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Stamina vs Magic

Azure Sage

March onward forever...
Staff member
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This is something I saw a lot of talk about with BotW, so I decided I should make a thread about it. Which do you prefer for the series, a stamina meter or a magic meter?

I'll take stamina any day, honestly. I really liked how ALBW tied item use to stamina. Rather than having you search for consumable items to refill it manually, I much prefer things that fill back up on their own. BotW handled stamina really well, too. Plenty of upgrades and logical usage, as well as quick ways to boost it when needed. I don't know if it's because I'm a dual blades main in MonHun but stamina management has always come easy to me and I rather enjoy the extra level of thought it adds to the gameplay.

With things like the magic meter in, say, OoT, I barely bother to use any kind of magic because I know I'll just have to go find some magic jars later. Tying magic items to stamina usage is more fun because then you can think strategically about using it in battle and not have to worry about running out of it because it'll refill by itself. Plus you can tie it to more things than just magic items, which is nice. I wanna see more systems like that. So, bye bye magic meter. I won't miss you.
 

Sheikah_Witch

I just really like botw
Joined
Apr 8, 2019
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Sweden
I'm very weak for resource management in games - being that kind of person that loves weapon durability - so managing and strategizing my stamina when I was scaling cliffs or fighting enemies was great fun to me.

An imbalance between magic use necessity and scarcity of magic jars can very well be easily imbalanced. Imbalance can be present in a stamina system too, of course - but I just find the former to come off as more annoying imo.
 

Dio

~ It's me, Dio!~
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England
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Absolute unit
A self recharging magic meter would be good. But a stamina meter for actual running and sword swinging and stuff is just wrong and always has been. Link shouldn't get tired. He is a legendary hero and a warrior and should be fit enough for his physical stamina to never come into play.
 

toonlink

Most Active Inactive User
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Jan 16, 2012
Location
Los Angeles
I find stamina a bit more appealing, just because it's more flexible. You can be more creative with your limited abilities if you don't need to find a pickup to fill the bar for em, and instead just have to hold out until you can use them again. Like you said, I really loved ALBW's stamina/magic system, I felt like I could be a lot more free with how I used my magic items as opposed to other games which had special abilities tied to pickups, like ALTTP or LA.

Of course, sometimes the magic system has it's uses. If you want to make more strategic gameplay, where you have to be careful when you decide to use special moves, it fits well. Mega Man and a ton of RPGs do this pretty well!
 

el :BeoWolf:

When all else fails use fire
Joined
Feb 5, 2016
Gender
Centaleon
Magic is better I say. It would create more options to solve puzzles and fight enemies. Plus Hylians, at least for a time, are suppose to be gifted at magic. Only a few Links have been known to use magic spells like the hero of time, hero of legend of hero of Hyrule
 

thePlinko

What’s the character limit on this? Aksnfiskwjfjsk
ZD Legend
These meters are done best when they are used for balancing and not realism, in BotW stamina was effectively a fancy way to item gate the player, at least in SS it was used to supplement the player and was only ever required when climbing vines in a set location. Other than that it was used as a way to make sprinting and spin attacks a thing while also preventing you from spamming. In this way you could say that magic and stamina are incredibly similar. In general magic has been done better than stamina, with SS being the only time stamina was done well (LBWs ran out WAY too quickly). Magic requires being smart, stamina requires spamming, hiding, and then spamming again.
 

GrooseIsLoose

Slickest pompadour in town
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Aug 16, 2019
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Skyloft
I wouldn't prefer both the reason being combat balance and the enhancement in reality due to the stamina gauge. You couldn't just swing away you Wii mote and kill your enemies,there's got to be a logical approach. Secondly the magic meter would also ensure combat balance. There should be another fruit for restoring your magic like stamina fruit.So yea it's a yes for both.
 

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