[Megathread] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

[Okacz]

I honestly just hate how it feels constantly having to deal with it. IMO, it doesn't add anything other than annoyance to the game. Being able to pick up and use any enemies weapon is a thing in other games too, you don't need everything to break in order to implement something like that.

I'd say the game would not work without the "breakable weapon" design. They were designed to be disposable, but still feel great to collect, because they were sort of power ups for tougher challenges. BotW world is limitless, nothing stops you from going anywhere and facing any opponent - it would be kind of lame to immediately go to point X at the map, grab a great weapon and never need another one for the rest of the game.

[Katchii]

No I agree with you. The way weapons/inventory work needs to be revisited. Perhaps an exchange for repair type system. Sack a duplicate to repair your damaged weapon. Hopeful so much so that if you have a base weapon with no bonuses, it can be used to repair one that has say an Attack Up bonus.

I don't really understand the need for things to break at all, except for maybe a few things where it makes sense like sticks and wooden shields. That would make finally finding a non-breakable weapon a huge deal whereas in the game now, finding a badass weapon is just as noteworthy as finding anything else. It diminishes the whole experience, IMO.

The equipment durability system adds literally nothing to the game besides a chore to deal with. The most noteworthy and badass weapon in all of Zelda, the Master Sword even "breaks" after a while (though it does regenerate...after 10 minutes), which is ridiculous. There's no reason your stuff needs to break in order to take advantage of a weapon lying on the ground, or pick up new stuff. If the reason they want everything to break is so you can't have literally everything in the game, they already covered that by giving you limited inventory. I'm just at a loss for what the point of the system is, because if they're constantly giving you weapons/equipment to replace the ones you have, they obviously intend for you to always have a weapon...so if they always intend for you to have a weapon, wouldn't just making the weapons not break address that?

I honestly can't express just how much the equipment durability system killed my enjoyment of the game... I'm an avid Zelda fan and have completed every other Zelda multiple times. I had to force myself to complete the game, and have never touched it, nor wanted to touch it, again. All because of that system. It's awful.

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I'd say the game would not work without the "breakable weapon" design. They were designed to be disposable, but still feel great to collect, because they were sort of power ups for tougher challenges. BotW world is limitless, nothing stops you from going anywhere and facing any opponent - it would be kind of lame to immediately go to point X at the map, grab a great weapon and never need another one for the rest of the game.

Because everything is breakable, there's no point in collecting weapons to me. Because they're all disposable by design, none of them have any inherent value. So, being able to go and get some amazing weapon at the outset if I take the time and effort to go get it would be a complete waste of time because it would break 10 minutes after I got it. It would affect nothing.

And there's any easy fix for your scenario: do what they did for the Master Sword, and a few of the horses....make it so you need to complete XYZ thing before you can successfully pick it up or use it. Require 15 hearts, or 3 stamina bars, some combination of the two, or require some other in-game item or achievement be completed before the area is accessible...like requiring you to have the big stocky horse that requires you to have 3 stamina bars to tame and only that horse can make a jump, or something. It's a Zelda game, that kind of mechanic is par for the course and wouldn't be at all out of place, especially since it already exists in the game.

I don't mind having SOME breakable weapons and equipment, at the start, where getting upgraded to non-breakable stuff would be a literal game changer. But making everything breakable just makes everything feel worthless, disposable, and not at all fulfilling to pick up, use and throw away. Because they throw weapons at you left and right, it's not even a resource management thing that you should try and manage...it's just an annoying thing you constantly have to deal with.

[Okacz]

And there's any easy fix for your scenario: do what they did for the Master Sword, and a few of the horses....make it so you need to complete XYZ thing before you can successfully pick it up or use it. Require 15 hearts, or 3 stamina bars, some combination of the two, or require some other in-game item or achievement be completed before the area is accessible...like requiring you to have the big stocky horse that requires you to have 3 stamina bars to tame and only that horse can make a jump, or something. It's a Zelda game, that kind of mechanic is par for the course and wouldn't be at all out of place, especially since it already exists in the game.

It's too different a game to other Zeldas in my opinion, the way it utilizes the idea of open world doesn't allow it to really be compared to, stuff like Ocarina of Time. For me weapons always felt rewarding because they were basically a nice additional powerup I could store and use at a given time, at a given boss fight, each with different strengths. It felt good going through a dungeon and finding one of those fiery swords, not because I just magically got more powerful but because I could be more powerful at some point of the game that I choose.

