This is the objectively correct take

I wish that the Champion weapons didn't break completely cause it makes me feel like if I do break them and craft new ones it's not the actual weapon used by the respective champion. It would be much better if they rather went into a damaged state where you would have to go get them repaired, not crafted, at their respective villages.

I've never known a game where my watering can breaks, and my shoes never wear down Until ACnh

Another point about BotW’s durability system ties into the fact that you can just run to the castle whenever you want. The two most powerful types of weapons in the game are the Royal Guard weapons and Savage Lynel weapons. The former can be found just lying around in Hyrule Castle, where the player can pick them up after only a couple of hours in the game. However, to prevent them from one-shotting every enemy in the early game, the Royal Guard weapons have some of the lowest durability. The Savage Lynel weapons, on the other hand, are much more difficult to obtain. The player needs to both progress enough for white Lynels to spawn, and then they need to actually kill the Lynel, which any new player can confirm is no easy task. Savage Lynel weapons have much higher durability than Royal Guard weapons due to how difficult they are to acquire.

honestly, botw's durability system didn't bother me for the longest time, but once i got far into my initial playthrough i got rather tired of the lack of weapon variety/versatility to back up how frequently they drop having only 3 extremely basic movesets with variation only found through elements and interactions with the environment made discovering new weapons extremely underwhelming. the best weapons in the game were still easy to consistently obtain, and they play exactly the same as everything else. this combined with the amount of and limited use of ore made obtaining treasure feel rather less rewarding to me than usual zelda games

I decided early on to really lean into weapons as temporary expendable tools that are meant to be replaced. Any time a weapon was low on durability I chucked it at the strongest or most easily hit enemy nearby for the double damage and stagger. Weak weapons dropped by enemies essentially became one time use throwing knives meant to keep enemies off balance as well. I'd also try to keep a mixture of stronger and weaker weapons on hand so that I didn't waste a high tier weapon on a blue Bokoblin or some skeletons, which meant that nearly any kind of weapon could be useful even in the endgame. When I did find a stronger enemy I didn't worry about breaking my good weapons because that's what they were for, and I knew I could always get more. I'm sure this doesn't fit everyone's playstyle but BotW seems to just encourage an aggressive playstyle where you don't worry too much about holding onto old gear. It's all meant to be used, so use it and don't stress about running out. My most memorable fights from the game involved constantly tossing weapons and stealing dropped ones from one enemy only to toss it at another to make it drop its weapon. When you get a chain of attacks going like that it is really fun.

You say that healing in the middle of battle in BOTW “is the players choice.” But also you say, that if you could fix your weapon you would “have to pause every 30 seconds to fix it.” But that’s what you do anyways when you heal? Like I’m not gonna let myself die, but also I’m not gonna let my mega flame sword break either. That point didn’t work at all.

The problem with the BOTW durability system is *exactly* the same issue as I always had with Fire Emblem. It's like that Awkward Zombie comic where they agonize over not using vulneraries because "what if they need them later" and end up throwing some out from a chest because their inventory was full. The weapons seem too awesome to use lest they break, so I find myself near-exclusively using shitty bokoblin weapons and the Master Sword. Not like the final phase of the Ganon fight even uses any weapons you have on hand anyway, you just get handed the God Bow on a golden platter.

I had an idea for the weapon durability system in BOTW that I'm pretty sure nobody else has talked about: instead of the durability going down with each hit, it would go down based on the damage dealt. I'm always weary of using strong weapons against weaker enemies because I don't want to waste durability on them, and my idea fixes this issue. Let's say you have a weapon that does 20 damage and has 50 durability points. Instead of breaking after attacking something 50 times, it would break after dealing 1000 damage (20x50). If you attack an enemy with 13 health and kill them, your weapon would now have 987 durability left. This way, you can take out enemies with less health without having to waste an entire durability point. I think this would make the system A LOT fairer and more realistic.

Weapon durability in BOTW doesn't mean jack, and is only there to be annoying. I've never felt compelled to alter my strategy to take durability into account. I've never felt compelled to change weapon types because of weapon durability. Weapon durability is annoyingly have to pause the action to swap to a new one every 30 seconds. The game shoves weapons down your throat so often that planning around weapon/weapon loss is nonexistant because you always have another, usually identical weapon ready to go. Whenever I swap to a new weapon type (Eg. 2-handed, spear, et cetera), it's never because I'm running out of the one I'm using. The game drowns you in weapons so much, that you usually have a surplus of each type, and I've only ever decided to switch whenever I just felt like using a new weapon type. And what's with the shields and bows? The difference between them is usually minimal, and bows break ON TOP OF already having to use arrows for them. The only thing i like about it is that you have to save your elemental weapons to oneshot elemental enemies. I don't mind if durability is relegated to specifically weapons that have special properties, Otherwise I hate it, mostly because how unnecessary it is. It takes the flow out of the action.

