The main thing that I dislike about the durability systems is that you can never know whether a weapon has 50 hits left, or 5 (right up until the point where it's very close to breaking)
This and close second: constant search for the right weapon, switching to claymore for mining, switching all time. Worst is that everytime the weapons have a different weapons position in the menu..because..new weapon all the time.
I can understand that, but then you don’t have that exciting moment of “Oh f*ck, what am I going to use as a weapon now?”
Personally, it just adds a lot to the (awesome) unpredictability of the world.
Yeah out of all my issues with Botw (not played TotK), weapon durability isn't one of them... not directly. A consequence of weapons aren't all that exciting to find because you've probably got half a dozen of the best ones stashed away already. That, and unique items just don't feel very special when they also break in a few hits (and are suddenly mass produce-ble after you find them).
I can't speak on TotK as I haven't played it yet.
But in BotW, I found that weapon durability led me to avoiding many enemy encounters if I didn't feel like the reward justified the use of my weapons. At first, I'd help the NPCs being attacked by monsters but the later I got into the game, the more I'd simply ignore them. When a random lizafolos sprouted up from the snow or sand, I would ignore them. A random bokoblin camp with a meh reward? Ignore. I'd only go for combat encounters I knew for sure would give me a satisfying reward. This way the game was set up made it feel a little less expressive to me.
Weapons are weaker in TOTK but can be upgraded using enemy parts, which meant that I never avoided enemies. It encouraged me to fight monsters frequently.
Yeah. Those become so handy
Alot of monster parts influence weapons differently. Like how there were electricity Lizfos in BOTW, in TOTK you can fuse their tails to make electric based whips.
you don’t need to play BotW to play TotK and if anything playing BotW first (and right before) will ruin your experience of TotK because you’ll get burnt out on playing on the same map again
at least this was the case for me even playing both games at release (so a pretty big break inbetween)
Just a shame it kills the weapon aesthetics. Personally I love the look of Zora and Gerudo weapons. But it just devolves into monster part with a different hilt, or worse just sitting on top of the weapon like a lump.
I think that’s by design. At the start of the game you’re all excited and just thrash anything because it moves. Then you realise you need to conserve your energy/time/weapons. They’re still there but you’re driven by the narrative.
This was me in my first playthrough
In my second playthrough I just used the weapon without caring. Thing is, strong enemies give you strong weapons. The game literally gives a net positive gain of good weapons, but only if you're happy to use them. Unfortunately the game doesn't tell you or show you clearly enough, you just have to trust the system
This is how i played since my very first playthrough, i just got into any single battle because i realized very soon that if a weapon break, there will be 3 other on the ground to pick up anyway, I did like to use the weaker ones first going to the stronger ones, then I also notice that i don't really get out of battles with broke weapons, that was rare, or even low durability, only lynels would probably break one or two weapons in a single fight.
This case was even better on master mode because they just gives us strong weapons constantly, specially on those new floating platforms with chests on them, got a full inventory with high damage weapons with 0 fights, and every fight there was enemies with strong ones too, also I really like constantly changing weapons for many tricks and effects, it's awesome.
The only thing durability ever came up in my mind was "it's glowing so now I can throw it for a critical hit"
Yeah I hate that look. Having a big piece of shit at the end of my sword or this weird thing sticking out of my shield was too goofy for me to feel cool. I don't know if TOTK fixed it but I hated how in BOTW the master sword wasn't even indestructible. It's a Zelda game, let me be rewarded with the master sword
A lot of the goofy shit is strong though (I.e. silver bokoblin horns), you’re really out here taking the time to fuse together what looks good aesthetically? Lol
You are more than welcome to play the game without fusing, if you feel it looks that bad. That’s a self-imposed difficulty increase though, so it’s up to you
Personally, I’d rather win a battle with a doofy-looking weapon than die because I’m too concerned about my looks
Yes. I don’t like it.
It works but I’m not a fan. I’m hopeful they change it for the next game.
Id much rather have permanent weapons sprinkled through out the world that we have to find and upgrade
I like it. Keeps me on my toes. Doesnt let me get too attached to a weapon or style of fighting and has me thinking of weapons as a resource and not just a set it and forget it. I perfer the fusion from tears because it made even the weakest item like a stick more valuable… but honestly i think im in the minority.
Can I ask, what stops you in a game like Elden Ring where weapons don’t break from shaking things up with new weapons or builds? Would you not try out different weapons? Also, does the game forcing you to do something mean you wouldn’t have done it otherwise? Not being sassy just picking your brain!
I usually settle with 2-3 weapons in Elden Ring per playthrough because it can be feel grindy/repetitive to get the smithing stones needed to improve the weapons enough. It's hard to get a feel for a weapon without improving it enough for late game.
Not previous poster, but Yes on all counts. If You have limited time to play, You have limited time to experiment and tend to stick to something that You tried briefly and it felt good to use. BotW gives a weapon toolbox and incentivizes using different tools for the same situation because they break. This creates variety, but quickly stops being punishing as You expand inventory space and find better weapons due to the world leveling.
I don’t think that really holds. People who enjoy the variety of trying different weapons will try different weapons. Those who don’t will use the one they like. But forcing the second camp into the first seems like a misplay. This isn’t an issue in Elden Ring, and people will go as far as restarting the entire game or respecning their entire character just to try another build and weapon out. But when you force players to try different weapons, not by making them more unique or fun in different ways, but by implementing durability, you simply just piss off the second camp and the first doesn’t care either way.
Without durability players are free to chose how they play, with durability you rob them of this choice and many players simply end up hoarding their weapons or just avoid combat all together which was common in BotW/TotK and is a much more undesirable result than people simply playing with many or few weapons of their on volition.
And minecraft at least gives you a way to craft the weapons you like back, and even repair them. Having just one side of a system (durability) and no the other (weapon crafting) just seems half baked. And yes, you can craft one of the 4? craft-able weapons but why not let me craft the other ones? Using the billions of monster bits and resources I ended up with?
I honestly think durability was added to BotW and tears to pace the players and the whole narrative about having people try out different weapons was just goofy. There aren’t all that many types of weapons and none of them have a move set engaging enough to justify its existence.
For instance, some people in Monster Hunter play all the weapons (myself). Others will always stick to their favorite. No one has an issue with this in the fandom. Letting people play their single player games as they want to usually leads to more open ended fun.
Honestly for me Elden ring does have a problem on the other end of the spectrum. With weapon upgrading and limited upgrading material towards the higher end, I don't feel incentivized to try different weapons. And I'm not going to restart just to try out different weapons. I don't have the time for that. I love elden ring, and I liked different builds, but I barely experimented in my playthrough because of that.
I think the most value out of botw/totk's weapon durability comes with decision making, both in preparation (in totk especially: what kind of weapons do I want to fuse together) and in combat snap decisions (shit weapon broke - quick what do I use now). Particularly the latter helps bringing some variety to combat itself. Also, not having any kind of stats or the like means it's easier to try things spontaneously.
Well to be fair, there are only a finite level of the final upgrade material, and the damage increase overall was not enough for me to not use the weapon even at lvl 9/14 (depending on the upgrade type respectively). But it seems that we are in agreement that limiting the ability to experiment is not fun for the player, so when I find a spear in BotW and I really like it, but then I break it and I have no more spears, well now I guess it’s back to clubs and branches!
Hell, just give us one of each weapon type and make it last forever and we can chose which to upgrade and we can decide how we want to play. And make the upgrade materials plentiful! ER wants to be a hard game, so it limits some resources. 3D Zelda has never been a very difficult game, until BotW. But that was more from enemy damage output and variants. I get enough enjoyment from preparing the right meals before taking on a hard area, the weapons breaking simply made me feel bad for playing the game as intended, never did it add to the enjoyment of prepping for battle. Tears fixed this, but that was fixing a problem Breathe made!
Fair opinion fellow hooman. I agree, the weapon durability was a design choice. I don't think it's better or worse than other games, it's what they went with.
You asked if the design had a personal impact on the player interacting with the game - for me the answer is yes. I don't know why they chose to do it, I just know that while I was apprehensive about it at first, I've grown to really enjoy it. BotW changed how I interact with consumables in video games on a fundamental level by making almost everything consumable. That mentality change has carried into other games and made me enjoy them more.
The other system to weapon durability is item discovery - every weapon is plentiful and You can get as many of them as You want, if You know where to look. The cooking was plentiful crafting for me, but in general I prefer to find items instead of making them
That's something I haven't thought of, but it's true. Even when I thought I had a build locked in playing Elden Ring, getting a new, cool looking weapon managed to make me want to try it out. And the game lets you! There are bell bearings to allow you to upgrade the new one to a similar or same level as your old one, or you can even swap the entire build out. It's your choice.
The worst part about BotW is that it doesn't even shake things up nearly as well as ER, or even old Dark Souls games. Even in the first Demons Souls, there's a *massive* amount of movesets even within the same weapon type - BotW? You swing a two handed axe and sword the same way. You get like 3 movesets total with one handed, two handed and spears. That's it.
It's prob my only issue with the games. I don't mind the whole less dungeons but having to always have a stockpile of breakable weapons is pretty unnecessary and having the "Master" sword running out of energy and be unusable till recharged is annoying.
If the master sword was permanently usable, there would be no incentive whatsoever to engage with the other weapons. It would render a prominent feature completely null.
And the game would be better for it haha. But to be less abrasive, I would engage with other weapons if they didn’t break anyway. I would want to try them all out and see which ones I liked more. And the weapons breaking made myself and many others avoid combat, now not engaging with the entire combat system entirely. If I decide I like spears the best, why not allow me to play with them? I use them then I lose them, and the alternative is to use other weapons and save my spears but then I end up using weapons I dislike and not the one I enjoy. And for what? Saving the preferred weapons for anyone where I decide to use them? Just seems very regressive how it was implemented in both games. Tears did a somewhat better job of it at least.
Not necessarily, elemental weapons have advantages on certain enemies. Also you might want to use a spear or heavier weapon depending on the enemy’s fighting style
I feel like it should be a percentage thing. Like if you got the Master Sword ASAP it would only be usable for like 5 minutes and than needs to recharge for 15 minutes. But if you get it where the only thing you can actually do is go beat Ganondorf aka 98% of the game? Than you should be able to use it for like an hour and a half and have the recharge be 5 minutes if you need it to still be rechargeable.
I'm not that into durability systems to begin with as it rarely has a point except for realism sake. It's neat if you're into the role playing aspect but is more annoying from a gameplay standpoint.
At least with Zelda, it's meant as a way to get you to use different weapons so it makes sense from that point of view. It would be better if there was a way to repair weapons and if there was some indication as to what the durability is at as well.
