ANew trailer for Nintendo's sequelForA Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildwoke up an ancient evil on Tuesday. I refer, of course, to the somewhat ongoing discourse on thisbrittle weaponsembreath of the jungle, one of the most controversial design decisions from 2017's open-world Zelda game.
Weapon durability could well be back in the sequel.breath of the jungle(though Nintendo hasn't confirmed this), starting a new wave of conflict over whether weapon durability is a good thing, a bad thing, or a dark and wretched plague on humanity.
I praised thembreath of the jungleGrenade destructible weapon speech in Polygon chat recently, then walked away while my coworkers were torn to pieces. After the chaos, I asked you to politely discuss the merits of the hacked stuff in Hyrule, which you can read about in the comments below. Your best argument for or against the value of weapon degradation is welcome in the comments.
Weapon durability is smart design, but smart isn't always fun
People have provided many intellectually compelling reasons for Breath of the Wild 2 to include weapon durability. Hell, I'm convinced that removing the weapon's durability would negatively impact the game. I still can't defend his recording, and that's because the durability of the weapons ended up preventing me from completing the original.breath of the jungle
I know heresy. I'm in lovebreath of the jungle, particularly its then-transgressive approach to open-world gaming. Gone were the countless pointless side quests and busy work, and in their place was actual exploration. Nintendo took a lot of the addiction out of open world gaming. That's why the weapon's durability felt so inconsistent with my way of enjoying the world. The fear of destroying my weapons prevented me from testing them. It transposed my worst hoarding habits from more rigid RPGs into an open world where I was required to take risks and be creative with my resources.
I had almost reached the end of the game when I gave up in frustration. You see, I like to compromise. You can preserve the durability of your weapons, but let me surf my shield without getting penalized for feeling joy. Act?– Chris Planta
Weapon durability is a better storytelling
The legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildit's by far the most enjoyable post-apocalypse I've ever experienced in fiction. It feels absolutely right to wander the ruins of leveling kingdoms from a gruesome war to solve puzzles and search for korok seeds. I love coming back to this world, maybe I will again tonight. The great irony, of course, is the terror that emanates from the castle in the center of the map, almost always in full view.
Despite this permanent memorial of the disaster,breath of the jungleit is a game with very little friction. The biggest limitation is Link's stamina meter, which initially dictates how much you can climb, something you can challenge with food or upgrades to the point where it matters less the more you play. That leaves two other sources of friction: weather and weapons. The first is a systemic marvel, allowing for all sorts of great interactions at the expense of a few minor drawbacks, and the second is a controversial limitation that has frustrated many people who understand why it exists on paper, but usually with a simple and straightforward rebuttal. convincing. : it's bullshit
I give you this: you are right! Thisdisapproving gesturesuck. But you know what's also annoying? Hyrule, man. There is a story told here: that you are wandering in a dark place, that cataclysm, always in view, irrevocably changed this world, transforming it into a place reclaimed by the green and wild, a world in contrast to you. . People like you cutting down trees and building houses and cooking steaks on small fires? Maybe things shouldn't be so easy for her. Perhaps the myriad weapons you find and smash, remnants of a terrible war of which you see only fragments, are a reminder of an old way of life that must be replaced by something new. Do you feel frustrated when a weapon you like breaks? Maybe that's good. It can be difficult to exert your will in the world around you. Maybe there are some things bigger than you. If the wild breathes, as the game's title suggests, perhaps it should be respected too.-Joshua Rivera
The durability of the weapons makes the late game difficult, but I still support it.
breath of the jungleit broke the tired Legend of Zelda formula, which leads players by the nose through successive areas, slowly increasing the difficulty. Every puzzle used to have a key item to solve it, every dungeon or boss fight was based on a tactic: arrows, grappling hooks, bombs, you name it.breath of the jungleit broke the core idea that every problem has a specific solution, and I'd say weapon durability is an extension of that. There are so many ways to fight anything that comes my way, but rarely have I been able to rely on just one.
I played a lot of Zelda titles and was ready for a change. The fragility of the first simple weapons made the first hours of play exciting. It's fun to be on the ropes against Zelda enemies that I wouldn't think twice about. A gang of bokoblins can be really challenging if my spare sword and mace (and myOthersBackup Club) turned to dust in my hands. And it's not the same kind of challenge as Dark Souls' rhythmic boss battle. It's chaos! And the Zelda franchise avoids chaos, especially the 3D iterations.
But the durability of the weapon really sucks when I'm spending money and resources sometimeslots of money and resources– about some ancient weapons. I understand that a looted shield and longsword are weak and have taken a beating from their previous owners, but I paid him pieces from a hard fought guardian and he turned them into one.nuevoWeapon, not just a "new to Link" weapon. As a result, I'm hoarding everything I've spent a long time in my strangely unfurnished home, making sure I never use it to crush any more Guardians. So yes, keep the durability of the weapon, but give me a forge or smithy or easier ways to repair higher value items.-Chelsea Stark
Nintendo please let me keep my shields a little longer.
For those who are against the degradation of weapons, I offer the following: free yourself from your earthly desires and start playing as a true villain. Just pick up random things in the area and throw them at the enemies. There's nothing quite like the feeling of defeating a powerful Moblin only to steal his weapon, then throw it right at his face and watch it shatter to pieces. (I always try to keep one or two spaces open for this.) Sure, a sword race in the midst of excitement isn't ideal, but intentionally using and destroying as many weapons as possible was a fun way to play.
Do you wish you could always have a complete set of each weapon for vanity reasons? Sure. It would be nice to not have to pair a honking Lynel shield and shiny guardian sword with my cute Hyrule Warguard outfit. But life is complicated, and so is how I customize Link's armor.
With that being said, here comes such an important and much debated question.Hue. I think shields are a problem specifically when it comes to weapon mining. I remember the first time I seriously explored Hyrule Field. I did my best to deflect the Sentry's lasers, but I lost all my shields just at the wrong time. It only took one or two shots from them to get my best shields out. It just didn't have enough slots to accumulate disposable shields. I felt like a helpless baby on the edge of the most dangerous part of Hyrule. To that end, a shield that fills up on a timer would have been a big help. Still, the experience made me understand the idea that I had to be willing to give something up if I was going to face such huge monsters and challenges.—Ana Diaz
I love trying out new weapons, but the durability of the weapons reduces my rewards.
I was a latecomer to the Zelda franchise, but fell deeply in love with it during my college years. So whenbreath of the junglehe continued, he wasn't tired of the formula Nintendo put in place 35 years ago. I enjoyed my first gamebreath of the junglebut ended up frustrated. The source of my frustration, like many players', was the weapon degradation system.
I like the waybreath of the jungleforces you to gain personal knowledge with each type of weapon. You never know when you'll find yourself in a serious Trial of Strength Shrine and be left with nothing but a spear. But there are certain weapons that I never want to use for fear of breaking them, even though they are fun and powerful. What about the spear I get from the Zora? Or the Goron Claymore? These weapons are important to me. So in my game, I did what any logical gamer would do: I bought a house and put all my bounty weapons on the walls.
I recently playedbreath of the jungleand in the end I loved it for what it is. But even when I went in, knowing what I was getting myself into, I stumbled into new avenues of frustration with my weapons breaking down in the middle of the fight. I gave up my quest to start the Master Sword DLC because I didn't want to spend hours farming for weapons after a single fight with Guardians wiped out my entire arsenal. I reloaded my save, killed Ganon and started playing something else. I would like to see all thisbreath of the junglehas to offer, but grinding down powerful weapons only to have them break a few minutes later isn't my idea of fun.—Ryan Gilliam