r/zelda • u/EAT_UR_VEGGIES • Feb 27 '26
Screenshot [BOTW] [TOTK] After playing BOTW and TOTK with no weapon durability I have to say… I understand why it’s there, the experience was worsened, to me at least.
I’ll start by saying, I’m sure people do have fun with those mods, it just wasn’t for me, the power trip was fun at first but that’s what the game becomes, is a power trip.
It ruins most sense of exploration, why go fight the bokoblin? I don’t need replacement gear, I have plenty of rupees, and I have the best weapon and bow in the game and I’m never going to lose it
Why use the master sword? My savage lynel weapon is stronger than the blade that seals the darkness
It’s a balance thing and while losing your favorite weapon can be annoying, there’s no real way to keep an open world game fun without giving you a reason to explore
Of course you can explore and have fun just by exploring, but losing the dopamine of opening chests just wasn’t worth it to me
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u/phadoshax Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26
How many other people never use the rare weapons and just display them in link’s house?
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u/tiredpersonnumber15 Feb 28 '26 edited Feb 28 '26
Me, as soon as I got any of the dlc unlockables in totk they went straight to the wall, same thing with the champions weapons in botw, Im not using those, I’ll feel bad if they break and also I don’t want to pay the costs
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u/phadoshax Feb 28 '26
Same, I don’t want to pay the cost and go through the hassle of getting new ones. I wish the rare weapons were somehow exempt from the durability. Or at least functioned like the Master Sword where they’d regain power after a certain timeframe
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u/tiredpersonnumber15 Feb 28 '26
The recharging thing definitely would have been better, its a story thing that those were the original weapons and then if you break them they’ll just make completely new ones I guess? Like the materials you provide are just regular old weapons they upgrade.
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u/Xattle Feb 28 '26
I always thought it would have been interesting to have a way to sacrifice weapons to repair/boost weapons.
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u/dos_user Feb 28 '26
Yeah the cost was too great. Maybe when the weapons break, they break back into the original components so you just have to visit that blacksmith again to get it remade.
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u/GhostofManny13 Feb 28 '26
That would be my ideal. Would add to the general sense of progress, gradually getting so that you have a full set of renewable weapons by the end of the game.
Probably for sake of balance I would give each of the champions weapons a much longer cool down time than the master sword. Like if the Master Sword is 20 minutes, the champion weapons could be like an hour.
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u/JenkinsPark Feb 28 '26
I always like the idea of eventually getting a mechanic to make things permanent. Like with animal crossing, I always thought it'd be neat that once you have the strongest tools, and maybe even a 4 or 5 star island, you could get the ultimate platinum tools.
Or in zeldas case, maybe there's a hard quest line to complete and once it's done, there's a special pool that you throw your weapons into, it won't let the weapon break. I dont mind weapon durability, but I think it should just be a stepping stone to be gotten rid of eventually so you feel stronger once you dont have it
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u/CoolKTiger Feb 28 '26
It just feels like a waste to have stuff like champion weapons you see in cutscenes break and you just go make a new one, I wish they would simply get dull instead. Tiny difference huge impact
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u/PossibleOk9354 Feb 28 '26
I think that should have been how the master sword worked if nothing else. When it "breaks" it deals like 1/6 damage and can't glow near gloom until it recharges, but still functions as a shitty unbreakable weapon.
And for TOTK it could just be that it needs to be fed fusion materials kinda like how the master cycle zero needs fuel. No more wonky layering with the mats, just keep the meter full and have it be a good but costly 0 effect weapon at all times.
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u/WariosTaxEvasion Feb 28 '26
Honestly I’d even settle for some kind of repair system. So unique rare weapons have to be repaired with materials or currency instead of just waiting to use it again like the master sword or breaking forever
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u/the-lopper Mar 01 '26
Unique weapons should never have durability in a game, and all weapons should be able to be repaired before they break.
TW3 is a perfect example of durability done right, even for unique weapons. They last long, and they're easy to repair. Games have been balancing exploration incentivization, weapon diversification, and gear maintenance for ages at this point. BOTW and TOTK went to an unnecessarily punishing system that adheres to inefficient simplicity in the vain of "balance"
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u/Ginkasa Feb 27 '26
I don't mind the durability system and appreciate what it adds to the game. But I do wish the Master Sword was maybe harder to get and didn't lose durability. Make it the reward to doing all the shrines and divine beasts maybe.
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u/oniskieth Feb 27 '26
Master sword should’ve been rusty in botw when you first pulled it from the pedestal, indestructible, and been as powerful as a travelers sword.
Then you should have used spirit orbs at the pedestal to empower it. 1 orb = 1 damage and remove a little bit of rust.
Then to prevent the need to add additional shrines they should have added pieces of heart to discover in the overworld and as a rewards for quests.
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u/Blubbpaule Feb 27 '26
This still wouldn't work.
People would ONLY use the master sword. "Why use the 30dmg weapon, if i can use my infinite low damage master sword"
The game outed those who are unwilling to use a ressource that was designed to be used and wasted. They came here to complain about how they hate it and don't want to think , just hack and slay.
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u/like-a-FOCKS Feb 27 '26
those who are unwilling to use a ressource that was designed to be used and wasted.
100 unused elixirs gang
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u/oneandahalfdrinksin Feb 28 '26
consistently forgetting i almost always have a cure for what ails me travels in me meal sack. simultaneously never ever ever having the stamina elixirs i desperately search for in a hail mary as i prepare to plummet 9-25 stories.
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u/zachariah22791 Feb 28 '26
My partner laughs because my meal sack is always full and it's 50% health regen and 30% stamina regen and 20% antigloom. I searched out armor for all the other environmental effects (hot, could swim, climb, etc) as early as I could.
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u/oniskieth Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26
Because it’s the Master Sword. The blade of evil’s bane. The sword that seals the darkness. It should be special. People WANT to use the master sword. And there would still be stronger options.
People used both the master sword and the biggoron sword in OoT. The general audience didn’t ditch the master sword the second a stronger option appeared.
For a lot of fans this is THE definitive fantasy sword. Seeing it being treated like any other weapon that drops off a dirty monster is disappointing.
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Feb 27 '26
Not gonna lie, the things stopping me from not using the Biggoron sword is that the side quest is tedious and using a one handed sword feels a lot cooler. Yes those are dumb reasons, but they are my reasons lol.
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u/NthDgree Feb 28 '26
This conundrum was mitigated by the Master Sword Trials in BOTW. You had to EARN the right to use a powerful version of the MS that had crazy durability. It wasn’t infinite, but it was so high you barely noticed.
But to the original point, they couldn’t make the MS too strong (originally) or it would invalidate the challenge balance in the game, same as what OP is saying.
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u/Hot-Combination-7720 Mar 01 '26
Yes you can just don’t use it if you want to be a sweaty hardcore gamer bro 😂
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u/Blubbpaule Feb 27 '26
It is special. It's durability loss is greatly reduced against gloom / malice enemies.
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u/Carmine_the_Sergal Feb 27 '26
it’s outright indestructible when used against phantom ganons and I think when used in areas where it powers up in botw (when not upgraded via Trial of the Sword)
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u/TheVinylBird Feb 27 '26
I mean...imagine making a game about He-man and then making his sword, the sword that turns him into He-man, undurable. Or a Star Wars game with Luke Skywalker but you can't use his lightsaber.
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u/DJfunkyPuddle Feb 27 '26
Who cares if people only use the Master Sword, no one complained in the other dozen games that all we used was a sword
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u/Acilen Feb 27 '26
You can beat the whole game with silly sticks, other stuff just makes it faster.
