VGC Weapon Durability MEGA Thread

[TheLastStarFighter]

Wright said:

RolStoppable said:

Inventory is limited in BotW. You start out with eight slots for weapons and by the time the average player is going to face Ganon, the inventory is going to have ~15 slots. There is no huge arsenal to build. There is also no real unique weapon, except for the Master Sword (which repairs itself).

What happens in practical terms is that players save strong weapons when they initially find them, but then start using them when they realize that it isn't a rare weapon. Repeat this process a few times and after a good amount of time spent with the game, players begin to realize that all weapons can be replaced, so there's no fear of breaking anything anymore.

You also need to remember that weapon durability in Zelda wasn't a problem until one reviewer out of well over 50 said it is a problem. Since then it has been blown out of proportion because people who wanted to see faults in Zelda finally got something to latch on. They had to endure perfect score after perfect score for ten days, but then finally somebody delivered.

Well, I don't have an issue with it particulary (which is why I put "issue" in my original post), because I do like weapon durability as stated by myself earlier with Dead Rising example. The thing is, you kinda lampshade what I'm saying: weapons lack personality. You come to a point where you don't fear breaking it because there's no attachment to the weapon; the uniqueness is lost. If everything can be replaced, then it also means everything is forgetable, to a degree, outside the first time you find it and keep it for only hard enemies like you said.

This fact doesn't really have to be blown out of proportion or anything, but that's something that comes with the territory with weapon durability of such extent like the one in Breath of the Wild. Going back to Dead Rising, you don't have any attachment to a chair that breaks in ten hits because, well, plenty of other things to grab on the go if it happens. Breath of the Wild just chooses a gameplay system that, while making combat enjoyable, doesn't really emphasize uniqueness of weapons, which at one point doesn't make you thrive to look for them but just wait for them to come for you through enemies.

When you actually play through, weapons do have a fairly unique feel for a while.  When you initially find it, it's usually rare and awesome and you save it for when it's needed.  And that doesn't mean one battle, you can usually use a good weapon for several major battles.  And by then you are probably moving along to the point where a newer, better weapon is coming along.   When you factor in that in between those battles you've probably done a bunch of exploring, found a town, done a shrine trial or two and the pacing is pretty much perfect.  You have your favorite blade, its your baby for a period of time but then its time to move on to something new and special.  So bash it one more time until it explodes over a moblin's head and move on.  It's very well done.