Weapon Durability: The Good, The Bad, The Breath of the Wild

[@NocturnalFudj]

This is the objectively correct take

[@corruptedshadow5241]

First

[@369TurtleMan]

Based fudj

[@rpgfanatic9719]

If you're shit at the game and struggle holding onto powerful weapons.

[@malum9478]

it's not.

[@netweed09]

@@malum9478 Thank you. I always find it sad that they sort of acknowledge and are aware of the facts (@ 9:32) - but then suddenly fear creeps in - the fear of going against the grain of the 'majority' opinion and putting out a (gasp) _Criticism video of Breath of the Wild_ - and in the end just go with the flow and say ''eh, it's Finee''. Sigh of the Wild.

[@feroxdeus1998]

I wish that the Champion weapons didn't break completely cause it makes me feel like if I do break them and craft new ones it's not the actual weapon used by the respective champion. It would be much better if they rather went into a damaged state where you would have to go get them repaired, not crafted, at their respective villages.

[@oomar4597]

I din't use any champion weapons but instead but them in my house

[@feroxdeus1998]

@@oomar4597 same lol

[@impractically728]

great eagle bow is OP and the only one I really use, hylian shield outclasses daybreaker and I can constantly buy one from tarrey town. of course I use other bows like lynel and ancient but i always like having an eagle bow because of the draw time.

[@moshowail3567]

@@impractically728 TBH I literally only used the eagle bow like a couple times then hung it up in my house, I always had one ancient bow, and filled the rest with 5 shot lynal bows

[@riotangel4701]

Problem with champion weapons is they don't really scale. I'm decked out with lynel gear instead.

[@crimsoncrimsoned609]

I've never known a game where my watering can breaks, and my shoes never wear down Until ACnh

[@papertreyplz410]

You say that healing in the middle of battle in BOTW “is the players choice.” But also you say, that if you could fix your weapon you would “have to pause every 30 seconds to fix it.” But that’s what you do anyways when you heal? Like I’m not gonna let myself die, but also I’m not gonna let my mega flame sword break either. That point didn’t work at all.

[@temmie0119]

Currently weapon durability in breath of the wild is the determining factor if you can win a fight or not, because let’s face it, you aren’t going to die in one. As long as you have a lot of food you’ll never die in a fight. That’s why weapon durability is important, you have to constantly ask yourself “if I go in guns blazing against those 4 silver moblins, is it a profit? Will I get more of a reward than what I am losing, or can I find another way to kill them that’s more efficient towards saving my weapon durability.”

[@TheAustinTalbert]

@@temmie0119only issue with what your saying is if your not gonna use your weapons, what are you gonna use? Bombs? If your fighting silver enemies bombs aren’t gonna do jack shit. With that being said most of the time it’s “is this worth it, no onto the next location”, that’s fuckin boring.

[@bravebiird]

honestly, botw's durability system didn't bother me for the longest time, but once i got far into my initial playthrough i got rather tired of the lack of weapon variety/versatility to back up how frequently they drop having only 3 extremely basic movesets with variation only found through elements and interactions with the environment made discovering new weapons extremely underwhelming. the best weapons in the game were still easy to consistently obtain, and they play exactly the same as everything else. this combined with the amount of and limited use of ore made obtaining treasure feel rather less rewarding to me than usual zelda games

[@giratina6665]

There should have been more special sub types to weapons such as the wind cutter and variations of those that last to end-game and aren't locked to mid-game or only early-game

[@zappodude7591]

Breakable weapons pretty much necessitate bland design - losing any particular weapon can't be too heartbreaking, so no particular weapon can be too interesting.

[@gold_spin1639]

I feel like that’s more a problem with the weapons rather than the durability. I mean, Zelda has never been a series about combat, it’s more focused on being a puzzle/adventure game with light combat along the way. The simple combat achieves what it should for me, it breaks up the treks across the world.

[@zappodude7591]

​@@gold_spin1639 That's true, although BOTW takes a more combat-focused approach than the rest of the series. You can see this mostly in the bosses - they're mostly about just running up and hitting them while avoiding attacks, while older Zelda bosses were essentially action-puzzles that used things like correct timing of bombs or reflectable projectiles. You don't need to figure out how to damage them so much as when to.

[@Buglin_Burger7878]

@@zappodude7591 "while older Zelda bosses were essentially action-puzzles that used things like correct timing of bombs or reflectable projectiles." Do you remember Fire Blight? Using bombs at the correct time or reflecting their projectile? Wind Blight and sniping it. Dealing with the Ice tiles and stasis with Water Blight. Magnesis for Thunder blight. This even applies to most of regular combat though it is more noticeable against Spear and Shield enemies. That is why the combat is so relatively simple. It is still designed as a puzzle game so they want you to have the tool for each puzzle. It is all the same, no more or less combat orientated. In fact it is arguably less as there are fewer forced fights.

[@TheEggoEffect]

Another point about BotW’s durability system ties into the fact that you can just run to the castle whenever you want. The two most powerful types of weapons in the game are the Royal Guard weapons and Savage Lynel weapons. The former can be found just lying around in Hyrule Castle, where the player can pick them up after only a couple of hours in the game. However, to prevent them from one-shotting every enemy in the early game, the Royal Guard weapons have some of the lowest durability. The Savage Lynel weapons, on the other hand, are much more difficult to obtain. The player needs to both progress enough for white Lynels to spawn, and then they need to actually kill the Lynel, which any new player can confirm is no easy task. Savage Lynel weapons have much higher durability than Royal Guard weapons due to how difficult they are to acquire.

[@Buglin_Burger7878]

Fun fact: Savage Lynel weapons can be out damaged by Guardian++ and Ancient Armor (The 80% damage boost) and combined with food which provides an 30% increase to that total damage is if it was 100% netting you close to 234% damage. Lynel weapons aren't actually worth the effort at all.

[@amancioxavier9860]

@@Buglin_Burger7878 thats all fun and games, but for a casual player, you dont have an infinite supply of ancient cores.

[@moshowail3567]

@@amancioxavier9860 you get them from the major tests of strength

[@amancioxavier9860]

@@moshowail3567 you're right, i mistook for the crafted ones, my bad.

[@jahredharrison4069]

This except 90% of the weapons in the castle armouries are standard royal weapons which last 100 times as long as royal guard weapons but only do like 1% less damage.

[@SkywardShoe]

I decided early on to really lean into weapons as temporary expendable tools that are meant to be replaced. Any time a weapon was low on durability I chucked it at the strongest or most easily hit enemy nearby for the double damage and stagger. Weak weapons dropped by enemies essentially became one time use throwing knives meant to keep enemies off balance as well. I'd also try to keep a mixture of stronger and weaker weapons on hand so that I didn't waste a high tier weapon on a blue Bokoblin or some skeletons, which meant that nearly any kind of weapon could be useful even in the endgame. When I did find a stronger enemy I didn't worry about breaking my good weapons because that's what they were for, and I knew I could always get more. I'm sure this doesn't fit everyone's playstyle but BotW seems to just encourage an aggressive playstyle where you don't worry too much about holding onto old gear. It's all meant to be used, so use it and don't stress about running out. My most memorable fights from the game involved constantly tossing weapons and stealing dropped ones from one enemy only to toss it at another to make it drop its weapon. When you get a chain of attacks going like that it is really fun.

[@charlieriback]

i’m with you 100%! When you embrace that sense of change and renewal the game becomes a lot more fun. You learn that every weapon has some sort of use, especially badly damaged ones. Perfect for chucking!

[@centurosproductions8827]

The problem with the BOTW durability system is *exactly* the same issue as I always had with Fire Emblem. It's like that Awkward Zombie comic where they agonize over not using vulneraries because "what if they need them later" and end up throwing some out from a chest because their inventory was full. The weapons seem too awesome to use lest they break, so I find myself near-exclusively using shitty bokoblin weapons and the Master Sword. Not like the final phase of the Ganon fight even uses any weapons you have on hand anyway, you just get handed the God Bow on a golden platter.

[@AzureGreatheart]

Hey, you can also use the amiibo Twilight Bow, the ancient arrows, or Master Sword Beams to damage Dark Beast Ganon. It’s more of an attention to detail thing, and they could’ve made that phase significantly better while still having the light arrows thing, but there _technically_ are other ways of damaging him.