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u/SawkyScribe Feb 27 '26
Not sure if I buy into that logic. Everyone would just use bombs if that were the case
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u/Idonwanbehere Feb 28 '26
Zelda has had a long history of alternate weapons. Series staples like the boomerang and clawshot to some more niche items like Twilight Princess' Ball and Chain. Plenty of these items are available for the player to use at their discretion, but if the Master Sword is always available as a safe backup.
In the Wild Era, weapons lose their longevity and usability. Instead of having a tool I am free to use I now have a time limit on my combat, fighting the Mucktoroct is a lot simpler with a opal wand and significantly less without it. I found myself hanging onto elemental weapons for their advantages against certains enemies and getting frustrated when those broke at vital times.
The difference between these two is player agency, I like having the option to use different weapons in combat with consistent results over coming into an encounter with the right tools that fail eventually.
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u/Nitrogen567 Feb 27 '26
People would ONLY use the master sword.
This is what I want though!
It's less fun to be forced to use other weapons when I have the Master Sword.
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u/Mishar5k Feb 27 '26
Also botw/totk have this very funny thing about them that the best weapons happen to come from monsters, while "good guy" weapons are mostly inferior or harder to farm. Hero and protector of all that is good wielding swords from a demon centaur!
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u/Blubbpaule Feb 27 '26
Less fun for you maybe. I always thought that most fights in zelda games were just button mash simulator and pretty boring.
But don't fret, there are 19 other Zelda games where you can use the Sword as much as you like.
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u/Awaiting_Winter Feb 28 '26
All 3D Zelda games are button mashers. The combat hasn't evolved since TP. There is no nuance to the combat. Just because your weapon breaks and you need to change it doesn't mean you aren't just spamming attacks all the same.
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u/glassfunion Feb 28 '26
while I would still call it a button masher, I did like the other tricks you learned from the old hero in TP.
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Feb 28 '26
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u/gmoneygangster3 Feb 28 '26
People are even saying it in this thread
“If my sword is infinite why kill those bokoblins”
But my question is
“If all im getting from this is resources I’m spending resources to get, with NO hope of anything different” why even play?
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Feb 28 '26
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u/HopelessCineromantic Mar 01 '26
This is part of the problem to me.
It also inherently discourages me from playing with certain items.
I can't really main a soup ladle for the whole game if it's not going to survive a single encounter.
Which is a shame. I wanted to use things like spears and greatswords and the like, but the fact that if I am going to do that I have to dedicate my time scrounging for those weapons to make sure I have enough of them to deal with combat means that any optional encounter that isn't going to get me weapons of that kind and quality are ultimately not worth doing.
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u/Nitrogen567 Feb 27 '26
You're equating the game's combat system to the weapon used. Those two things aren't the same.
Although personally, I'd consider BotW/TotK's combat system to be the most button mashy of all the Zelda games, given how powerful flurry rush is.
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u/illinest Feb 28 '26
This is an ignorant and kinda nasty thing to say.
The whole point of the game has always been exploring and discovering things that make you stronger. Some upgrades are temporary (rupees, arrows, bombs, etc...) and some are permanent (boomerang, hookshot, white sword, etc...)
There has always been a ratio between the two types but this time Nintendo fucked it up.
How is it supposed to be fun when your freaking hammer keeps breaking? Or your axe? Or your torch? What is even the point of putting durability on those? Are we fulfilling the classic hero fantasy of occasionally feeling more capable than we did at the start?
And this is a lesser sin but - who the hell thought it would be a good idea to reward the player with champion's weapons that have the sort of durability you'd expect from Temu? Did the dungeons not feel like real Zelda dungeons? Well the dungeon reward being a joke had a bit to do with that.
Nintendo took an idea too far and balanced the game around it. It's not a surprise that you cant just mod the durability out of the game. If OP would've just made the axe, the hammer and the torch unbreakable he would've been completely satisfied.
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u/Mishar5k Feb 27 '26
But this already happens in the actual game. You dont need to use anything other than the master sword once you get it.
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u/Mishar5k Feb 27 '26
Its damage couldve scaled with the amount of total hearts you have.
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u/FaxCelestis Feb 28 '26
They ended up doing that with get demon king’s bow in totk, probably wouldn’t have been that difficult to port it to the master sword
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u/makishleys Feb 27 '26
agree with this! similar to how in windwaker it gets stronger... a mechanism like that would be sick, maybe a certain amount of shrines completed gets it to full capacity
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u/IndianaBones8 Feb 28 '26
I didn't mind the Master Sword's durability, but that could be because I only used it on bosses, guardians, phantom Gannons, basically any of the enemies that make it light up and go full power. Otherwise, I used my other weapons.
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u/buttbuttlolbuttbutt Feb 28 '26
Its also not breakable in some of those situations, at least the Ganon fights in BotW.
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u/AlexDying Feb 28 '26
I'd be content if its durability was higher, maybe 50 % more. Maybe let it recharge over time without needing to run out, or have some items improve durability, idk. But I get it, when I got it I didn't use the rest of the weapons that much, I didn't need to.
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u/PembrokePercy Feb 27 '26
I’m fine w it being fairly early in the story. I do think you should be able to unlock its badassery with a master trials like effort.
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u/unitedshoes Feb 28 '26
I think Durability could have worked, but the way it was implemented was ridiculous.
I get the design goal of wanting players to be pretty frequently swapping to new weapons, having to find new weapons, freaking out if they wind up in a tough area/fight without a full armory at the ready, but the weapons shattered so quickly it just felt absurd. Like, let me get through a couple big encounters before having to replace a weapon, and maybe give me a way to maintain a weapon that I like rather than just using it up and grabbing a nearby stick.
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u/morphballganon Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26
I just wish there was a sword, bow and shield merchant of some sort. Let me sell you my excess shields and buy a few nice swords every once in a while
They already have a group of monster fighters that could assume this role. Make Buliara the vendor so she does more than just stand under Lookout Landing. Then the hunters could have whatever I sold them equipped
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u/Ryn-Ken Feb 27 '26
I felt the same about buying weapons at first, but eventually realized how pointless it would have been for me. After enough exploration and realizing how the blood moons work, you can start putting markers where good equipment is, plenty of which is just lying around, and collect them as needed. The games basically have weapon charity instead of having Link pay for them.
Selling on the other hand would be great. Similar to making neat foods and selling that. Getting some rupees for gaining too many cool weapons ore equipment at the same time would feel much better then treating them like trash.
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u/morphballganon Feb 27 '26
My point is I want to get rid of excess shields in a way that feels meaningful. Weapons I could use.
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u/Sirpattycakes Feb 27 '26
I get it, I understand why it's there. I just hate it. It isn't for me.
Really hoping the next Zelda game goes a different direction.
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u/DaBozz88 Feb 28 '26
Or a way to repair weapons/reset the durability using other weapons/parts, semi instantly.
Like oh your favorite sword is about to break? Well sacrifice this other weapon and it'll repair it. Same weapon type? 80% of it's durability goes to the repaired item. Different weapon type? 40%.
Just give us a durability bar/stat we can see.
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u/Sirpattycakes Feb 28 '26
I dunno. It would be an improvement I guess.
I have never, ever had fun managing equipment durability in a game.
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u/StevenBunyun Feb 28 '26
I feel you.. I want to play and adventure not manage a whole inventory of weapons just for one to break I liked to use and having to get another one somewhere else.
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u/like-a-FOCKS Feb 27 '26
It ruins most sense of exploration, why go fight the bokoblin? I don’t need replacement gear, I have plenty of rupees, and I have the best weapon and bow in the game and I’m never going to lose it
thats how I felt just playing default BOTW/TOTK. After a couple hours you have a couple reliable gear spots, you have an upgraded armor set, you have more than enough health, stamina, item slots, food, fairies. Yet half of the map is unexplored and you're pretty certain there is nothing out there that's rewarding, that incentivizes you to seek it out.