I don't mind the durability in the game but my only issue that isn't really the fault of the durability is how the amiibos weapons and champion weapons can break (obviously) so I have never used them because I don't want to lose them especially the amiibo weapons because it took me sooooooo long to get them, while at least the champion weapons you can craft them again.

Thanks for Watching and Don't Forget to SUBSCRIBE! And remember to never get attached hahaha *cries*

there actually is a small incentive in BotW to break your weapons, since you actually do get a slight damage bonus if a thrown weapon breaks when it hits an enemy

Yea, makes sense. As a chronic "I've arrived at the final boss with 99 elixirs and I will use none of them" hoarder, the weapon durability in botw didn't bother me at all. The inventory management was more irksome because I want one of everything but it just made me prioritize doing korok puzzles early on to get those expansions. There were very few times I had to go out of my way to go find multiples of a specific weapon/shield I wanted before particularly tough battles (those centaur guys...). And I really don't know how you could include such a wide variety of weapons/shields in the game *without* making them break.

The durability system in Zelda just makes me avoid fights more then anything. Why would I use my 100 damage lynal mega sword when it’s going to break after killing two bokoblins and get replaced by a wooden club with Long throw enchantment? I feel like they should have just made more weapons with different strengths and weaknesses that the player has to choose between and remove the durability feature

I get what you’re saying, but the way it’s done now is excessive. Your weapons are so fragile that even a fairly mediocre enemy can endure enough punishment to eat through multiple weapons and usually only carry mediocre weapons in turn. So each battle is a net loss for you after a certain point, discouraging you from fighting at all, if possible. Getting a rare weapon as a reward is also blunted because you know it will be gone shortly if you actually use it, meaning that the rewards from many challenges are practically meaningless. Worse, having all weapons be irreparable consumables triggers the typical loss aversion instinct. Meaning you horde any decent weapons while only using the easily replaceable weak ones. That’s not even getting into the fact that you need some weapons for non-combat purposes, like axes, leaves, and sledgehammers. So you’re having to use one of your inventory slots just to keep one of each around before they inevitably break as well. The biggest problem is that you can’t fight at all without a weapon, so if you aren’t constantly scrounging or just have bad luck in a boss battle, you’re screwed. You don’t have even a rudimentary emergency weapon then.

Man, I think Animal Crossing was damn close to having it work. I enjoy the crafting system, but I think it's ridiculous that when you're end game and have even collected every fish/bug/etc and gotten golden tools they STILL break. A big problem New Horizons has is that once you've arranged your island how you want, there isn't really much to work towards at all and this durability system is another instance of it. Like, if you could get an end game set of tools that don't break, it would not only be convenient but more importantly give you something to work towards. On a related note, damn I really wish I had the desire/ a purpose to go back to my likely overgrown island. Updates that only add more cosmetics really don't do it for me when I've played so many hours.

Ah yes, it is known that in medieval times swords would shatter after brief skirmish

How about being able to craft new weapons/repair badly damaged ones only when sitting at a campfire? Fixes the problem of interrupting exploration and it makes it so you can't repair mid-battle. My personal suggestion for this fix is replacing each of the Champions' powers with weapons that are treated like the master sword, that need a recharge. That way, you almost always have one of each weapon type and a shield.

Limiting ressources in video games make the player interact with the game systems more. The same goes for BOTW. Weapon’s breaking force you to get more creative with the combat or forces you to be more aggressive to kill your enemies faster with the critical hit to take their weapons. It also encourages exploration of the world to find stronger weapons. That makes the game far more engaging than it would be otherwise.

Another problem with the BotW weapon durability system is that you find a lot of weapons in chest. When you find a chest and your reaction is dread because it's probably another weapon you have to inventory manage space for, followed by disappointment that it is indeed a weapon, then something went seriously wrong. That combined with the fact that it's now better to avoid enemy encounters all together, because why would you waste good weapons on trash mobs, worked together to turn me off the game completely. I really hope BotW 2 either completely abandons the system or reworks it so radically in a way I can't even think of, because I cannot think of a way to make weapon durability in this game fun.

"There is so much weapon variety in this game." No there is Sword, 2-Handed, Spear, Rod, and Bow. Yes some have minor side effects... but otherwise they function all the same in combat. You can mine with bombs and cut trees with bombs remember. Their side effects with free infinite bombs are not useful. There is the elemental weapons... which still play like their counterpart but sometimes let you deal elemental effects. Otherwise known as a worse Rod and with how enemies weak to an element instantly die to it... why waste those on other common enemies?