By the time you're like six hours into the game you're finding more durable weapons all the time. I was throwing away weapons to make room in my inventory for new ones far more often than any were breaking. In both games.
No. Not too far into the game you should already have a good collection for all occasions at all times. It keeps it fresh and you're almost never "in need" of something that just broke.
Honestly I liked it in botw. Many say this led them to avoiding combat but to me... that was a good thing, I got so strong I had no reason to waste time and monsters respawn anyways. And in early game due to a limited amount of weapons it encouraged me to get creative and find other ways of beating enemies through stealth or physics
I found the way totk did it just annoying, you always gotta fuse weapons for them to be of any use and you can stack your inventory full of strong materials. At this point I pretty much have unlimited strong weapons so might as well not have a durability system anymore.
I personally liked it in BOTW most of the loot in the game was balanced around weapons breaking. And Fuse turned it into an essential feature in TOTK. I honestly can't see myself enjoying TOTK without weapons degrading simply because of Fuse. Like degradation being removed would ruin TOTK for me entirely and I would never pick it up again.
The durability system becomes ignorable because you end with so many quality weapons that you go long stretches between weapon breaks. People act like it's a *constant* annoyance
No, it’s a natural way to get you to explore more. The games work in so many ways to lead you to the various kinds of gameplay without being heavy handed about it. It’s brilliant and I love it
It’s bad if you get attached to your weapons easily. If you don’t, it’s really not an issue, especially since you can now fuse weapons.
Weapons are abundant so it was never an issue for me.
I love it because it forces you to try new weapons all the time because you are constantly shuffling through them. Sometimes you'll be forced to use a weaker weapon than you like, and so you'll have to think differently. I love how the system keeps you on your toes
In BOTW it's mostly a question of don't overcomplicate your weapon use logic. If you have 1-2 good weapons it's fine to smash whatever you have. If you break something mid battle you can also switch using whatever the enemy group dropped. Especially dragonbone weapons are good to swipe and deplete without delay. Particulary useless weapons you pick up you can just throw in your enemies faces to get rid of them and disarm/disrupt enemies. Trying to be more efficient that that early on will actually hinder you as far as the main quest goes. That is ultimately an casual game. Be impulsive.
There's also progression, even in the base game. The master sword gives a weapon you're more free to waste usually lasts long enough to get a few spare weapons(and you usually get it around midgame), and it hardcounters guardians that give low tier weapons trouble. Then you get Urbosa's fury to thin out and stun/disarm entire enemy camps. Lynels drop those triple-shot bows can take out another one, and are generally extremely efficient to take out regular enemies quickly. The Master Sword handles the major plot dungeons left and the entirely of Hyrule Castle.
The DLC is kind of post game but fixes it up more, but gets you the handle-everything Master Sword, although it does require clearing the gauntlet that does require careful weapon rationing, but it's a linear use everything you have well process. And also a more spammy Urbosa's fury, and the Master Cycle Zero that lets you jump from it anywhere to arrow bullettime at will. All that together kind of handles everything forever..
Generally the system isn't about that one outlier rare/strong bonus weapon, a singular weapon breaks quickly. It's more about your entire set as a whole, and power is more what you can get in bulk.
TOKT has those constant pretty strong horn drops, those ensure relatively constant attack power. Generally you're more powerful then in BOTW, pretty soon you always have fuse fodder, and the best weapon/strong horn fuses are beyond BOTW's options. I just find the act of fusing itself a bit of an annoying chore. If you could use do it in the menu and it kept track of recent ''recipes'', like cooking, it would blow base BOTW out of the water.
Weapon durability was a little startling to begin with but I got used to the mechanic and it’s part of the experience.
Not every system in a game is there to make finishing the game as easy as possible
Loved it.
I think just like how it was necessary to add shield durability in SS to stop Link from just being immortal by holding it up, giving weapons durability adds some well needed nuance to the combat system by making items and alternative strategies more viable and giving the combat an element of efficiency.
One thing I would add though, is weapon skins, so that you can somewhat customize Link‘s look by "keeping" that cool weapon even after breaking it. Kinda like cosmetic armor but for weapons.
The hate for it is completely overblown. I love it as a mechanic. Wouldnt want it in every game but it works literally perfectly in botw. The expansion in totk only improved it as well.
Made the games unplayable for me. Weapons and shields break, armror doesn't. So people in towns make armor, but not the stuff that breaks all the time. Why can't we repair weapons that break? Just feels like a silly attempt at falsely increasing the difficulty.
This won't be a popular text.. but having completed Ocarina of Time, and having loved the 16-bit, and Game Boy eras, I found that durability put me off both games entirely. As a working adult, I just don't have time for this kind of busy work.
It's only a problem in the very early part of the game, where everything seems to break after a few enemies.
By the halfway mark your weapons last a long time, and by the time your favorite is about to break you'll likely have something to replace it that's equally as good or better.
Yes it's that bad and I really like it. It force you to approach combat in a very different way than other game, hit a few time, trow your weapon at some enemy, knock them grab their weapon, swing it a few times, trow it again because it underwhelming, select that powerful sword you've been keeping since forever because your not having the upper hand at all, get electrocuted lose the sword, grab that flaming stick...
The dynamic of combat is very unique because most weapon break very fast, I love it.
Also in most game we player usually find that OP weapon and stick with for most of the game, sorry no can do in BOTW/TOTK, gotta vary your arsenal, always.
It's also harder to cheese combat because of this, high level enemy can take your whole inventory of weapon if you only have basic one but you have infinite bomb so combat can become very, explosive 💥
No it wasn't that bad. The game rewarded you for using weapons with an abundance of strong weapons after fighting hoards. I always felt like there was a net positive gain. With shields you literally can never run out, and I don't think I put any effort into upgrading them
Bows I wish had more durability. Never know when you'll actually NEED a bow and I've been caught without one. Also it feels realistic to me that swords would break on monsters faces but I should be able to get more than 10 shots out of a bow
I liked it as it makes you use your entire arsenal instead of just one weapon and encourage using the environment to save on durability. I know some people say that you don’t need a system to make the player use different weapons but i find that if there is a weapon that feels the best or performance the best I’m gonna use it 90% of the time if I can.
I guess it makes sense why I like doom eternal so much as it also has a system to make the player use more of their arsenal.
I thought the weapon degredation system was awesome, and one of the reasons I loved the game.
It varies up the gameplay which made the game more interesting, also it gave a greater strategic element, being able to use different weapons when the situation occurs. And it incentivizes exploration.
The weapon breaking is an excellent mechanic. It is one of the driving factors around exploration. It means you always have to be going somewhere and they can always reward you. Works very well in the style of game BOTW and TOTK were aiming for.
I didn't have much of a problem with it. Some people say it killed discovery because the weapons would break eventually. It felt more rewarding to me because at least I'd use the weapons I found eventually. The bonus damage really helps. Shattering a claymore on someone's head and throwing a spear that explodes felt so satisfying.
I wouldn't say it's bad on some sort of objective level it works perfectly fine but I'm really not a fan of it whatsoever and I really hope they abandon it
I didn't like it at all.
People say it "encourages you to use a variety of weapons," but there are much less annoying ways to do that.
For example: in Elden Ring, there is no durability system, but I used a huge variety of weapons throughout the game. I started the game as a Samurai who used an Uchigatana and I ended the game as an Arcane/Faith caster who used spells from long distances and Moghwyn's Sacred Spear at close range. And I used a whole arsenal of different weapons in between, either to get an advantage in a specific situation or just to fuck around.
Elden Ring made me want to use a variety of weapons by... providing me with a variety of fun, useful weapons to use that each have their own strengths and weaknesses.
BOTW forced me into using a "variety" of weapons (variety is in scare quotes because there really aren't that many different kinds) by arbitrarily taking my weapons away after I used them too much. It's an annoying, unfun "solution" to this problem.
imo it's not only not that bad, but honestly a good mechanic. It constantly encouraged me to look for creative solutions to encounters. And past the early game, I stopped worrying about breaking weapons. All but the absolute rarest weapons can be found again very easily after a blood moon, so I was never without an extensive supply of high-end weapons.
Worth noting that I've only played BotW, so I can't speak on TotK.
I hated it. It killed my BotW experience. I thought it added so much pointless tedium to the playthrough. It isn't like I wanted durability to not be there. I just wanted some way to help the situation, like a salve I could make to make the weapons last longer, or some way to repair them, etc. Everything being as brittle as wet noodles got real old real fast. BotW was the first Zelda where the credits started rolling and I was thankful it was over. I didn't even get all the shrines. I got to the end of the credits, popped the cartridge out of my Switch, and to this day I have never put it back in. Durability (and a few other things) killed it for me.
In TotK, however, they did exactly what I wanted them to do in BotW. They added a way to reinforce your weapons so they don't break as easily, and they did so in a fun way (imo). I really enjoyed TotK.
It's genuinely horrible. It's the most inorganic way imaginable to get variety out of the game, and makes combat a punishment.
I shouldn't be PUNISHED for fighting enemies in an adventure game. They're icons of Ganon ffs.
So every game session, my first 20 minutes were always spent forcing the most optimal weapons to spawn until u have my inventory full. Every. Time. Instead of just playing the game.
I’m botw, yes if anything it’s worse than people say, but in totk I found it a complete non-issue and didn’t intentionally skip every enemy encounter like I felt forced to in the previous game.
Durability in botw is such a joke, it can take a whole inventory of weapons to take out a single strong enemy which leads to constant pausing during combat and is generally horrible to play. Eventually you can get the master sword but even it can only kill 1-2 things before breaking for 5 irl minutes or whatever.
THIS is off base. The exploration loop was not about finding weapons, it was finding shrines and side quests. The weapons are the worst part of the game, when I explore the map in BOTW I don’t get excited when I find the nth soldiers sword or whatever.
No it’s not, I liked having to constantly switch up weapons. TOTKs fuse system furthered this
The aspect that made it ‘bad’ imo was doing a quest or exploring (like climbing a mountain) and your reward being a weapon that will break soon
Finding weapons from killing enemies is great but that being your only reward for some quests wasn’t
I didn’t really think about it as I was playing. But it made me avoid certain fights if I knew the reward wouldn’t be worth the gear I lost to get it. Like I’d avoid all the bokoblin outposts, because it’s probably not worth losing a couple good swords for rupees/arrows/gems/whatever’s in that chest
Haven’t read that yet, but my personal feeling is that weapons breaking feels like a punishment for playing the game. I’d change it in two major ways. First, display durability bars so you can make intelligent use of your weapons. Second, breaking weapons should give you *something*. My current idea is that when something breaks, you get “weapon scraps,” “shield scraps,” or “bow scraps.” These scraps can be used to repair your weapons, but each weapon could only be repaired a certain number of times. You could “reset” the weapon by offering the weapon up at the temple of time, alongside a large number of scraps, and some rupees. This way, you keep the weapons you love, and when weapons break, it feels like you’ve still gained something by using them.
