Would BOTW be worse with unbreakable weapons?
- Thread starter exodus
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I know, that's why I said comically breakable. They went so far.
No durability. The way Genshin handles weapons basically tackles the weapon complaints I had with BOTW, as follows:
- No weapon degredation. You also have a huge item inventory to start with so you don't need to worry about running out of space (i didn't have an issue with inventory in BOTW, but I felt it was important to mention).
- Finding duplicate weapons isn't useless. If you find (making up a name here) "Cool Sword X" with an ability that deals say, 20% more damage to goblins, and then later on you find the same sword, you can fuse the two together to increase the power of the ability that the weapon has. You can also use any extra weapons, Cool Sword X or otherwise, to power up any other equipment you find to raise it's overall level.
I highly highly HIGHLY doubt that BOTW2 will adopt those systems, but those alone make me love playing GI far more than when I played BOTW.
It'd be a hell of a lot better.
Make them unbreakable, and then play about more with values like damage numbers, swing speed, stagger effects and weapon length on different weapons to make them worth experimenting with and searching for.
All the current system does is encourage waiting about for the recharging sword so you don't have to break anything unnecessarily.
Make them unbreakable, and then play about more with values like damage numbers, swing speed, stagger effects and weapon length on different weapons to make them worth experimenting with and searching for.
All the current system does is encourage waiting about for the recharging sword so you don't have to break anything unnecessarily.
Weapons should be treated more like ammo:
Automatic swap once one is spent, automatic sorting when grabbing a strictly better one, different "functionality" weapons using separate slot funnels, small inventory but more drops.
Automatic swap once one is spent, automatic sorting when grabbing a strictly better one, different "functionality" weapons using separate slot funnels, small inventory but more drops.
For example: all "spears" share one inventory. You select spears, you use spears until you're out of spears, grabbing a spear adds it to the spears stack.
You swap to short swords, you have your swords, either ordered by durability, power, or low power. Etc.
Some tweaking will be needed for unique weapons like elemental swords and functionality weapons that could share a separate inventory that works like the current one.
Sounds like a great way to fuck up the game
Part of what makes BotW armed combat so satisfying is the loop of getting into a fight, get your weapon to the brink of breaking, throw it for maximum damage, select new weapon, adjust to the changes (different weapon type, elemental properties, etc...) on the fly, repeat. Then, after the battle, search for new weapons and curate if necessary.
Get rid of that and you're left with weapon power creep ans the lack of need to adjust amd strategize.
Part of what makes BotW armed combat so satisfying is the loop of getting into a fight, get your weapon to the brink of breaking, throw it for maximum damage, select new weapon, adjust to the changes (different weapon type, elemental properties, etc...) on the fly, repeat. Then, after the battle, search for new weapons and curate if necessary.
Get rid of that and you're left with weapon power creep ans the lack of need to adjust amd strategize.
Yes, because several of the systems in the game make use of it. It's definitively one of the few games where I've pretty much made use of every weapon in the game.
Other than forcing the user to look for and manage weapons / tools, such as picking the right weapon type / property for the job, I like how it made me come up with alternative ways to approach or even circumvent combat.
If anything, the system could be improved by iterating more on the UI and other various UX design.
Other than forcing the user to look for and manage weapons / tools, such as picking the right weapon type / property for the job, I like how it made me come up with alternative ways to approach or even circumvent combat.
If anything, the system could be improved by iterating more on the UI and other various UX design.
I think the best part about the weapon system in botw was that weapon degradation made weapon throwing a very real and dynamic option. You wouldnt throw away a one of a kind axe, now would you? By taking away that emotional attachment to the weapon, you are actually giving players more options on how to use said weapon not only for battle, but potentially as a tool as well. Since the player is no longer afraid of losing a lv100 sword.
Throwing it and watching it break on someone's head is satisfying and kinda gives you a john wick/improv feeling. Oh, and it also gives big damage.
That's just my opinion tho.
Throwing it and watching it break on someone's head is satisfying and kinda gives you a john wick/improv feeling. Oh, and it also gives big damage.
That's just my opinion tho.
I'd rather they tweak the existing durability values rather than disposing them altogether. Such decision will requires reworking all systems in the game to preserve a coherent gameplay loop. The main impacts:
- No need to fight mobs to pick up weapons
- Reduced need to explore since you no longer want to fight monster camps
So they will need to add something to fill these 2 gaps. For now I have no idea what would be the best to fill in though.
- No need to fight mobs to pick up weapons
- Reduced need to explore since you no longer want to fight monster camps
So they will need to add something to fill these 2 gaps. For now I have no idea what would be the best to fill in though.
On the other hand, would people really complain if they went for a more classic gameplay loop and ditched breakable weapons? I bet it would still get hundreds of GOTY noms.
Breakable weapons always, no exceptions, suck. So it would have been better without breakable weapons.
I'm not sure if it would be better or worse, but it'd definitely be different. I have to say I did enjoy breakable weapons because it added an extra layer of having to care about which weapons you use and when. It made collecting strong weapons matter and I feel like that would be lost if they never broke.