The biggest biggest flaw of BOTW's durability system, for me anyway, is that it's made tedious by the truly awful UI design. But other than that I like it, and not for any gameplay reason but rather thematic reasons. BOTW is all about the give and take between nature and technology and the impermanence of existence. Memories, weapons, kingdoms have all been lost to either nature, technology, or a corruption of nature/technology. You can reclaim these things but you'll never fully restore them, and in many instances they remain fleeting. I also just don't get that attached to loot the way other people seem to. Idk it's just loot, lol. As long as Link looks pretty I'm fine. That said, I disagree with you on the 'no blacksmith' point. I don't think it would detract from the core gameplay loop at all, and would feed into the technology/community as rebirth aspect of BOTW.

I agree with everything about Botw except the master sword. Because of the combination of lynel weapons being fairly plentiful and the ten minute cooldown, I never care to get the master sword outside of completion. Perhaps making the master sword recharge faster or max out with higher damage than sixty would make it worthwhile, but in Botw it's my go to lawn mower.

I probably wouldn't have a problem with the weapon durability if they would made it like the Dark Cloud series. Like in Dark Cloud the weapon you use has a meter to shows you when a weapon you're using is about to break when you attack an enemy with it but you can restore it with repair powder keeping from breaking. So they could also did that for Breath of the Wild and when a weapon you use is about to break you can use something to keep it from breaking. Heck if anything they could've put in a blacksmith or something in the game where the blacksmith can make your weapon unbreakable and you can use that weapon anytime you want without breaking but you would have to collect special materials in order for the blacksmith to do it.

i feel the durability system kinda makes finding cool weapons pointless, i would horde like 10 swords and never use them because i knew they wouldn't even last 5 minutes.

Good thing the blades don't break in Xenoblade 2 ;)

I mostly agree. I think durability irks the basic psychology of a lot of people quite commonly, having something permanent over having something transient is inherently more comforting. So I think you have to really nail the systems design and place in the overall game, to even make it tolerable for some people who are the most sensitive to it. I personally can find it an irritation, but at some point I have to wonder why I give something like, PP in pokemon, or ammunition, or reloading for a gun a pass. The fun stops when the ammo runs out, what is the appeal of looking around on the ground for a box of ammo, or stopping to reload every 30 seconds? Or teleporting to whatever base or facility refreshes whatever resource you are expending in any other context. In terms of the activity or time spent, I accept this sort of filler action on guns way more easily. But its really not that different from switching to a new weapon, or picking up one in the environment in Zelda. Maybe its just the commonality with which one is used and the other isn't? I feel like I shouldn't "have" to be finding a new sword in zelda. Video game melee weapons mostly don't run out, but videogame guns rarely don't have some kind of ammo/overheat/reload mechanic. In AC it did feel to me more like an irritation. It didn't work so well. It was just a very dry binary, use your tool to do the job, or it breaks and you have to go make a new one. I think its set up would have been the kind of one where one more tier of tools, maybe crafted with star peices or something, or materials obtained from a calendar event would have been the better move. Or just make it so the gold tools are that instead for a fast fix. They could be infinite and something long time players work towards. I played a lot of ACNH, I don't think I even got all the golden recipes. But removing the irritation of the system and in the process, seeming like a beneficial progression would add to the game. People would feel like each permanent tool gained was a boon to the save file. The less well executed a crafting/durability system is, the more I think you should be able to progress beyond it if you are dedicated enough. The developer should use the absence of something not great and turn it to a reward of sorts. Its a chill game, if people just want to get their island up to the point where they can just check in without the shovel breaking after hitting their first rock or whatever, they should be able to get to that point. I haven't played 3H but from older FE games I can say the durability did not bother me so much in that game. It is generally well indicated how many hits stuff has. I also kind of liked the feeling of that I was actually managing the equipment of this band of warriors, purchasing new weapons and making sure we were well supplied. Setting up individual characters with a loadout of a kind of "workhorse" weapon and a back up and an expensive powerful version of that weapon type, maybe some alternate weapon type for coverage if they have that capability etc. It sounds like 3H expanded on the system in smart ways. Botw I was mostly okay with. I managed to finish it and I did see how the expendable weapons meshed with the game design. The early weapons have pretty low durability which was initially a bit of an irritation and shock, I pretty quickly gained knowledge of weapons I liked and seemed good and had more than I could carry. From there, my hoarding mentality really drove a need to expand my inventory slots, which in turn gave the korok seed collectables massive value to me and I was really looking for them and happy to gain them. In general, before release I wondered what they could fill out an open world game with in terms of chests/treasure etc. When I thought about old zelda games and basically opening chests to get a ton of rupees that wouldn't even fit in my wallet, I was worried. But I think non permanent weapons were at least a good attempt to have more items in chests that will at least somewhat retain their value to players over time, without going down the overused f2p road of "feed this same weapon and a bunch of gold to its self to improve it 2.5%" I think the combat in zelda on its face is a little basic, so looking back I also appreciate the unpredictability of "this broad sword is done, time to throw it now, switch to this other weapon, with a different move set mid fight, ok its not great against this specific enemy, what else do I have on me now, I have never used this ice wand, lets see what it does". I don't think it was perfect but at the same time, with how the rest of the game works, I find it hard to think of ways that I would improve it without some other knock on effects on aspects that I ultimately enjoyed about the game. I think more accurate durability indicators and a fallout 3 style, "salvage" one weapon to repair another copy of that weapon would be as far as I would go without changing some other aspects of the game. Maybe in the sequel they will have room to change the wider game design to accommodate bigger tweaks. At some point games are about managed irritation or problems. Its just how they are dressed up that makes the difference. If a game just gave you everything you wanted with no speedbumps or problems it wouldn't be any fun. Its up to the developer to frame it in ways that hide the tedium and express the satisfaction of what you are actually doing in a game. I think durability can have its place, it just needs a deft hand.