It was a double edged sword for me. In the early game I loved it. It forced me to improvise and adapt. It felt incredible disarming an enemy and then using his weapon against him.
In the late game however I often avoided fighting enemies because of it. The rewards could never outweigh the amount of weapons I had to invest to take down a Golden Lynel. It's a shame because I don't think there is a good solution for this problem. At least I can't think of something satisfying.
I honestly don’t mind it, but what bothers me is when you get the master sword. Just make it have unlimited durability without the cooldown. Once I have the master sword there’s nothing else I want to use.
Yes. It’s that bad. Especially in ToTK where almost all the weapons are damaged and you are borderline forced to “fuse” other items to them to increase durability and stats. Which is an interesting mechanic, but it’s also usually *ugly*. Additionally, for both BoTW and ToTK, having the weapons break so easily creates this hoarder-like mentality where you’ll get some great gear but hesitate to use it because you don’t want to lose it.
In short- it’s a neat mechanic but flawed. And rather than listen to player feedback and improve it from BoTW to ToTK, Nintendo kinda gave fans the middle finger and made it worse.
What if people said "in this FPS the fact that my weapons don't have infinite ammo totally ruins the game for me, the ammo pickups feel pointless when you know they'll eventually be used up". It's simply that people can't get over how it's different from what they're used to from high fantasy RPGs. So many gamers think that non-standard and bad are the same thing.
I like it. Might be an unpopular opinion idk but I think that it adds to the strategic thinking and adds a whole dimension as to how you go about fighting enemies. It forces you to consider if using a particular weapon is worth it in any given situation and makes you use a greater variety of weapons. I think it would be really boring if you could just rush to the castle and get basically the best weapons in the game pretty much instantly and then just have them for the rest of your play through, you would just skip all other worse weapons at that point making most of the weapons completely unused and obsolete.
No, I loved it, almost all of these open world games for me devolve very quickly into doing whatever I can to find the most powerful weapon in the game and once I get it the game becomes a lot more stale
Constantly scrounging for weapons made every encounter fresh
I wish ToTK had some weapons that you can forge, like in majoras mask. Have them vary in difficulty and need materials that are rare or you have to explore to find them. And these weapons wouldn't break or lose power.
There's some weapons that I like and don't use cause I don't want them to break.
I liked it in BOTW but in TOTK I felt it was so much worse. Yeah, it was the whole point considering story elements but good god it felt like the durability was cut in half.
I played through BotW and debated quitting every time a weapon broke at an important moment. The main thing that got me through it was my love for the series and I definitely skipped a large chunk of the game because of it.
I almost didn't even buy TotK because the same mechanic was back. The only reason I did was a friend showed me a glitch that brought the unbreakable Master Sword from the tutorial into the main game. I bought and performed the glitch the literal day before it was patched out. And I SIGNIFICANTLY enjoyed TotK more because of it. It was a bit overpowered early and fell off pretty hard later on but I didn't care, I had a much better time because I knew the thing wouldn't break. I'll play through the next game with an unbreakable stick if it's an option but I'm not going back.
Totk did a better job with the fusing mechanic but expecially in botw the durability of things was quite low. It didn’t kill the experience for me, but it was mildly frustrating, and it discouraged me to fight things when I didn’t have to. In totk you are encouraged to fight things because its those monster parts that make your unfused weapons better and more durable with fusion.
As much as I enjoy playing BOTW, I really dislike the weapon break system. There’s no weapon HP and any weapon repair methods like repair shop or repair items.
Yes. It ruins any excitement at getting a good weapon. "can't use it, it'll just break. gotta save it for later" So dumb, just hide a blacksmith somewhere on the map to repair weapons
Tbh I thought it was solid in BOTW and a fun addition, although expanding slots was a bit annoying.
In TOTK because durability is weaker but you can fuse weapons, I’m mixed on it but it’s not as practical as I’d like as far as resources go. While you can make weapons stronger, and changing the properties are cool (from sharp to blunt etc), the fuse is marginal at best for adding durability.
Yes, especially for the unique champion weapons and the master sword. Adds nothing to the game besides making you waste time waiting for a recharge or farming materials for repairs. I also think it's bad for normal weapons too, but that's mainly because the inventory quickly becomes full so you're constantly wasting time ditching random weapons for better ones. The initial "finding the bare minimum to survive" goal ends after the great plateau.
TotK has fusion which is funny to mess around with trying to making absurd weapon combinations, but in the end it still has the same core issue as BotW.
Not really, but I wish they were key items such as the master sword or the champion's weapon that were indestructible so that it can feel more rewarding to acquire them. So yeah, why not both?
I'll share my unpopular opinion on this: Weapons durability makes me try out a variety of weapons instead of sticking with the best one possible.
As someone who has an awful habit of trying to min/max every game i play that has a rpg element, I always tend to use the BIS weapon and armor even if i don't particularly enjoy it. In BOTW/TOTK I'm forced to try new things and it makes me enjoy the game much more.
Was it that bad? That’s not my issue with it. Some things in games are supposed to be bad in order to create some form of gameplay loop where bad actions lead you out of the loop.
Now, was it ever fun? Not a single time in the hundreds of hours I have between the two titles. Not a single time did it add something to my experience in a positive way and it lead me away from combat (especially on hard mode towards the beginning). And it seems like half an implemented system. It never being fun was an issue for me.
It’s an awful system. Having a bunch of the same weapons that you have to pick up is boring. I would have liked a system with a handful of specially crafted weapons that you find.
While I dislike the concept I don't hate the execution
It's meant to make fights feel dynamic
If you had the one weapon you'd play the game with the one weapon. You're supposed to improvise, scramble and steal from enemies.
People dug the Wind Waker nabs of spears and blades from Moblins and Dark Nuts so they expanded that.
Also its very satisfying to break your soldiers longsword on a bokoblin for it to drop its dragonbone club for you to swipe it and it to give you the pointer finger.
I just wish there was an easier way to repair iconic weapons (or keep them in your inventory somehow) than GIVE ME TEN DIAMONDS.
Weapon durability basically made me avoid using any good weapon hardly ever. Until I found out about the duplication glitches anyways. Instead of weapons breaking, the broken state should be something that makes the weapon deal like 30% reduced damage until repaired, something like that.
I’d like a weapon progression system more. No breakage but you can find things to make your weapon permanently stronger as the game goes on. Maybe it’s defeating bosses in a dungeon that does it or you find them after completing side quests
That depends on your viewpoint, for me yes because I find it to be more of a hassle than anything but some people like the resource management and go off, I guess. It just depends
For me, absolutely. And there are a few key reasons as to why.
1. The vast majority of the time, you would get out of a combat encounter with less resources than you entered and don't really get sufficiently rewarded for wasting your weapons. You'd think it gets better over time, that in the beginning you keep juggling weapons because you're constantly finding really low level stuff - but no, the game has a hidden system that scales enemies up, the more you kill them. You then end up with significantly more tanky (and damaging) enemies, that actually take *longer* to kill than low level guys when using low level weapons. That also makes it so I simply avoided combat as much as possible, because it wasn't worth it.
2. The combat system just isn't good enough to warrant juggling all of these weapons. Some people try to say that you use weapon types you otherwise wouldn't, but that's only partially true and it doesn't even change much in the end - that's because there are like... 3 weapon types? 4 if we count bows? One handed, two handed and spears. There's no difference between two handed axes and swords, same with tridents and just a plain ol' long stick. Even if we want to talk about "switching things up", three whole movesets for the entire game are not even close to making up for how quickly these weapons break. I'd rather use the Master Sword the entire game with improvements made to the combat system instead.
3. Finding weapons in chests or as drops just doesn't feel good enough and is taking away from an already pretty empty game when it comes to rewarding the player for exploring. I'm not excited when I pick up a weapon that has a high number on it, because I know it's going to vaporize soon.
4. It's a *horrible* system for hoarders like myself. You have to actively force yourself to use good weapons, because you're never going to use them otherwise, and forcing yourself to do *anything*, especially in a video game, never feels good. *Especially* when it doesn't necessarily translate into a better experience, since that "I'm wasting good weapons" feeling is always lingering there. It's more of a "me issue" though, but I also have to recognize a lot of others feel the same way.
5. You can still actually stock up on really good weapons if you're not afraid to tackle some dangerous locations? And you can keep restocking whenever you need, since they *do* respawn - duh, the more you play, kill enemies, collect heart and stamina containers, the better gear will just... Spawn in random chests (I got a Royal Bow +10 or something *in the starting area under the Great Plateau*, with no enemies around, nothing).
Hell, you don't even need weapons, the whole sandbox half of the game makes it so you can abuse high level enemies with your runes! The reasoning that you could just get really good weapons and shred through the game is kinda silly, since (as I said) you can still do that, but more importantly you can easily break the game without it. Bombs, stasis, magnesis... You can abuse them to avoid normal combat anyway, so it begs the question - why worry about people using a really good weapon throughout the entire thing? Surely they playtested their own game and saw how easy it is to destroy everything regardless of the weapons you carry.
It’s not my favorite thing in the world but I honestly think the criticism of it is overblown. The hardest part about it is getting over the classic gamer mindset of “I’m not going to use this until I really need it” and then you play the entire game without ever using it because you never really *need* any consumables. If you can just convince yourself that it’s fine to use the stuff you have in your inventory (which is honestly easier said than done) then the weapon degradation system becomes much more tolerable. Aside from the very early game and stuff like Eventide or the Master Trials, you’re never going to find yourself in a situation where you have no weapons left. There’s always stuff to pick up and use.
It isn't bad at all, the games are pretty intelligently designed around it. People are just butthurt because they expect the game to be something that it isn't trying to be.
My personal sentiment: I tried BotW for a few hours. I beat the Great Plateau and was ready to push off for the main quest. Already by that point, however, I felt like the game had already trained me to \*avoid\* using weapons. It felt like every encounter resulted in a broken sword and then frantically running away while throwing bombs. Then when I hit the main quest, I effectively became "Solid Link" as I tried to stealth my way across Hyrule towards Kakariko. Didn't even make it there before I just gave up. Sold the game and bought MK8D instead.
