'll need several hours for the race. Does Saturday the 22 work for you two?

[nin10doadict]

Saturday should be fine for me around 1 PM (9 PM UST).

Dunno if I want to play Ocarina of Time all in one sitting though... Even the vanilla game takes a while if you aren't using crazy speedrun tricks.
Then again, who's to say we have to do it all in one sitting? We could always break it up into multiple sessions if need be. Just save and quit, then pick it up later.

Should probably stick to the vanilla game first. The randomizer could be interesting, but it's very easy to get a seed that will get you stuck running around like a ninny for hours looking for that one thing you're missing.

[Colorful Arty]

I agree. We can probably break up the race into 2-3 sessions, unless people feel like going all the way. Of course, we should decide ahead of time how long we will be playing for so people aren't forced to quit at an inconvenient time.

I also would be totally up for doing a randomizer race later on.