My main issue with the durability is when you run out of weapons in Zelda your only option is to run away or tedious chip damage with bombs. dark cloud on ps2 left you with a crappy short sword so you had a fighting chance and we’re still using the games intended mechanics in battle.

I dont have too much issues with botw durability. I just wish it wasn't the case in the endgame that I would spend almost as much time deciding what weapon to use during a fight as they break, then actually fighting the enemy.

Love how you absolutely called the fact that weapon fusing would become a thing a whole year before the game came out!

Animal crossing's durability system is meant to give the game a longer play time, at the cost of the fun experienced by the player. It makeda no sence

"Ruins the pacing of combat having to pause it every 30 seconds." "Weapon repairing would be a continual interval event the player would feel annoyed and compelled to do." Switching weapons every 30 seconds because they break isn't either of those problems? IT IS LITERALLY WHAT YOU COMPLAINED ABOUT.

I think BotW would satisfy a lot of people if they just allowed you to pick one weapon, maybe limited to hero weapons, in addition to the master sword that you could keep as a re-chargeable weapon. That way you would always have your favorite weapon available and would not feel bad about using it, even though you could not use all the time. Adjust recharge time as needed.

"Forces the player to think on your feet" Menu pops up which stops time in said video... ...if it didn't they'd just select the first weapon shield or bow and use that. Switching weapons isn't thinking. It is an extra step which breaks the flow of combat to use another weapon. You'll think before battle not in. You have all the time in the world to open menus.

I remember the best combat encounter I had in BoTW was because of the weapon durability system. It was my second or third playthrough, and I was heading to Hateno for the first time that playthrough, when I ran into a small hoard near the broken down archery range. It was still fairly early in the game, of course, so my weapons were breaking in about the amount of time it took to kill an enemy, or at least for them to drop their weapon. This actually worked in the encounter's favor, as it meant that the weapon I was going to use for the next enemy out of the several I was up against, was likely from the last one I killed, and since the weapon type of each enemy wasn't consistent, I had to constantly switch the way I was fighting based on which weapon type I was using. This, combined with the amount of enemies (which were actually a decent threat), meant the fight was very chaotic, but I still had enough influence for me to actually be able to fight back, and so it felt like I was barely making it through off of skill alone, even though I still had the ability to just get into a corner and drop bombs on them. BoTW is all about creativity and exploration, not just of the world, but the mechanics, and the fact that you can't rely on always having a weapon makes that more prevalent.

This guy is my favorite youtuber rn! Keep it up bro!! Got my post notifs on°!!

Are we gonna talk about that Thunder helm play?

You know what will never break? The amazing content! Thank you Astro!

BOTW's durability felt like an endless loop created by forced scarcity, covered by a thin layer of smoke and mirrors. Even the boomerangs share the sword animation. Many of the things you will find in the game are similarly iterative rather than truly new which makes it feel less like exploring a world and more like an Easter egg hunt where you'll find differently shaped chocolate (and if you're unlucky, that one kinda gross chocolate that you reluctantly eat).

I'm glad you brought up razbuten here, his video is the first that comes to my mind when durability in BOTW is brought up.

I bet fusing would be a very cool feature for the sequel, you're right

“I’ve done a lot of digging. Literally!” God I love your scriptwriting

Lmao I just realized u had the kk slide version of plastic love by Mariya takuchi playing in the background during the animal crossing segment. Goat behavior

"if you could repar weapons, then it would break the flow of combat because you would just pause the game every 30 seconds to repair" this point makes literally zero sense because you already have to pause the game every 30 seconds to pick a new weapon when it breaks.