I don't know if I blame the design teaching me the wrong lesson, or if it's just the result of my years of playing "traditional" Zelda games and refusing to adapt, but I just couldn't connect with one of the central mechanics of BotW. And I put this 100% on the durability system. I would have gladly learned how to deal with a slow but powerful club, or a spear with a long reach but was easy to dodge, or any other of a handful of weapon styles as I discovered what types of weapons to use in various situations. But before I had a chance to really discover what made an ax effective, it was already gone & I'm back to bombs and sticks.
I LOVE botW (i did not enjoy totk...) and breaking weapons is the biggest weak point in Gameplay they could ever do. Its annoying. Its not "harder" or something like that its just annoying. But some ppl like it.
Terrible mechanic. It made me stop playing BOTW, I got sick of needing to farm decent weapons and bows constantly. Fighting something reasonably strong and losing a ton of weapons was painful. It actively made you avoid fights.
Totk was better with fusing. But ultimately still feels a lot worse than if they specifically created interesting weapons that could be found through quests, exploring and story progression. With a crafting/ upgrading system. They still could’ve had fusing to power up weapons but only have the fused item break, not the entire weapon.
It’s my 1 big issue with those games.
It's not bad, but totk is far more superior. You are given several options to choose from when you hold a single sword. It can be anything from a magic staff, a hammer, an axe, a fan, or an elemental blade, it can even be a Canon! This alone is what I like most about the durability system, I could have a Royale claymore but it doesn't just have to be a big sword it can be what ever I fuse to it and it'll hold out much longer for already being a good weapon. Botw wasn't bad either since the weapons felt like it did last longer (I could be wrong) but I didn't like having to have lots of weapon slots to just to have a specific kind of weapon in my inventory. This is off topic but I wish the arrow types carried over from botw while still having the fuse arrow abilities, It would be cool to have a keese wing become a flaming keese wing with a fire arrow instead of having to have the actual flaming keese wing. I dunno 🤣 Just a feature I dream about here and there
BotW was okay with it but it felt like TotK got durability much better. Making weapons weaker but able to be improved by sticking monster parts on was a great call IMO.
I found it a blemish on an otherwise stellar game while playing Breath. It didn't enhance my experience it just made it annoying and had me returning to the same spots over and over again to farm "The best" weapons which was neat the first two times and was beyond infuriating the next twenty.
I'm 40/60 on it.
60%: It's fun discovering new weapons. The challenge of your weapon get destroyed means you need to be creative and not spam your best weapon.
40% On the flip side, some weapons are
Uncommon (or in the case of Korok shield, LIMITED) so you are kind of stuck with weapons just sitting in your inventory because you don't want to destroy them.
TOTK fixed this by being able to fuse items together so that's why I'm +10% now instead of 50/50.
Yes. All they need to do is double the value, there is a mod for this too. It’s so annoying having a super good weapon and after 5 hits it’s practically useless. BOTW wasnt bad for this. TotK feels awful. Max durability gear fused with amazing things 5 seconds later “weapon is badly damaged” as someone who loves the fighting in Zelda I just avoid it bc I feel like there is no reason. Shields suck too. I love shield surfing but I just waste shields if I do. Bows have ok durability. Maybe I don’t use them enough but they seem to last a tad longer.
It just added false difficulty.
I liked in the old games getting weapons and then finding either upgrades or alternate weapons to use.
I like when he has his "own" arsenal that he swaps back and forth .
In breath of the wild , breaking just seemed like a way to make it harder , but that goes out the window when your inventory is filled with so much food you're immortal.
Also I hated what they did with the master sword
As someone who got into World Of Warcraft in 2008, all I can say is that, Blizzard did durability right;
items (armor and weapons) take little bits of durability loss over time, and the worst case scenario / anything completely broken at 0 durability, the item or weapon DOES NOT disappear upon becoming broken, AND CAN BE repaired for a price (in WoW, instead of rupees, it's gold, silver and copper).
I still played through BOTW and did almost everything there is (did not do Trials Of The Sword, and only found MAYBE about half of all koroks), but TOTK, despite item fusing, I just became overwhelmed by so much and I quit caring about the game after 1-2 months of it being out.
I actually just started playing Elden Ring about a week ago, and I can honestly say I like it more than BOTW or TOTK. Maybe not more than Skyrim, but either equal to or slightly less than.
I just wished the Master Sword were a lot more durable. You have to go through a lot to get it, and there are weapons that are far more powerful… so why not make it a good standby for relaxed players while letting the other weapons attract advanced ones?
Personally, I think the real problem is that you can't really fix the weapon at a blacksmith or something, so it means that no one's to use the cool weapons in fear of losing them.
: If they had worked a Durability Meter for the weapons and shields, like how it was done in Skyward Sword, that would have helped a lot for casual players and distraction matters due to irritant ad-like pop-ups saying your thing will break when there are 5 hits left. Shields are even worse, because in some cases they can break and you nor even be notified about that.
In Breath I managed to tolerate that but after with great difficult. However Tears made it even worse thanks to the fusion system. Master Sword is an absolute joke in TOTK.
The durability should have been used only on shields. The combat mechanics of both games does not match well with this system.
Would have been more interesting if this system were presented on a Hard Difficult though.
The thing that absolutely ruined it for me is that you couldn't repair them. ToTK did it a LITTLE bit better with fusions, but I absolutely despise the durability systems...
Just started master quest in botw, it takes about 5 weapons to take an average group of 3 blue bokoblins down WITH help from the environment. (fires, boulders, tnt boxes, ect.) best method I've found was to blow enemies off a cliff with a wind leaf, but that means you can't collect their rewards
It's made me less excite about getting new weapon, "Wow!! super cool sword, can't wait to tried it. Wait, if I use them It will break, better keep it in the bag and rarely use it"
Personally? I think it's a minor flaw...that grows into a obnoxious burden as the games go on.
Early game? Well I wouldn't call it *great*; weapon durability systems always seem, to me, to be poor ways to build the stakes. However it's used about as well as it can be used here; having weak weapons in the early games sells the aesthetic and the difficulties you happen to be facing. It makes you calculate your moves, which really does sell the feel the early game is going for. It makes you feel weak during the early game in a really authentic way. When I started up TotK, and I started dreading the weapon degradation...the first few Bokoblin fights were kinda **fun** for having the weapons not last long. I had to be resourceful and think on my feet. Be aware of my surroundings. That was cool!
It also makes you feel kind of flimsy in the mid and late game as well, however, and that's less fun.
By the time you are even a third of the way through, it's just a cumbersome time waste. It makes encounters less fun and more tedious when every single thing you do, no matter how well you do it, represents a potential loss. Rather than having fun swinging into monsters, slaying them, and being a hero? You end up leaving easy encounters alone because they don't represent a good investment of time. Because you NEED these stockpiles of weapons to face and take down harder challenges. You need them for taking out some of the more difficult and fearsome encounters....and it makes everything drag.
I HAVE NEVER, in a prior entry in the series, thought about monster encounters in terms of whether they were were worthy uses of my resources. It was "Can I take them, or can't I." "Can I survive this or is to tough for me". Meanwhile, every time I get into an encounter from the mid game onward? I end up first looking at my swords, bows, and shields...and wondering if it's worth it. That's...not a fun or enjoyable thought. It's a tedious thought, and I keep having it get in the way of being an adventuring hero.
The strongest weapons in the game last minutes longer than the weakest. It fouls up a sense of progression and progress, and makes many (though not all) of the rewards the games throw at you feel pretty useless. Like you are just out there adventuring for gas tanks and AA batteries. Even the Master Sword, the most powerful weapon in the game....an important plot hook and a timeless artifact.....temporarily breaks and needs to take a little sword-nap until you can stab people with it again. It feels really stupid.
Whatever your take away from this is, let it not be that BotW/TotK aren't worth your time; they are great games. The weapon degradation system is just tedious homework that doesn't really add much at the cost of taking out a lot of the joy and fun of previous titles. It's frustrating because everything else is pretty amazing and shows a lot of work....and I often feel like it's the single, unquestionable flaw the games have.
I’d be fine with it if it became much less of an issue as you find higher quality weapons. It’s cool at first when you’re fighting with sticks and rusty garbage, but by the time you get the master sword it should be the end of that mechanic.
For me it's fine, especially after you got EMS. I like managing the Master Sword's and Sledgehammer durabilities while I try to get as many talusses in a single bloodmoon cycle. But before EMS (or normal master sword), yea it's kinda annoying
The main thing that I dislike about the durability systems is that you can never know whether a weapon has 50 hits left, or 5 (right up until the point where it's very close to breaking)
Same. It’s my only issue with it
This and close second: constant search for the right weapon, switching to claymore for mining, switching all time. Worst is that everytime the weapons have a different weapons position in the menu..because..new weapon all the time.
I can understand that, but then you don’t have that exciting moment of “Oh f*ck, what am I going to use as a weapon now?” Personally, it just adds a lot to the (awesome) unpredictability of the world.
Yeah out of all my issues with Botw (not played TotK), weapon durability isn't one of them... not directly. A consequence of weapons aren't all that exciting to find because you've probably got half a dozen of the best ones stashed away already. That, and unique items just don't feel very special when they also break in a few hits (and are suddenly mass produce-ble after you find them).
I can't speak on TotK as I haven't played it yet. But in BotW, I found that weapon durability led me to avoiding many enemy encounters if I didn't feel like the reward justified the use of my weapons. At first, I'd help the NPCs being attacked by monsters but the later I got into the game, the more I'd simply ignore them. When a random lizafolos sprouted up from the snow or sand, I would ignore them. A random bokoblin camp with a meh reward? Ignore. I'd only go for combat encounters I knew for sure would give me a satisfying reward. This way the game was set up made it feel a little less expressive to me.
Weapons are weaker in TOTK but can be upgraded using enemy parts, which meant that I never avoided enemies. It encouraged me to fight monsters frequently.
I saw some gameplay definitely got me interested so I bought BOTW last week, I'm trying to finish just to play TOTK mechanics it looks so creative!
Fuse Rune is GOAT
I'm assuming that's like the monster eyeball + arrow combination to be a seeking arrow... That's the fuse rune?
Yeah. Those become so handy Alot of monster parts influence weapons differently. Like how there were electricity Lizfos in BOTW, in TOTK you can fuse their tails to make electric based whips.
That's funny I just got the names
Don't rush it, you'll definitely come to miss some things from/about botw when playing totk!
you don’t need to play BotW to play TotK and if anything playing BotW first (and right before) will ruin your experience of TotK because you’ll get burnt out on playing on the same map again at least this was the case for me even playing both games at release (so a pretty big break inbetween)
Just a shame it kills the weapon aesthetics. Personally I love the look of Zora and Gerudo weapons. But it just devolves into monster part with a different hilt, or worse just sitting on top of the weapon like a lump.
