Breath of the Wild I still hate the weapons breaking mechanic

[Hylianhero91]

Here we are months after launch and I still hate the weapons breaking mechanic in BOTW. Am I one of the few oddballs who absolutely hates it and thinks it ruins the experience? Everyone I talk to seems to love it and tries to rationalize why it is good, but I still fail to see it. It seems forced and unnecessary to me. I hope to God Nintendo never puts it in a Zelda game again.

 

[misskitten]

Neither love nor hate it, I'm just not bothered with it. I never run out of weapons, more often I need to leave behind good weapons because I don't use them up quick enough, lol

 

[Azure Sage]

Neither love nor hate it, I'm just not bothered with it. I never run out of weapons, more often I need to leave behind good weapons because I don't use them up quick enough, lol

This. I haven't wanted for weapons in my past 200 hours of gameplay at the least. You get to a point where it just doesn't matter anymore.

Honestly I'm mostly indifferent to it, though I think it fits with the resource management theme that BotW has going for it, though I can understand why some people don't like it. Some people prefer to be able to button mash their way through fights, but BotW forces you to think about what you're doing. If you're willing to change how you play to fit the situation you're in then I don't see why it should be a problem.

 

[the8thark]

I think it fits with the resource management theme that BotW has going for it, though I can understand why some people don't like it.

This is exactly how I feel about it. The way it done works but I can understand how many people will not like it. At least it gets me to think of which weapon I am using, but just buttom mashing the Master Sword for most of the game, like every other Zelda game.

 

[Hylianhero91]

Some people prefer to be able to button mash their way through fights, but BotW forces you to think about what you're doing. If you're willing to change how you play to fit the situation you're in then I don't see why it should be a problem.?

See...
These are the arguments I see made by those in favor of the breaking weapons and I dont agree with them at all. To me, the fact there are billions of weapons to find that break right away kind of cheapens the experience. In past Zelda games, you found fewer weapons but it was rewarding to find them and you got to keep them and use them throughout the rest of the game. In other Zelda games, you have to complete dungeons, minidungeons, or challenging side quests to get new weapons. In BOTW, there are cool weapons everywhere, but they break right away. I dont see the appeal of that at all.
If Nintendo wanted us to think about resource management with the weapons they could have done it in more interesting ways than breaking weapons. For example, they could have given very limited inventory slots for weapons. That would have made players carefully choose the weapons they carry at any given time. This would have been much more fun than what we got. Imagine having to strategize and figure out which weapons to carry with you into different areas to defeat certain monsters. They could have made the different monsters vulnerable to certain weapons and you had to figure out what those were. That would have added another interesting strategy and puzzle element to the game. The weapons breaking mechanic is just annoying.

 

[Azure Sage]

See...
These are the arguments I see made by those in favor of the breaking weapons and I dont agree with them at all. To me, the fact there are billions of weapons to find that break right away kind of cheapens the experience. In past Zelda games, you found fewer weapons but it was rewarding to find them and you got to keep them and use them throughout the rest of the game. In other Zelda games, you have to complete dungeons, minidungeons, or challenging side quests to get new weapons. In BOTW, there are cool weapons everywhere, but they break right away. I dont see the appeal of that at all.
If Nintendo wanted us to think about resource management with the weapons they could have done it in more interesting ways than breaking weapons. For example, they could have given very limited inventory slots for weapons. That would have made players carefully choose the weapons they carry at any given time. This would have been much more fun than what we got. Imagine having to strategize and figure out which weapons to carry with you into different areas to defeat certain monsters. They could have made the different monsters vulnerable to certain weapons and you had to figure out what those were. That would have added another interesting strategy and puzzle element to the game. The weapons breaking mechanic is just annoying.

Saying they break right away is a ridiculous overstatement. The only weapon that does break right away is the tree branch. What you described (deciding on the best weapon for each situation and strategizing) is exactly what you're supposed to do. I know there's no one right way to play the game, and people can play this game however they like, but you're sounding like you don't fully understand how the weapon system works if you don't think it already has the element of strategy you're describing.

 

[athenian200]

You're not alone. I don't really love the mechanic either. In fact, it turned me off from playing the game for about a week after I got it.

While I think it's something I could get used to, I'd be lying if I said I liked it or thought it was an example of good design.

 

[Spirit]

I dont like it either.

It gets better as the game goes on, i havent had a weapon break on me in ages because most of then have durability buffs... and i avoid fights whenever i can because i dont want stuff to break.

I dont shield surf either because i dont want them to break.