[@RuubioRuubGaming]

The durability system in Zelda just makes me avoid fights more then anything. Why would I use my 100 damage lynal mega sword when it’s going to break after killing two bokoblins and get replaced by a wooden club with Long throw enchantment? I feel like they should have just made more weapons with different strengths and weaknesses that the player has to choose between and remove the durability feature

[@MayHugger]

I 100% agree with this.

[@gold_spin1639]

I’m hoping that at the very least, they buff the durability in 2 so that the weapons you get will at least last you a little bit longer. or perhaps rather than giving you a shitload of random weapons you build a small collection of unbreakable weapons throughout the game, each with advantages and disadvantages.

[@RuubioRuubGaming]

@@gold_spin1639 durability buff would be nice as well but I would prefer a bigger variety of weapons and maybe a smaller inventory to make the player really choose what they want to take

[@Dribin]

Totally agree, started playing BotW a few weeks ago and I've explored most of the map except the desert region, and every time I see an enemy camp I just avoid it now. The enemies will most likely not have weapons better than what I currently have, and the chest they guard can be a mixed bag. And when the game gives you unlimited bombs, I'm going to be taking advantage of that for weak enemies (like slimes, bats, etc.)

[@They_are_Arthur]

I always fight monsters to get their parts. Plus white or gold varieties of enemies drop rare ore which can be sold for a lot.

[@Nico-zo2qd]

I had an idea for the weapon durability system in BOTW that I'm pretty sure nobody else has talked about: instead of the durability going down with each hit, it would go down based on the damage dealt. I'm always weary of using strong weapons against weaker enemies because I don't want to waste durability on them, and my idea fixes this issue. Let's say you have a weapon that does 20 damage and has 50 durability points. Instead of breaking after attacking something 50 times, it would break after dealing 1000 damage (20x50). If you attack an enemy with 13 health and kill them, your weapon would now have 987 durability left. This way, you can take out enemies with less health without having to waste an entire durability point. I think this would make the system A LOT fairer and more realistic.

[@cceider]

I don't mind the durability in the game but my only issue that isn't really the fault of the durability is how the amiibos weapons and champion weapons can break (obviously) so I have never used them because I don't want to lose them especially the amiibo weapons because it took me sooooooo long to get them, while at least the champion weapons you can craft them again.

[@-siranzalot-]

Bit something one should initially do, but on my third Playthrough I started to use Menu overloading glitches to Clone the amiibo weapons. Or rather the fierce deity sword because I actually wanted to use it instead of just having it hanged on my Wall. It's a way to get use out of them

[@Mgauge]

I get what you’re saying, but the way it’s done now is excessive. Your weapons are so fragile that even a fairly mediocre enemy can endure enough punishment to eat through multiple weapons and usually only carry mediocre weapons in turn. So each battle is a net loss for you after a certain point, discouraging you from fighting at all, if possible. Getting a rare weapon as a reward is also blunted because you know it will be gone shortly if you actually use it, meaning that the rewards from many challenges are practically meaningless. Worse, having all weapons be irreparable consumables triggers the typical loss aversion instinct. Meaning you horde any decent weapons while only using the easily replaceable weak ones. That’s not even getting into the fact that you need some weapons for non-combat purposes, like axes, leaves, and sledgehammers. So you’re having to use one of your inventory slots just to keep one of each around before they inevitably break as well. The biggest problem is that you can’t fight at all without a weapon, so if you aren’t constantly scrounging or just have bad luck in a boss battle, you’re screwed. You don’t have even a rudimentary emergency weapon then.

[@jahredharrison4069]

Did you quit the game or something? The hammers and axes don't do any that other weapons can't do (you can cut down trees or break rocks or whatever else with pretty much anything, even bombs) and weapon durability goes way up over the course of the game in most cases. And you *can* fight without weapons, even if you don't even have a bow you can always use runes and environmental kills, bombs are always available and they can knock enemy weapons right out of their hands. And who says a temporary reward is pointless? Even if you only get to use whatever cool sword or something you got recently you could probably get another, different, reward in about that time anyway, would it really be any better to just use whatever the best reward you've gotten is for every fight without it ever going away?

[@AzureGreatheart]

“you need some weapons for non-combat purposes, like axes, leaves, and sledgehammers.” “The biggest problem is that you can’t fight at all without a weapon…” The bomb rune is your friend. Bombs can topple trees and break ore deposits, so between that and elemental effects coming in arrow form, you don’t need to take up an inventory slot for those purposes, leaving the korok leaf as the only utility weapon that you need a slot for, and I will concede that the leaf is useful enough that it probably should’ve been a rune or something. As for being unable to fight without a weapon, that is incorrect: the game gives you a lot of ways to fight without using weapons; bombs are a free 12 (24 if upgraded) damage, magnesis can be used to bonk monsters with metal objects, enemy camps have the weapons just sitting around specially so you can loot them and deprive monsters of weapons, and explosive barrels are a common sight. You can knock monster besides bosses, lynels, and lizalfos into deep water for an instant kill, and most of the loot (all of the loot besides some weapons for enemies weaker than silver, and silver and gold monsters drop gems which don’t float either) floats to the water’s surface. Between the number of options for taking out enemies while being very efficient with, or flat out not using, weapon durability, there is little risk of running out of weapons if you get creative with how you fight. I simply didn’t care about my weapons breaking; all of them are replaceable, and I get a bunch of additional (if sometimes weaker then what I have) weapons, as well as a bunch of monster parts I can sell for two different kinds of currency, use to upgrade my armor, or use to make an elixir.

[@noahlovotti7722]

​​@@AzureGreatheart bombs wont do shit against silver enemies. You will be fighting for ages and in expert you have to be restlessly using it because they're aleays healing. Most magnesis damage is pathetic later in the game and unusable if you got multiple enemies. The motion controls can jankily smoothen your magnesis, making you completely vulnerable. Good luck using a shield during it as well. Their weapons on the other hand take massive chunks of health out of you, and can make you tumble and roll around. While that's happening they just healed the past 5 hits you did with magnesis.

[@AzureGreatheart]

@@noahlovotti7722 And by the time you get to the point of the runes being useless, you shouldn't be at risk of running out of weapons anyway, as it's pretty easy to get enough korok seeds to not have to worry about running out of weapons. Most of the other forms of environmental damage still require a weapon of some kind, but the effectiveness of them will save you a lot of durability. And all of this isn't even going into the many ways of boosting your damage output, which saves you a lot of durability and time. My point was that there are a lot of ways of getting more efficient use out of your weapons, and being completely unarmed shouldn't be a threat after the earliest parts of the game. Also, if you're playing on Master Mode, you should probably be familiar enough with the game to not _need_ to rely on the runes for damage after they fall off in effectiveness.

[@oxymoron02]

THIS is the right take. Especially the fact that there is no weaponless combat, and the game doesn't goddamn auto-switch when a weapon breaks, so if you're lost in the heat of the moment and don't notice, for a second or two you're doing nothing while getting pummelled by the enemy. How people can defend the durability mechanic IN ITS CURRENT FORM is beyond me. Bunch of goddamn sycophants. Reminds me of when I commented in a Subnautica forum that it's weird the game has been out for years and they never patched leviathans swimming through walls to one-hit you. Got told I know nothing about game design or coding, that the devs can't change it now, that there's nothing wrong with game enemies phasing through walls to one-hit kill a player. What a weird time we live in that people mould themselves around a game, taking any criticism against it as a blow against themselves.

[@ironencepersonal9634]

Weapon durability in BOTW doesn't mean jack, and is only there to be annoying. I've never felt compelled to alter my strategy to take durability into account. I've never felt compelled to change weapon types because of weapon durability. Weapon durability is annoyingly have to pause the action to swap to a new one every 30 seconds. The game shoves weapons down your throat so often that planning around weapon/weapon loss is nonexistant because you always have another, usually identical weapon ready to go. Whenever I swap to a new weapon type (Eg. 2-handed, spear, et cetera), it's never because I'm running out of the one I'm using. The game drowns you in weapons so much, that you usually have a surplus of each type, and I've only ever decided to switch whenever I just felt like using a new weapon type. And what's with the shields and bows? The difference between them is usually minimal, and bows break ON TOP OF already having to use arrows for them. The only thing i like about it is that you have to save your elemental weapons to oneshot elemental enemies. I don't mind if durability is relegated to specifically weapons that have special properties, Otherwise I hate it, mostly because how unnecessary it is. It takes the flow out of the action.