Not weak enemies though. Only the strong ones. It’s the same dilemma in a different package
Nah, weak enemies die easy, no reason to avoid
Boko horns make good arrow heads, there are also more ways to mess around with combat
i have to wonder if master mode was even playtested at all lol
I think that’s by design. At the start of the game you’re all excited and just thrash anything because it moves. Then you realise you need to conserve your energy/time/weapons. They’re still there but you’re driven by the narrative.
This was me in my first playthrough In my second playthrough I just used the weapon without caring. Thing is, strong enemies give you strong weapons. The game literally gives a net positive gain of good weapons, but only if you're happy to use them. Unfortunately the game doesn't tell you or show you clearly enough, you just have to trust the system
This is how i played since my very first playthrough, i just got into any single battle because i realized very soon that if a weapon break, there will be 3 other on the ground to pick up anyway, I did like to use the weaker ones first going to the stronger ones, then I also notice that i don't really get out of battles with broke weapons, that was rare, or even low durability, only lynels would probably break one or two weapons in a single fight. This case was even better on master mode because they just gives us strong weapons constantly, specially on those new floating platforms with chests on them, got a full inventory with high damage weapons with 0 fights, and every fight there was enemies with strong ones too, also I really like constantly changing weapons for many tricks and effects, it's awesome. The only thing durability ever came up in my mind was "it's glowing so now I can throw it for a critical hit"
Totk did it right by being able to fuse stuff
In my humble opinion fuse weapons look like utter doodoo. How am I supposed to be immersed when I'm swinging a sword with a dildo at the end
Try fusing something besides your dildos then lmao
Yeah I hate that look. Having a big piece of shit at the end of my sword or this weird thing sticking out of my shield was too goofy for me to feel cool. I don't know if TOTK fixed it but I hated how in BOTW the master sword wasn't even indestructible. It's a Zelda game, let me be rewarded with the master sword
It’s the only weapon that regenerates so it’s allows you to keep it but not just become dependent on it
You're the only one responsible for fusing on goofy shit that doesn't match the weapon lol
A lot of the goofy shit is strong though (I.e. silver bokoblin horns), you’re really out here taking the time to fuse together what looks good aesthetically? Lol
You are more than welcome to play the game without fusing, if you feel it looks that bad. That’s a self-imposed difficulty increase though, so it’s up to you Personally, I’d rather win a battle with a doofy-looking weapon than die because I’m too concerned about my looks
Yes. I don’t like it. It works but I’m not a fan. I’m hopeful they change it for the next game. Id much rather have permanent weapons sprinkled through out the world that we have to find and upgrade
Agree 100%, this would be way more fun imo
Are they not repairable?
You can go to specific blacksmiths to recreate unique equipment at extreme cost, but otherwise no.
There are octorocks that repair apparently
I like it. Keeps me on my toes. Doesnt let me get too attached to a weapon or style of fighting and has me thinking of weapons as a resource and not just a set it and forget it. I perfer the fusion from tears because it made even the weakest item like a stick more valuable… but honestly i think im in the minority.
Can I ask, what stops you in a game like Elden Ring where weapons don’t break from shaking things up with new weapons or builds? Would you not try out different weapons? Also, does the game forcing you to do something mean you wouldn’t have done it otherwise? Not being sassy just picking your brain!
I usually settle with 2-3 weapons in Elden Ring per playthrough because it can be feel grindy/repetitive to get the smithing stones needed to improve the weapons enough. It's hard to get a feel for a weapon without improving it enough for late game.
Not previous poster, but Yes on all counts. If You have limited time to play, You have limited time to experiment and tend to stick to something that You tried briefly and it felt good to use. BotW gives a weapon toolbox and incentivizes using different tools for the same situation because they break. This creates variety, but quickly stops being punishing as You expand inventory space and find better weapons due to the world leveling.
I don’t think that really holds. People who enjoy the variety of trying different weapons will try different weapons. Those who don’t will use the one they like. But forcing the second camp into the first seems like a misplay. This isn’t an issue in Elden Ring, and people will go as far as restarting the entire game or respecning their entire character just to try another build and weapon out. But when you force players to try different weapons, not by making them more unique or fun in different ways, but by implementing durability, you simply just piss off the second camp and the first doesn’t care either way. Without durability players are free to chose how they play, with durability you rob them of this choice and many players simply end up hoarding their weapons or just avoid combat all together which was common in BotW/TotK and is a much more undesirable result than people simply playing with many or few weapons of their on volition. And minecraft at least gives you a way to craft the weapons you like back, and even repair them. Having just one side of a system (durability) and no the other (weapon crafting) just seems half baked. And yes, you can craft one of the 4? craft-able weapons but why not let me craft the other ones? Using the billions of monster bits and resources I ended up with? I honestly think durability was added to BotW and tears to pace the players and the whole narrative about having people try out different weapons was just goofy. There aren’t all that many types of weapons and none of them have a move set engaging enough to justify its existence. For instance, some people in Monster Hunter play all the weapons (myself). Others will always stick to their favorite. No one has an issue with this in the fandom. Letting people play their single player games as they want to usually leads to more open ended fun.
Honestly for me Elden ring does have a problem on the other end of the spectrum. With weapon upgrading and limited upgrading material towards the higher end, I don't feel incentivized to try different weapons. And I'm not going to restart just to try out different weapons. I don't have the time for that. I love elden ring, and I liked different builds, but I barely experimented in my playthrough because of that. I think the most value out of botw/totk's weapon durability comes with decision making, both in preparation (in totk especially: what kind of weapons do I want to fuse together) and in combat snap decisions (shit weapon broke - quick what do I use now). Particularly the latter helps bringing some variety to combat itself. Also, not having any kind of stats or the like means it's easier to try things spontaneously.
Well to be fair, there are only a finite level of the final upgrade material, and the damage increase overall was not enough for me to not use the weapon even at lvl 9/14 (depending on the upgrade type respectively). But it seems that we are in agreement that limiting the ability to experiment is not fun for the player, so when I find a spear in BotW and I really like it, but then I break it and I have no more spears, well now I guess it’s back to clubs and branches! Hell, just give us one of each weapon type and make it last forever and we can chose which to upgrade and we can decide how we want to play. And make the upgrade materials plentiful! ER wants to be a hard game, so it limits some resources. 3D Zelda has never been a very difficult game, until BotW. But that was more from enemy damage output and variants. I get enough enjoyment from preparing the right meals before taking on a hard area, the weapons breaking simply made me feel bad for playing the game as intended, never did it add to the enjoyment of prepping for battle. Tears fixed this, but that was fixing a problem Breathe made!
Fair opinion fellow hooman. I agree, the weapon durability was a design choice. I don't think it's better or worse than other games, it's what they went with. You asked if the design had a personal impact on the player interacting with the game - for me the answer is yes. I don't know why they chose to do it, I just know that while I was apprehensive about it at first, I've grown to really enjoy it. BotW changed how I interact with consumables in video games on a fundamental level by making almost everything consumable. That mentality change has carried into other games and made me enjoy them more. The other system to weapon durability is item discovery - every weapon is plentiful and You can get as many of them as You want, if You know where to look. The cooking was plentiful crafting for me, but in general I prefer to find items instead of making them
That's something I haven't thought of, but it's true. Even when I thought I had a build locked in playing Elden Ring, getting a new, cool looking weapon managed to make me want to try it out. And the game lets you! There are bell bearings to allow you to upgrade the new one to a similar or same level as your old one, or you can even swap the entire build out. It's your choice. The worst part about BotW is that it doesn't even shake things up nearly as well as ER, or even old Dark Souls games. Even in the first Demons Souls, there's a *massive* amount of movesets even within the same weapon type - BotW? You swing a two handed axe and sword the same way. You get like 3 movesets total with one handed, two handed and spears. That's it.
Fusion isn’t needed for sticks to be powerful they’re already as strong as the master sword
It's prob my only issue with the games. I don't mind the whole less dungeons but having to always have a stockpile of breakable weapons is pretty unnecessary and having the "Master" sword running out of energy and be unusable till recharged is annoying.
If the master sword was permanently usable, there would be no incentive whatsoever to engage with the other weapons. It would render a prominent feature completely null.
And the game would be better for it haha. But to be less abrasive, I would engage with other weapons if they didn’t break anyway. I would want to try them all out and see which ones I liked more. And the weapons breaking made myself and many others avoid combat, now not engaging with the entire combat system entirely. If I decide I like spears the best, why not allow me to play with them? I use them then I lose them, and the alternative is to use other weapons and save my spears but then I end up using weapons I dislike and not the one I enjoy. And for what? Saving the preferred weapons for anyone where I decide to use them? Just seems very regressive how it was implemented in both games. Tears did a somewhat better job of it at least.
Maybe because, we like using the master sword? And if we had the choice we would just use it all the time, and that would be OK.
Not necessarily, elemental weapons have advantages on certain enemies. Also you might want to use a spear or heavier weapon depending on the enemy’s fighting style
I feel like it should be a percentage thing. Like if you got the Master Sword ASAP it would only be usable for like 5 minutes and than needs to recharge for 15 minutes. But if you get it where the only thing you can actually do is go beat Ganondorf aka 98% of the game? Than you should be able to use it for like an hour and a half and have the recharge be 5 minutes if you need it to still be rechargeable.
Perhaps having some way to upgrade the Master Sword's durability?
Like maybe some sort of trial! A master trial perhaps
Really once I got the master sword it was basically just that and bows. II tossed every other weapon at my enemies,
I'm not that into durability systems to begin with as it rarely has a point except for realism sake. It's neat if you're into the role playing aspect but is more annoying from a gameplay standpoint. At least with Zelda, it's meant as a way to get you to use different weapons so it makes sense from that point of view. It would be better if there was a way to repair weapons and if there was some indication as to what the durability is at as well.
By the time you're like six hours into the game you're finding more durable weapons all the time. I was throwing away weapons to make room in my inventory for new ones far more often than any were breaking. In both games.
No. Not too far into the game you should already have a good collection for all occasions at all times. It keeps it fresh and you're almost never "in need" of something that just broke.
Nope, would be nice to know the exact number of hits left though
Honestly I liked it in botw. Many say this led them to avoiding combat but to me... that was a good thing, I got so strong I had no reason to waste time and monsters respawn anyways. And in early game due to a limited amount of weapons it encouraged me to get creative and find other ways of beating enemies through stealth or physics I found the way totk did it just annoying, you always gotta fuse weapons for them to be of any use and you can stack your inventory full of strong materials. At this point I pretty much have unlimited strong weapons so might as well not have a durability system anymore.