Simple. Add a *very* expensive repair system using resources at campfires, and the shards from broken weapons (from that other video you mentioned). 1. Adds a use for wood and making campfires 2. Incentiveses breaking multiple weapons, and keeps the flow going 3. Grants you the ability to repair and keep that one or two veeeery powerful weapon that has that veeery rare enhancement on it (and that you personally like a lot) 4. No blacksmith/travel needed. Though, it could be a "learnable" skill or something 5. All the high-end weaponns can't be repaired this way (champion weapons, robbie weapons, royal guard, savage lynel stuff, etc). Elemental stuff would of course need the corresponding ore... but come on, they are FUN, not poweful, half of the powerful enemies are immune to the elements XD This proposal isn't for my greedy hands to keep hold of my hoarding tendencies... it's just to have an actual use for the rare collectibles and ores that after being used to get the gerudo jewels and upgrade some armor... become ruppees that are also worthless by the end game

As a means of durability indication, have the weapon's icon in the inventory show cracks around the edges the more it's damaged

I have fond memories of being the only one that liked the durability system in Dark Cloud for PS2. I also remember being the only one that knew what Dark Cloud was.

While I personally do like the durability system in BOTW i will play devils advocate, and point out one legitimate issue it does have. There can definitely come a point mostly in master mode and especially in the sword trials where to durability system becomes a huge detriment. It is very much possible to arrive at a point where you simply don't have any weapons available because they have all broken. I'm fine with weapons breaking, but I'm not ok with having to cheese a couple of Lizalfos in the master trials on Master Mode because i cant fight them in honest combat before i run out of weapons, and in a sense soft lock yourself from progressing any further.

I think the BoTW durability system is the reason I didnt truly enjoy the game and still refuse to replay it to this day. I see the durability system as a detriment because it led me down a gameplay loop that was as followed: Get low power weapon -> Use to get more powerful weapon -> Use to get high power/unique weapon -> Store until fight with Ganon/Blight. If not Ganon or unskippable fight, avoid fighting at all costs and if I must fight, only use low power weapons/Master Sword. I truly believe that the devs had good intentions with the system, but it was very poorly implemented because it encourages players to avoid playing the game.

It's so funny the suggestions you gave for animal crossing because almost all of those are in grounded

I think the issue with BotW’s durability is that every weapon is just similar enough to incentivize the usage of your weakest weapon. I had a solid collection of at least seven Savage Lynel Crushers in my pocket for the latter half of my playtime that I never once touched out of fear of losing them. They’re strong, yeah, but I get the same gameplay out of a hammer or Royal Claymore, so unless I find an enemy that’s strong enough to warrant extra damage (I didn’t), I’ll never get to use the cool weapons, and will instead just be slightly inconvenienced with a lower damage output. A weapon breaking doesn’t make me “adjust my strategy” or “think on my feet”, it gives me half a second of annoyance before to swap to a weapon that plays exactly the same in ever way other than giving me less damage overall. If every weapon was completely different and unique, to the point where a weapon breaking was like losing access to your Smash main, *then* I’d see that argument. But as it stands, it’s more of a way to nerf your statistics until you feel like going out to get another of the same weapon.

i think it'd be really cool if you could use the materials/ores you collected throughout the game to repair/upgrade your weapons say at every stable? Like i completely get not wanting to go back and forth between one location throughout the game but i still think that a weapon repair/upgrade system would be a great addition to botw.

Wow! your new horizon outfits were excellent!

Cpt.: Weapon Durability Me: *shivers in Mabinogi*

You called it, Tears of the Kingdom has fuseing

I agree, since the weapons having limited durability eventually lead to me learning about the bomb parry.

When i played botw I liked the weapon system because you have to make choices. I really liked using elemental weapons as tools, rather than as weapons,and thats a choice you can make

I have seen a frisbee dog reference, my day has been made

I thought it was mostly fine in breath of the wild, kind of wish they had a little more durability. That fusing weapons thing you said would be a nice way to repair them. Either way for me as soon as I see the "yo weapon gon break soon" message I always just throw the weapon. It does a fair bit of damage that way and I still get one more great use out of it. A meter would also be nice, display it like the sharpness meter from monster hunter rise with maybe only 2 colors similar to the valstrax weapons. With the "red" not only showing its about to break, but also showing that if you throw it it will break from that durability.

This game had the same problem Skyrim had for me: 50% of the game is menu

I always liked the durability system, in a game like BOTW especially, since you can go to the castle at the start of the game and get an incredible weapon.

