Weapon Durability: The Good, The Bad, The Breath of the Wild

you get a cool weapon in zelda and 10 seconds later it breaks it sucks right well what if i told you that this can actually be good game design because in my opinion durability systems meaning systems and games where your tools and weapons will break after a certain number of uses make the most sense when they enhance the game design's direction in most video games you get a weapon it's yours forever until you the player decides when to replace it but in some recent games the game decides when the weapon is gone which might not sound nice but in some games it actually makes sense but another is not so much let's look at three examples first off animal crossing new horizons for those not familiar animal crossing is a life simulation game where you live in a village and do village [ __ ] decorate your house go to museum pull some weeds go fishing climb a ladder pull some weeds catch a couple bugs shake some trees pull some weeds get stung by bees dig some holes pull some weeds have a fashion show don't find the villager you want pull some weeds for some of your village tasks you use tools like a shovel or fishing rod to do them earlier in the series the only tool that would break would be your axe this was done to make it more difficult for someone to visit someone else's village and chop down all the trees since after enough chops the axe would break however a new horizon is the most recent entry in the series all of your tools will break the premise of new horizons is that you start out on a deserted island and you need to gather resources rather horde resources to make stuff and develop it into an actual town you'll start out only able to make flimsy tools that break after a handful of uses but pretty soon you'll learn how to craft stronger tools that will also break just slower there is the highest echelon of tools the golden tools that are very difficult to earn the crafting recipe for some of them like the golden net or golden fishing rod you need to get every fish or bug so if you don't time travel it'll take a full real life year to get them and then you'll finally have tools that don't break just kidding the golden tools will still break too while i don't think that video games necessarily need to adhere to real world logic why are some of these tools breaking i've done a lot of digging literally and i've never had a shovel break on me my fish friends have never had the rod break not that i've done too much bug catching outside of pokemon but i have actually had some fishnet stockings ripped when i'm too hasty if you know what i mean am i right fellas and what the hell type of corrosive water are you using to water these flowers that causes a metal watering can to break is it acid rain is this game making a statement on the increased pollution in our ecosystem i think the reason the tools break is to get the player into a gameplay loop based around crafting the tool breaks so you gotta do more crafting to make a new one the game wants you to craft so let's get crafting you craft a tool you do your little task with it the tool breaks you gather resources to craft and repeat however that gameplay loop is based around inconveniencing the player and gathering resources from the near infinite supply in your box isn't that engaging you can restore tool's durability to maximum by customizing its color but i feel like that's more of an exploit than an intended feature there also isn't any sort of indicator of your tools remaining durability so you just have to guess the only reason i can think of justifying it is that you don't just do one thing and the game keeps giving you things to do having unexpected events happen like this prevents you from getting caught up in a single routine and getting bored rather than just fishing you gotta take breaks from fishing to get more rods and maybe on the way there you'll get distracted and explore some of the game's other attractions that being said animal crossing is intended to be a relaxing game a lot of players just want to fish if i want to lay on my dog hair covered couch and fish all day like the huge animal crossing fan that i definitely am i can't do that first i gotta make a bunch of fishing rods one at a time and then craft a bunch of bait one at a time this doesn't feel like a system that benefits the player's experience it feels like a system that's designed to make activities take as long as possible like a lot of things in animal crossing i don't think this system suits the game's direction very well nor does it enhance the game at all how would i improve it well besides just outright getting rid of it i would instead either increase the durability of the normal level of tools or add another level of tools between normal and golden like reinforced tools that break say after every 10 days of regular usage i would add some type of indicator to let the player know when a tool is lower on durability i would add the ability to craft multiple of the same item at once if you have the resources i would add the ability to craft using the material straight from your box rather than having to add it to your inventory first i would add in a repair function that costs fewer resources and i would add some sort of incentive regarding number of tools broken besides a nook miles ticket achievement but as it stands now i give animal crossing new horizons durability system an out of 10. so that was an example of a durability system done not so well let's look at one done really well fire emblem my personal favorite game series and the notoriously unrepresented series in smash bros oh i did it i'm the thousandth person to make the same dumbass joke about fire emblem characters and smash brothers i won for those unfamiliar fire emblem is a turn-based strategy role-playing series where you build an army trust nobody and fight in tactical fantasy battles and between battles you make preparations for the next battle and the units you control flirt with each other sometimes get married even have kids it's basically thirsty chess across the series they've used different durability systems in each entry and a few of them didn't have one at all for the