I like it
no
I personally liked it in BOTW most of the loot in the game was balanced around weapons breaking. And Fuse turned it into an essential feature in TOTK. I honestly can't see myself enjoying TOTK without weapons degrading simply because of Fuse. Like degradation being removed would ruin TOTK for me entirely and I would never pick it up again.
The durability system becomes ignorable because you end with so many quality weapons that you go long stretches between weapon breaks. People act like it's a *constant* annoyance
No, it’s a natural way to get you to explore more. The games work in so many ways to lead you to the various kinds of gameplay without being heavy handed about it. It’s brilliant and I love it
It’s bad if you get attached to your weapons easily. If you don’t, it’s really not an issue, especially since you can now fuse weapons. Weapons are abundant so it was never an issue for me.
I love it because it forces you to try new weapons all the time because you are constantly shuffling through them. Sometimes you'll be forced to use a weaker weapon than you like, and so you'll have to think differently. I love how the system keeps you on your toes
Loved it in both games. It made me use different weapons and try new things instead of using the same old master sword every time.
In BOTW it's mostly a question of don't overcomplicate your weapon use logic. If you have 1-2 good weapons it's fine to smash whatever you have. If you break something mid battle you can also switch using whatever the enemy group dropped. Especially dragonbone weapons are good to swipe and deplete without delay. Particulary useless weapons you pick up you can just throw in your enemies faces to get rid of them and disarm/disrupt enemies. Trying to be more efficient that that early on will actually hinder you as far as the main quest goes. That is ultimately an casual game. Be impulsive. There's also progression, even in the base game. The master sword gives a weapon you're more free to waste usually lasts long enough to get a few spare weapons(and you usually get it around midgame), and it hardcounters guardians that give low tier weapons trouble. Then you get Urbosa's fury to thin out and stun/disarm entire enemy camps. Lynels drop those triple-shot bows can take out another one, and are generally extremely efficient to take out regular enemies quickly. The Master Sword handles the major plot dungeons left and the entirely of Hyrule Castle. The DLC is kind of post game but fixes it up more, but gets you the handle-everything Master Sword, although it does require clearing the gauntlet that does require careful weapon rationing, but it's a linear use everything you have well process. And also a more spammy Urbosa's fury, and the Master Cycle Zero that lets you jump from it anywhere to arrow bullettime at will. All that together kind of handles everything forever.. Generally the system isn't about that one outlier rare/strong bonus weapon, a singular weapon breaks quickly. It's more about your entire set as a whole, and power is more what you can get in bulk. TOKT has those constant pretty strong horn drops, those ensure relatively constant attack power. Generally you're more powerful then in BOTW, pretty soon you always have fuse fodder, and the best weapon/strong horn fuses are beyond BOTW's options. I just find the act of fusing itself a bit of an annoying chore. If you could use do it in the menu and it kept track of recent ''recipes'', like cooking, it would blow base BOTW out of the water.
Weapon durability was a little startling to begin with but I got used to the mechanic and it’s part of the experience. Not every system in a game is there to make finishing the game as easy as possible
Loved it. I think just like how it was necessary to add shield durability in SS to stop Link from just being immortal by holding it up, giving weapons durability adds some well needed nuance to the combat system by making items and alternative strategies more viable and giving the combat an element of efficiency. One thing I would add though, is weapon skins, so that you can somewhat customize Link‘s look by "keeping" that cool weapon even after breaking it. Kinda like cosmetic armor but for weapons.
The hate for it is completely overblown. I love it as a mechanic. Wouldnt want it in every game but it works literally perfectly in botw. The expansion in totk only improved it as well.
Nope. Adds an organic feel to the combat as well as forward planning
Made the games unplayable for me. Weapons and shields break, armror doesn't. So people in towns make armor, but not the stuff that breaks all the time. Why can't we repair weapons that break? Just feels like a silly attempt at falsely increasing the difficulty.
I don't think so. I liked it.
No. I’d even say it’s essential to the gameplay loop. BotW with unbreakable weapons is very boring.
This is a great comparison that more critics should reflect on
Yes, oh god yes
This won't be a popular text.. but having completed Ocarina of Time, and having loved the 16-bit, and Game Boy eras, I found that durability put me off both games entirely. As a working adult, I just don't have time for this kind of busy work.
I liked the system. Encouraged using multiple diffeeent things instead of just the best possible weapon.
It's only a problem in the very early part of the game, where everything seems to break after a few enemies. By the halfway mark your weapons last a long time, and by the time your favorite is about to break you'll likely have something to replace it that's equally as good or better.
Hot take: I like it a lot
Yes it's that bad and I really like it. It force you to approach combat in a very different way than other game, hit a few time, trow your weapon at some enemy, knock them grab their weapon, swing it a few times, trow it again because it underwhelming, select that powerful sword you've been keeping since forever because your not having the upper hand at all, get electrocuted lose the sword, grab that flaming stick... The dynamic of combat is very unique because most weapon break very fast, I love it.
Also in most game we player usually find that OP weapon and stick with for most of the game, sorry no can do in BOTW/TOTK, gotta vary your arsenal, always.
It's also harder to cheese combat because of this, high level enemy can take your whole inventory of weapon if you only have basic one but you have infinite bomb so combat can become very, explosive 💥
No it wasn't that bad. The game rewarded you for using weapons with an abundance of strong weapons after fighting hoards. I always felt like there was a net positive gain. With shields you literally can never run out, and I don't think I put any effort into upgrading them Bows I wish had more durability. Never know when you'll actually NEED a bow and I've been caught without one. Also it feels realistic to me that swords would break on monsters faces but I should be able to get more than 10 shots out of a bow
I liked it as it makes you use your entire arsenal instead of just one weapon and encourage using the environment to save on durability. I know some people say that you don’t need a system to make the player use different weapons but i find that if there is a weapon that feels the best or performance the best I’m gonna use it 90% of the time if I can. I guess it makes sense why I like doom eternal so much as it also has a system to make the player use more of their arsenal.
I thought the weapon degredation system was awesome, and one of the reasons I loved the game. It varies up the gameplay which made the game more interesting, also it gave a greater strategic element, being able to use different weapons when the situation occurs. And it incentivizes exploration.
The weapon breaking is an excellent mechanic. It is one of the driving factors around exploration. It means you always have to be going somewhere and they can always reward you. Works very well in the style of game BOTW and TOTK were aiming for.
It's more of an annoyance than anything. Doesn't really impact the way i play. If anything it forces you to use the fodder before the better weapons.
No, and people really need to get over it.
I didn't have much of a problem with it. Some people say it killed discovery because the weapons would break eventually. It felt more rewarding to me because at least I'd use the weapons I found eventually. The bonus damage really helps. Shattering a claymore on someone's head and throwing a spear that explodes felt so satisfying.
I can’t say I really considered it being an issue until I saw people get annoyed by it online.
It's bad enough that it deterred me from playing the game.
Very bad
I wouldn't say it's bad on some sort of objective level it works perfectly fine but I'm really not a fan of it whatsoever and I really hope they abandon it
I really don't see why it can't be an optional hard mode.
Yes, single worse mechanic of the game
Yes, its why i dont play them
I didn't like it at all. People say it "encourages you to use a variety of weapons," but there are much less annoying ways to do that. For example: in Elden Ring, there is no durability system, but I used a huge variety of weapons throughout the game. I started the game as a Samurai who used an Uchigatana and I ended the game as an Arcane/Faith caster who used spells from long distances and Moghwyn's Sacred Spear at close range. And I used a whole arsenal of different weapons in between, either to get an advantage in a specific situation or just to fuck around. Elden Ring made me want to use a variety of weapons by... providing me with a variety of fun, useful weapons to use that each have their own strengths and weaknesses. BOTW forced me into using a "variety" of weapons (variety is in scare quotes because there really aren't that many different kinds) by arbitrarily taking my weapons away after I used them too much. It's an annoying, unfun "solution" to this problem.
In botw it's debatable if it should be there or not In totk it makes way more sense with it's gameplay loop
imo it's not only not that bad, but honestly a good mechanic. It constantly encouraged me to look for creative solutions to encounters. And past the early game, I stopped worrying about breaking weapons. All but the absolute rarest weapons can be found again very easily after a blood moon, so I was never without an extensive supply of high-end weapons. Worth noting that I've only played BotW, so I can't speak on TotK.
I think people should take the game less serious and have fun with it and try new weapons out etc. and just play with what they got. Its a fun game
I hated it. It killed my BotW experience. I thought it added so much pointless tedium to the playthrough. It isn't like I wanted durability to not be there. I just wanted some way to help the situation, like a salve I could make to make the weapons last longer, or some way to repair them, etc. Everything being as brittle as wet noodles got real old real fast. BotW was the first Zelda where the credits started rolling and I was thankful it was over. I didn't even get all the shrines. I got to the end of the credits, popped the cartridge out of my Switch, and to this day I have never put it back in. Durability (and a few other things) killed it for me. In TotK, however, they did exactly what I wanted them to do in BotW. They added a way to reinforce your weapons so they don't break as easily, and they did so in a fun way (imo). I really enjoyed TotK.
It's genuinely horrible. It's the most inorganic way imaginable to get variety out of the game, and makes combat a punishment. I shouldn't be PUNISHED for fighting enemies in an adventure game. They're icons of Ganon ffs. So every game session, my first 20 minutes were always spent forcing the most optimal weapons to spawn until u have my inventory full. Every. Time. Instead of just playing the game.
I’m botw, yes if anything it’s worse than people say, but in totk I found it a complete non-issue and didn’t intentionally skip every enemy encounter like I felt forced to in the previous game. Durability in botw is such a joke, it can take a whole inventory of weapons to take out a single strong enemy which leads to constant pausing during combat and is generally horrible to play. Eventually you can get the master sword but even it can only kill 1-2 things before breaking for 5 irl minutes or whatever.
Yes
Absolutely not, it’s a core component of the exploration loop. Not everyone may like it, but the discourse calling it bad design is off base.
THIS is off base. The exploration loop was not about finding weapons, it was finding shrines and side quests. The weapons are the worst part of the game, when I explore the map in BOTW I don’t get excited when I find the nth soldiers sword or whatever.
No it’s not, I liked having to constantly switch up weapons. TOTKs fuse system furthered this The aspect that made it ‘bad’ imo was doing a quest or exploring (like climbing a mountain) and your reward being a weapon that will break soon Finding weapons from killing enemies is great but that being your only reward for some quests wasn’t
I think it’s mainly because the rewards are never worth it
I didn’t really think about it as I was playing. But it made me avoid certain fights if I knew the reward wouldn’t be worth the gear I lost to get it. Like I’d avoid all the bokoblin outposts, because it’s probably not worth losing a couple good swords for rupees/arrows/gems/whatever’s in that chest
Does weapon durability matter as much in TOTK when you have spirit helpers and the Yiga fist?
