• Welcome to ZD Forums! You must create an account and log in to see and participate in the Shoutbox chat on this main index page.

Breath of the Wild Breath of the Wild is all about resource management [minor spoilers]

Joined
Oct 14, 2013
Location
Australia
What are the resources the player has to manage in Breath of the Wild?
  • Hearts
  • Rupees
  • Weapons
  • Materials
Hearts
Every hit costs (usually cooked) food to replenish the hearts to replenish. When you see an anemy that you don't have to kill you need to think, do you have the food to heal from any potential hits. Also is the risk worth the reward of loot from the dead enemy? Every hit has a food cost that needs to be managed.

This assumes non leathal hits. One kit kills only mean you need to work out a better technique to beat the monster. Also working out ways to beat monsters with less hits ia better so you use less resources in health restoration.

Rupees
Since Rupees are harder to come by in this game, they become a resource that needs to be managed. Should you spend the rupees you have or save them and just farm other things you can use to get past whatever challenge you need to pass? Sure spending rupees has to be done but it's not just spend and mow the lawns of Hyrule to become rich again like every other 3D Zelda game.

Weapons
Weapons do not last forever. Each weapon has a worth. That worth is what loot you can get from it before it breaks. So it makes sense to use save the better weapons for better mosnters with better loot. A powerful weapon is not worth 15 weak moblin kills with worthless loot. It's morw worth a fat lizfols with a better weapon. It's better to use the weaker weapons you find on the weaker weapons.

Also in this game (unlike other Zelda games) it's counter-intuitive to kill everything you see that moves in the game. You will break all your weapons while getting little value from them. Treat weapons like a resource. You want to get better than value from weapons then their worth. Uptrade basically.

Do not think of weapons as a killing impliment. Think of them as a trading good. How can this 15 attack weapon get better? Buy killing something (using it) that has a weapon with more than 15 attack. Thus you traded up from 15 to 25 attack. Sure it's a new weapon because the other one broke. But you have 10 more attack power. Sure this is not always possible but this is what you should be thinknig always.

Materials
Most materials have a rupee cost or a time to farm cost. Also because you have different cooking options you can get the desired result with different recipes. For example do you want more health restoration or longer cold resistance. It's not always smart to use the longest timed effect duration. It's better to think do you need a weak or strong effect and what duration do you need and cook according to that. This way you get the most effective game play for the least cooknig materials used.

Dungeons are a good example of this. Without looking up a guide you have to guess what you need as you've never been in the dungeon before. But it is always better to think before you cook and not jsut blindly cook up all your ingredients. Also the yellow heart creating recipes are not too useful outside dungeons and shrines. Most of the time too many hits equals death. It's better to cop the death sweet and try again. Practice makes perfect. Sure this is Dark Souls like. It's not linear progression liek Dark Souls but it is working out the best way to beat each enemy and accepting a few deaths till you work out how to best do it. Also sometimes you have to say no to killing something after you try. It could be too hard to beat without better gear or take up too many resources to beat at the current time.

Arrows
A special mention as these are different. You will most likely have to farm them before the harder shrines and all dungeons. They are just too good of a weapon and dungeon puzzles in Zelda games often need them. This does not change the fact that bows are a resource. Just like arrows are. Shooting an arrow is a dual resource attack.
 

Dio

~ It's me, Dio!~
Joined
Jul 6, 2011
Location
England
Gender
Absolute unit
I understand what you are saying. But having this understanding doesn't make it any less annoying when weapons, shields and bows break all the time nor does it allow me to extract any joy from the process.

The feature of item breaking is an unwelcome one in my eyes and I find it detracts rather than adds to the fun of the experience. This was the case with SS and it is still the case here.

As for hearts. I have made threads in the past suggesting overworld hearts should go. Cooking food and getting rid of overworld hearts is a positive thing.
 
Last edited:

Tompatuk

Living the dream
Joined
Dec 26, 2016
Location
Brighton, England
I wonder if it would have been better to have a weapon that gradually decreases in effect until the point where it becomes ineffective rather than just shatter and break, at least that way your not stranded without any deffence or attacked. The idea of a bow breaking after so little use is frustrating, it might become less powerful over time but surely it would only break if you were attacked while using it.

You can understand it with wooden weapons or where you might use a metal weapon against mineral (like stone talus), but fighting a normal enemy and having a blade shatter is a bit silly.
 
Joined
Oct 14, 2013
Location
Australia
I wonder if it would have been better to have a weapon that gradually decreases in effect until the point where it becomes ineffective rather than just shatter and break, at least that way your not stranded without any deffence or attacked.
I actually quite like this. Eventually the weapon would have a zero attack with enough use. However you'd have to balance how fact the weapon degraded because if it degrades too fast then you have the same issue as the breakable weapons now. Also you'd have to make the weapons a little more rare in the game because you keep them for longer. That's all balancing issues. However I do like the idea quite a lot actually.

I understand what you are saying. But having this understanding doesn't make it any less annoying when weapons, shields and bows break all the time nor does it allow me to extract any joy from the process.
I do understand this is a very polarising issue. People either like it or hate it a lot. What it does do, is make weapons feel like a resource and not something special you can treasure for a while. I have to say getting a new weapon is not special in this game like it is in other Zelda games.

Even though I am on the side that likes this weapon breaking idea, I do understand why people hate it. Nintendo could have handled it in a better way. To that end I think we both agree.

I will say for the first part of the game, while I was learning the controls I ran out of weapons and took me about 20 minutes to find a new one. That is quite annoying. The game needed to deal with this better. Possibly having a really low damage weapon respawn near the shrine of ressurection. Like 1 or 2 damage. Then that can be used to work your way up to better weapons. Sure amiibo fix this issue but not everyone wants to use amiibo.

As for hearts. I have made threads in the past suggesting overworld hearts should go. Cooking food and getting rid of overworld hearts is a positive thing.
Agreed 100%. All of the hero mode players have asked for this for years. Also it makes the game more realistic (within the confines of the Zelda IP). It also makes people think about not getting hit, not just tanking everything and then farming pots and grass later on for hearts.
 
Last edited:

Tompatuk

Living the dream
Joined
Dec 26, 2016
Location
Brighton, England
I think another issue is that runes are not particularly helpful in combat. I haven't found many objects you can use stasis or magnesia on for example, that makes you approach combat in a different way. For example using magnesis to steal weapons and use them on enemies.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top Bottom