I just want to start out by saying that I get it if you don't like breakable weapons. I don't like breakable weapons either. If you think BOTW is a bad game because of breakable weapons, all the power to you. I just want you to understand that if weapons did not break in BOTW, we would all be complaining about something else.
First of all, please understand (heh), BOTW is beyond an open world game. Skyrim aint got shit on BOTW's open world. In Skyrim, if you go up against monsters that are too strong, it's over. You will get your ass kicked, and there is nothing you can do about it. This is because Skyrim is an RPG. It has skills and levels. Skyrim may call itself an open world, but that open world is not accessible all at once. It is partitioned into areas meant for different levels, and if you go into the wrong area, it will either be way too easy and offer pitiful rewards, or be impossible.
BOTW is not like that. You can go straight to a difficult area and thrive, and the game is built around this. Very soon in the game you are given your objectives, and you can choose to head off towards any boss you want, even Ganon. Unlike Skyrim, the game is meant to be playable and FUN regardless of which direction you go. It does this by changing the resources available to match the strength of the surrounding area. All you have to do is find a high level weapon in a high level area, and bam, you are on the same playing field as the area's monsters. Well, not quite. You still won't have many hearts, but that isn't a big deal, as nearby foods can boost those hearts beyond your current max.
So why not keep the game that way, but stop weapons from breaking? Remember what I said about going to an area too easy in Skyrim? If the developers did this, anybody who found a powerful weapon off the bat would ruin the rest of the game for themselves. Nothing would be a challenge. And so weapons have to break, and they have to break quick enough that stocking up on powerful weapons and then steamrolling through and easy section is not an option.
You might ask, why not just give me a single unbreakable weapon and then make every area the same difficulty. Wouldn't that be equivalent? Yes, but BOTW tries to keep just a bit of linearity to add a bit more meaning to the world. You know how in MMOs once you get the flying mount all the details in the game become pointless? BOTW wants to give players the option, and some incentive to stay on the intended path, while also letting more adventurous types go wherever they want. For this reason, the difficult areas are made initially intimidating to try to keep players on the path. You don't start with many hearts, and sometimes it can be hard to find that powerful weapon you need to break in to a difficult area. Some enemies, like guardians, are extremely difficult until you get the right equipment. It's kind of like how the horses in the game will follow the game's paths automatically. Link has the ability to climb any mountain, but it can look stupid, Link just going in a straight line through the map, past all the roads, characters, and towns the devs put effort into, so they had horses go on roads to incentivize going the intended route, while still letting the player go an unintended route if desired.
This is a long post, and I don't know if anyone will actually read it. I just don't want people to keep saying "Oh! why did they make weapons break! They should have not made weapons break." No, they shouldn't have. Maybe they should have made a different game altogether, but not having weapons break would make BOTW a lot dumber than it is. Some people may like having RPG elements to give character to an open world, but I personally hate RPGs, and I think the weapon breaking system BOTW uses, while annoying, is much more satisfying.
First of all, please understand (heh), BOTW is beyond an open world game. Skyrim aint got shit on BOTW's open world. In Skyrim, if you go up against monsters that are too strong, it's over. You will get your ass kicked, and there is nothing you can do about it. This is because Skyrim is an RPG. It has skills and levels. Skyrim may call itself an open world, but that open world is not accessible all at once. It is partitioned into areas meant for different levels, and if you go into the wrong area, it will either be way too easy and offer pitiful rewards, or be impossible.
BOTW is not like that. You can go straight to a difficult area and thrive, and the game is built around this. Very soon in the game you are given your objectives, and you can choose to head off towards any boss you want, even Ganon. Unlike Skyrim, the game is meant to be playable and FUN regardless of which direction you go. It does this by changing the resources available to match the strength of the surrounding area. All you have to do is find a high level weapon in a high level area, and bam, you are on the same playing field as the area's monsters. Well, not quite. You still won't have many hearts, but that isn't a big deal, as nearby foods can boost those hearts beyond your current max.
So why not keep the game that way, but stop weapons from breaking? Remember what I said about going to an area too easy in Skyrim? If the developers did this, anybody who found a powerful weapon off the bat would ruin the rest of the game for themselves. Nothing would be a challenge. And so weapons have to break, and they have to break quick enough that stocking up on powerful weapons and then steamrolling through and easy section is not an option.
You might ask, why not just give me a single unbreakable weapon and then make every area the same difficulty. Wouldn't that be equivalent? Yes, but BOTW tries to keep just a bit of linearity to add a bit more meaning to the world. You know how in MMOs once you get the flying mount all the details in the game become pointless? BOTW wants to give players the option, and some incentive to stay on the intended path, while also letting more adventurous types go wherever they want. For this reason, the difficult areas are made initially intimidating to try to keep players on the path. You don't start with many hearts, and sometimes it can be hard to find that powerful weapon you need to break in to a difficult area. Some enemies, like guardians, are extremely difficult until you get the right equipment. It's kind of like how the horses in the game will follow the game's paths automatically. Link has the ability to climb any mountain, but it can look stupid, Link just going in a straight line through the map, past all the roads, characters, and towns the devs put effort into, so they had horses go on roads to incentivize going the intended route, while still letting the player go an unintended route if desired.
This is a long post, and I don't know if anyone will actually read it. I just don't want people to keep saying "Oh! why did they make weapons break! They should have not made weapons break." No, they shouldn't have. Maybe they should have made a different game altogether, but not having weapons break would make BOTW a lot dumber than it is. Some people may like having RPG elements to give character to an open world, but I personally hate RPGs, and I think the weapon breaking system BOTW uses, while annoying, is much more satisfying.
Last edited by Deboog,
