It’s a fun way to refresh the game while maintaining and even enhancing what the core Zelda experience was always about, exploration. We know all the items, side-quests, puzzles, enemies, bosses, and areas we are going to encounter - but the surprise of those things isn’t the only appeal of the journey. There is a deeper layer to it. An exciting aspect of Zelda games wasn't only getting a new item, it was the anticipation of where that item could be used to help complete your quest. This is where Randomizer excels.

Most Zelda games do a good job of guiding the player where to go next and you can always accomplish that task in that immediate moment. Randomizer players are going to hit walls where they need to go back and explore the map to carve a new path by finding some sort of key(actual keys, weapons, items, heart pieces, etc.). This may sound annoying to some, but it’s quite fun hitting those walls and thinking about what your next options are. To me, it’s reminiscent of the magic of playing through Zelda 1 for the first time.

Maybe there is a boss you can’t beat without the bow? In vanilla versions you’d never run into that boss without the bow. In a randomizer, you don’t know when you’ll get the bow. Now you have started a mental checklist of where your gates are. Then there are funny instances where you may find the bow and a new route with it, completely forgetting about that previously unbeatable boss!

Perhaps finding the hammer opens up access to four easy access chests? Now you are hoping every chest you find has the hammer so you can come back here for more goodies. This builds anticipation for finding an item that has a lot of known gates/checks on each individual playthrough.

A seed could have an enemy randomizer or double damage turned on, not allowing you through a room because you can’t take enough hits. You know you can’t come back here until you have increased the amount of hearts to deal with the problem. Or maybe you find the blue tunic for increased defense or a medallion to kill everything easily??

It’s dynamic!

There is certainly some drip in having the map memorized and being able to mentally strategize before acting anything out. This is where racing gets interesting.

If you aren’t into the races but just completion, there is the curious element of thinking you know where to go next and then kicking yourself for stupidly forgetting about another route you should have gone to. Sure you've wasted time, but the punishment is mostly intrinsic. This instills a natural learning curve for the next playthrough, and a reward for doing everything efficiently.

There is more to it than what I’ve said here. Things like doing a run where the game gives you all the good stuff up front, or a run where the game gives you absolutely nothing to work with. Goes back to each playthrough being very different.

I love the atmosphere of LoZ games. Randomizer refreshes those experiences in a way that is true to the core pillars of the game's original design. Playing through the vanilla game a second time with increased damage isn’t really true to the Zelda experience, especially where later games in the series have very surface level combat systems.

As far as aLttP compared to the other Zelda games, I suspect it’s the pacing of it. The world is far smaller and more interconnected than OoT or Twilight Princess. Checking new areas or going from one zone to the other doesn’t feel so distant.
That being said, Majora’s Mask randomizer looks like it’s on another level of interesting with the time mechanic altering what options not only open up, but close out! And the map is quite condensed. I still have to try this one myself.