[@scrapox217]

Another problem with the BotW weapon durability system is that you find a lot of weapons in chest. When you find a chest and your reaction is dread because it's probably another weapon you have to inventory manage space for, followed by disappointment that it is indeed a weapon, then something went seriously wrong. That combined with the fact that it's now better to avoid enemy encounters all together, because why would you waste good weapons on trash mobs, worked together to turn me off the game completely. I really hope BotW 2 either completely abandons the system or reworks it so radically in a way I can't even think of, because I cannot think of a way to make weapon durability in this game fun.

[@CapJackson]

agreed totally.

[@Al77343]

One thing that helped me with that feeling is the island that takes all your stuff away. Doing that knowing that everything "wasn't mine" changed how I played, I tried to copy this mindset through out the game. Edit I killed a few too many lynels and I'm back to square one :(

[@Al77343]

@@yellowcard8100 there are so many weapons to replace those that break that you won't run out. I farmed a full inventory of lynel bows (only 15 slots) and replaced the weapons I broke fighting each lynel in no time.

[@LegoManiac_101]

I 100% agree

[@witherschat]

Hello from the future. The sequel really handled it much better IMO. The ability to fuse things makes it easier to replace a weapon, the different value and properties of the fuse mats increases the variety of what you can make, and the base weapons give nice bonuses that, while they depend on your playstyle, can still be half-ignored when you need a random replacement weapon.

[@VaskoGames]

Good thing the blades don't break in Xenoblade 2 ;)

[@VGF80]

Yeah, otherwise they'll get toppled.

[@IsLeafOn]

WILD DOWN!!

[@hackerman9s935]

@@IsLeafOn SHIELD BASH!!

[@greenbeentm6051]

Animal crossing's durability system is meant to give the game a longer play time, at the cost of the fun experienced by the player. It makeda no sence

[@sydneydunaway5618]

The biggest biggest flaw of BOTW's durability system, for me anyway, is that it's made tedious by the truly awful UI design. But other than that I like it, and not for any gameplay reason but rather thematic reasons. BOTW is all about the give and take between nature and technology and the impermanence of existence. Memories, weapons, kingdoms have all been lost to either nature, technology, or a corruption of nature/technology. You can reclaim these things but you'll never fully restore them, and in many instances they remain fleeting. I also just don't get that attached to loot the way other people seem to. Idk it's just loot, lol. As long as Link looks pretty I'm fine. That said, I disagree with you on the 'no blacksmith' point. I don't think it would detract from the core gameplay loop at all, and would feed into the technology/community as rebirth aspect of BOTW.

[@moshowail3567]

Exactly, like you already go back to know locations for the spirit orbs anyway

[@temmie0119]

I agree with him on the blacksmith idea, it would become a process of, oh no my weapon broke in combat, time to go to the blacksmith and repair after going 200 billion feet out in the desert so I can walk back. You can argue just using bad weapons until you get done doing what you are doing, then repairing your good stuff, but let’s say to repair something, you have to have the broken weapons remains in your inventory. If that’s the case people will only carry the best weapons in the game, and nothing else which defeats the whole use what you can vibe breath of the wild has.

[@pforgottonsoul]

i feel the durability system kinda makes finding cool weapons pointless, i would horde like 10 swords and never use them because i knew they wouldn't even last 5 minutes.

[@billnye8760]

But if weapons didn’t break, I would never pick up new weapons because I already have the best one.

[@TheFloodFourm]

See your putting focus on the rewards and not the gameplay potential they bring. The system is not for you you’re not looking for a game so much as a loot treadmill. Players who feel they need to be rewarded to enjoy a game aren’t going to like BOTW because in it the gameplay is the reward, gameplay that includes having a sword break at an inopportune time or having to keep your eyes peeled for resources that aren’t optional. I recommend something like Skyrim for you. In that game you’re only ever getting mire gear and moving up there isn’t that constant power dynamic to have to think about you can follow a guide or something and just keep getting stronger. As a bonus the game is also really easy so you’ll never have to worry about consequences even if they do pop up.

[@temmie0119]

If weapons didn’t break it would make the game super meta heavy, youd only use the best bow, and the best sword and nothing else. The Master Sword simply exists as a weapon players will have access too when they have nothing else at the moment (which is still quite rare). And that’s why there’s only 1 weapon like it

[@oxymoron02]

@@TheFloodFourm You sound like a Star Citizen player.

[@TheFloodFourm]

@@oxymoron02 except BOTW is complete (minus dungeons)

[@bctalicorn809]

How about being able to craft new weapons/repair badly damaged ones only when sitting at a campfire? Fixes the problem of interrupting exploration and it makes it so you can't repair mid-battle. My personal suggestion for this fix is replacing each of the Champions' powers with weapons that are treated like the master sword, that need a recharge. That way, you almost always have one of each weapon type and a shield.

[@zamboozle3741]

there actually is a small incentive in BotW to break your weapons, since you actually do get a slight damage bonus if a thrown weapon breaks when it hits an enemy

[@layerex3957]

Slight? It does triple damage.

[@mateo._.854]

It also clears up an inventory space

[@Elden-Bear]

@@layerex3957 double

[@noahlovotti7722]

It gets pretty miniscule in expert when your weapons can't do shit to the enemies though.

[@Cheesehead302]

Man, I think Animal Crossing was damn close to having it work. I enjoy the crafting system, but I think it's ridiculous that when you're end game and have even collected every fish/bug/etc and gotten golden tools they STILL break. A big problem New Horizons has is that once you've arranged your island how you want, there isn't really much to work towards at all and this durability system is another instance of it. Like, if you could get an end game set of tools that don't break, it would not only be convenient but more importantly give you something to work towards. On a related note, damn I really wish I had the desire/ a purpose to go back to my likely overgrown island. Updates that only add more cosmetics really don't do it for me when I've played so many hours.

[@AzureGreatheart]

I don’t play Animal Crossing, but isn’t the enire point of the Golden Axe in earier games that it very specifically _doesn’t_ break? They add durability to give the players more incentive to work towards the Golden Tools, but then blow it by giving those durability too, which is kinda baffling from a game design perspective.

[@catheriner999]

Yea, makes sense. As a chronic "I've arrived at the final boss with 99 elixirs and I will use none of them" hoarder, the weapon durability in botw didn't bother me at all. The inventory management was more irksome because I want one of everything but it just made me prioritize doing korok puzzles early on to get those expansions. There were very few times I had to go out of my way to go find multiples of a specific weapon/shield I wanted before particularly tough battles (those centaur guys...). And I really don't know how you could include such a wide variety of weapons/shields in the game *without* making them break.

[@xardnaslp3171]

I'm a hoarder too, so the weapon durability system created a new problem: i started hoarding weapons. "oh this one is cool, i don't wanna break it" "ooooh, this is rare, no way I'm using it" and now i just use the master sword for everything and wait till it's recharged, which is a fuckin idiotic mechanic btw. Not that i play botw often, i consider it an unbelievably bad game

[@Rubinkys]

@@xardnaslp3171 objectively wrong opinion 💀

[@petrikhorr]

@@xardnaslp3171 bro had us with the first half then threw away all reputability after that

[@burningGodzilla1]

I agree with everything about Botw except the master sword. Because of the combination of lynel weapons being fairly plentiful and the ten minute cooldown, I never care to get the master sword outside of completion. Perhaps making the master sword recharge faster or max out with higher damage than sixty would make it worthwhile, but in Botw it's my go to lawn mower.

[@IsLeafOn]

Yeah ngl I only used the master sword to break rocks since it can recharge lmao

[@samufinland5765]

I disagree. I think the DLC made the Master Sword way too powerful and durable, and there being only one type of weapon that powerful massively reduces weapon diversity and causes your inventory to be constantly full of weapons you don't use, because they break and the master sword doesn't, so why use them. So you just throw them away and replace them with better weapons, which you also won't use.

[@sekiro_the_one-armed_wolf]

@@samufinland5765 the dlc making the sword good is something you have to earn through skill. If you can’t beat the dungeon then you don’t get the Giga sword. It’s not like it’s something the game just hands to you.

[@samufinland5765]

@@sekiro_the_one-armed_wolf It still does the exact same thing. The weapon being difficult to make broken doesn't make it ok for it to be so broken. It also gives infinite sword beams so that's something. And it's not like you have to keep doing something to keep having the upgrade, once you do it once, it'll forever be the best weapon that ruins the entire system.