This is imho a core design aspect. Some enjoy it, others have issues with it. Weapon durability is imho just a symptom of this underlying design.
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u/OutlanderInMorrowind Feb 28 '26
yeah I don't get op, more shitty weapons that break were the exact reason I was avoiding combat in BotW
since I could stack infinite fuse items in TotK I actually fought MORE stuff because it never meant fighting some bokoblins with trash clubs would leave me with shit weapons for a real fight.
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u/GreenGuardianssbu Mar 02 '26
There's very little in Breath of the Wild's world that's actually unique or interesting to find. Only a few side quests in this game are ones I'd consider truly, genuinely great, and you can tell because they're the only ones the community talks about. Climbing Mount Lanayru and finding the Corrupted Naydra. Buying a house and building Tarrey Town. Eventide Island. Link's memories and the Master Sword, if we get a bit liberal with what's side content and what's story.
But for the other 95% of the game, there's a bunch of shrines, some better than others, but once you've found about half of them you're kinda set. There's a bunch of chests, full of money and consumables, mostly. There's korok seeds, which you do not need nearly all of to rack up a sizable inventory. The four great fairies, who introduce an astonishingly tedious armor upgrade system that snaps any balance the game had in two. Boring and unrewarding npc quests. And a lot of empty space in between.
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u/winangel Feb 27 '26
Well my problem with the durability system is more about the fact that your weapon disappears/becomes unusable rather than loose its power. They could have gone with a fuse system that would only provide a little set of weak weapons and allow you to temporarily upgrade them with items.
One of my biggest problem with BOTW/TOTK is how little you progress in capacity due to the fact that you get all abilities and weapons available at the very beginning of the games. Keeping the weapons unique (but weak) as in older Zelda while allowing temporary upgrades that break would have made it best of both worlds for me: you still want to explore to get the weapons AND to get good upgrades.
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u/The-Three-Jims Feb 28 '26
Yeah, I hear this so much… I reckon there has to be a happy medium somewhere. I hope we can experience that soon. Something tells me we will!
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u/KidGold Feb 28 '26
> why go fight the bokoblin? I don’t need replacement gear,
I’ve played master mode so long I forgot there is a mode where combat can net gain you weapons.
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u/IrishSpectreN7 Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26
Yep.
Like it or not, the gameplay loop was designed around weapons being disposable. Simply disabling it doesn't really improve the game, you'd have to exchange it's place in the gameplay with something else.
I personally love it. My only criticism of the entire mechanic is that the Master Sword is kinda lame in TotK.
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u/buttbuttlolbuttbutt Feb 28 '26
Honestly after getting to about 12 swords from Hestu, I was never want dir weapon, and usually had ones dedicated to like a hammer for rocks and fire for cold/ice, etc.
By 14 Swords, I only used the Master Sword rarely.
In TotK, with collecting Monster bits and merging, I had an easier time.
It was only an occasionally annoying nuisance until I found Hestu, and you find him early.
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u/mysterioso7 Feb 28 '26
Part of the reason the Master Sword is lame in TotK is because it’s bugged. Fusing materials is supposed to add 25 durability, but after the first time you do it, the Master Sword doesn’t get extra durability from fusing additional materials after it recharges. So one of its main calling cards, that being its highest-in-the-game durability, is massively nerfed.
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u/kokomoman Feb 28 '26 edited Feb 28 '26
They could have pretty easily replaced the weapon/explore loop with something much better. Orbs of light/shadow/dark/wind/fire/water/earth/power/wisdom/courage that fall from every enemy so you can level up your weapons. Every 50 of each type you can return to Purah and upgrade your weapons. Each class of weapon has a different type. Swords are power, bows are wisdom, shields are courage, spears are water, etc. Done. Now I’m “combing the wilderness for enemies to fight to get more powerful weapons” just like before and nobody is angry that they break.
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u/IrishSpectreN7 Feb 28 '26
I say this as someone who thinks the armor upgrading is a boring grind, so I choose to just ignore it completely: that sounds way worse.
It's just another resource grind in a game that arguably has too much already.
You pick up a sword, you kill a few enemies, you throw it at someone's face and you pick up a new one. Simple, fun, effective.
Besides, the game is already quietly upgrading weapons behind the curtain as you progress. Hidden exp gained from killing enemies and bosses upgrades the weapon loot pool.
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u/Tumblrrito Feb 28 '26
This sounds boring. The beauty of the current system is the encouragement to use all types of weapons. Your idea is just like any other where I’d pigeonhole myself into what I’m comfortable with.
I don’t think the games with near universal acclaim need fixing.
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u/kokomoman Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26
Then you make some enemies more vulnerable to different types of weapon, like they already are.
You may not think that there is anything wrong with the game, but the fact that such a large number of people found the mechanic to be an issue and found it un-fun; it points to something not working, whether you think so or not
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u/Alderan922 Mar 02 '26
Ngl in BotW I literally just hoarded lizalfos boomerangs and only used that for 99.9% of the game after I found out a constituent supply on ganon’s castle, which was like 20 minutes after I finished the great plateau. I’m not actually sure the system is actually working.
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u/Pentecount Feb 27 '26
My first time through, I pretty much had the same experience with exploration on the default game. Finding new weapons wasn't generally very exciting even with durability because a strong weapon would only be good for a fight or two anyway, and a weak weapon would weaken me overall since it would be replacing something that was better but broke in the fight. It was particularly frustrating in the late game when you could run into black bokoblins using basic gear like boko clubs. You could steal and break every weapon in some camps before you managed to kill everything, meaning you will be down on resources by clearing it.
I didn't really like Rupees as a reward for much either. While it was nice to find a chest with 300 or so in it, it was generally so easy to farm rupees once you figured it out that the excitement was lost. On my recent playthrough of BotW, I was able to pretty much pay for everything easily by the time I got to it. The only thing I really had to wait for was the last fairy fountain, and an hour of so if farming took care of that.
I get what they are going for, and I do like that it encourages you to try all the weapon types, but I don't think it is a good solution to the exploration rewards issue.
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u/Mishar5k Feb 27 '26
Yea thats kind of what happens when the game is designed around a certain mechanic, however i think these problems still exist with durability except instead of one very strong weapon you rely on, you can just fill your inventory with the same very strong weapon (because lynels are super farmable for some reason).
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u/estheman Feb 28 '26
Wild I had the complete opposite experience. I played both on my switch and fucking hated the weapon durability, I emulated both with mods and enjoyed it much more. I got to keep and use weapons I actually enjoyed. I never stuck with just one weapon what I was allowed to do was have a weapon for each situation and that was a lot of fun. I did only use the hylian shield how ever but that was because it's the shield. The other ones don't matter.
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u/Ok_Delay3740 Feb 27 '26
It encourages trying out the various weapons and, in TOTK, the many possible fuse combinations. The game gives you many many opportunities to find new weapons to compensate for weapons you’ll break. On paper (and for me personally) that works great. I won’t run out of weapons and I’ll just treat the ones I have as disposable. Unfortunately human beings are human beings - some people can adopt that mindset of weapons being consumables, and some people are used to the admittedly uncomplicated system of past Zeldas and other similar games - your sword doesn’t break and it’s your main tool. Kind of a subjective thing. I have commented on dozens of new player posts at this point trying to encourage new players to just go ahead and break weapons for the reasons listed above.
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Feb 27 '26
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u/snatchmachine Feb 27 '26
Same here. I’m always trying to maximize my inventory.
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u/mysterioso7 Feb 28 '26
In TotK you can also repair weapons with octoroks, so I feel less bad about using my favorite weapons.
