The topic seems to have become fiery because of it being an opportunity to attack a virtually perfect game. I'm a little ways in to Breath and I really, really like the weapon use limits. It is a vital part of the Breath experience, and a big part of what makes this Zelda fresh and different from recent entries.
This is a series that was bogged down by its own conventions. You pretty much always had a standard wood sword, then the master sword, then master sword upgraded. Plus 8 pre-set item/weapons. It was both predictable, and it also made the world seem small. Really, there's only 9 weapons in the entire kingdom?
But what is forgotten is that for those who picked up the original Zelda for the first time, we didn't know how many items or weapons there were. We didn't know there were three swords, we just new we found a cool new weapon and hopefully there's lots more to find. The original magic of Zelda was that it was a mystery and you never knew what you were going to find around the corner. This is returned by the new system.
You could argue that you just need lots of weapons for this to be the case, they don't need to break, but that's not the case. I recently wondered too far south trying to reach a shrine and met with enemies way over my head. I took a slow approach using a tonne of bombs and cover and eventually killed them all. I ended up with a couple OP weapons for my current area, a couple of Knight's Broadswords. This gave me a tremendous feeling of achievement and it was great to one-hit some enemies when I returned north. But the thing is, I can't keep doing that. They'll break. So I kept both in my stash for big battles while using other weapons I find along the way. The latest spear, a lizard boomarang, a Zora sword. All of these are fun finds because I NEED them. If my broadswoards wouldn't break, I'd just be using them on everything. But I can't, because they'll be gone, so I have to use these slightly lesser but still cool items I find in order to preserve my big guns. It's fun, it keeps the gameplay fresh and forces me to think and use strategy. In fact, it forces me to try to use none-melee weapon solutions to get rid of enemies. I'm looking for barrels to explode, rocks to push or safe places to roll bombs from because I need to preserve those swords for when I have no other options. It's a great mechanic that suits the theme of the world perfectly.
Also, I've found lots of Korok seeds through exploring and can carry a bunch of weapons. I've got about a dozen slots, so I just keep my three favorite blades for tough situations and have about 9 others to try and burn through as I roam. There's always something to pick up and try in each new zone.