[@sekiro_the_one-armed_wolf]

@@samufinland5765 this might have actually been an issue if it was something a beginner could obtain immediately. They cannot. It takes a considerable amount of time and effort to even get the master sword, and even further so to power it up. I would assume that the only people who get this far have already beaten the game or gotten close to it. You can’t waltz over there, grab it, and suddenly kill every god that may or may not exist, you have to be at a certain point in the game where you’ve already surpassed most if not all of the challenges within. Also, it’s the legendary sword of evil’s bane my guy, it’s obviously going to be powerful. Literally a staple of the series and known for its strength against monsters. Additionally, infinite beams were always (maybe always? Can’t remember when they introduced the mechanic) possible as long as you had max health.

[@sem3ndem0n_73]

Limiting ressources in video games make the player interact with the game systems more. The same goes for BOTW. Weapon’s breaking force you to get more creative with the combat or forces you to be more aggressive to kill your enemies faster with the critical hit to take their weapons. It also encourages exploration of the world to find stronger weapons. That makes the game far more engaging than it would be otherwise.

[@sharkafterdark4194]

Yeah, I know for a fact that without the breaking mechanic I would just go around with some lynel sword with the perk for extra damage and not ever using any other type of weapon (despite there being dozens if not hundreds in the game)

[@Mwarrior1991]

That would be true, if there were more than 6 kinds of weapons and 7 kinds of monsters. Besides, I'd like to go through the whole game with a flame sword. That wouldn't be less fun than chewing through weapons each combat.

[@McGeeMcGeeMcGee-g7w]

@@Mwarrior1991 Both are true right? Limiting resources in video games does all of that if done well, sadly Botw does it so middle of the road we are constantly talking about it XD

[@zerochill4096]

It kind of had the opposite effect on me; I only explore new places for new, cool and fun stuff, not to find a bazillion weapons that I don't have enough storage capacity to take and don't offer any real differences from the same weapons I use

[@BlazeEmerald]

I can relate there, for me the weapon durability system mostly just discouraged me from actually engaging with the game's combat system whenever I could avoid it, because I would just be wasting durability on my gear that I could use for when I actually do need to fight

[@aridicaexmontaudon1296]

Ah yes, it is known that in medieval times swords would shatter after brief skirmish

[@CaptainAstronaut]

Thanks for Watching and Don't Forget to SUBSCRIBE! And remember to never get attached hahaha *cries*

[@Buglin_Burger7878]

"Ruins the pacing of combat having to pause it every 30 seconds." "Weapon repairing would be a continual interval event the player would feel annoyed and compelled to do." Switching weapons every 30 seconds because they break isn't either of those problems? IT IS LITERALLY WHAT YOU COMPLAINED ABOUT.

[@TakumiJoyconBoyz]

You don't have to pause to switch weapons. You can hot swap with the D-Pad.

[@ryouskun4754]

It literally takes half a second to swap weapon, a lot of very fancy strategies in the game actually involve doing so in rapid succession 3 to 10 times, it's not like having to go in a menu selecting the weapon and having to scroll to a repair option that may or may not require materials you may or may not have. What are you on about?

[@malum9478]

@@ryouskun4754 and it would take half of a second to use an item to fix the weapon anyway. you know what they're talking about, stop playing dumb

[@malum9478]

@@TakumiJoyconBoyz irrelevant. you wouldn't need to do that in the first place at all if your weapon didn't break, plus you DO need to do it when you need to stop and heal.

[@ryouskun4754]

@@malum9478 did you even read my message? What if there's multiple weapons? What if you lack the material? It completely breaks the rythm of the game, I don't need to elaborate why that is poor game design.

[@Buglin_Burger7878]

"There is so much weapon variety in this game." No there is Sword, 2-Handed, Spear, Rod, and Bow. Yes some have minor side effects... but otherwise they function all the same in combat. You can mine with bombs and cut trees with bombs remember. Their side effects with free infinite bombs are not useful. There is the elemental weapons... which still play like their counterpart but sometimes let you deal elemental effects. Otherwise known as a worse Rod and with how enemies weak to an element instantly die to it... why waste those on other common enemies?

[@genshimemories6356]

I dont have too much issues with botw durability. I just wish it wasn't the case in the endgame that I would spend almost as much time deciding what weapon to use during a fight as they break, then actually fighting the enemy.

[@isaiahrivers7117]

I probably wouldn't have a problem with the weapon durability if they would made it like the Dark Cloud series. Like in Dark Cloud the weapon you use has a meter to shows you when a weapon you're using is about to break when you attack an enemy with it but you can restore it with repair powder keeping from breaking. So they could also did that for Breath of the Wild and when a weapon you use is about to break you can use something to keep it from breaking. Heck if anything they could've put in a blacksmith or something in the game where the blacksmith can make your weapon unbreakable and you can use that weapon anytime you want without breaking but you would have to collect special materials in order for the blacksmith to do it.

[@Buglin_Burger7878]

"Forces the player to think on your feet" Menu pops up which stops time in said video... ...if it didn't they'd just select the first weapon shield or bow and use that. Switching weapons isn't thinking. It is an extra step which breaks the flow of combat to use another weapon. You'll think before battle not in. You have all the time in the world to open menus.

[@malum9478]

this was a mindblowingly bad argument the video made, i agree

[@oxymoron02]

@@malum9478 It was obvious from the title of the video that it was going to be a shit take. Having also trawled forums, Reddit etc, all I see is two sides in this debate; The correct side; "the durability is too heavy handed and could be toned down", and the wrong side, "zomg you want no durability fucking get good u scrub".

[@alexpanek4347]

My main issue with the durability is when you run out of weapons in Zelda your only option is to run away or tedious chip damage with bombs. dark cloud on ps2 left you with a crappy short sword so you had a fighting chance and we’re still using the games intended mechanics in battle.

[@petrikhorr]

but when will you actually run out of weapons? unless you're fighting multiple different monster camps/minibosses and not picking up weapons, you'll never really *run out* of weapons.

[@cynicalgold9992]

"if you could repar weapons, then it would break the flow of combat because you would just pause the game every 30 seconds to repair" this point makes literally zero sense because you already have to pause the game every 30 seconds to pick a new weapon when it breaks.

[@Uhcip]

BOTW's durability felt like an endless loop created by forced scarcity, covered by a thin layer of smoke and mirrors. Even the boomerangs share the sword animation. Many of the things you will find in the game are similarly iterative rather than truly new which makes it feel less like exploring a world and more like an Easter egg hunt where you'll find differently shaped chocolate (and if you're unlucky, that one kinda gross chocolate that you reluctantly eat).

[@nuclearscarab]

I think BotW would satisfy a lot of people if they just allowed you to pick one weapon, maybe limited to hero weapons, in addition to the master sword that you could keep as a re-chargeable weapon. That way you would always have your favorite weapon available and would not feel bad about using it, even though you could not use all the time. Adjust recharge time as needed.

[@AzureGreatheart]

The Champion’s weapons should be repairable, and the Master Sword having limited durability is stupid; I am mostly okay with the rest of the durability system.

[@OneTrueMink]

I think the BoTW durability system is the reason I didnt truly enjoy the game and still refuse to replay it to this day. I see the durability system as a detriment because it led me down a gameplay loop that was as followed: Get low power weapon -> Use to get more powerful weapon -> Use to get high power/unique weapon -> Store until fight with Ganon/Blight. If not Ganon or unskippable fight, avoid fighting at all costs and if I must fight, only use low power weapons/Master Sword. I truly believe that the devs had good intentions with the system, but it was very poorly implemented because it encourages players to avoid playing the game.