Although, to be fair, I wouldn't be opposed to weapons only partially breaking and becoming useless until you repair them instead of losing them completely. I think that would work too.
Although, to be fair, I wouldn't be opposed to weapons only partially breaking and becoming useless until you repair them instead of losing them completely. I think that would work too.
Yep, it's also a good crowd control resource: slower than a bow, but stronger and with a wider hitbox. You don't even need the weapon to be about to break.
In my opinion, the BotW weapon system is beautifully designedand one of the strongest parts of the game.
It just need to have some weapon dealers here scattered through the world
What is your solution to prevent the player being supremely overpowered for the majority of the game by completely coincidentally stumbling across a powerful endgame weapon?
That's the question you need to answer to remove weapon durability.
I think it's an ok system that could be improved with a few minor tweaks that have already been stated here;
- Increase base durability by 2x or 3x
- Have a repair system for those weapons that people want to keep
- increase enemy variety to broaden the effect of weapons
One of the key issues I find with combat is the constant switching in mini menus pauses the flow of play. I get that it's tricky not to use the menus (especially if flicking between sheikah slate functions) but increasing durability may help with this.
- Increase base durability by 2x or 3x
- Have a repair system for those weapons that people want to keep
- increase enemy variety to broaden the effect of weapons
One of the key issues I find with combat is the constant switching in mini menus pauses the flow of play. I get that it's tricky not to use the menus (especially if flicking between sheikah slate functions) but increasing durability may help with this.
I guess you still would, but the different types, rather than duplicate weapons. It's such a long game that another one could value from having some streamlining options, like autoeqipping duplicates before they shatter.
But they're also numerous enough that the end result is close to the same. You're never going to have to go without a weapon, just are forced to stick to certain ones at some points
Sounds like inventory hell to me.
I would actually complain. I have a few (just a few) issues with BotW. Weapon durability is integral to the game design and getting rid of it while keeping the gameplay loop would be detrimental
Yeah, that's a good point, I hadn't thought of that. I still think breakable weapons are the best choice given how the game is designed, anyway.
I mean, it can work, but you'd basically end with another inventory section that would, eventually, end up full of broken weapons you never repair.
I would make a compromise, having that for special weapons only (champions, royal, sheikah, guardian...) and leaving the rest as completely expendable.
Of course, throwing a weapon would make it irreparable, be it special or not
Why not both? Have breakable weapons you find randomly as you play and upgradable weapons in special quests / dungeons
Make the weapons upgradeable, have enemies drop crafting resources to make them better so you have to fight to upgrade your weapons to take on more powerful enemies.
Hyrule is littered with weapons, and most of the special ones respawn after a while or can be reforged like the zora spear. Inventory space was more of a problem for me because I couldn't choose which weapons to leave behind at times.
When I happened to find myself without a weapon, time to be creative with the tablet powers , or steal enemy weapons and improvise.
I used stealth and bombs frequently to decimate enemy camps and the "infiltration" gave me some warm metal gear feels.
Also throwing the weapons when it breaks had a bonus damage and was exciting when you timed it well.
The shrine weapons have a very long durability and it was an incentive to be searching for them, especially at the beginning, but at the end of the game my inventory was full of these blue Axes and Lances and I had to drop them eventually.
I didn't like Sekiro or bloodborne because the gameplay was too aggressive and fast compared to how I play the souls games.
Would these be better games with infinite health, so I'm less frustrated ? It's just not for me - I don't think the developper is at fault.
When I happened to find myself without a weapon, time to be creative with the tablet powers , or steal enemy weapons and improvise.
I used stealth and bombs frequently to decimate enemy camps and the "infiltration" gave me some warm metal gear feels.
Also throwing the weapons when it breaks had a bonus damage and was exciting when you timed it well.
The shrine weapons have a very long durability and it was an incentive to be searching for them, especially at the beginning, but at the end of the game my inventory was full of these blue Axes and Lances and I had to drop them eventually.
I didn't like Sekiro or bloodborne because the gameplay was too aggressive and fast compared to how I play the souls games.
Would these be better games with infinite health, so I'm less frustrated ? It's just not for me - I don't think the developper is at fault.
That sounds worse than what is in the game though? They explicitly wanted to avoid any sort of grinding for weapon or weapon materials. That also implies effectively a level system and areas blocked off by monsters you can't yet defeat because you didn't grind for weapons hard enough elsewhere, which was absolutely against everything BOTW aimed to be.
If i had the option i would use unbreakable weapons, it adds no skill requirement to the game just grind.
There wouldn't have to be areas blocked off by monsters you can't defeat plenty of open world games get around this by scaling enemies to your gear/level. Besides that was just an idea I thought of off the top of my head I'm sure a proper games designer would be able to come up with a much better solution to get rid of durability anyway.
Level scaling is also pretty badly regarded, so I'm not sure it would be good solution.