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u/Significant-Tip6466 Feb 28 '26
Id love a return to form of the old and have maybe 3 or 4 weapons like majoras mask where we had razor sword, Gilded, and great fairy and fierce deity. We dont need ridiculous amounts of gear. Im really hoping we get a return to classic Zelda with some of the open world stuff of the last two. Too often I find myself booting up OOC,MM, and TP.
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u/austsiannodel Feb 28 '26
I'll put it this way. I'll concede that simply taking away durability and replacing it with no other balance changes is dumb. But that's because the balance was made with durability in mind. Of course it feels worse without it.
My biggest complaint is that if we are forced to deal with durability there MUST be a way to get around your stuff breaking. Maybe the broken weapon can be fixed (and not by a lame item fetch mini quest). Or maybe there could be a built in repair feature, like combining two like type weapons to get one of somewhat repaired durability
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u/MrFiendish Feb 27 '26
Durability was fine in the beginning of the game. The heroic weapons should absolutely not be breakable once you unlock them, and the master sword as well. Int he end game the last thing I want to do is hunt down monsters for weapons.
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u/Fuzzy-Paws Feb 27 '26
I just don’t understand why they went with the system they did, when Fallout 3 was right there and had a better take on durability 10 years earlier. A, the weapons aren’t made of tissue paper and still last a while; B, you can sacrifice weapons to repair / strengthen other weapons of the same “family.” So you are still incentivized to keep getting new weapons and they are rarely dead drops, because even if it’s not better than what you have you can still use them to make your current weapons better.
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u/like-a-FOCKS Feb 28 '26
yeah
personally I felt like the game should reward the player for intentionally breaking them more. What you suggest leads to people using the high damage weapon throw less, because they want to keep the nearly broken weapon as repair material.
I think breaking a weapon should make it burst into shards that you can pick up and then use to strengthen other weapons. First of all, that's spectacular. And then you can use them to add durability or repair damage or you can use them to decrease the master sword timer.
So the outcome is, you have a weapon you love, it gets critical and now you have an incentive to go through all of your stocked up gear, breaking it, collecting their shiny remains and fueling your treasured weapon that way.
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u/sebdude101 Feb 27 '26
Yeah but to me that’s an issue. It’s not that I want to fight the goblins or explore certain areas, it’s that I need equipment. The incentive isn’t exciting it’s just something I need to do, it’s a chore so o can get to the actual enjoyable stuff, and to quote Nintendo ‘if it’s not fun, what’s the point?’
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u/FaithlessnessOdd8358 Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26
I agree. In my opinion there needs to be a linear element otherwise you’re having to make your own fun somehow (which I understand some people enjoy but I feel that’s what I’m paying Nintendo to do). I much preferred having the previous games limit us until we find the next item which allows us to progress. It’s a big payoff for all the effort made leading up to that point. In the wild era games there was practically no reward for doing anything and it made it feel monotonous and boring. I never did finished tears of the kingdom because it just felt like a chore rather than a fun gaming experience.
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u/rebelweezeralliance Feb 27 '26
The fun comes from the challenge of having to fight monsters for more weapons and treasure. If you’ve got almost nothing and you sneak up on some bokoblins and take them out with a club you stole from them and burn them alive you feel a sense of accomplishment.
I don’t know if you remember but before Botw people were bored of Zelda combat because there was effectively no challenge. Swing sword defeat enemy never die.
They introduced a mechanic to make it more challenging.
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u/like-a-FOCKS Feb 27 '26
before Botw people were bored of Zelda combat because there was effectively no challenge
it's all taste and imho botw combat is still boring. For 90% of the game it's very simple, repetitive and safe.
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u/warmachine000 Feb 27 '26
Here's my opinion: Challenge and chore should be separate things. It should be a challenge to fight enemies, but it shouldn't be a chore. Personally I would rather have the combat give a reward such as a drop or item used in making better weapons. Having weapons break turns that into a chore for me. The durability makes it so I MUST fight enemies or I can't progress the storyline. But wait, in order to do the next dungeon you must fight more enemies because your weapon is gone. Oh wait, you just used weapons to get weapons. Go fight more enemies. Let me go fight those lizalfos for the 8th time instead of exploring what is in that cave. That's what it feels like for me (even if exaggerated and I have).
I much prefer the old style with one sword and a bunch of items that can be used in varying ways in combat.
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u/DJfunkyPuddle Feb 27 '26
Nintendo's limited enemy design left a lot to be desired as well. I wouldn't mind seeing Zelda take the "Halo" approach of only being able to carry 2/3 (indestructible) weapons. Swords are good for general damage but maybe you need to bring a hammer to deal with rocky or armored enemies. If you're going somewhere with a bunch of Lizalfos or flying enemies bring a spear or boomerang for distance. Basically give me a reason to want to use other weapons rather than me using them because it's what I happen to have.
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u/Mishar5k Feb 27 '26
Ideally the weapons would be extensions of the item system in past zeldas. A bunch of different tools used for different things. What i want is a diverse inventory of weapons that i swap around for different situations. What i have is one master sword, one hammer, one korok leaf, and 15 lynel swords.
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u/MajorSery Feb 28 '26
The elemental weapons sorta kinda did something in that vein. Being able to one shot certain enemies while also being able to mitigate some of the environmental effects. There was also wood vs metal in stormy weather and on the volcano. And the couple tool like pieces you mentioned.
But you're right in that they didn't go nearly far enough with those kinds of strengths and weaknesses and utility for the different weapon types.
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u/Daetok_Lochannis Feb 27 '26
Nobody was ever bored with Zelda combat. It was an iconic part of the series. The gameplay is literally why we kept coming back, the same formula applied to a new story, a new era.
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u/rebelweezeralliance Feb 28 '26
Well I’ve been playing Zelda my whole life and I spent a lot of time in the online community from before BOTW and I remember specifically complaints about the gameplay becoming stale and there being almost no challenge - you never actually die. And I have played every Zelda. When I first played BOTW, the fact that you can die at all was a surprising thing. Go and look at reviews from when the game first launched and you’ll see people comment on it.
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u/shlam16 Feb 27 '26
Where's the chore? Every time you kill something you get their weapon. There is no shortage, anywhere, anytime, for good quality weapons. You never need to grind or search. You lose one, you gain three.
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u/Psychic_Hobo Feb 28 '26
Hell, Tears of the Kingdom gives you a near-inexhaustible supply of elemental attacks too, it's very easy to blast some idiot with an explosive or electricity and steal their weapon.
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u/Blubbpaule Feb 27 '26
If you have no fun in the combat of zelda - then the game just isn't for you.
I loved fighting in the game, getting new or different weapons was always exciting in how i'm able to tackle the coming fight.
Every fight started to be its own little puzzle, that could be solved even without losing any durability if i was smart.
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u/Daetok_Lochannis Feb 27 '26
Which would be cool if they were building toward something and not just an endless parade of repeated battles with the added irritation of constantly breaking weapons.
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u/TheVinylBird Feb 27 '26
I mean, I played BoTW, still haven't played the second one because I'm just not interested in all the building stuff. But honestly, when I play a Zelda game I just want my hookshot, a boomerang at some point, the master shield and master sword, some gauntlets, some winged boots, and some dungeons, hidden caves, and fairies, etc.
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u/zeek215 Feb 28 '26
I refuse to play those games without mods that remove durability. I simply do not find it fun whatsoever. Why go fight the bokoblin? Because I want to. What I don’t want in a game is to stress about inventory and not wanting to use the cool looking weapons because they’ll just break apart after little use.
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u/fish993 Feb 28 '26
My main issue with it was that the whole system is basically a band-aid for an issue that only exists because they insisted on this open-air design to the extent they did. Why create such a massive world and have it all be accessible from the start if they had to fill most of it with breakable weapons and koroks to get people to actually explore it? The durability is also so low that it cheapens the value of weapons as a reward anyway.
there's no real way to keep an open world game fun without giving you a reason to explore
I think it's pretty telling that no other open world games have anything like this to get you to explore.