Honestly the idea of rewarding the player for completing the divine beasts with a Champion weapon that doesn't break but does run out of energy is awesome and would help immensely with the entire design in my opinion. One of my biggest gripes about the Durability system is how temporary it is. Your weapons are directly correlated with Link's Strength. As his weapons are destroyed, he gets weaker. Having Permanent Weapons eases the burden and stress of getting weaker. If you use a really strong weapon and it breaks, you need to find that exact same weapon or just acknowledge the fact you are now weaker. Having a permanent weapon pushes that lower limit of how weak Link can possibly be at any point, easing the stress of the system, especially as the enemies get stronger. Like a Light at the end of the cavern. You may have used all your weapons but you still have Urbosa's Scimitar and Shield with you. It also pushes the player towards completing the Diving Beasts. Like yes, there is the Story reason to defeat the Divine Beasts to stop them from rampaging across Hyrule and freeing your friends and aiding you in the fight against Ganon. There's also a delayed reward in that fighting them means, again, that the fight against Ganon is easier. Making the weapons permanent would be a more direct and immediate boost to Link's strength. It also prevents any guilt tripping. I didn't use the Champion Weapons because I knew they would break and felt they were too important to even consider using in that case. Plus repairing is still pretty expensive. It's also just very poetic. These are the Champion's Weapons... The last remnants of your friends and their fight against Ganon. Yet here you are using them in their stead preparing to fight Ganon with them right by your side. If there really is a concern about balancing issues... Those can be pretty easily fixed or messed around with. Making the Champion Weapons weaker, making the Divine Beasts stronger. Making them not reduce Ganon's health and only eliminate the Blights, etc. Plenty of options to tweak and test for any balancing issues... Overall having more permanent weapons would offer a buffer for players who dislike the durability system while still retaining the core of the system.

I loved breakable tools. Just gives meaning to gameplay and my resources.

"Thirsty chess" I'm dead

I think some weapons should act like the master sword or hylian shield. Difficult to break, or will have to be repaired. But only weapons that are one of a kind, or that you have to go through a quest to get.

I disagree that repairing weapons would break the gameplay loop in Breath of the Wild since the loop is already broken by the damn rain. Most players, myself either wait for the rain to stop or just go somewhere else to rest until the rain stops.

Slight note for mechanical incentive to break weapons: an attack that breaks a weapon deals double damage. This multiplier stacks with the double damage for throwing a weapon; so if you throw a weapon and it breaks, you just did 4x damage.

True, true and true. I honestly feel like the thing that people struggle with isn't the mechanical implications of weapons breaking, but the emotional one. People feel bad when they use a weapon and it breaks, even if, mechanically speaking, that weapon breaking doesn't actually equate to a reduction in effective combat power, because weapons are so abundant, you know? but they feel bad, and so they are hesitant to use their weapons. it's a tricky problem. on the one hand, the breakable weapons give the player an incentive to try to mix up their play-style, which, at the one extreme, can lead to honestly kick-ass quick kills, like peco's legendary 23 second kill on a gold linel using a tornado of boomerangs. that's awesome and straight up would not be possible without a large inventory of disposable weapons. On the other hand, players have an outsized negative emotional reaction to having a weapon break, and may be incentivized to avoid combat altogether, which means they'll just miss out on the best core combat system in any zelda, ever. how do you solve it? how do you square the circle? it's not clear. I like the idea of giveing the players a material when they break a weapon; maybe you could have more powerful weapons drop a higher-grade material. But then, what would you use it for? would you combine them together to get a new, random, powerful weapon? it might not work well for a player who has strong loss aversion. I heard a good suggestion once that the weapons should have very low durability, but only take damage when the player makes a mistake, like hitting an enemy shield. The reasoning was, your shield takes no damage when you perfectly parry an attack; therefore, when the shield breaks, the player is less thinking "aw man that sucks my shield broke" and more thinking "damn, it wouldn't have broken if I had played better". I think that's a better solution, honestly, but it ain't perfect. well, we'll see if the new game changes up the system in any ways or just leaves it the same.

i wouldnt mind the durability if it were a bit higher but its like 1 combat and its gone (if even that) and sure you get lots of weapons but they are most of the time not that useful like that skeleton hand which breaks almost instantly then when you have a strong enemy all of your weapons shatter to dust im fairly early in the game but its a real chore there are no weaponsseller anywere and i end up avoiding combat as much as i can because i have like 2 weapons then you have ore and crates which uses all your weapons that you have stored its really frustrating if i had a default weapon that not breaks but also not does a lot of damage it would be fine but it happend multiple times that all my weapons break and i ended up fleeing or dying and if you in this spot you must throw bombs and hope not get hit or instakilled by a random goblin to then get a club that breaks when you defeat an enemy then you have puzzles which requires weapons to finish which also drains your weapons it just feels not rewarding or fun and i also dont get why why does my steel sword break when i hit something a dozen times an easy fix would be a difficult option where you can change the weapon durabillity like multiplying it by 4 or something

The gendo part was amazing

I remember Dark Cloud games had breakable weapons, that could break while fighting in the dungeons.

