Early Barrier break FAQ/information

I'm putting this together as there are bound to be questions about the new information regarding the barrier in The Wind Waker.

Q: What is this about? Was something new discovered?
A: Yes. We found out what the real trigger for breaking the barrier in Hyrule is. A video showing the barrier being broken without the fully powered Master Sword and Triforce can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYZH1GddImU

Q: What is it and what was it thought to be previously?
A: We've determined that the only thing you need to trigger to break the barrier is the cutscene that plays after you leave the Master Sword chamber when you defeat the dark nuts. We previously believed there were four triggers. They were: pulling the Master Sword from the pedestal in Hyrule 1, getting the fully powered Master Sword (true Master Sword) from beating the Wind Temple, collecting the Triforce, and killing the darknuts in Hyrule 3.

Q: How do you trigger the required cutscene?
A: You need four things to trigger the cutscene after the darknuts. You need to disable the first set of electric barriers, watch the cutscene in the courtyard (the area where you enter Hyrule) that plays after Hyrule 2 where Tetra wakes up and KorL talk to you through the gossip stone, watch or at least activate (you can activate but still skip) the cutscene where the KoRL reveals Tetra as Zelda, and kill the two darknuts.

Q: So what does this mean you have to do gameplay wise?
A: It means we have to visit Hyrule 1 via Tower of the Gods and pull the Master Sword from the pedestal. We need to collect the Triforce to trigger the darknut fight. We also need to beat Forsaken Fortress 2 to trigger the courtyard cutscene and the cutscene with KoRL in the Master Sword chamber.

Q: Don't you need to beat the Wind Temple to get the Triforce?
A: No, there are ways to get all the charts early.

Q: OK, makes sense. What is stopping you from using this sequence break?
A: The courtyard cutscene is a severe bottleneck unfortunately. In order to use this sequence break you need to get the Master Sword, collect the Triforce, then go complete Forsaken Fortress 2. The issue with this is that having the Triforce and entering Hyrule 2 turns it Hyrule 3. This is a problem because the courtyard cutscene does not trigger in Hyrule 3, only Hyrule 2. As mentioned before, watching this cutscene is required to trigger the later cutscene which allows us to break the barrier.

Q: Are there any possible ways around this to make it work?
A: There was a theory we came up with, and then tested. Unfortunately the best chance of it working failed. Therefore, we need to do further testing to hopefully find a way to make it work.

Q: What was the theory?
A: So the problem at hand is that we need to enter Hyrule 2 with the Triforce, but not actually have it completed until after the courtyard cutscene. The idea was to delay the last Triforce shard using storage somehow so that we didn't get the cutscene of it fusing together. Then we would simply jump in KoRL after the courtyard cutscene and go do the darknut fight then barrier break. Unfortunately, after finding a way to delay the last Triforce shard, it turns out that after entering a loading zone fuses it automatically. The idea fueling this theory was that in The Wind Waker HD, the Triforce does not fuse together after the last shard until you get in the KoRL. The same can not be said for TWW.

Q: What would this route skip and how much time would it save?
A: If we could get this route to work we would skip the Power Bracelets, Iron Boots, Earth God's Lyric, Wind God's Aria, the entire Earth Temple, and the entire Wind Temple. This would save around 40 minutes. Maybe even more.


Q: Don't you need the Mirror Shield for the final fight with Ganondorf?
A: Entering the Puppet Ganon Room gives you the fully powered Master Sword and Mirror Shield.

Q: You need the Hookshot to get up to Ganondorf after defeating Puppet Ganon. How will you get up there without it?
A: There are three methods, two of which are somewhat realistic. The unrealistic method is Puppet Ganon skip, which requires you to mash 15 times a second for a zombie hover and then heal off of Keese, which is RNG based. The other more realistic but still not likely to be used method is an RNG zombie hover after Puppet Ganon, which you use the fairies in the pots on the platforms at the top of the room to heal with. The most likely method we will use to get past this point is the fake death glitch. This also involves a zombie hover, and is very precise. Howver, a setup can be used to get it consistently. Basically out of a zombie hover you start to die, but as the game over screen is about to start appearing, you can somehow trick the game in to thinking you are not dead, and it gives you 1/4 of a heart.