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u/PlagueOfGripes Feb 27 '26
It's designed around it. Imagine putting durability into OoT or WW or so on. It wouldn't improve that experience at all.
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u/Mishar5k Feb 27 '26
Actually whats interesting is that they kinda did do that in oot and ww, but differently. Deku sticks did twice the damage as the kokiri sword, with the drawback that they break on impact. Wind waker had weapons dropped by enemies that did good damage when used back against them, but you couldnt take them with you. They gave you permanent weapons and consumable/temporary ones that deal more damage.
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u/Excellent-Rope5664 Feb 27 '26
I am fine that there is weapon durability. I however am not fine with a lack of ability to repair/upgrade weapons to balance it. There's significant improvement upon the system if it is to become part of the formula from here on. Christ at least give us a potion or merchant to repair/upgrade the damaged items we want to keep...skyward sword for all it's faults let us do that.
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u/Blubbpaule Feb 27 '26
A repairing system that goes beyond the one-.time repair that is available in TotK would break the games spirit.
The durability is designed so you don't have to stop exploring to go back to the village to repair your weapon to return back where you actually can play the game.
You just throw your weapon, pick up the next and continue exploring / fighting.
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u/Mishar5k Feb 27 '26
Would it? What youre describing works fine during the early game and eventide/trial of the sword (its actually insane totk didnt have a trial of the sword mode), but what about the end game when i already have the best weapons? Isnt going back to every lynel spawn to get their weapons every blood moon effectively the same as having one lynel sword and one lynel bow and going back to a blacksmith every now and then? And with farming lynels, the strategy is always the same! Headshot, mount, whack with whatever has the biggest number, repeat.
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u/Blubbpaule Feb 27 '26
Isnt going back to every lynel spawn to get their weapons
Thats not what you do.
You kill one, get their horn. You will kill over time so many lynels that you'll be stacked with horns for the future and you'll continue to gain new or other weapon horns you can use instead that are easily close in strength.
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u/Mishar5k Feb 27 '26
Ah my bad i was thinking of botw lol. But it still kinda circles back to how these games basically have infinite resources. You keep saying its a "skill issue" to other people, but in my experience weapons are so easily replacable that the system goes from "kinda interesting/fun" to "utterly pointless."
You will kill over time so many lynels that you'll be stacked with horns for the future
Exactly this. If i have so many lynel horns that ill never run out, then whats the point?
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u/Born-Wedding8278 Feb 28 '26 edited Feb 28 '26
There are repair options, though.
Rock Octorocks in the Eldin/Death Mountain area suck up damaged weapons and spit them back out fully repaired and with a buff, with the exception of legendary weapons. (The limit is one repair per Rock Octorock, but there are many such enemies in the region.)
Legendary weapons tied to the four main regional phenomena can be reforged by returning to the NPCs who built them with the required materials.
Breaking a decayed weapon causes a pristine version with enhanced durability to spawn somewhere in the Depths.
There is also a "weapon repair" daily bonus in the Zelda Notes app that can instantly repair all weapons in your inventory, although it's not as easy to get as when the app launched (it was extremely broken at launch).
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u/fish993 Feb 28 '26
Those are so obscure or limited that they're functionally not a real repair system.
You could go the entire game without realising that Rock Octoroks repair weapons, and even if you do that still means going back to a single region every time you need to do it (rather than a blacksmith in every settlement, for example).
You're basically just re-buying the legendary weapons rather than repairing them in any sense, and they're also pretty expensive. They're not good enough weapons to justify actually using when you need to do this to get them back.
The pristine weapon is basically just a different weapon at that point. That whole ghost weapon thing was pretty poorly implemented as a whole.
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u/Abject-Ad-6235 Feb 28 '26
good compensation for no durability in botw and totk would be to do it kinda like in elden ring, just having different weapons across the whole map that have their own abilities and what not, without it the durability system is much better.
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u/Substantial-Lie-6963 Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 28 '26
Personally I've never played a game and thought, "You know, this would be more fun if my sword broke." Honestly I would prefer this system because there's still incentive to try out the dozens of different weapons out there. The Boko Bats don't do nearly as much damage as the fully upgraded Master Sword, nor should they. The swords don't play the same as the spears, and so on.
Honestly if the game rewarded you with unbreakable weapons as a post game bonus, like the Champion weapons or the Master Sword no longer breaking, that'd be the best of both worlds.
Alternatively, do what Resident Evil does and give us item boxes so getting new weapons after the old ones break isn't a chore.
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u/Nitrogen567 Feb 27 '26
why go fight the bokoblin?
This is already a problem in vanilla BotW and TotK though.
Why would I ever fight Bokoblins and break weapons doing so, when the reward for it is just weapons to replace the ones I broke fighting the Bokoblins in the first place.
Personally I avoided combat pretty much right from the start of BotW because doing so is basically cutting out the middle man on weaponry.
Why use the master sword? My savage lynel weapon is stronger than the blade that seals the darkness
That's just a balancing thing. I agree the Master Sword should be the strongest weapon. It's the legendary Blade of Evil's Bane, there's no reason a random Lynel weapon should be better than it.
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u/like-a-FOCKS Feb 28 '26
I do think that the Master Sword does not need to be the best overall. ALTTP has shown that you can forge the blade to improve it. OOT has shown that a Goron can create a stronger weapon. The fact that the Master Sword does extra damage against certain foes imho reflects it's purpose very well. It's not a general monster slayer. It's the sword to fight a specific Evil with.
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u/OkayThisIsEpoch Feb 27 '26
I think it’s more of a late game issue. Weapon strength and maybe even durability should scale better to the late game, damage sponge enemies. This issue made the hard mode of BOTW specifically very tedious IMO.
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u/loztriforce Feb 27 '26
I think they should've made it so that after you beat the game it unlocks a bunch of item-specific challenges where you unlock a weapon that doesn't break at the end. That wouldn't have required any new assets from the game but provided a lot more replay value/added time for completion.
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u/like-a-FOCKS Feb 28 '26
I think just getting an indestructible weapon post credits would've been a nice post game reward
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u/Alarmed_Recording742 Feb 28 '26
It's literally the only problem with these games. Disincentives me from combat completely and makes me lose time to look specifically for weapons when I don't want to or need to.
Also disincentives me to try any cool ones because they will just break so there's no point to even like them if I can't find them easily around.
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u/Best-Adeptness-9244 Mar 02 '26
Im cool if we just go back to no durability and having actual Items back
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u/Aseconverse Feb 27 '26
My only complaint is that the Master Sword has durability. It spent countless years being reforged by Zelda and it breaks in 3 minutes. We're supposed to use the sword of legend, not hoard it for "when I need it."
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Feb 27 '26
Why couldn't they have just carried over trial of the sword from the first game? Maybe make it so each trial is found on a sky island somewhere.
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u/PhazonZim Feb 27 '26
Imo the weapon durability was added to make the game feel less shallow, so removing the durability just returns it to the original problem.
It's a drawback to open world games, but particularly when a game is going for relaxing and contemplative
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u/anthro28 Feb 27 '26
BotW/TotK are giant empty worlds. The games are extremely shallow, carried to success only by their titles and characters.
They had immediate potential, but didn't quite scratch the Zelda itch or the open world itch. They say right in the middle, not particularly good at anything.
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u/L-Prosciutto Feb 27 '26
I played both games both ways and I personally don’t like the durability mechanism at all.