[@R0B1NG5]

I mostly agree. I think durability irks the basic psychology of a lot of people quite commonly, having something permanent over having something transient is inherently more comforting. So I think you have to really nail the systems design and place in the overall game, to even make it tolerable for some people who are the most sensitive to it. I personally can find it an irritation, but at some point I have to wonder why I give something like, PP in pokemon, or ammunition, or reloading for a gun a pass. The fun stops when the ammo runs out, what is the appeal of looking around on the ground for a box of ammo, or stopping to reload every 30 seconds? Or teleporting to whatever base or facility refreshes whatever resource you are expending in any other context. In terms of the activity or time spent, I accept this sort of filler action on guns way more easily. But its really not that different from switching to a new weapon, or picking up one in the environment in Zelda. Maybe its just the commonality with which one is used and the other isn't? I feel like I shouldn't "have" to be finding a new sword in zelda. Video game melee weapons mostly don't run out, but videogame guns rarely don't have some kind of ammo/overheat/reload mechanic. In AC it did feel to me more like an irritation. It didn't work so well. It was just a very dry binary, use your tool to do the job, or it breaks and you have to go make a new one. I think its set up would have been the kind of one where one more tier of tools, maybe crafted with star peices or something, or materials obtained from a calendar event would have been the better move. Or just make it so the gold tools are that instead for a fast fix. They could be infinite and something long time players work towards. I played a lot of ACNH, I don't think I even got all the golden recipes. But removing the irritation of the system and in the process, seeming like a beneficial progression would add to the game. People would feel like each permanent tool gained was a boon to the save file. The less well executed a crafting/durability system is, the more I think you should be able to progress beyond it if you are dedicated enough. The developer should use the absence of something not great and turn it to a reward of sorts. Its a chill game, if people just want to get their island up to the point where they can just check in without the shovel breaking after hitting their first rock or whatever, they should be able to get to that point. I haven't played 3H but from older FE games I can say the durability did not bother me so much in that game. It is generally well indicated how many hits stuff has. I also kind of liked the feeling of that I was actually managing the equipment of this band of warriors, purchasing new weapons and making sure we were well supplied. Setting up individual characters with a loadout of a kind of "workhorse" weapon and a back up and an expensive powerful version of that weapon type, maybe some alternate weapon type for coverage if they have that capability etc. It sounds like 3H expanded on the system in smart ways. Botw I was mostly okay with. I managed to finish it and I did see how the expendable weapons meshed with the game design. The early weapons have pretty low durability which was initially a bit of an irritation and shock, I pretty quickly gained knowledge of weapons I liked and seemed good and had more than I could carry. From there, my hoarding mentality really drove a need to expand my inventory slots, which in turn gave the korok seed collectables massive value to me and I was really looking for them and happy to gain them. In general, before release I wondered what they could fill out an open world game with in terms of chests/treasure etc. When I thought about old zelda games and basically opening chests to get a ton of rupees that wouldn't even fit in my wallet, I was worried. But I think non permanent weapons were at least a good attempt to have more items in chests that will at least somewhat retain their value to players over time, without going down the overused f2p road of "feed this same weapon and a bunch of gold to its self to improve it 2.5%" I think the combat in zelda on its face is a little basic, so looking back I also appreciate the unpredictability of "this broad sword is done, time to throw it now, switch to this other weapon, with a different move set mid fight, ok its not great against this specific enemy, what else do I have on me now, I have never used this ice wand, lets see what it does". I don't think it was perfect but at the same time, with how the rest of the game works, I find it hard to think of ways that I would improve it without some other knock on effects on aspects that I ultimately enjoyed about the game. I think more accurate durability indicators and a fallout 3 style, "salvage" one weapon to repair another copy of that weapon would be as far as I would go without changing some other aspects of the game. Maybe in the sequel they will have room to change the wider game design to accommodate bigger tweaks. At some point games are about managed irritation or problems. Its just how they are dressed up that makes the difference. If a game just gave you everything you wanted with no speedbumps or problems it wouldn't be any fun. Its up to the developer to frame it in ways that hide the tedium and express the satisfaction of what you are actually doing in a game. I think durability can have its place, it just needs a deft hand.

[@Evanz111]

Love how you absolutely called the fact that weapon fusing would become a thing a whole year before the game came out!

[@facepwnagewtf]

While I personally do like the durability system in BOTW i will play devils advocate, and point out one legitimate issue it does have. There can definitely come a point mostly in master mode and especially in the sword trials where to durability system becomes a huge detriment. It is very much possible to arrive at a point where you simply don't have any weapons available because they have all broken. I'm fine with weapons breaking, but I'm not ok with having to cheese a couple of Lizalfos in the master trials on Master Mode because i cant fight them in honest combat before i run out of weapons, and in a sense soft lock yourself from progressing any further.

[@petrikhorr]

well.. it's called master mode

[@RosariaBestGirl]

The flaws in your argument. Having a blacksmith to fix your weapons doesn't affect the exploration if you still need materials to repair them... in fact it enhances it. You gloss over this at the end of your video because it is such a good argument and in fact we have seen it implemented in Zelda before where it also extended the upgrade system over to weapons... which is an amazing feature. In SS you only damaged your weapons if you were bad at combat or using them wrong. Trying to block a sledgehammer with your basic studded/steel shield? Get wreckt. Trying to block fire with a wooden shield? GET WRECKT! It encourages the player to explore and look for materials, while punishing them in a logical way. For playing terribly and not using their brain. BOTW on the other hand... does the exact oposite by not even giving players that option and making players use up resources no matter how "good" they get at weapons combat or how much they enjoy the fighting... THAT is tedious! Not giving the players more options on how they chose to play the game is the most pea-brain excuse I have heard for this durability system. Oh and even if SS didn't exsist the sheer volume of the overworld far outclasses the insignificantly small size of the weapon inventory system. Oh but that encourages exploration? How when you literally leave the reward in the chest because your inventory is already full and the ONLY SOLUTION IS TO THROW AWAY ALL YOUR OTHER PREVIOUS REWARDS FOR EXPLORING!!!!??????? MUCH BRAIN! OBJECTIVE GAME DESIGN! HUR DUR! And I am talking endgame max inventory here... even the pathetically small storage system is ass.

[@swootproonce634]

I don’t like durability in botw. Weapons aren’t a good reward for me because if I use them, I won’t have them and that makes me sad. And since they are a bad reward for exploring, most exploration isn’t as fun as it could be.

[@abigcupofwater]

This game had the same problem Skyrim had for me: 50% of the game is menu

[@galaxylad8152]

Are we gonna talk about that Thunder helm play?

[@via3600]

I bet fusing would be a very cool feature for the sequel, you're right

[@RukaDesu]

hmmm... I disagree completly with most of your points, but it's a good video anyway... the " people wouldn't have weapon variation, would stick with the same one" is false, games without durability like elden ring, monster hunter, and borderlands have players constantly changing weapons all the time, be for the new unique mechanics some weapon offer over others, or just to mix things up, and it makes it an optional thing up to the player, not a force feed thing outside of your control... the " there shouldn't be ways to repair/other indestructible weapons in the game" this pisses me the FUCK OFF, there are some weapons that are TRULY UNIQUE in BOTW, meaning that there is only some few of them and then you can NEVER get them again in the same save file... and you know what happens? you get the weapon and put in your 'stash' to never use again... the "make you use all sorts of weapons and adapt" nope, I'll literally horde overpower weapons and beat everything with easily replaceable weak sticks, just like I horde potions and buffs cause "I might need it later" and never use it not even against the final boss... because it's 'consumable and I don't want to consume it now if I would need it more later'... I think other than strategy games, durability is a bad mechanic that either shouldn't exist, or have an option to make selective things INFINITE at your command, usually at the end of the game. Minecraft is a good exemple for me of durability done right, not only you can spend resources to repair it, you can enchant it to make it last longer, diamond tools with unbreaking will stay with you for DAYS IN REAL LIFE without need for repair... and if you go the extra mile to get yourself some "mending", they'll be there forever basically, since they regenerate durability... similarly, the new Resident evil games with the knife durability (that I hate), you can unlock a knife with infinite durability! (which breaks the game since they buffed your 'last resort' to a 'get out of jail free card', but you get it after beating the game so fuck it) like in animal crossing, if you go through the painstakingly grind to unlock a golden tool, it should reward you with something that DOESNT BREAK, instead of just more durability...

[@smorggs7860]

I remember the best combat encounter I had in BoTW was because of the weapon durability system. It was my second or third playthrough, and I was heading to Hateno for the first time that playthrough, when I ran into a small hoard near the broken down archery range. It was still fairly early in the game, of course, so my weapons were breaking in about the amount of time it took to kill an enemy, or at least for them to drop their weapon. This actually worked in the encounter's favor, as it meant that the weapon I was going to use for the next enemy out of the several I was up against, was likely from the last one I killed, and since the weapon type of each enemy wasn't consistent, I had to constantly switch the way I was fighting based on which weapon type I was using. This, combined with the amount of enemies (which were actually a decent threat), meant the fight was very chaotic, but I still had enough influence for me to actually be able to fight back, and so it felt like I was barely making it through off of skill alone, even though I still had the ability to just get into a corner and drop bombs on them. BoTW is all about creativity and exploration, not just of the world, but the mechanics, and the fact that you can't rely on always having a weapon makes that more prevalent.

[@Salaaaad]

You know what will never break? The amazing content! Thank you Astro!