This is what made the game great to me, leaving so many options and choices to the player. With static weapons the very idea of the "Last boss level" being accessible from the start loses its meaningfullness, as the game expects you to go the path of obtaining better and better weapons until you get the best one, and only then challenging Ganon.

[everydaygamer]

The point of weapon durability is to encourage players to interact with the environment. The idea is that since weapons can break you're more likely to use the environment to defeat enemies instead of just using your weapons. Of course this only really applies to the early game by late game you'll have a decent collection of weapons that you can afford to throw a few away on weaker enemies.

[Kathandira]

The most noteworthy and badass weapon in all of Zelda, the Master Sword even "breaks" after a while (though it does regenerate...after 10 minutes), which is ridiculous.

A little off topic, but if my theory is correct, this function I believe is important to the story of Botw2.

[Katchii]

It's too different a game to other Zeldas in my opinion, the way it utilizes the idea of open world doesn't allow it to really be compared to, stuff like Ocarina of Time. For me weapons always felt rewarding because they were basically a nice additional powerup I could store and use at a given time, at a given boss fight, each with different strengths. It felt good going through a dungeon and finding one of those fiery swords, not because I just magically got more powerful but because I could be more powerful at some point of the game that I choose.

This is what made the game great to me, leaving so many options and choices to the player. With static weapons the very idea of the "Last boss level" being accessible from the start loses its meaningfullness, as the game expects you to go the path of obtaining better and better weapons until you get the best one, and only then challenging Ganon.

Fair enough, I completely understand how and why others might like the system. But as I said before, the equipment durability system absolutely killed my enjoyment of the game. As you stated, it's far too different from a normal Zelda game and that's the kind of game I was looking forward to, or at least a game genre within the same zip code.....

There are other ways to accomplish what you're referring to without an equipment durability system.

The point of weapon durability is to encourage players to interact with the environment. The idea is that since weapons can break you're more likely to use the environment to defeat enemies instead of just using your weapons. Of course this only really applies to the early game by late game you'll have a decent collection of weapons that you can afford to throw a few away on weaker enemies.

But you don't need all your equipment to break in order for environmental interaction to be utilized effectively or regularly. If it's there, and can be used, it will be, regardless of whether your weapons are broken or not.

A little off topic, but if my theory is correct, this function I believe is important to the story of Botw2.

From what I've seen, the only issue or story piece surrounding the Master Sword in BotW2 is how Link even having it will be addressed. Because it's an optional quest in BotW, and you don't ever have to get it, how will it be explained that Link has it in BotW 2? It's not a huge issue, just an unknown, but depending on how it's addressed can have some relatively big implications on game play and Link's power level.

We'll have to wait and see.

[Kathandira]

Fair enough, I completely understand how and why others might like the system. But as I said before, the equipment durability system absolutely killed my enjoyment of the game. As you stated, it's far too different from a normal Zelda game and that's the kind of game I was looking forward to, or at least a game genre within the same zip code.....

There are other ways to accomplish what you're referring to without an equipment durability system.



But you don't need all your equipment to break in order for environmental interaction to be utilized effectively or regularly. If it's there, and can be used, it will be, regardless of whether your weapons are broken or not.



From what I've seen, the only issue or story piece surrounding the Master Sword in BotW2 is how Link even having it will be addressed. Because it's an optional quest in BotW, and you don't ever have to get it, how will it be explained that Link has it in BotW 2? It's not a huge issue, just an unknown, but depending on how it's addressed can have some relatively big implications on game play and Link's power level.

We'll have to wait and see.

Since it is part of the Memories, and is needed for the "True Ending", I think getting the Master Sword is canon. But!!! It is in a weakened state.

My assumption is, we will be working to restore it to its full power. Tied to it would be to restore power to Farore, who I speculate is who has been holding Ganon at bay for 10,000 years. I could be way off, but I think what we saw as Ganon in part 1, wasn't the true full might of Malice. Farore has been imprisoning the Malice inside of Ganon, but the goddess's power is dwindling over time. Hence why we only see a hand and forearm left of whatever has been pinning Ganon down. As a last ditch effort, Farore merges with Link so they together can stop another full on Calamity from emerging.

[Katchii]

Since it is part of the Memories, and is needed for the "True Ending", I think getting the Master Sword is canon. But!!! It is in a weakened state.

My assumption is, we will be working to restore it to its full power. Tied to it would be to restore power to Farore, who I speculate is who has been holding Ganon at bay for 10,000 years. I could be way off, but I think what we saw as Ganon in part 1, wasn't the true full might of Malice. Farore has been imprisoning the Malice inside of Ganon, but the goddess's power is dwindling over time. Hence why we only see a hand and forearm left of whatever has been pinning Ganon down. As a last ditch effort, Farore merges with Link so they together can stop another full on Calamity from emerging.