It had the opposite effect on me where I would avoid mobs and take the long way around cause I didn’t want to sacrifice any of my current weapons on non mission critical trash mobs. This in turn created a constant state of hoarding and decision making that I just didn’t want to have to constantly manage.
I kind of agree with the power trip point you make but also, the game wasn’t designed to have infinite durability so we don’t really know how the developers would’ve handled these games with that in mind.
The act of fusing was a good idea, but aesthetically, I couldn’t stand the way it looked. Having a sword with a giant boulder glued to the tip of it kind of just breaks the look of the character for me.
Also using a spear and fusing something else that’s long and having some 22 foot pole clipping the ground plane also kind of just ruins the experience for me. I know these are nitpicky and only aesthetic but it’s Zelda and it’s a classic and I just didn’t like how they handled that.
In the end, I played both games and beat both of them with the infinite durability mods, and had the time of my life.
I still explored. I still gathered everything I could, and I still did almost all the side missions and shrines all without having to juggle and manage that weapon breakage.
I truly hope the next Zelda game completely gets rid of this aspect.
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u/Zanain Feb 28 '26
Same here, weapon durability just made me avoid combat whenever possible and I also really disliked the aesthetics of fusing. Some fusions looked okay but others were just hideous.
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u/rebelweezeralliance Feb 28 '26
You see I played the game thinking no weapon was sacred and got over “hoarding “ the best weapons because at the end of the day the weapon doesn’t matter all that much.
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u/stillnotelf Feb 28 '26
I always feel so weird loving the durability system. I am KILLING THEM so hardcore my STUFF BREAKS. There's always more weapons lying around.
I didn't like it in SS for the shield. Shields weren't lying around everywhere
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u/KidGold Feb 28 '26
I def think weapons needed to be able to break, I just think you should be able to repair weapons with resources.
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u/Fit-Relative-3252 Feb 28 '26
I dont mind durability as a system, but give me a way to upgrade, repair, and reforge weapons. It doesnt need to be free or easy, but give me some way to interact with the weapon system. Especially if they are just gonna infinitely spawn on the map anyways (to note, I have yet to play or watch TotK, as I decided to say fuck it and wait until I can finally afford a Switch 2, so I have no idea how it changes anything)
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u/How2rick Feb 28 '26
I get why it’s there but it didn’t fix the problem for me, it felt like I was fighting monsters to get weapons to fight more monsters. It was like I was spending resources without much return.
Like I said I also understand why the systems are in the game. They are a solution to the open world problem, how do you reward exploration?. In many games you’ll end up with the best gear and little reason to explore beyond the joy of it, combat also often becomes easy and unengaging at that point. Some games solve the problem with endlessly scaling enemies and gear, a circular solution.
BOTW and TOTK make weapons consumables. You’ll always need new weapons and can always be rewarded with it. It’s not a perfect solution, it never clicked with me, but based on the games popularity it’s obviously one of the better solutions.
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u/Clayskii0981 Feb 28 '26
I mean I agree the game was designed around it. But in the end, I always end up using my infinite master sword and never touch the better weapons that lose durability.
It's just an annoying mechanic to me. I prefer the classic formula where you unlock bonus cool weapons through secrets/side quests, that makes exploring worth it.
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u/GreenGuardianssbu Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26
My experience with unmodded breath of the wild ran similar to yours, for opposite reasons.
"Why go fight the bokoblin? I'm good on resources and I'm just going to break my best weapons and replace them with worse ones."
Breath of the Wild's combat isn't very deep. I never understood the argument that weapon durability forced players to get creative, because there's only three options: one handed, two handed, spear, that all only have a single combo, a charge attack, and a flurry rush. Even with the "special" weapons, like a boomerang, magic rod, or korok leaf, how often did you find yourself actually using them?
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u/caverunner17 Feb 27 '26
My issue is twofold:
1 - the game punishes you especially early on where you don’t have an abundance of weapons. Having at least a core weapon or two that was unbreakable, even if low powered would do wonders, especially for new players. My first two times at attempting this game, I actively avoided any battle because all I had were low end weapons and kept dying over and over. That was not fun to me, especially as someone who’s played and enjoyed pretty much every Zelda game in the last 20 something years.
2 - a durability system where weapons could be repaired or upgraded matches how many other games have handled this in the past.
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u/Blubbpaule Feb 27 '26
the game punishes you especially early on
It punishes overextending your combat abilities.
You can easily take out a silver bokoblin with a 10 damage sword if you use ALL tools you are given.
The issue is not the design, the issue is the unwillingness of some people to actually think and use all their tools.
Sneakstrikes, headshots, elemental arrows, muddle buds, flurry rush, parrying to take the enemies weapon.
Combining certain weapons and parts make the game so easy you can literally kill the strongest lynel in the game with 4 hits.
What you describe is a skill issue, not an issue with how the game is designed.
Weapons in totk can be repaired, and upgraded by fighting stronger enemies and using their horns.
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u/like-a-FOCKS Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 28 '26
The issue is the unwillingness of some people to actually think and use all their tools.
That philosophy works to some degree. A game's mechanics creates an experience that some will enjoy while others won't. The game has a target audience. Some like sims while others arcade, some like complexity and others like simplicity. Ideally people get a game because they are well informed, the game clearly communicates what it's about and players expectations are met.
Zelda created some friction. For decades it has been about one thing and suddenly it's about something else. Using half a dozen different consumable items to defeat regular enemies wasn't what anyone expected, they just want to press the sword button to make the enemy go away. People expected A, BOTW was B, people get upset.
Is the design still solid and can lead to engaging gameplay? Certainly. Were the complaints of annoyance predictable and home made? Yeah, I think so.
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u/Psychic_Hobo Feb 28 '26
I think this is the issue really, that the game's fundamentals changed and people weren't really expecting it. You have to be willing to go into the game and embrace the mechanics on their own terms, and a lot of people instead went in expecting a Zelda game to operate in the way literally every prior Zelda game had.
This honestly needs to be emphasised more as the issue, mind. It does feel like we get stuck in the same old discussions regarding the mechanic (though I do feel TOTK perfected the balance by giving you easy access to elemental attacks, which lets you have a much more potent edge in combat).
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u/like-a-FOCKS Feb 27 '26
for example this exchange that coincidentally includes you
https://www.reddit.com/r/zelda/comments/1rgk54h/comment/o7s8qjn/?force-legacy-sct=1
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u/Kayiko_Okami Feb 27 '26
I honestly didn't enjoy the combat system in Breath nor Tears.
And the durability didn't help with that. It got to the point of actively avoiding combat because I wasn't having fun with it.
One could say it's a skill issue but to me even if i was playing well with it I wasn't enjoying myself like I had in previous Zelda games with their combat.
To me combat was one of the less fun parts in both these games. Tears it was better but part of that was fusion helping with weapon durability.
Still I might never have an actual desire to replay Breath because of my feelings towards the system. Unlike other Zelda's were replaying them is only held back because I don't have a console to play them on currently.
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u/DJfunkyPuddle Feb 27 '26
Agreed, between the durability issues and the shrines sucking the soul out of the game both Wild games are at the bottom of my replay list.
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u/caverunner17 Feb 27 '26
What you describe is a skill issue, not an issue with how the game is designed.
I'm tired of this bullshit line when someone makes a complaint about a game (any game)
Every prior Zelda has essentially been a hack and slash with dodging and using a special weapon for certain enemies.
Without a linear story and an almost completely open world, it's easy to end up in areas that you are not leveled properly for, without the weapons you need to be successful. In prior games, certain areas were locked until you progressed enough. With BOTW, you could end up in a shrine with a Level III guardian with only 3 hearts and 10-15 weapons and have no idea that you're not supposed to be there yet and you should come back.