[@ThePastAnalysis]

I hope to all that is holy Tears of the Kingdom doesn't have breakable weapons. I think your comparison doesn't really work. People sign up for DnD, but when people play a Zelda game, they're not necessarily signing up for this. None of the previous Zeldas had breakable weapons. It's a terrible mechanic that needs to die.

[@DamienMortemus]

Here's my take. I've played breath of the wild with mods. I used a mod to make weapon durability infinite. It was fucking boring because I never had to experiment . I would just use my highest damaging weapon and never switch it out because I never needed to. Why use interesting weapons like leaves, fire rods, or boomerangs when I can just keep using my savage lynel sword and do more damage? So taking away the durability system in a game like this is a terrible idea. Also, late game breath of the wild actually has this same problem even without mods because the late game weapons have significantly more durability as well as damage. I think it would actually be better to have the late game weapons have lower durability so that there is still a reason to experiment late game.

[@SayisSpeakin]

i think it'd be really cool if you could use the materials/ores you collected throughout the game to repair/upgrade your weapons say at every stable? Like i completely get not wanting to go back and forth between one location throughout the game but i still think that a weapon repair/upgrade system would be a great addition to botw.

[@seseiSeki]

Well, the problem with BotW weapons is that they're your only progression damage wise. When they break you can't go to more difficult areas, because the weapons you're left with won't deal any damage to your enemies. It isn't too bad when the game decides that you have to use another weapon, but since they break so often and the inventory is veeery limited I mostly run around with Moblin Clubs, because those are everywhere. But I don't like them... They look boring, are slow and I just don't like blunt weapons. Mind you I'm just 85~ hours in and haven't finished the game yet, so maybe it gets better after some more progress.

[@YouCanCallMeIz]

I think it's just... not that fun to have weapons you'd like to use break. The way I see it, if you want to incentivise variety of use, then make more options ACTUALLY appealing. Why would I want to use generic spear 102 when I could use the cool ice blade or the giant slab of metal that vaguely resembles a greatsword? I'd only use it if it was, well, shoved down my throat by a durability system that breaks even the most durable weapons in a few encounters. It made me afraid to have any fun with a good weapon. I feel like the durability system actively undermines the gameplay loop eventually. Oh, I wanna go explore that thing. Wait, my weapons suck. Time to go spend 30 minutes getting royal guard weapons from Hyrule Castle, or kill the same white lynel multiple times for a lame looking sword. There's already a million weapons at your fingertips, and the durability system doesn't change that. Everywhere you go, you have options. But 80% of those options aren't fun. Honestly, just make the weapons FUN to use. Then people will use them. The durability system is a horrible solution to a really tiny problem.

[@enderethan229]

I think the issue with BotW’s durability is that every weapon is just similar enough to incentivize the usage of your weakest weapon. I had a solid collection of at least seven Savage Lynel Crushers in my pocket for the latter half of my playtime that I never once touched out of fear of losing them. They’re strong, yeah, but I get the same gameplay out of a hammer or Royal Claymore, so unless I find an enemy that’s strong enough to warrant extra damage (I didn’t), I’ll never get to use the cool weapons, and will instead just be slightly inconvenienced with a lower damage output. A weapon breaking doesn’t make me “adjust my strategy” or “think on my feet”, it gives me half a second of annoyance before to swap to a weapon that plays exactly the same in ever way other than giving me less damage overall. If every weapon was completely different and unique, to the point where a weapon breaking was like losing access to your Smash main, *then* I’d see that argument. But as it stands, it’s more of a way to nerf your statistics until you feel like going out to get another of the same weapon.

[@teslafistforge8716]

botw's durability system felt fine to me as well. FE:TH's durability system was tolerable but repairing weapons always feels like busy work in a game filled with busy work. is it balanced? mostly. is it fun? ehhhh.

[@henryhunter8068]

Quote: "But mister spaceman! I hear some of you ask. Why isn't there a way to repair my weapons? You collect all sorts of ore and stuff. Why can't I use that fix some of my damaged or broken weapons like in other games? This might sound like an obvious inclusion, but I feel like it would kind of ruin the pacing of combat if your weapon was about to break you would pause the game every thirty seconds and fix it yourself. What would even be the point of having them break at all. And sure, you can already pause the game the eat and heal if you take damage, but that's something the player chooses to do vs weapon repairing would be a consistent interval event that the player would feel compelled and annoyed to do." So, healing is something the player chooses to do? Meanwhile repairing a weapon is what would be mandatory, and the player would feel compelled to do. Healing when you have one heart out of 14 left, nah, that's a choice, you might choose to just die also, both are viable. But repairing your weapon, that you feel compelled to. Also it would break the flow of combat, but your weapon breaking and going to the inventory to check which weapon to use, that doesn't break the flow of combat. What? I get people want the game they like to be good, but sometimes the games you like have bad parts, or poor design choices. This is one of them, there's nothing good added by the durability system as implemented in BotW, that couldn't be added in another way without annoyance of the extremely limited durability. Want to make people switch weapons? Make enemies weak to some of them, resistant to some of them so you have to choose another. Want people to manage resources? Add consumables that buff your weapon or add elemental damage to a weapon for a number of hits. Want people to experiment? Have more than four move sets and nine enemy types. Want people to explore? Hide unique things, weapons with unique qualities, upgrade materials, recipes or random quests outside of villages, so people look for them. Durability and weapon breaking, to the point some fights are a net loss of resources, is one of the worst ways to achieve those things.

[@JaredClaunch]

My real gripe with the BOTW’s durability: it’s a combat system that incentivizes the player to AVOID combat. Not much reward in wasting good weapons on bokoblin camps

[@airiquelmeleroy]

Simple. Add a *very* expensive repair system using resources at campfires, and the shards from broken weapons (from that other video you mentioned). 1. Adds a use for wood and making campfires 2. Incentiveses breaking multiple weapons, and keeps the flow going 3. Grants you the ability to repair and keep that one or two veeeery powerful weapon that has that veeery rare enhancement on it (and that you personally like a lot) 4. No blacksmith/travel needed. Though, it could be a "learnable" skill or something 5. All the high-end weaponns can't be repaired this way (champion weapons, robbie weapons, royal guard, savage lynel stuff, etc). Elemental stuff would of course need the corresponding ore... but come on, they are FUN, not poweful, half of the powerful enemies are immune to the elements XD This proposal isn't for my greedy hands to keep hold of my hoarding tendencies... it's just to have an actual use for the rare collectibles and ores that after being used to get the gerudo jewels and upgrade some armor... become ruppees that are also worthless by the end game

[@rubixtheslime]

I still think the durability system is fundamentally flawed. It's really not a hard concept: I don't like my stuff breaking all the time, and I got the game in order to enjoy it. Thus I would always use the master sword until weapon dupe and durability transfer was discovered. _Now_ I enjoy using a variety of weapons. On top of that, I'm one of those people that are absolutely terrible because I like to do the forbidden art of "be prepared." Sure there's tons of mega weak weapons everywhere, but there's tons of weapons that are more of tools. Sure there's trees in a lot of places, but probably half the map has no tree in sight. Oh hey that's a nice raft, sure would be great if you had the slots to keep a leaf with you! Torch puzzle? Pick one weapon to just get rid of so you can use a torch. Unless you're smart and keep a flame weapon. Shock and ice are equally useful, oh and basically any weapon that actually does damage is terrible for stasis. So until you collect like 200 koroks, half your weaponry is dedicated to tools, not weapons. And heaven forbid you take an hour or so trying to get a max attack up weapon. I feel like it says a lot about how annoying this game mechanic is when _Minecraft,_ where crafting is like half the game, is constantly progressing towards tools _not_ breaking. Used to be where everything just breaks over time. Then they added repair recipe, which combines weapons' durability plus a little bonus. And unbreaking enchantment, quadruple the durability. Not enough? Let's add mending! Put mending on literally any sword, it'll last forever so long as you don't mine with it, though it's difficult to get, either have to search hundreds of dungeon chests, fish for several hours, or breed hundreds of villagers. Surprise! You now only need one villager and a lectern. Hey you know how it's annoying when your loose your stuff in lava? Now you can make diamond tools fire proof and have even more durability with netherite! Never once have Minecraft tools become less durable, probably because Mojang realizes that most people don't like their stuff breaking, especially in combination with limited inventory space.