purposes of this video we'll look at the one used in fire emblem 3 houses the most recent game in the series because a i think it has the best durability system of all the games in the series b it sold the best and see it's the easiest game for me to get footage of each time a unit does an attack that uses up some of the weapons durability weaker weapons generally have more uses and stronger weapons have fewer uses so as a strategy game the player has to make interesting decisions in terms of when to use each weapon maybe you use some of the weaker and more common weapons on weaker enemies and use your stronger but less durable weapons on the stronger guys there are other variables that the player needs to balance too with weapon choices such as accuracy and critical hit percentage we're just focusing on durability here in three houses there are also combat arts basically special attacks you can do that will cost more durability than a regular attack so maybe you want to use some of the weaker weapons with more uses to activate the special abilities of the special moves or maybe against a strong enemy you want to go all out with a strong attack and strong weapon it's the player's decision if a weapon breaks you can repair it for the cost of both money and resources you've collected from previous battles or get rid of it and buy a new one entirely but you can only do so between battles not during and you won't be able to afford to repair and replace all your weapons all the time so you have to manage durability both during battles and between battles having a repair system between battles also makes it so that there's less hesitation to use your powerful weapons in previous fire emblem games many players wouldn't use their ultimate super powerful weapons very often since there was only one in the game and you lose it forever after it breaks now in three houses you can use your really good weapons and repair it after battle but you can't solo the entire map with only the super weapons since they'll break pretty easily this type of system enhances the game due to a genre fire emblem is a strategy game most of the time and strategy games are all about resource management be it your units themselves or their items so it makes sense that the player would have to manage these types of resources more resources to manage and more variables to consider means the player has to make more decisions in the game all about making decisions it's a thinking game you gotta think about it so i give fire emblem three houses as durability system uh out of three now for the one you're all here for legend of zelda breath of the wild are we playing frisbee golf because get ready for some discourse for those unfamiliar the legend of zelda breath the wild is an adventure game where right at the start you wake up from a hundred year coma half naked like you were just summoned in a gotcha game and you run around the world completing puzzles to increase your health and stamina collecting weapons and items and eating a [ __ ] ton of apples all to increase your chance of success in creating a sweet new motorcycle i mean your chance of success in defeating the final boss the way the story goes the last time you fought his forces you got caught off guard and it uh didn't go so well for you hence the coma so this time you really want to take your time and prepare and before anyone comments yes it is entirely possible to just run straight for the final boss after finishing the tutorial and beat the game in like half an hour however that is something only accomplished by expert players who have played the game before not first timers with the exception of optional weapons like the giant's knife from ocarina of time and razor sword and majora's mask weapons in the zelda series typically didn't break that being said limited use items are nothing new to the series you run out of arrows or bombs you'd have to go get more but in breath of the wild all the weapons you find will break so instead of having to reload your arrows and this one sometimes you also need to find a whole new bow the weapon durability in this game is divisive for a good amount of players the new breakable weapon system soured an otherwise fun experience and for some players ruined the game for them entirely while it may be tempting to tell some of those players could being a baby and get over it stupid ass i understand where they're coming from usually in zelda games you get one sword and one bow and that's it until the game decides you got a better one the weapons in breath of the wild break fast and one combat encounter against a group of enemies or against one powerful enemy you may have multiple weapons break in only a few minutes it can be frustrating to do a shrine or find a chest with a cool flame sword only for the cool flame sword to break a few minutes later it never really bothered me though for a couple reasons partially because i was used to great weapons breaking an old school fire emblem you got the super powerful dragon slaying fire shooting ultimate blade of legend 20 uses that's gone forever pay up not a big deal never get attached am i right fellas why don't you love me man but another reason is because in breath of wild there's never any threat of running out of weapons the game is constantly throwing new weapons at you to use sure my sword just broke but there's always a different new one right around the corner i found myself having to leave weapons behind because the game would give me so many not running out of them speaking of the combat and breath the wild at its base it's not super complicated actions are designed to be simple to execute which leaves a lot of room for mixing options and experimenting and placing limitations on the player such as limited use weapons forces them to have to think on their feet it keeps them engaged and prevents enemy encounters from becoming stale like when i'm running dungeons and dragons games yeah i use amiibos as miniatures what about it when my players are presented with a challenge and they're coming up with a strategy it'd be pretty lame for me to go yes everything went all according to your plan and you win d and d let's have a pizza party no you