Back in 2017,The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildvery quickly became one of the most popular game’s on the Nintendo Switch, at the very least. Many subsequent open-world adventure games have drawn inspiration fromBreath of the Wild’s elegant simplicity in environmental design and scenario, but like any other critically acclaimed title, nothing is perfect.Breath of the Wildin particular received lots of criticism on one specific portion of gameplay: the weapons.
Weapon durability inThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildwas a key component of the gameplay loop in the iconic fantasy adventure. Link’s loadout constantly changes and evolves throughout the experience, as each weapon has its own respective durability. While weapon durability crafted a unique gameplay challenge inBreath of the Wild, it did draw some controversy from fans and new players alike. Even though the durability mechanic in a way did fit the theme of the game, its implementation wasn’t bulletproof.
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More Than Just a Sword
For theZeldaseries, durability to the extent ofBreath of the Wild’s implementation had never existed in any prior games. Traditionally Link would get only two main weapons, his standard sword and the iconic Master Sword. SomeZeldagames included extra thematic weapons like Biggoron’s Sword, but usually Link only had access to his two main weapons.Breath of the Wildintroduced a huge variety of weapons, from spears to brooms, each with varying degrees of usefulness. Each weapon had its own health bar that lowered upon each physical strike, regardless of whether it hits an enemy or the environment.
Every weapon had its own individual endurance, meaning every weapon in the game is bound to break eventually. Obviously this was quite a departure for the franchise which not only didn’t use as many weapons, but alsorarely took away Link’s ability to fight in combat period. Players were given all of Link’s combat abilities outright, though with little hand holding, so fighting enemies relied heavily on weapon collection. Never before had aZeldagames' equipment been so focused on loot gathering and management. While the weapon variety was nothing of the likes of MMOs, certain weapon types like spears functioned differently than the standardZeldafare of swords and shields.
Gameplay Intent vs. Difficulty
Prior toBreath of the Wild, theZeldaseries was always keen to give the hero their ability to fight back against evil. After all, Link is the hero meant to save Princess Zelda and rescue Hyrule from Ganondorf’s darkness, right? While conceptuallygames likeOcarina of TimeandMajora’s Masktoyed with the idea,Breath of the Wildsolidified its entire world and narrative around the villain winning. Link survives but only after spending several years in stasis to recover from his wounds. Vulnerability is a key theme throughoutBreath of the Wild, which is part of the reason why weapon durability was justified as a mechanic in the adventure.
Durability inBreath of the Wildwas added into the game for many reasons, but mostly to exemplify this chance of vulnerability every player feels. Problem is, in a lot of ways it made the beginning hours of the game disproportionately difficult for players compared to middle and endgame content. It’s not like any ofthe enemies themselves present a major challenge for playersat the beginning of the game, but it does mean in many cases players' weapons would break after two or three enemy encounters. Eventually this issue does get better as the game goes on, but the frequency of weapon breaks happens way more often than it should.
How Durability Can Be Improved
Generally the idea would be to encourage experimentation and test players' reflexes, enforcing weapon swapping and strategy on the fly. In reality, it honestly just means kitting Link’s loadout with a bunch of higher tier weapons to survive an encounter. WhileBreath of the Wild’s combat does have elements of skill like perfect parry and perfect dodging, there’s not a single weapon in the game that doesn’t break.Even the Master Sword loses its “power"and needs to recharge after a while, despite being the pinnacle weapon of the series. Weapon durability makes combat more focused on getting enough high level loot rather than being skilled at an encounter.
That’s not to say weapon durability has to go away per se, but the truth is that everything breaks way too easily. Going up against a boss without enough high-tier weapons basically forces players to run away if their weapons break, which is especially troublesome when the inventory doesn’t have a durability gauge of any kind. Weapons and combat becomes unpredictable, in a way that’s more annoying than challenging.Assuming weapon durability returns inBreath of the Wild’s sequel, weapon toughness should be increased greatly. Players shouldn’t have to find themselves flipping through weapon menus five to ten times per big boss fight just to continue battle.
Of course,Breath of the Wild 2could just eliminate weapon durability entirely. Plenty of rumors have stated that the sequel could be vastly different from the first game. If the system does return, the system could use a bit of a revamp in terms of durability.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2is in development.
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