That all sounds plausible, based on the trailer we've seen, but I haven't seen any additional information to give any other kind of hints as to what the story is going to be like, who's involved aside from Link, Zelda and Ganon (and whoever that disembodied hand belongs to) or what part the Master Sword plays in the game.

[Kathandira]

That all sounds plausible, based on the trailer we've seen, but I haven't seen any additional information to give any other kind of hints as to what the story is going to be like, who's involved aside from Link, Zelda and Ganon (and whoever that disembodied hand belongs to) or what part the Master Sword plays in the game.

Indeed. It is all speculation on my part.

I found it very interesting that we have a lot of representation of Blue (Wisdom) and Red (Power) in this games version of Hyrule. But aside from the Dragon, Green (Courage) is terribly under represented. The only place we see the spirit of courage represented in the world is Farosh the green dragon, and Luminous Stones (Which are Green at their base and Blue from the middle to the top). Both of which emerge from below. Matter of fact, Farosh is the only dragon that emerges from the water, while the others descend from a portal in the sky. Only other possible hint, is that Courage and Heart is mentioned a lot, yet not physically seen much. Lots of things happen when someone finally has the Courage it takes to see things through.

I speculate, that the Farore the Goddess of Courage is under Hyrule keeping evil at bay, and is dire need of Link's help.

[Okacz]

Fair enough, I completely understand how and why others might like the system. But as I said before, the equipment durability system absolutely killed my enjoyment of the game. As you stated, it's far too different from a normal Zelda game and that's the kind of game I was looking forward to, or at least a game genre within the same zip code.....

That's also fair enought. To be honest, Switch was my first time experiencing Nintendo games, and BotW was the first Zelda game I've ever played. While I felt in love with the game, I played the originals after a while (ocarina, link to the past) and see how the major changes done to the game can be a bit of a betrayal for fans of the series.

[Graeham]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who disliked the weapon breaking mechanic. I would've preferred stronger weapons to last longer and be rarer to compensate.

[Cattleya]

The best way to deal with the weapon breaking mechanic is to just not fight enemies, which I don't see as a good thing in an open world action/adventure game.

There's decent/good ways to do weapon durability but every weapon breaking in 5-10 hits ain't it. Random enemies aren't worth fighting and bosses/shrine enemies mean you just have to hoard 10 items and break them on the boss one by one. It's a chore and adds nothing.

Not to mention the master sword, one of the strongest relics in the Zelda series, breaking after a trivial amount of hits and then taking x minutes to be usable again. Ridiculous.

[Zenfoldor]

I haven't played in a while so take this with a big grain of salt, but I think some of you maybe didn't play very far if you were worried about weapons breaking to the point of not using them. Gameplay spoilers:

IIRC, once you unlock a good portion of the map, there are some loot caches that provide VERY strong items. These loot caches, again, IIRC, respawn everytime there is a red moon(or whatever).

So basically, once you realize this(or right away, if you played before) you just go to those spots(end game you will have some VERY well memorized) and restock.

You may also have not played when they added the horse whistle(or whatever) fast travel mechanics to make that all very convenient. However, before you learn this(organically, it will be very far in) you are basically running around like a noob in Demon's Souls not knowing where your next weapon is going to come from, and being really selective with your fights. Once you know how to do everything, and if you have all the DLC to get the horse whistle(or whatever) it is actually very easy to always be carrying the meta and never really even kinda run short on powerful weapons.

I know it doesn't fix the basic issue, which is that in most games, your weapon is a big part of your identity and in this game again, the weapon is disposable.

They did a trade off there. They wanted to make discovery relevant and interesting, and they wanted to encourage exploration and ways to problem solve that don't have to involve a weapon. They wanted you to have a series of tools, but it seems like they really didn't want you to value any one of them more than the other.

Different and unique does not mean better, and it does necessitate extra work from the user, reducing qol compared to some other games in the genre, but I think the boost to things it adds to the game are underrated as well. Same with climbing.

[Tech614]

Weapon breaking was to encourage using different weapons, but such a poor way to do that. They could accomplish the same just by having weapons have their own strengths and weaknesses so you want to swap depending on what you're fighting. Instead they went with the laziest option imaginable to encourage weapon diversity.

[everydaygamer]

Weapon breaking was to encourage using different weapons, but such a poor way to do that. They could accomplish the same just by having weapons have their own strengths and weaknesses so you want to swap depending on what you're fighting. Instead they went with the laziest option imaginable to encourage weapon diversity.