[@petrikhorr]

tears of the kingdom fixed a lot of this now no korok leaf for a raft? fan. need a torch for something? fire fruit. "oh but bombs are gone"? bomb flowers are easy to find if you're looking for them, plus with fusing, durability runs out slower so you can use more stuff for breaking ores and such. run out of weapons? (somehow) make a beam turret, or throw ingredients at them. ps. your comment is like, the only actual point here, so good job

[@slimfastsubaru2043]

ngl weapon durability is why i stopped playing breath. it annoyed me to no end. durability is ok if the weapon becomes unusable till you repair it. it is not ok if your shit has 1 life and then it gone forever, that's fkin stupid.

[@Awoken_YKW_Fan9001]

BOTW durability: *exists* Glitches like duping and durability transfer: *BEGONE* *THOT*

[@joshsanchez9793]

i love weapon durability in botw. I get to be creative. I hate weapon durability though in animal crossing.They should have made the golden tools unbreakable

[@dragonstormx]

I disagree that repairing weapons would break the gameplay loop in Breath of the Wild since the loop is already broken by the damn rain. Most players, myself either wait for the rain to stop or just go somewhere else to rest until the rain stops.

[@strikerdx2]

I hate durability in fire emblem. Sure it make sense on some rare and strong ones like Levin sword, but with steel weaponry it's just unnecesary thing

[@TheOwnerX5X]

I think its less of a gameplay than an incentive problem, i dont want to explore if i know ill only find stuff that breaks anyway.

[@mihailcirlig8187]

That's why I play on Cemu and use the unbreakable weapon mod, much much more enjoyable this way, for me

[@Buglin_Burger7878]

I wouldn't consider Fire Emblem's durability strategic... because of a core issue, the number of hits to kill matters more then the stat and just look at the Iron vs Killer Spear. If the Killer takes 1 less hit to kill then the Iron then it will ALWAYS BE BETTER then an Iron in every situation. 2 hit Killer will kill 12.5 people while a 3 hit Iron will kill 11.5 people. The only PHEASABLE way to "be strategic" about it is to make it so an Killer + Iron will 2-hit someone giving you effectively a better cost as now you can kill 25 people with only breaking 1 weapon. But why not just get two Killers to eliminate any randomness from the Iron being weaker might cause? It doesn't even make sense in game... your major durability IS THE UNIT ITSELF because of Permadeath the thing FE is known for. Your weapons breaking is an annoyance that actually limits the use of weapons themselves. For example you'd normally give a weaker unit that kills in 4 hits something that makes them drop down to 3 hits. With durability... you're making a horrible choice. Now that Killer will take 3 hits to kill and not even win 10 fights. Look at how it lost all use on them... so the strong get stronger and the weak stay weak yet if you're going to use them and have extra it is absolutely worth using it. All the durability does is stop long range hit and run tactics as eventually you'll run out of weapons but otherwise it doesn't add anything to the game other then create a resource sink for something that could be otherwise completed removed. It does nothing for Fire Emblem... not to mention it is one of the few strategy game where it limits attacks to almost solely single target. It would be more strategic to have a unit "Weaponless" and have to retreat from the field to either resupply or be replaced by another unit since this would actually be influencing real gameplay.

[@psiignoramus9486]

Weapon Durability always seems to me like it is a contentious debate when it comes to matters of game development and design. I so far agree with your sentiment when it comes to Fire Emblem's Weapon Durability system being a mixed bag of sorts. You either like the system or hate it and prefer other SRPGs instead. However, it is interesting to note that Fire Emblem has went back and forth even in the NES/Famicom Era on whether Weapon Durability should be removed or not. Fire Emblem Gaiden being the black sheep of the series has No Weapon Durability and this game was sort of revolutionary that it influenced other SRPGs to shine such as The Shining Force series and Langrisser. Personally the entries in the Fire Emblem series I like (gameplay wise, not story wise) the most are the ones with no Weapon Durability such as Fire Emblem Gaiden and its remake Echoes, Fates, and most recently Engage.

[@painuchiha2694]

HARD DISAGREE on blacksmith Botw gives you an overwhelming amount of useless resources and having a blacksmith would fix the resources/durability problem almost entirely Make repairing weapons a big resource loss and now you have to make decisions on finding new weapons or losing resources Also Give big duration upgrade from blacksmith and other buff in exchange of more resources Blacksmith are essential for botw2 imo to make weapons and potential upgrade way more interesting And NO you DON’t HAVE ONLY ONE BLACKSMITH IN THE ENTIRE GAME Make one available for most or every staple and there you go no exploration compromise u silly

[@Linkdarkside]

Weapon/Armor durability are my most hated feature in video games.

[@thats4thebirds]

I absolutely hated it. It gave me anxiety constantly and late game it became an issue multiple times per battle. Mad annoying

[@OtherMomo]

i disagree with your idea that a repair mechanic would undermine the exploration game loop in BotW, theres over fourty years of gaming history that says otherwise. the way i see it, weapons shoulda had more variable stats and effects, and THAT would incentivise cycling weapons, the more unique ones being more expensive to repair, and the magic ones being irrepaprable because what kind of blacksmith is gonna strike an electric sword with their hammer??? but this royal broadsword? its high carbon blade (and critical hit chance up stat) is gonna cost a lot of resources, you better bring me ore as well as dosh

[@OtherMomo]

to add to that, when a weapon breaks on impact, that impact counts as a critical hit, and when it's 'about to break', throwing it breaks it on-demand not being able to repair magic weapons incentivises you to chuck them, but i would ad a mini aoe magic burst, like when you strike wands directly lotta cooler ways to do what they tried.

[@Ross516]

Also, possibly blacksmiths who can only fix weapons up to a certain point, to promote more exploration? Like the guy in the Zora area can only fix up to soldier weapons, but theres a guy in the Goron area who can fix anything, but only a gerudo lady can fix bows of a certain quality, etc?

[@giantsalamander2296]

When i played botw I liked the weapon system because you have to make choices. I really liked using elemental weapons as tools, rather than as weapons,and thats a choice you can make

[@wolffang489]

I have fond memories of being the only one that liked the durability system in Dark Cloud for PS2. I also remember being the only one that knew what Dark Cloud was.

[@chrisrockett5897]

I dunno man, durabilaty makes sense but if you're gonna have the most OP weapons in the game, make them harder to find and entirely unbreakable. It just doesn't feel rewarding going on this long-ass quest just to get another weapon that's weak and doesn't break at all or a one hit KO machine that fucking breaks when wind is blown on it.

[@Ross516]

Wow, I spent 5 hours getting the super rare ultra mega sword! Aaaaand it's broken after half of a fight with a regular tough enemy :I

[@chrisrockett5897]

@@Ross516 That's how I feel. It just ain't worth it.

[@hackerman9s935]

@@chrisrockett5897 then it comes down to never using them, which is another problem :/

[@chrisrockett5897]

@@hackerman9s935 Why would I want or need to use my weaker weapons if I've been using them for most of the game tho? I think a good solution for that problem would probably be a rock, paper, scissors kinda system with the weapons. Like, OP weapons are obviously still gonna be OP, but some weaker weapons can have different properties on enemies and give you certain rewards and items for using them for that purpose.

[@hackerman9s935]

@@chrisrockett5897 Yeah, but i suppose its just using the right weapons for the right situations. I agree with some other unique weapons albeit weaker but have useful properties be for other things. Its more of "Welp, my most powerful weapon is gone, better save others for later" type of thing. Sorry if that was put out weird.

[@happysmilesworldandgames8755]

I think that some uses of weapons shouldnt break them, like the rods

[@thespeedyyoshi]

“I’ve done a lot of digging. Literally!” God I love your scriptwriting

[@heyj64]

As a means of durability indication, have the weapon's icon in the inventory show cracks around the edges the more it's damaged

[@kasparasbendoraitis3625]

You called it, Tears of the Kingdom has fuseing

[@pexe_lunar]

A very nice weapon durability system is the old Monster Hunter's (all of them except MHW and MH Rise) sharpness and pickaxe/bug net system

[@Jordan-subj]

World and Rise both have sharpness maintenence. What are you talking about?

[@pexe_lunar]

@@Jordan-subj My point is about not being able to see your shapness exactly

[@Moss_Dude]

Sorry I'm gonna have to skip 20% of the video because I still don't have 3 houses

[@MerlinCross13]

"But you won't be able to afford to repair all your weapons" KEK. That's a good one. Oh wait you're serious here. Outside of the Relic weapons in 3houses, I don't think I broke one weapon and I don't think I've seen anyone break a weapon short of mashing weapon arts. It's stupidly easy to upkeep your weapons in 3H to the point of why not just get rid of it?