0:53 More proof Astro IS the biggest animal crossing fan

The only way (without changing the durability system entirely or removing it) to make the durability system better in BotW is to: double the durability of everything, but don’t change the master sword at all, the way the time limit and countdown to use it again works is great, other than making it stronger, shortening the time limit until you can use it again, or making the time that you CAN use it longer, any of those when wearing the fully upgraded version of the ‘I-finished-all-the-shrines’ gear. I have so much to say about armours, but this is my take on durability.

Lol I’ve literally used watering pails that were over 50 years old that were antiques. Those things don’t break.

Bruh, using amibos (Idk how to spell) as miniatures is big brain! How haven't I thought of it?

Quote: "But mister spaceman! I hear some of you ask. Why isn't there a way to repair my weapons? You collect all sorts of ore and stuff. Why can't I use that fix some of my damaged or broken weapons like in other games? This might sound like an obvious inclusion, but I feel like it would kind of ruin the pacing of combat if your weapon was about to break you would pause the game every thirty seconds and fix it yourself. What would even be the point of having them break at all. And sure, you can already pause the game the eat and heal if you take damage, but that's something the player chooses to do vs weapon repairing would be a consistent interval event that the player would feel compelled and annoyed to do." So, healing is something the player chooses to do? Meanwhile repairing a weapon is what would be mandatory, and the player would feel compelled to do. Healing when you have one heart out of 14 left, nah, that's a choice, you might choose to just die also, both are viable. But repairing your weapon, that you feel compelled to. Also it would break the flow of combat, but your weapon breaking and going to the inventory to check which weapon to use, that doesn't break the flow of combat. What? I get people want the game they like to be good, but sometimes the games you like have bad parts, or poor design choices. This is one of them, there's nothing good added by the durability system as implemented in BotW, that couldn't be added in another way without annoyance of the extremely limited durability. Want to make people switch weapons? Make enemies weak to some of them, resistant to some of them so you have to choose another. Want people to manage resources? Add consumables that buff your weapon or add elemental damage to a weapon for a number of hits. Want people to experiment? Have more than four move sets and nine enemy types. Want people to explore? Hide unique things, weapons with unique qualities, upgrade materials, recipes or random quests outside of villages, so people look for them. Durability and weapon breaking, to the point some fights are a net loss of resources, is one of the worst ways to achieve those things.

the first time i added a durability system to a game i made it like this every time you use the there is a random chance to damage the item, when you use a damaged item there is a bigger chance the item will break, if you don't fix it, the idea was to add an adversity to the game, like getting a blunt sword in the middle of a fight forcing you to run away, also increasing your skill in a task would decrease the chance of damaging the tool, so eventually that would stop being a problem

12:47 that play is fucking genius lmaooo

kinda wish that there might be special unique weapons kind of like in FNV that are pretty much just the usual you find with higher damage and the ability to be repaired in some way but never in combat but never in one static place maybe with weapon shards like razbutin mentions so that you can have some sick sword like the windcleaver everywhere but forced to not be in constant use, and would still be out damaged by random pickups like the master sword is. edit in post: and you would only be allowed to carry one unique weapon

Also every blood moon certain good weapons respawn in those special places if u know where they're at so you can always easy pick them up again should you need to.

The champion weapons thing could work, instead of recharging over time, have it so when one champion weapon breaks, a random one is repaired, including the master sword in this list as you are the human (forgot how to spell hylian) champion, meaning you get a bow, spear, sword, hammer and whatever urbosa uses, ur only really missing a boomerang and wand, otherwise u would have all weapon types accounted for and by forcing u to use them you would have enough "variety"

I agree with most of what is said in this video, except that the food system is excused because it's something the player chooses to do. I think it's the same thing. Keeping alive is of course a much more important feature of the game than keeping weapons in one piece. But I think eating should be regulated as well. Maybe eating should take in-game time. Maybe choosing a meal could be made in the puse menu but the eating itself would have to take maybe just a single second or two, with solid ground (or at least no beating), to be done. That would probably erase much of the food buffing before fights against overly hard enemies. Or maybe there could be a limit of how much Link could eat. If the metre is full link has to either do other stuff for a while or sleep or wait for a few in game houres before eating again. Mayeb each food item could have a "size" wich fills up a food metre until link is full. On a side note, I think cooking is probably too easy to make overpowering. powerful recepies shouldn't probably be able to be made by just throwing many of the same powerful ingredient into the pot at the same time.

Thanks!

That's why I play on Cemu and use the unbreakable weapon mod, much much more enjoyable this way, for me

Technically, Halo is a game with a 'weapon durability' system. You must constantly find ammo, or swap weapons. Because of this, the transition for me to BOTW was actually pretty smooth, as I was used to disposable ordinance. In fact, I was pretty happy to have a sword that wouldn't go poof after ten swings of it.