I wouldn't say it was lazy considering the different ways you could use the weapons, not just throwing them at enemies but even using them to help solve puzzles. You couldn't do a lot of that if they weren't made to be disposable.

[Tech614]

I wouldn't say it was lazy considering the different ways you could use the weapons, not just throwing them at enemies but even using them to help solve puzzles. You couldn't do a lot of that if they weren't made to be disposable.

They are already disposable when there are upgrades everywhere. Yes, it was lazy design. All it accomplishes is making you hoard strong weapons and not want to use them in favor of breaking the weakest ondes.

[Kathandira]

IIRC, once you unlock a good portion of the map, there are some loot caches that provide VERY strong items. These loot caches, again, IIRC, respawn everytime there is a red moon(or whatever).

That sweet, sweet coliseum. All the elemental weapons!

But yeah. Early in the game as you are learning the ropes, it is a pain. But mid to late game, you are flooded with weapons. late game is even better with the Increased Durability on weapons. They last a bit longer, and you have more space by that time by trading in Korok seeds. You are passing up more weapons than you can count.

[Rennadrel]

That sweet, sweet coliseum. All the elemental weapons!

But yeah. Early in the game as you are learning the ropes, it is a pain. But mid to late game, you are flooded with weapons. late game is even better with the Increased Durability on weapons. They last a bit longer, and you have more space by that time by trading in Korok seeds. You are passing up more weapons than you can count.

It's all well and good to go there early on Normal mode, but it's suicidal early in the game on Master Mode because you'll spend more time and effort trying to kill the silver level enemies rather than a bunch of browns. Not to mention the golden Lynel at the bottom.

Speaking of, I haven't actually completed my Master mode playthrough. I got pretty far, I had over 250 Korok Seeds and all of the shrines completed, I just had to beat Waterblight Ganon for the Champions Ballad then do that last challenge. I haven't done the Master Sword trials yet, they were driving me nuts.

[Usernameforforums]

I don't really understand the need for things to break at all, except for maybe a few things where it makes sense like sticks and wooden shields. That would make finally finding a non-breakable weapon a huge deal whereas in the game now, finding a badass weapon is just as noteworthy as finding anything else. It diminishes the whole experience, IMO.

The equipment durability system adds literally nothing to the game besides a chore to deal with. The most noteworthy and badass weapon in all of Zelda, the Master Sword even "breaks" after a while (though it does regenerate...after 10 minutes), which is ridiculous. There's no reason your stuff needs to break in order to take advantage of a weapon lying on the ground, or pick up new stuff. If the reason they want everything to break is so you can't have literally everything in the game, they already covered that by giving you limited inventory. I'm just at a loss for what the point of the system is, because if they're constantly giving you weapons/equipment to replace the ones you have, they obviously intend for you to always have a weapon...so if they always intend for you to have a weapon, wouldn't just making the weapons not break address that?

I honestly can't express just how much the equipment durability system killed my enjoyment of the game... I'm an avid Zelda fan and have completed every other Zelda multiple times. I had to force myself to complete the game, and have never touched it, nor wanted to touch it, again. All because of that system. It's awful.

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Because everything is breakable, there's no point in collecting weapons to me. Because they're all disposable by design, none of them have any inherent value. So, being able to go and get some amazing weapon at the outset if I take the time and effort to go get it would be a complete waste of time because it would break 10 minutes after I got it. It would affect nothing.

And there's any easy fix for your scenario: do what they did for the Master Sword, and a few of the horses....make it so you need to complete XYZ thing before you can successfully pick it up or use it. Require 15 hearts, or 3 stamina bars, some combination of the two, or require some other in-game item or achievement be completed before the area is accessible...like requiring you to have the big stocky horse that requires you to have 3 stamina bars to tame and only that horse can make a jump, or something. It's a Zelda game, that kind of mechanic is par for the course and wouldn't be at all out of place, especially since it already exists in the game.

I don't mind having SOME breakable weapons and equipment, at the start, where getting upgraded to non-breakable stuff would be a literal game changer. But making everything breakable just makes everything feel worthless, disposable, and not at all fulfilling to pick up, use and throw away. Because they throw weapons at you left and right, it's not even a resource management thing that you should try and manage...it's just an annoying thing you constantly have to deal with.

I would like to add:
Because of the durability system, you would horde your highest weapon and never use it until its your last weapon. Its what i would like to call the final fantasy or jrpg(turnbased) effect. Where you horde useful items but never use them because you might want to use it later on.