[@TeryJones]

3:30 - Oh right, Animal Crossing, the most hyper realistic depiction of the modern human condition you'll ever find in a video game right down to having one of its core gameplay mechanics being *buried in soul crushing debt under a shady leech of a capitalist,* _"relaxing",_ sure. 4:53 - To be fair it wouldn't be such a tired punchline if all of them weren't sword using main protags put in to advertise the latest game releases..... 15:11 - Oh did it ever come back in Tears of the Kingdom, whoo boy the combat system got nucking futs in that game XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD

[@Buglin_Burger7878]

...but you can solo Gannon with one weapon. Literally. Ancient Armor when upgraded boosts damage with Guardian/Ancient weapons by 80%, stackable with Food Buff which also improves the 80% making you deal roughly 230% damage. Gannon seems to be weak to these weapons as well!

[@xavierwhitcraft1310]

The whole point of the Blood Moon in this game is for a world reset. You literally have infinite weapons. If you have a good memory for locations, you can easily make your way back to spots with good weapons after a blood moon and get more. Tabantha Tower has an area with every common Great Sword in the game besides Royal Guard of course. The Colosseum usually has really good weapons. Later in the game the enemies usually hold elemental weapons. They break so that you are forced to find more.

[@ersia87]

I agree with most of what is said in this video, except that the food system is excused because it's something the player chooses to do. I think it's the same thing. Keeping alive is of course a much more important feature of the game than keeping weapons in one piece. But I think eating should be regulated as well. Maybe eating should take in-game time. Maybe choosing a meal could be made in the puse menu but the eating itself would have to take maybe just a single second or two, with solid ground (or at least no beating), to be done. That would probably erase much of the food buffing before fights against overly hard enemies. Or maybe there could be a limit of how much Link could eat. If the metre is full link has to either do other stuff for a while or sleep or wait for a few in game houres before eating again. Mayeb each food item could have a "size" wich fills up a food metre until link is full. On a side note, I think cooking is probably too easy to make overpowering. powerful recepies shouldn't probably be able to be made by just throwing many of the same powerful ingredient into the pot at the same time.

[@yalkn2073]

Problem with botw's get weapon, kill monsters, get weapon loop is you lose more weapons then you get, especially in master mode. (Atleast good ones, bokoblin arm doesn't count)

[@xoawolf]

Ya it kinda works as a feature, I just don't really like it, and I know more than one person that has not picked up the game, myself included, because of that system. It's not that I think BotW is a bad game, I'm more than certain it's great, I just can't be bothered to mess with a durability system having already dealt with them in the past and found them annoying. It's a simple matter of voting with my wallet, and I can still enjoy the game by watching a lets play on it, as I tend to do for games that I'm still interested in but either don't want to support it financially, OR enjoy the world but not the game.

[@biropgrules]

Man, imagine giving the player the option to only use one type of weaponry if that is what they wish/finds the most fun in a game thats supposed to be all about freedom to do anything, and go anywhere.

[@Dancetothetower]

i wouldnt mind the durability if it were a bit higher but its like 1 combat and its gone (if even that) and sure you get lots of weapons but they are most of the time not that useful like that skeleton hand which breaks almost instantly then when you have a strong enemy all of your weapons shatter to dust im fairly early in the game but its a real chore there are no weaponsseller anywere and i end up avoiding combat as much as i can because i have like 2 weapons then you have ore and crates which uses all your weapons that you have stored its really frustrating if i had a default weapon that not breaks but also not does a lot of damage it would be fine but it happend multiple times that all my weapons break and i ended up fleeing or dying and if you in this spot you must throw bombs and hope not get hit or instakilled by a random goblin to then get a club that breaks when you defeat an enemy then you have puzzles which requires weapons to finish which also drains your weapons it just feels not rewarding or fun and i also dont get why why does my steel sword break when i hit something a dozen times an easy fix would be a difficult option where you can change the weapon durabillity like multiplying it by 4 or something

[@Vulcanfaux]

I thought it was mostly fine in breath of the wild, kind of wish they had a little more durability. That fusing weapons thing you said would be a nice way to repair them. Either way for me as soon as I see the "yo weapon gon break soon" message I always just throw the weapon. It does a fair bit of damage that way and I still get one more great use out of it. A meter would also be nice, display it like the sharpness meter from monster hunter rise with maybe only 2 colors similar to the valstrax weapons. With the "red" not only showing its about to break, but also showing that if you throw it it will break from that durability.

[@Everettalla]

I actually played butt-wah without eating a single apple my first run because I thought you HAD to bake them. My cooked meal inventory is still full as hellll tho

[@Rengor1997]

About Three Houses, money and materials are so plentiful that even on Maddening, weapon durability becomes a complete non-factor, so it's literally just a matter of "Have X uses for a chapter then repair it afterwards". Even the relics are easy to repair with how common Umbral Steel is. The only more tricky thing to repair is Aymr but by contrast it's by far the best weapon in the game and if you know where to find the material (Monsters in the Desert aux battle or chapter 16), the game just cries in agony.

[@charsunshermie9376]

I feel like you’re right about this for the most part, especially with how common umbral steel becomes in part two, but I know that I ran out of Wootz Steel at a few inconvenient moments, and especially mythril. Mythril seemed pretty hard to get, unless I was doing something wrong, so it definitely did limit my usage of weapons that were crafted with it.

[@FrnzFrdnnd]

I want the weapon system from DS3 on Zelda games.

[@sabbagecavage5690]

I'm glad you brought up razbuten here, his video is the first that comes to my mind when durability in BOTW is brought up.

[@spoolofyarn6682]

I agree, since the weapons having limited durability eventually lead to me learning about the bomb parry.

[@kid14346]

"All the weapon types have different attacks..." I mean yes 5 different attack animations are technically different types... It just kills me mentally that every animation in the game is just Single Handed Swing, Two Handed Swing, Two Handed Poke, Bow and Arrow, and Throw. Like Link uses a mop and a halberd the same and it annoys me to no end!

[@EnderalRocks]

I always liked the durability system, in a game like BOTW especially, since you can go to the castle at the start of the game and get an incredible weapon.

[@shiroamakusa8075]

Yeah, why stop with weapons? Have all the armor pieces explode into powder too! Because then you'll be encouraged to switch up your duds more often instead of going for the highest protection! Hey, and maybe Link should start losing limbs and vital organs whenever he gets whacked by a ten foot centaur or zapped by an ancient war machine. Then you have to find new crutches for every few steps you take because those crutches explode after a while too! Man, that's such a winning formula! Hey, hey, I know, why not have your game disk self-destruct after playing for a few hours forcing you to buy a new one! That sounds great, doesn't it?

[@Buglin_Burger7878]

Breaking weapons doesn't force me to use more then one type of weapon, remember how you said THERE ARE WEAPONS EVERYWHERE so doesn't that mean I can take one type of weapon? 2-Handed and just hold a shield to Block/Parry/Dodge and Flurry Rush with a powerful weapon which nets more kills before breaking? Not to mention Spears having low damage break very quickly... means they are effectively worthless.

[@netweed09]

Well; no. Why did Skyrim's system Work - and was so popular? Like, outselling even Breath of the Wild popular? Because it found a rewarding Crafting and Obtaining system. Fans might defend Breath to the Dueling Peaks - but a game that cannot even reward you with 1 _(One)_ Permanent Weapon after even completing all 120 of those boring identikit shrines as a reward is a _very_ poor show. No dungeons etc: what's even the point of this game? ''Destroy Ganon!1'' ? Well, he's back in Tears so tough lol. 😂

[@shadowraith10]

Dark Cloud 2, a durability system I personally do NOT like, yet manage. it's very punishing but this game's gimmick is all about resources and matching up monster weaknesses to your weapon type. Using a weapon they resist removes MORE durability. If a weapon breaks, you dont lose it, you need to use repair powder but it loses EXP. Your weapons level up instead of your characters and evolve with materials you fuse into them. So losing exp is BAD... You MUST keep repair powder at ALL times, and there's 3 types, melee, gun and bracelet... You use two chars and swap between the two frequently, max has a wrench melee and a gun secondary, Monica has a sword melee and a magic casting bracelet secondary. Whatever weapon got the killing blow gets the exp, unless you swap character then it's divided evenly. back to durability, the durability system is... well, you get repair powder a manageable ammount, you can buy it and money is acquired per kill so, it's manageable just annoying, thank god for the hot bar menu to use items mid gameplay with a button press.