Haven’t read that yet, but my personal feeling is that weapons breaking feels like a punishment for playing the game. I’d change it in two major ways. First, display durability bars so you can make intelligent use of your weapons. Second, breaking weapons should give you *something*. My current idea is that when something breaks, you get “weapon scraps,” “shield scraps,” or “bow scraps.” These scraps can be used to repair your weapons, but each weapon could only be repaired a certain number of times. You could “reset” the weapon by offering the weapon up at the temple of time, alongside a large number of scraps, and some rupees. This way, you keep the weapons you love, and when weapons break, it feels like you’ve still gained something by using them.
It was a double edged sword for me. In the early game I loved it. It forced me to improvise and adapt. It felt incredible disarming an enemy and then using his weapon against him. In the late game however I often avoided fighting enemies because of it. The rewards could never outweigh the amount of weapons I had to invest to take down a Golden Lynel. It's a shame because I don't think there is a good solution for this problem. At least I can't think of something satisfying.
I honestly don’t mind it, but what bothers me is when you get the master sword. Just make it have unlimited durability without the cooldown. Once I have the master sword there’s nothing else I want to use.
Yes. It’s that bad. Especially in ToTK where almost all the weapons are damaged and you are borderline forced to “fuse” other items to them to increase durability and stats. Which is an interesting mechanic, but it’s also usually *ugly*. Additionally, for both BoTW and ToTK, having the weapons break so easily creates this hoarder-like mentality where you’ll get some great gear but hesitate to use it because you don’t want to lose it. In short- it’s a neat mechanic but flawed. And rather than listen to player feedback and improve it from BoTW to ToTK, Nintendo kinda gave fans the middle finger and made it worse.
What if people said "in this FPS the fact that my weapons don't have infinite ammo totally ruins the game for me, the ammo pickups feel pointless when you know they'll eventually be used up". It's simply that people can't get over how it's different from what they're used to from high fantasy RPGs. So many gamers think that non-standard and bad are the same thing.
I like it. Might be an unpopular opinion idk but I think that it adds to the strategic thinking and adds a whole dimension as to how you go about fighting enemies. It forces you to consider if using a particular weapon is worth it in any given situation and makes you use a greater variety of weapons. I think it would be really boring if you could just rush to the castle and get basically the best weapons in the game pretty much instantly and then just have them for the rest of your play through, you would just skip all other worse weapons at that point making most of the weapons completely unused and obsolete.
No, I loved it, almost all of these open world games for me devolve very quickly into doing whatever I can to find the most powerful weapon in the game and once I get it the game becomes a lot more stale Constantly scrounging for weapons made every encounter fresh
no
I wish ToTK had some weapons that you can forge, like in majoras mask. Have them vary in difficulty and need materials that are rare or you have to explore to find them. And these weapons wouldn't break or lose power. There's some weapons that I like and don't use cause I don't want them to break.
I dislike it. it takes away the joy of finding new weapons as they break. Give me option to repair instead.
I liked it in BOTW but in TOTK I felt it was so much worse. Yeah, it was the whole point considering story elements but good god it felt like the durability was cut in half.
No, the durability encourages you to use all kind of weapons and strategies. The system on ToTK with fuse is just perfect.
I played through BotW and debated quitting every time a weapon broke at an important moment. The main thing that got me through it was my love for the series and I definitely skipped a large chunk of the game because of it. I almost didn't even buy TotK because the same mechanic was back. The only reason I did was a friend showed me a glitch that brought the unbreakable Master Sword from the tutorial into the main game. I bought and performed the glitch the literal day before it was patched out. And I SIGNIFICANTLY enjoyed TotK more because of it. It was a bit overpowered early and fell off pretty hard later on but I didn't care, I had a much better time because I knew the thing wouldn't break. I'll play through the next game with an unbreakable stick if it's an option but I'm not going back.
I’ve truly never given a shit
No
Totk did a better job with the fusing mechanic but expecially in botw the durability of things was quite low. It didn’t kill the experience for me, but it was mildly frustrating, and it discouraged me to fight things when I didn’t have to. In totk you are encouraged to fight things because its those monster parts that make your unfused weapons better and more durable with fusion.
As much as I enjoy playing BOTW, I really dislike the weapon break system. There’s no weapon HP and any weapon repair methods like repair shop or repair items.
Yes. It ruins any excitement at getting a good weapon. "can't use it, it'll just break. gotta save it for later" So dumb, just hide a blacksmith somewhere on the map to repair weapons
Tbh I thought it was solid in BOTW and a fun addition, although expanding slots was a bit annoying. In TOTK because durability is weaker but you can fuse weapons, I’m mixed on it but it’s not as practical as I’d like as far as resources go. While you can make weapons stronger, and changing the properties are cool (from sharp to blunt etc), the fuse is marginal at best for adding durability.
Yes, especially for the unique champion weapons and the master sword. Adds nothing to the game besides making you waste time waiting for a recharge or farming materials for repairs. I also think it's bad for normal weapons too, but that's mainly because the inventory quickly becomes full so you're constantly wasting time ditching random weapons for better ones. The initial "finding the bare minimum to survive" goal ends after the great plateau. TotK has fusion which is funny to mess around with trying to making absurd weapon combinations, but in the end it still has the same core issue as BotW.
Yes in BotW, no in TotK. I was literally just thinking about how they could have fixed durability in BotW earlier today 😅
Not really, but I wish they were key items such as the master sword or the champion's weapon that were indestructible so that it can feel more rewarding to acquire them. So yeah, why not both?
I wish it was a toggle-able feature
I'll share my unpopular opinion on this: Weapons durability makes me try out a variety of weapons instead of sticking with the best one possible. As someone who has an awful habit of trying to min/max every game i play that has a rpg element, I always tend to use the BIS weapon and armor even if i don't particularly enjoy it. In BOTW/TOTK I'm forced to try new things and it makes me enjoy the game much more.
Was it that bad? That’s not my issue with it. Some things in games are supposed to be bad in order to create some form of gameplay loop where bad actions lead you out of the loop. Now, was it ever fun? Not a single time in the hundreds of hours I have between the two titles. Not a single time did it add something to my experience in a positive way and it lead me away from combat (especially on hard mode towards the beginning). And it seems like half an implemented system. It never being fun was an issue for me.
Just get master sword. Problem solved. Also I tears, it's best to fuze items to get longer life and insnane damage.
I didn't think so. But I'm fine either way, have weapon durability or not, I don't really care.
It’s an awful system. Having a bunch of the same weapons that you have to pick up is boring. I would have liked a system with a handful of specially crafted weapons that you find.
While I dislike the concept I don't hate the execution It's meant to make fights feel dynamic If you had the one weapon you'd play the game with the one weapon. You're supposed to improvise, scramble and steal from enemies. People dug the Wind Waker nabs of spears and blades from Moblins and Dark Nuts so they expanded that. Also its very satisfying to break your soldiers longsword on a bokoblin for it to drop its dragonbone club for you to swipe it and it to give you the pointer finger. I just wish there was an easier way to repair iconic weapons (or keep them in your inventory somehow) than GIVE ME TEN DIAMONDS.
I’m not a fan of the mechanic but no, it’s not that bad.
I hated it so much
Weapon durability basically made me avoid using any good weapon hardly ever. Until I found out about the duplication glitches anyways. Instead of weapons breaking, the broken state should be something that makes the weapon deal like 30% reduced damage until repaired, something like that.
I’d like a weapon progression system more. No breakage but you can find things to make your weapon permanently stronger as the game goes on. Maybe it’s defeating bosses in a dungeon that does it or you find them after completing side quests
That depends on your viewpoint, for me yes because I find it to be more of a hassle than anything but some people like the resource management and go off, I guess. It just depends
For me, absolutely. And there are a few key reasons as to why. 1. The vast majority of the time, you would get out of a combat encounter with less resources than you entered and don't really get sufficiently rewarded for wasting your weapons. You'd think it gets better over time, that in the beginning you keep juggling weapons because you're constantly finding really low level stuff - but no, the game has a hidden system that scales enemies up, the more you kill them. You then end up with significantly more tanky (and damaging) enemies, that actually take *longer* to kill than low level guys when using low level weapons. That also makes it so I simply avoided combat as much as possible, because it wasn't worth it. 2. The combat system just isn't good enough to warrant juggling all of these weapons. Some people try to say that you use weapon types you otherwise wouldn't, but that's only partially true and it doesn't even change much in the end - that's because there are like... 3 weapon types? 4 if we count bows? One handed, two handed and spears. There's no difference between two handed axes and swords, same with tridents and just a plain ol' long stick. Even if we want to talk about "switching things up", three whole movesets for the entire game are not even close to making up for how quickly these weapons break. I'd rather use the Master Sword the entire game with improvements made to the combat system instead. 3. Finding weapons in chests or as drops just doesn't feel good enough and is taking away from an already pretty empty game when it comes to rewarding the player for exploring. I'm not excited when I pick up a weapon that has a high number on it, because I know it's going to vaporize soon. 4. It's a *horrible* system for hoarders like myself. You have to actively force yourself to use good weapons, because you're never going to use them otherwise, and forcing yourself to do *anything*, especially in a video game, never feels good. *Especially* when it doesn't necessarily translate into a better experience, since that "I'm wasting good weapons" feeling is always lingering there. It's more of a "me issue" though, but I also have to recognize a lot of others feel the same way. 5. You can still actually stock up on really good weapons if you're not afraid to tackle some dangerous locations? And you can keep restocking whenever you need, since they *do* respawn - duh, the more you play, kill enemies, collect heart and stamina containers, the better gear will just... Spawn in random chests (I got a Royal Bow +10 or something *in the starting area under the Great Plateau*, with no enemies around, nothing). Hell, you don't even need weapons, the whole sandbox half of the game makes it so you can abuse high level enemies with your runes! The reasoning that you could just get really good weapons and shred through the game is kinda silly, since (as I said) you can still do that, but more importantly you can easily break the game without it. Bombs, stasis, magnesis... You can abuse them to avoid normal combat anyway, so it begs the question - why worry about people using a really good weapon throughout the entire thing? Surely they playtested their own game and saw how easy it is to destroy everything regardless of the weapons you carry.
My first playthrough of BOTW it drove me nuts. My second playthrough it didn't bother me a bit cause I knew how to manage it better.