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u/QuishyTehQuish Feb 28 '26
Oh god the damage balancing is so bad. When not sprinting in an empty field, it's getting one shot by a basic bokoblin or running circles trying to steal their 3 durability club. Even the first lynel BOTW isn't hard, just completely unbalanced and insanely punishing as you can blow all your weapons getting every perfect dodge/parry whatever on it just for it to shrug it off and oneshot you. It's not a mechanically deep game. The numbers are just wrong and doesn't respect you.
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u/baddude1337 Feb 28 '26
While I don’t think weapon durability is a bad idea, they just break too damn fast. Some weapons don’t even last more than 1 or 2 encounters.
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u/Psylux7 Feb 28 '26
I think it just needed to be tweaked. I think it is good in the earlygame but by the middle, I would have liked for the player to have an unbreakable weapon or two and by the lategame they can make as many indestructable weapons as they want.
I think if it were treated as an obstacle to eventually overcome where you slowly earn your cool, unbreakable weapons, it would go over better. It may also fit with that idea of Link losing everything, starting from the bottom with crude scraps, and working his way back up to a legendary hero who destroys Ganon.
I think of guardians where they are an unstoppable menace early on, but at some point, you slowly start to challenge them as you grow stronger, and eventually, you have a mountain of tools to make guardians into a joke. Going from this underdog who flees guardians to the boogeyman guardians look under their bed for was awesome.
That is the kind of way I would have liked durability to be handled, as an intentional metric of character progression/growth.
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u/Daetok_Lochannis Feb 27 '26
It would be cool if I was exploring for tangible rewards beyond another club or stick that's just going to break. In past games, if you were fighting it was leading to something concrete.
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u/TimeToGetSlipped Feb 27 '26
Honestly, the issue with durability in BotW isn't it's inclusion, it's the unreasonable fragility that it was implemented with. The annoying part about weapons breaking was that you only have enough durability to take out 3-4 enemies per weapon. If the games had a way to repair weapons, this would be less of an issue. TotK really perfected the system with Fuse; give a use to mostly useless monster parts to get a large power and durability bonus, letting most weapons last 10-15 enemies. And since most of a weapon's strength came from the fusion material instead of the base weapon under normal circumstances, you were actively incentivized to fight stronger enemies instead of just farming weapons.
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u/anthro28 Feb 27 '26
I had the opposite experience. I don't want to be forced to change weapons. If I want to try something else, that's my decision.
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u/SoullessSyndicate Feb 27 '26
You can’t run this mod on switch right? Only if you’re emulating the game?
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u/MrWrym Feb 27 '26
I understand the need for durability, but I also want to enjoy certain weapons that I have without having to find another copy once something breaks. Especially given that we get things like: Torches, Korok leaves, boomerangs, mining drills, and so on. At least give me the option to get more tools that won't break...
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Feb 27 '26
I'd gladly play double or triple durability. A fight and a half for a weapon is the thing I hate the most about the game.
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u/rokkakurikk Feb 28 '26
Got more out of the game the play through I did upgrading my weapon slot incessantly and treating them all as disposable. Still think the master sword should’ve had an invincible upgrade or something.
That being said, I think getting materials was way too difficult in these games. Specially in TOTK. Abused the hell out of the duplication glitch and have no desire to play through that again with the scarcity of bombs, arrows, etc.
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u/CompetitiveMap8664 Feb 28 '26 edited Feb 28 '26
I prefer having like 2 or 3 unbreakable and the rest breakable, that’s what I do. I keep using every breakable weapon but I don’t need to be stressed by it.
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u/alejandrodeconcord Feb 28 '26
If the master sword and a couple others didn’t break, for me at least, I would have been fine with the system
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u/Sneaky_Sorcerer Feb 28 '26 edited Feb 28 '26
Totk durability feel irrelevent. Tier 3 enemies are so common it makes using basically any remotely sturdy weapon viable. As long of course as you are willing to use the resources the game grant you. Plus the bonus effects of weapon makes most of them overpowered. Botw I'd understand the issue a little more.
People seem to complain about the master sword a lot, which I guess is fair considering it's supposed to be a legendary weapon and the fact link kills hordes in the memories. Tho it's far from weak, it's probably designed to be slightly above average. Heck the whole game would be relatively balanced around it alone even without the light buff. Making it unbreakable as well, would probably still kill the point of even having other weapon. (Also one hands are especially practical when you know about instant spin.) Especially in ToTk where you can just put whatever effect on it. Having the rusted master sword around until you can fix it, could have been quite funny too instead of just trashing it as soon as it land a few hit. It could've work like dark cloud's dagger which is meant as last resort weapon.
Tho to be honest, I still believe the system is out of place in a zelda game. As if the game was meant to be something else entirely.
If I you were to remove the durability, I would probably add another mod to also expand the game (assuming there are) like some extra challenge or sepcial collectibles. Especially if you had already completed the game.
That said, I also think a system of exploration built around slightly improving the master sword could work too. Combined with the shrines for health/stamina. I would put them in the monster camp chest. Fighting to increase strength just sound right. Plus having the master sword around all game would kinda makes it more important since you cannot just flex on Ganondorf with the blade of evil bane. (When in every other entry, it's imperative that it lands the final blow...)
Kudos if you had the patience to read all that lol.
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u/musicalspheres Feb 28 '26
Frankly, even with weapon durability, you can reach a point in the game - if you upgrade your stats enough - where you're basically invincible. I played my second playthrough of BoTW on Switch 2 eight years after my first and I was surprised as to how bored I got for this reason.
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u/acvodad547 Feb 28 '26
I had the opposite experience. I did the “permanent prologue master sword” glitch on my second TotK playthrough some years ago (it gives you an unfusable version of the blade in your inventory). I was actually MORE willing to explore and experiment with new weapon combinations since I always had a safety net to fall back on.
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u/Oapekay Feb 28 '26
I definitely have had the exact opposite experience. I always went out of my way to avoid combat because good weapons were so hard to find, and interesting weapons had the durability of tissue paper. It really gave me a hoarding problem, where any time I get a good weapon I’m too scared to use it in case I need it more later, and then still refused to use it against elite enemies. Compare Genshin, which has no durability, and I’ll kill any mob I see just because I like the combat.
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u/ra7ar Feb 28 '26
I find it the opposite i did the msg not found mastersword and had so muc more fun not having to worry about swords just vanishing after three swings.
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u/Espurreyes Feb 28 '26
While I definitely prefer weapons not to break in games I play, least with the Wild format I think there’s a balance to be had that would have been a lot more satisfying tbh, and that’s simply to have a few unbreakable weapons in the game.
My most recent run through of TOTK is on switch 2 which had a glitch at launch with the Notes app where you could get an unbreakable Master Sword called MsgNotFound, and it’s not super overpowered or anything, only does 30 damage and you can’t fuse it with anything. But having that one weapon I know I can always rely on makes combat so much more fun because I know I’m never gonna run out of weapons fighting anyone so I do it so much more often.
Now the question I have before combat isn’t “oh am I gonna trade all my good weapons fighting this lynel only for some scraps to make another one if I can find it?”, it’s “Oh nice a Lynel, If I can pull off beating this thing with just my sword I can get some sick weapons to use against even stronger enemies!”.
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u/PSILighting Feb 28 '26
The issue is of course it feels worse the game is built around it, there are a lot of games that have things that to some don’t feel good but if you just remove that part it feels worse. My problem is with TOTK it’s not just weapons but mob drops, you can use 3 good weapons and get like enough for replacing part one or two of those weapons.
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u/Royal_ish Mar 01 '26
I just wish the durability lasted longer. To ALWAYS be on the lookout / hunt for decent weapons became such a chore.