gotta throw a wrench in their plan have them adapt to a continuously evolving situation with new circumstances so back to zelda if i'm planning how to attack an enemy camp and then midway through the encounter my weapons start breaking i'm gonna have to think of new options and reassess my strategy but mr spaceman i hear some of you ask why isn't there a way to repair my weapons you collect all sorts of orange stuff why can't i use that to fix some of my damaged or broken weapons like in other games this may sound like an obvious inclusion but i feel like it would kind of ruin the pacing of combat if your weapon was about to break you just pause the game every 30 seconds and fix it yourself what would even be the point of having them break at all and sure you can already pause the game to eat and heal if you take damage but that's something the player chooses to do versus weapon repairing would be a consistent interval event that the player would feel compelled and annoyed to do but what if you couldn't repair during combat but there were blacksmiths in the world you could take your weapons to and get it fixed well breath of the wild is an exploration heavy game so if you want the player to continuously explore you wouldn't want to incentivize them to fast travel back to a town after every enemy encounter and go pay thor and mcborin to fix your weapons the core gameplay loop of breath of the wild is one based around exploration you explore a new area fight a thing and take its weapon when you beat it adding in a repair feature would create an even greater excess of weapons than the game already has and would undermine the gameplay loop that's built around exploration besides if the weapons didn't break or if you could fix them how many players would just use one type of weapon probably the sword and shield the whole game and never switch it up a lot a lot is the answer but instead maybe i'm going to use an x and i'll use a triple shot bow then maybe i'll use some runes and bombs i'm much more likely to use the entire range of my arsenal and breath of the wild than in previous zelda games because the game makes me all of the weapon types have different attacks and different properties such as axes being better chopping down trees metal weapons and conducting electricity and blunt weapons being good at mining for ore there's so much weapon variety in this game so having weapons break and forcing the player to use something else saves them from getting stuck in too much of a routine the whole point of the game is to get as jacked as possible for the final boss fight but also have the freedom to tackle that boss fight whenever you want if the average player could get one good sword and one good bow and attempt to fight whenever you wanted that would defeat the purpose of the entire adventure the only craftable weapons in the game are the rare champion replica weapons that honestly aren't nearly as good as weapons you find out in the open and ancient weapons which required the player to defeat multiple guardians to be able to make one which are some of the most powerful enemies in the game and the weapons don't last very long either so as much fun as the chainsaw is you can't exactly solo the final boss with it having weapons that break also provides greater mechanical incentive for the player to collect the master sword or weapon with store importance in many zelda games since that's the only weapon in this one that won't break it's not super powerful and it'll still run out of energy after enough swings and will have to recharge by you not using it for 10 minutes so it's not completely undermined the collection of other weapons in the game i definitely don't think that this game's durability system is perfect for one a more comprehensive indicator of weapons remain durability would be a huge benefit instead of hey by the way it's about to break every time you equip it maybe like a meter also i think some of the durability numbers could be tweaked a little bit to make them last a little bit longer the ability to fuse weapons together to make a more powerful one like in age of calamity the breath of wild prequel spin-off could also work that way the player would be leaving fewer weapons behind on the ground it would probably work best if you could only fuse duplicate weapons together inclusion of a few other unlockable recharging weapons could work like the weapons of the other champions as long as the criteria for unlocking them is substantial but if you did all four of them then you'd have five total recharging weapons that you could alternate between so never mind i don't think that'll really work incentivizing the player to break weapons is also a good idea after all if you want the player to do something or at least not feel bad about it then reward them for doing it in this video by rasputin he mentioned collecting some type of resource every time you break a weapon and that could be used in some other part of the game but anyways that's my take on all of this for these reasons weapon durability in breath of wild ain't that bad if you still hate breakable weapons and zelda well it'll probably be back in breath wild sequel so the only thing i can really say to you is quit being a baby and get over it stupid ass thanks for watching and don't forget to throw your sword and shatter that subscribe button for more videos on who knows what at this point comment below on what your opinion on durability systems in these games and other games i didn't talk about and that's it video is over

Channel: Captain Astronaut

Views: 68,654

Keywords: Weapon Durability, Breakable Weapons, The Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild, Animal Crossing, New Horizons, Fire Emblem, Three Houses, Mr. Spaceman, Fish, Bug, Shovel, Golden Tools, Golden Axe, Byleth, Sword of the Creator, Master Sword, Game Design, Arsenal, Watering Can, Quit Being a Baby, Axe, Bow, Guardians, Dimitri, Lance, Combat Arts, Blacksmith, Repair, Crafting, Why Weapon Durability is Good, Discourse, Don't Get Attached, Am I Right Fellas, Frisbee Golf, Fishing, Couch, Strategy

Id: 3-a7TanyA2M

Length: 15min 49sec (949 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 17 2021