Alundra
From SDA Knowledge Base
"Alundra (アランドラ Arandora), released in Europe as The Adventures of Alundra, is an action-adventure video game developed by Matrix Software for the Sony PlayStation and was released in 1997. It was published by Sony in Japan, Working Designs in North America, and Psygnosis in Europe. It won great critical acclaim for its bizarre story and smooth game mechanics. The game's protagonist is a young man named Alundra, who learns that he has the power to enter people's dreams. He is shipwrecked near the village of Inoa and proceeds to try to help the locals, who have been suffering from a terrible curse. The narrative becomes gradually darker and more twisted as the game progresses. There is an emphasis on puzzle solving." -:Wikipedia
Contents
Categories
WIP
Game Mechanics
Movement & Controls
Dashing
Dashing is the quickest way for Alundra to get around under normal circumstances.
A dash must initially "wind-up" by holding the dash button. Dashes must be wound up for at least 24 frames, after which the the player can dash in any of the four cardinal directions by holding that direction. The dash will continue until either the dash or the direction button is released, or if Alundra's path is obstructed. If either button is released Alundra will perform a skid for 16 frames during which time he is unresponsive to all player inputs with the exception of the dash-turn.
Dash-Turn
A dash-turn is executed by the player releasing the direction button while dashing to perform a skid, then pressing the new direction near the end of the skid. The window for this is 7 frames, starting on the 11th frame of the skid. When the second dash is activated Alundra keeps some of the original momentum giving a "drift" effect. This is most noticeable when a long dash is followed by a very short (e.g. 1 frame) dash. Mastering this technique is vital for getting around in Alundra as quickly as possible.
Bump-Jump
A bump-jump is performed by dash-turning just before a wall. When Alundra dashes into a wall he bumps backwards, gaining the same amount of height as a jump would in the same situation. (Therefore bump-jumping in sand without the Long Boots will gain as much heigh as jumping in sand without the Long Boots) If Alundra dashes towards a wall and dash-turns at the correct moment he will still collide with the wall because of the momentum from the previous dash. Alundra will then bump off the wall backwards according to his new direction, meaning he can bump perpendicular to or in the same direction as the original dash. It can be faster to bump-jump up a ledge or over a gap than to exit the dash normally and jump but as this is a very difficult trick and saves very little time it's only currently useful for TAS runs.
Skull Bash
Pressing the attack or jump button during a dash will activate a skull bash attack. This attack is notably more powerful than Alundra's starting weapon. One big use of this is the ability for Alundra to hit switches straight out of a dash. This is very noticeable in Wendell's dream as Alundra can do a a skull bash into a switch and be interrupted by a cutscene meaning the most of the skull bash animation (which is much the same as the skid animation) is skipped.
Other
Roulette
The Roulette is a minigame found in the Riverside Bar accessible after getting the Secret Pass from Lutas and Fein's house in Inoa Village after beating Magyscar. When the player play the game a flashing light will travel around a circle of coloured crystals before stopping on one. It consists of 16 crystals (5 green, 5 blue, 5 red and 1 black) and the player must guess which colour crystal the flashing light will land on. The flashing light will do several full circuits before stopping 6 to 10 spaces from its original starting position. The probability of each of landing on each of these 5 spaces appears to be equal and based on RNG (confirmation required).
It costs 5 gil to play and pays out triple that (15 gil) if the player wins. It can be played up to 4 more times row with the player gambling their winnings each time giving prizes of 45, 135, 405 and 1215 gil for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th consecutive win respectively. The first time the player wins 5 times consecutively (from this point called a "big win") they will receive a Life Vessel. The fourth time the player gets a big win they will win a Gilded Falcon. After the Gilded Falcon has been won the player will no longer be able to play the roulette.
Because the prizes include a Life Vessel and a Gilded Falcon getting four big wins on the roulette would be necessary for a 100% run. This would make a single segment 100% run of Alundra very frustrating as the player could spend several hours trying to get the big wins required.
Strategy for Winning
Step 0: Re-enter the roulette to reset.
Step 1: Bet GREEN.
Step 2: Bet RED. If you land on B1, go to Step 1.
Step 3: Bet GREEN.
Step 4: Bet RED.
Step 5: If on 10R then bet BLUE, otherwise bet GREEN.
This method makes the most of the fact that the distribution of colours around the wheel is not even. The bottom right of the roulette table contains 4 green crystals in the same giving a bet of GREEN while on R14 an 80% of winning and R15 a 60% chance of winning. This method maximises the number of times R14 and R15 are landed on.
Additional Information
Maps- Maps of many of the areas in Alundra from VGMaps.com.
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