Ok I actually love the idea of amiibos as DND miniatures why didn't I think of that

I don’t like durability in botw. Weapons aren’t a good reward for me because if I use them, I won’t have them and that makes me sad. And since they are a bad reward for exploring, most exploration isn’t as fun as it could be.

@Captain Astronaut still dropping the bass, btw where the part 3 of the xenoblade 2 video? It's been 84 years.

I think its less of a gameplay than an incentive problem, i dont want to explore if i know ill only find stuff that breaks anyway.

Zenonia for the DSi does this whole weapon/armor durability also!!!

I want the weapon system from DS3 on Zelda games.

14:23 After seeing the new TotK powers: “hmmmmmm 🤔”

A very nice weapon durability system is the old Monster Hunter's (all of them except MHW and MH Rise) sharpness and pickaxe/bug net system

Problem with botw's get weapon, kill monsters, get weapon loop is you lose more weapons then you get, especially in master mode. (Atleast good ones, bokoblin arm doesn't count)

The grinding in Sacred Stone and Birthright is optional. Not in the technically optional but the game becomes a pain in the ass if you don't, but as in the games are easily doable without grinding a single time.

How would you compare this to the system in Fallout 3/New Vegas?

They found a way to apply it to the master sword which was a serious low blow

Durability, like any game mechanic, is good or bad based almost entirely on the fun factor. Is the game more or less fun with your durability system than if you take it out? Because most games do not let you choose between whether to have durability or not to, as the player, it is hard to decide which ones work and which do not, as a player. That is why it is so important the developers ask this question when making the game, because they can test both sides during development. There are two games that come to mind that allowed me (either directly or by comparison) to test durability existing versus it not existing: Landscaping in Minecraft. Tearing down a mountain is boring as heck on creative mode, but my favorite activity when I have to take breaks to craft more tools. Not only is it fast and easy, but I can also do it on site a lot of the time. However, by taking these breaks, it feels like I am doing something more than holding a button down and pushing my joystick up. It feels like I am actually tackling a mountain or leveling an open space for construction. It also gives me a more tangible sense of scope by how many breaks I have to make than if I am simply in a time sink of repetitive motions. "I wonder how many hours I just wasted taking this mountain down?" becomes "Wow. I burned through 64 tools so far, but I am so close! I think I just have 3 more trips to go." And for those who do not take on colossal projects like tearing down literal mountains, there is a whole progression system to overcoming durability as a possible "end-game" goal, or just a minor or major side goal along the way. Mine for diamonds for tools then enchant them the right way, and you will almost never have to worry about durability again in normal play. Personally, I make one diamond pick axe I never end up using unless I have to, and stick to iron and stone tools, because I enjoy the durability system that much. I would say that makes Minecraft's durability system really good, though it could certainly be better. Next up is using the knife in Resident Evil 2 versus the remake. Originally, your knife served as the desperate last resort. You were probably going to run out of bullets at some point, especially in your first play-through. When that happened, the game became *much* harder, but it was still possible because you always had your knife. Heck, one of the most common player-imposed challenges was the "knife-only" runs. This meant there was never a situation where you were *forced* to reset your entire data because you did not have enough weapons to proceed. Sure, you could, and probably did, reset your data if you did not have enough firepower to proceed, but you did not have to. You could rough it with the knife until you found more ammo, then be more mindful of your spending moving forward. I had to do that a few times in my first play-through, and it was some of the most engaging game play I had experienced before and since. The remake changed all of that. You did not have your trusty knife by your side through the thick of it. You had a bunch of random knives you found along the way, used a few times in a pinch, then they broke (or you left them in an enemy you could not defeat at the time). Knives became little more than unreliable armor points, telling you how many times you can break out of a grapple before taking damage. (Yes, the slow-moving zombies now have to grapple you enough times to make you run out of knives and grenades before they can even damage you once.) The simple inclusion of durability, and the added grapple-break to balance this change, made knives utterly fun-sucking and is my only real complaint about the otherwise spectacular remake. As an added point to my overall thoughts on durability: Almost comically, RE2:remake even added in a feature that allowed you to unlock a knife without durability, in possibly one of the most tone-deaf remake decisions I have seen in gaming. The grapple-break mechanic added to balance out the durability change, coupled with removing the durability, makes the knife - the thing gamers the world over enjoyed using as the true test of their skill - became one of the most OP and boring weapons in the game! Two games, near-mirrors of each other, given a nearly-identical item without durability, and the impact it has on the player is entirely different. This is how important it is for games to get durability right, whether that means to include it or not, or how to implement it if they do. As such, my closing argument is this: Durability is not inherently good or bad. It comes down to execution and the experience you are wanting to achieve.

botw's durability system felt fine to me as well. FE:TH's durability system was tolerable but repairing weapons always feels like busy work in a game filled with busy work. is it balanced? mostly. is it fun? ehhhh.