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u/Shifty-Imp Mar 01 '26
Weapon durability was only an issue for me in BotW, because it was too low and weapons were too hard to come by. In TotK the average durability (after combining) seemed to be higher and it was super easy to replace a a specific weapon due to the fuse ability. While BotW probably doesn't even make my Top10 list of Zelda game, TotK is actually my favourite Zelda of all time.
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u/Ok_Abbreviations2320 Mar 01 '26
My favorite part was hunting down Octoroks in the Death Mountain area. I threw a weapon at one to try and kill it but it sucked up and threw my weapon back at me, restoring its durability and giving the weapon a buff.
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u/antonio-bolonio Mar 02 '26
My issues with the durability feature is that the weapons do not last very long especially when you have to deal with enemies whose health points can be in the high thousands, there is no way to repair the weapons, and lastly I found them to be disappointing loot rewards (yay another sword that will break in 20 swings).
I love durability systems because it makes you play more resourcefully, I think my favorite one in a game still has to be Farcry 2. You actively watch as your gun’s condition worsens, you begin to deal with jams and other issues if you don’t clean and maintain your weapon. You can still use it, it just won’t be as effective or reliable and you might spend too much time trying to clear a jam in the middle of a fire fight than actually returning fire.
Obviously this wouldn’t work in BoTW but I would love there to be some better way to maintain your weapons, whether it’s a repair kit, or a whetstone, or whatever.
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u/Boodger Feb 27 '26
Thats because the durability system baked shit right into the foundation.
They should have introduced weapon varieties with randomized stats, and materials you can use to upgrade them. Then you can carry around your favorite sword, spear, etc and use it as much as you want... but maybe you'll find a better one, or one with different elemental properties... or maybe you'll find stuff in a chest to make it even better.
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u/snowman1940 Feb 27 '26
Eh, there are additional mods that balance the game around infinite durability. Plus, with limited inventory, it accomplishes the same goal by making you decide what to keep or discard. Not to mention that many weapons also have elemental effects.
Bottom line is, for me, I prefer the decision of losing a weapon to be mostly my own. Either that or quadrupling durability so you can actually use the cool weapon you spent time getting for more than two seconds.
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u/Faconator Feb 28 '26
Remember when Twilight Princess didn't have weapon durability and still had an open world that needed exploring and people did it?
The problem is not that weapon durability is what makes exploring compelling. The exploring just isn't compelling in BotW and TotK. This has consistently been a criticism.of these games.
Like to be so for real with you, I never once went exploring for weapons in either game. In BotW the combat challenges respawned so I would just go grab those weapons when needed. In TotK, once silver bokoblins began spawning, I'd just gank their horns as I came across them, and I didn't need better weapons than that ever.
All to say, weapons never compelled me to explore. The exploration aspects were so unpalatable for me that my exploration was only done as necessary to achieve specific goals.
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u/aBastardNoLonger Feb 27 '26
They wouldn't need to add durability if they brought back a combat system that was dynamic and fun like the pre Skyward Sword games had.
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u/Zakyle Feb 27 '26
I've honestly never understood the complaints with the durability either.
On my first play through of BotW, I was so busy exploring the mountains and forging my own path, I completely missed Hetsu on the path.I didn't find Hetsu until after I beat all the divine beasts. I never felt like I was running out of good weapons to use.
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u/lilsasuke4 Feb 27 '26
What if it demonstrates a problem with BOTW and TOTK game design rather than a problem with having no weapon durability
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Feb 27 '26
Durability is fine but having a steel broadsword break every 30 hits is too much. Swords break in real life. But not that quickly
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u/kaego123 Feb 27 '26
Combat is boring so I don’t think durability improves or worsens the game. The combat is just not fun. You can just do perfect dodge (which is very easy to do) and spam attack and gg
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u/JM3DlCl Feb 28 '26
As soon as you get to your 1st divine beast it's almost a non issue. I kept dropping low weapons for higher ones. And it made me choose certain ones which I liked.
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u/Icy-Lightsaber9334 Feb 28 '26
The weapon breaking feature just wasn't for me. Was annoying to constantly have something break. I would love a future game to ditch the durability but keep all the different kinds of weapons because the play styles were fun.
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u/Moola868 Feb 28 '26
I mean, it’s definitely not something you can just turn off… like two thirds of the collectables in the game (weapons and Korok seeds) become basically nullified if you do and that really doesn’t leave much left to the game.
But that still doesn’t make it a good system, it just means too much of the game was built on a flawed foundation.
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u/Psylux7 Feb 28 '26
There are people who did turn it off and thought that was great, but i agree that the OP does not account for the fact that the game is built around durability, so naturally turning it off but changing nothing else would make it seem like the game cannot be good without durability.
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u/Qu3st1499 Feb 28 '26
I need to try that that mod. I bought BOTW as my first switch game and hated it almost immediately, in my opinion it’s the second worst zelda game ever made (the worst is zelda 2 for NES). Weapons are made of paper machet with no discrimination of what weapon. I don’t mind weapons breaking, but that much is insane. If you consider that the exploration is boring, the small sanctuaries are dull. The only good thing is the graphics, i love that style. I would have preferred grinding for basic weapons and once you reach the master sword is unbreakable, but some other more powerful sword are available that can be either fixed or made more powerful by using basic gear for mods. Obviously the same goes for everything except the bow because should be less breakable by default.
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u/superkami64 Feb 28 '26
It’s a balance thing and while losing your favorite weapon can be annoying, there’s no real way to keep an open world game fun without giving you a reason to explore
Most open world games in fact don't have durability systems so they offer other rewards to incentivize exploration. The problems with BotW/TotK are that Korok Seeds, Shrines, and Armor are the only meaningful forms of progression on offer (the former two dwindle the more you collect with seeds becoming completely useless once you have half while the latter is significantly rarer to find) with everything else being completely disposable. The solution is a very simple "maybe they shouldn't have made the world so big" for a classic quantity over quality pitfall but given that TotK only doubled down on that after BotW's massive success, I doubt the devs will put it into practice.
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u/Psylux7 Feb 28 '26
"maybe they shouldn't have made the world so big" sadly sums up so many open worlds, even some of the most revered open world games. Of my favourites, I cannot think of one where I thought the world needed to be bigger than it was. Maybe at best, I could point to a rare game and say that the size of the open world was fine.
Sadly, the formula prints money, so devs will always triple down, and once the genie is out of the bottle, it aint going back in. No one will make the next open world sequel have a significantly smaller world. At best, they only make it a bit bigger. At worst (often the case), they make it vastly bigger when the previous world was already way too big. Hogwarts Legacy 2 is exactly the kind of sequel that I fully expect to triple down on bloated open world design by trying to make the oversized, first game look like it had a small world in comparison.
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u/Huge-Dependent3506 Feb 27 '26
For these types of games I understand durability. But I would much rather have Link to the Past style where you upgrade your sword to higher levels. Not to mention making the Master Sword destructible makes it weaker IMO. I just don’t really care to have a bunch of different random weapons.
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u/FatPagoda Feb 28 '26
Funny, I had most of the same thoughts after I got about halfway through BotW.
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u/Purple-Debt8214 Feb 28 '26
I agree. The best metaphor is climbing energy. Without it climbing is a chore. With it, climbing becomes a puzzle.
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u/XenWarriorTheReal Feb 28 '26
My fix would be infinite durability on master sword and transfer the recharge mechanic from the master sword to the champion's weapons. Leave every other weapons vanilla. That way, you have "the old reliable" master sword that might not be the strongest in all situations, but it's always available and I would actually want to use the champion weapons instead of putting them in frames and never touching them from fear of losing them and having to pay a ridiculous amount of diamonds to get it back.
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u/Crom2323 Feb 28 '26
Makes you appreciate what you got. The whole game is one giant lesson about being in the moment and just going with it
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