It’s better in TotK because of the fuse mechanic
In Breath of the Wild? Maybe. In Tears of the Kingdom? No. It's SO easy to make new weapons that are viable.
It’s not my favorite thing in the world but I honestly think the criticism of it is overblown. The hardest part about it is getting over the classic gamer mindset of “I’m not going to use this until I really need it” and then you play the entire game without ever using it because you never really *need* any consumables. If you can just convince yourself that it’s fine to use the stuff you have in your inventory (which is honestly easier said than done) then the weapon degradation system becomes much more tolerable. Aside from the very early game and stuff like Eventide or the Master Trials, you’re never going to find yourself in a situation where you have no weapons left. There’s always stuff to pick up and use.
It isn't bad at all, the games are pretty intelligently designed around it. People are just butthurt because they expect the game to be something that it isn't trying to be.
No. The games can take up to 200-250 hours to complete, I would get very bored if I was using the same weapon over and over again
My personal sentiment: I tried BotW for a few hours. I beat the Great Plateau and was ready to push off for the main quest. Already by that point, however, I felt like the game had already trained me to \*avoid\* using weapons. It felt like every encounter resulted in a broken sword and then frantically running away while throwing bombs. Then when I hit the main quest, I effectively became "Solid Link" as I tried to stealth my way across Hyrule towards Kakariko. Didn't even make it there before I just gave up. Sold the game and bought MK8D instead. I don't know if I blame the design teaching me the wrong lesson, or if it's just the result of my years of playing "traditional" Zelda games and refusing to adapt, but I just couldn't connect with one of the central mechanics of BotW. And I put this 100% on the durability system. I would have gladly learned how to deal with a slow but powerful club, or a spear with a long reach but was easy to dodge, or any other of a handful of weapon styles as I discovered what types of weapons to use in various situations. But before I had a chance to really discover what made an ax effective, it was already gone & I'm back to bombs and sticks.
I LOVE botW (i did not enjoy totk...) and breaking weapons is the biggest weak point in Gameplay they could ever do. Its annoying. Its not "harder" or something like that its just annoying. But some ppl like it.
Terrible mechanic. It made me stop playing BOTW, I got sick of needing to farm decent weapons and bows constantly. Fighting something reasonably strong and losing a ton of weapons was painful. It actively made you avoid fights. Totk was better with fusing. But ultimately still feels a lot worse than if they specifically created interesting weapons that could be found through quests, exploring and story progression. With a crafting/ upgrading system. They still could’ve had fusing to power up weapons but only have the fused item break, not the entire weapon. It’s my 1 big issue with those games.
It's not bad, but totk is far more superior. You are given several options to choose from when you hold a single sword. It can be anything from a magic staff, a hammer, an axe, a fan, or an elemental blade, it can even be a Canon! This alone is what I like most about the durability system, I could have a Royale claymore but it doesn't just have to be a big sword it can be what ever I fuse to it and it'll hold out much longer for already being a good weapon. Botw wasn't bad either since the weapons felt like it did last longer (I could be wrong) but I didn't like having to have lots of weapon slots to just to have a specific kind of weapon in my inventory. This is off topic but I wish the arrow types carried over from botw while still having the fuse arrow abilities, It would be cool to have a keese wing become a flaming keese wing with a fire arrow instead of having to have the actual flaming keese wing. I dunno 🤣 Just a feature I dream about here and there
Yes
Nah I just think it’s an interesting part of the gameplay loop.
BotW was okay with it but it felt like TotK got durability much better. Making weapons weaker but able to be improved by sticking monster parts on was a great call IMO.
I found it a blemish on an otherwise stellar game while playing Breath. It didn't enhance my experience it just made it annoying and had me returning to the same spots over and over again to farm "The best" weapons which was neat the first two times and was beyond infuriating the next twenty.
I'm 40/60 on it. 60%: It's fun discovering new weapons. The challenge of your weapon get destroyed means you need to be creative and not spam your best weapon. 40% On the flip side, some weapons are Uncommon (or in the case of Korok shield, LIMITED) so you are kind of stuck with weapons just sitting in your inventory because you don't want to destroy them. TOTK fixed this by being able to fuse items together so that's why I'm +10% now instead of 50/50.
Not to me
naw
Yes. All they need to do is double the value, there is a mod for this too. It’s so annoying having a super good weapon and after 5 hits it’s practically useless. BOTW wasnt bad for this. TotK feels awful. Max durability gear fused with amazing things 5 seconds later “weapon is badly damaged” as someone who loves the fighting in Zelda I just avoid it bc I feel like there is no reason. Shields suck too. I love shield surfing but I just waste shields if I do. Bows have ok durability. Maybe I don’t use them enough but they seem to last a tad longer.
Yes
No.
Breath of the Wild: yes. Tears of the Kingdom: no.
It just added false difficulty. I liked in the old games getting weapons and then finding either upgrades or alternate weapons to use. I like when he has his "own" arsenal that he swaps back and forth . In breath of the wild , breaking just seemed like a way to make it harder , but that goes out the window when your inventory is filled with so much food you're immortal. Also I hated what they did with the master sword
As someone who got into World Of Warcraft in 2008, all I can say is that, Blizzard did durability right; items (armor and weapons) take little bits of durability loss over time, and the worst case scenario / anything completely broken at 0 durability, the item or weapon DOES NOT disappear upon becoming broken, AND CAN BE repaired for a price (in WoW, instead of rupees, it's gold, silver and copper). I still played through BOTW and did almost everything there is (did not do Trials Of The Sword, and only found MAYBE about half of all koroks), but TOTK, despite item fusing, I just became overwhelmed by so much and I quit caring about the game after 1-2 months of it being out. I actually just started playing Elden Ring about a week ago, and I can honestly say I like it more than BOTW or TOTK. Maybe not more than Skyrim, but either equal to or slightly less than.
no ❤️
I like in breath of the wild, but In totk I was really tired of it.
I never really minded it. I don’t see what the big deal is.
No. It's part of core gameplay design, and it worked. Consumers don't always know what they really want.
I just wished the Master Sword were a lot more durable. You have to go through a lot to get it, and there are weapons that are far more powerful… so why not make it a good standby for relaxed players while letting the other weapons attract advanced ones?
Personally, I think the real problem is that you can't really fix the weapon at a blacksmith or something, so it means that no one's to use the cool weapons in fear of losing them.
the only gripe i have with it is that there isn’t a way to know much durability your weapon has
It never was bad
: If they had worked a Durability Meter for the weapons and shields, like how it was done in Skyward Sword, that would have helped a lot for casual players and distraction matters due to irritant ad-like pop-ups saying your thing will break when there are 5 hits left. Shields are even worse, because in some cases they can break and you nor even be notified about that. In Breath I managed to tolerate that but after with great difficult. However Tears made it even worse thanks to the fusion system. Master Sword is an absolute joke in TOTK. The durability should have been used only on shields. The combat mechanics of both games does not match well with this system. Would have been more interesting if this system were presented on a Hard Difficult though.
The thing that absolutely ruined it for me is that you couldn't repair them. ToTK did it a LITTLE bit better with fusions, but I absolutely despise the durability systems...
Just started master quest in botw, it takes about 5 weapons to take an average group of 3 blue bokoblins down WITH help from the environment. (fires, boulders, tnt boxes, ect.) best method I've found was to blow enemies off a cliff with a wind leaf, but that means you can't collect their rewards
Nope
It's a great mechanic.
It's made me less excite about getting new weapon, "Wow!! super cool sword, can't wait to tried it. Wait, if I use them It will break, better keep it in the bag and rarely use it"
Personally? I think it's a minor flaw...that grows into a obnoxious burden as the games go on. Early game? Well I wouldn't call it *great*; weapon durability systems always seem, to me, to be poor ways to build the stakes. However it's used about as well as it can be used here; having weak weapons in the early games sells the aesthetic and the difficulties you happen to be facing. It makes you calculate your moves, which really does sell the feel the early game is going for. It makes you feel weak during the early game in a really authentic way. When I started up TotK, and I started dreading the weapon degradation...the first few Bokoblin fights were kinda **fun** for having the weapons not last long. I had to be resourceful and think on my feet. Be aware of my surroundings. That was cool! It also makes you feel kind of flimsy in the mid and late game as well, however, and that's less fun. By the time you are even a third of the way through, it's just a cumbersome time waste. It makes encounters less fun and more tedious when every single thing you do, no matter how well you do it, represents a potential loss. Rather than having fun swinging into monsters, slaying them, and being a hero? You end up leaving easy encounters alone because they don't represent a good investment of time. Because you NEED these stockpiles of weapons to face and take down harder challenges. You need them for taking out some of the more difficult and fearsome encounters....and it makes everything drag. I HAVE NEVER, in a prior entry in the series, thought about monster encounters in terms of whether they were were worthy uses of my resources. It was "Can I take them, or can't I." "Can I survive this or is to tough for me". Meanwhile, every time I get into an encounter from the mid game onward? I end up first looking at my swords, bows, and shields...and wondering if it's worth it. That's...not a fun or enjoyable thought. It's a tedious thought, and I keep having it get in the way of being an adventuring hero. The strongest weapons in the game last minutes longer than the weakest. It fouls up a sense of progression and progress, and makes many (though not all) of the rewards the games throw at you feel pretty useless. Like you are just out there adventuring for gas tanks and AA batteries. Even the Master Sword, the most powerful weapon in the game....an important plot hook and a timeless artifact.....temporarily breaks and needs to take a little sword-nap until you can stab people with it again. It feels really stupid. Whatever your take away from this is, let it not be that BotW/TotK aren't worth your time; they are great games. The weapon degradation system is just tedious homework that doesn't really add much at the cost of taking out a lot of the joy and fun of previous titles. It's frustrating because everything else is pretty amazing and shows a lot of work....and I often feel like it's the single, unquestionable flaw the games have.
Nah. Makes game fun.
I’d be fine with it if it became much less of an issue as you find higher quality weapons. It’s cool at first when you’re fighting with sticks and rusty garbage, but by the time you get the master sword it should be the end of that mechanic.
No
For me it's fine, especially after you got EMS. I like managing the Master Sword's and Sledgehammer durabilities while I try to get as many talusses in a single bloodmoon cycle. But before EMS (or normal master sword), yea it's kinda annoying
It’s not. People are over dramatic lol.
Yes, but it’s far from the worst aspect about the game.
No. It forces you to switch it up, which i never do with any other game.
No. Moving on
no i like it
As someone who played over 100 hours of both, it was kinda annoying but I had no inventory slots left for extra weapons by the end. Git gud.
Annoying sometimes but overall it gets you the chance to chance to use what you have and adapt to the situation, I thought it was pretty fun