The breaking is always there in the back of my mind. Sure you get weapons from kills but you may break a good one and get a worse weapon in return. You can use the Master Sword but its weak compared to end game weapons and it too runs out of power so you have to use something else.


It isnt fun that it happens, and it getting better at the end doesnt help... because its the end.

I do hope this mechanic never returns. Its too stressful and for me personally, it really warps the way i play the game, and it doesnt feel like its for the better. Especially when the combat is quite enjoyable.

 

[SinkingBadges]

I never really minded it a whole lot but didn't particularly like it either. On one hand it's theoretically kind of an interesting way of resource management by giving you the option of throwing weapons to get more damage out of them (which might actually be invalidated if the last hit before the weapon breaks is always critical anyways, which I'm actually not sure of since I don't care to research now) and on the other hand there's the edge case of ending up without weapons, which I don't think actually happened to me after a certain point. If anything what annoyed me more often was that I'd run out of equipment slots which would either: a, make the time I spent trying to get extra chests in shrines useless more times than I can count, or b, mean I'd have to spend more time choosing what to drop so I could take the new weapon.

The most interesting thing I can think of that comes as a result of weapon breaking is how it could, in theory, put you in situations where you'd have to find ways to take enemy weapons, which unfortunately almost never happened to me either because of how many weapons I'd have at all times. Even the few times I decided to raid camps I'd just leave most weapons lying around since I had better ones anyway. Eventide Island is probably the notable exception here, where the survival part is actually there.

I remember thinking before release that the weapon breaking might make the game more survival-focused. The actual game feels more like one of those that throws loot at you constantly in order for you derive satisfaction from seeing your numbers rise and rise. I imagine at least in those you don't have to throw weapons every time you get a new one though.

 

[Jirohnagi]

ah just think the dlc is rumored to make the MS fully empowered at all times.... A.K.A u nbreakable

 

[Dio]

It does not add an interesting aspect to resource management only an additional annoyance to combat which isnt really very good to begin with.

Weapons are so common anyway that you never run out. Therefore the only purpose the mechanic serves is to interrupt gameplay and be a nuisance.

To change weapons you must pause the action, breaking immersion from the game. Weapons shatter like they are made of glass so this action pausing happens frequently. This makes combat unenjoyable and led to me avoiding it whenever possible.

I hope it never returns.

 

[Azure Sage]

ah just think the dlc is rumored to make the MS fully empowered at all times.... A.K.A u nbreakable

It's not unbreakable. It's just 3 times more durable. It can still run out of energy when powered up if you use it enough.

 

[Turo602]

Yeah, it's a pointless mechanic. I enjoyed using different melee weapons in a Zelda game, and while there are tons in Breath of the Wild, there's only really 3 different types of melee weapons. Nintendo claims this was done so that you don't just go the whole game using a sword, but given the fact that each weapon type serves a useful purpose, I find it unnecessary for them to break. Players would still use each weapon type just as much as the sword if they were permanent.

I know the giant weapon's endless spin attack has come in handy against the Hinox and Guardians. Spears are great against annoying enemies you don't want to be too close to. And the sword, well, you can never go wrong with the sword.

I would have preferred if we had to earn each type of weapon and then upgrade them to make stronger, add elemental effects, and learn new skills for each weapon. They could have even just added a fairy in the game that makes weapons unbreakable too.

 

[DarkestLink]

Ruin the experience? No. Hurt the experience? Yes.

 

[the8thark]

See...
These are the arguments I see made by those in favor of the breaking weapons and I dont agree with them at all.

Saying they break right away is a ridiculous overstatement. The only weapon that does break right away is the tree branch. What you described (deciding on the best weapon for each situation and strategizing) is exactly what you're supposed to do. I know there's no one right way to play the game, and people can play this game however they like, but you're sounding like you don't fully understand how the weapon system works if you don't think it already has the element of strategy you're describing.

Well said @Azure Sage
The issue here is not that the system is bad. The issue here is many people don't like the system and they think it must be bad because they don't like it. That's just not the case. The system is just not everyone's cup of tea. Many will like it, many will not like it. That's totallt ok as not everything exists to please everyone. People need to realise that not liking something is not the same as that thing being fundamentally broken.

In reality the weapon breaking mechanic is a minor part of the game. The weapons breaking or not breaking would not hurt the core experience. The core experience is exploring the digital world here and searching out the korok seeds and shrines. The game is an exploration and collectathon at heart.

I just hope Nintendo don't radically change things up for the bad, in the next Zelda game without thinking seriously about it. The vocal minority should not dictate game design ever. However their concerns are often valid and should be taken into consideration. Could the system be improved? Sure? Is it fundamentally flawed in it's current state? No.