Not for me it isn't lol. When I'm playing Zelda, the last thing I want to think about is my weapons breaking. In my experience, BOTW was good in spite of it, not because of it. 

But then, I'm an OG fan, so I have my preconceptions and biases of what Zelda games should be. 

I do not think it is one the greatest, but it undeniably makes both games better than they otherwise would have been.

I still find it annoying as fuck

Its okay to weapons to break, but breaking after 6-7 hits is absurd.  When fighting stronger enemies I feel like I stop the actions half of the time to change weapons because the one I was using broke

Not even really an issue once you get the Master Sword. Sure it needs to recharge but by that point, I have a bunch of strong weapons. Stamina is also a none issue even early on. You just find more creative ways to climb up things and fill up on stamina food. Plus at this point, everyone knows the slope run forward trick. Most games how it's implemented would be horribly annoying. BOTW makes it work. Not like you ever run out as there is always something nearby and with the TOTK fuse mechanic it's even less of an issue.


Oh and btw in BOTW you can repair weapons. Just throw them at an octorock.

I love the durability system in these games, and honestly, it's not an unpopular opinion, it just seems that way because the detractors are such a vocal minority.
The enormous popularity and almost universal praise the games have received show that most have no problem with it.

It is a great mechanic because it makes you use your brains. Adapt to certain situations, observe your surroundings, plan ahead then execute, change strategies midway, all of that is exciting and rewarding. In comparison, using the same tactic and battle style in every encounter is definitely a much safer way, but it gets dull after a while. Also, one major gameplay focus in BotW and TotK is the survival in the wild aspect, which would have been thrown out the window pretty fast if Link's growth progress wouldn't be pulled back by the breaking mechanic. You're not supposed to play it safe in these games. You're supposed to be on your toes when you're out in the wild. Being vulnerable is part of the thrill.

Hard disagree on BotW. But the fuse mechanic in TotK makes it very interesting. But this game also has a crap ton of amazing mechanics and fuse is a merely a great one.

It's annoying but not a super deal breaker. I feel like the limited slots make it worse than it should be. At least in TOTK you can farm those monster groups with boss bars for powerful fuse items.

Same with the stamina bar, it's OK but then you have this elfboi who can climb overhangs but slips down whenever it rains, which makes me think no one at Nintendo knows (most) rocks absorb little moisture and can be easily climbed when wet. But eeeh you can deal with it too.

Not at all.
Running out of ammo doesn't permanently break your gun, does it?
The weapon may be temporarily unsuable, until you refill the ammo.

I like limited ammo in games like Resident Evil.
I don't want my Magnum to permanently break just because I reached 0 ammo with it though.

You can promote usage of a variety of weapons and strategies without permanently breaking them.

For example;
- Cause a temporary stat debuff on a weapon that you've used for a certain amount of consecutive attacks, which wears off once you have used another weapon for a certain amount of attacks.
- After using a weapon for a certain amount of attacks, buff (temporarily) another weapon in your inventory.
- Have the weapon be unsuable at 0 durability, but allow it to be repaird at some NPC later.
Etc, etc.

The problem with weapons permanently breaking for me and why I hate it, is because when I find some cool weapons, I don't want to waste them on some weak enemy, so I end up saving them for another time. Which ends up being never.
I have the exact same issue in every game with this kind of permanent weapon breakage system (like certain Fire Emblem games), and Megalixirs in Final Fantasy games. Gotta save them for a reallly tough boss. And then I see the end credits without ever using one.

That's just my personal preference, but I'm definitely not the only one.
The other day Moist Critical said the exact same thing about the weapons in BOTW/TOTK.

He ends up never using them.

So I think a different system would have been better, as that could both satisfy players who want want to be encouraged to change weapons and strategies, while at the same time not ending up never using them because they don't want to waste them at the wrong time.

The is literally me. I never use the strongest weapons except when I think it's time to finish the game and beat Ganon 

Your comment about Fire Emblem is on point, it's the same reason why I almost never used the relics on Three Houses 

At least special weapons should be able to be reforged with few farming. You can forge the champions weapons in BOTW but they require diamonds that are a pain to farm and needs to be saved for some gear upgrades 

So indeed the game actively wants you to NOT use the weapons you got finishing the divine beasts quests *sighs*