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I have never enjoyed weapons degrading and breaking but I'll suspend my judgment in this case.

Seconded, i hate weapon breaking, especially if it's done in an annoying way or too interrupting, like in Dark Souls 2.

But going by the gameplay we've seen so far, it looks like there's plenty of replacement weapons available or easy to find, and without a deep focus on weapon upgrading (so far at least) like in Dark Souls, it might not be that annoying in Zelda.

Plus, the game seems to have some sort of focus on the Master Sword, seeing it's rusted appearance in the last shot of the trailer and the western logo. Guess once the Master Sword is restored there's at least one weapon that probably won't break.

 

[KingBroly]

Yeah, I love this attention to detail. It's not as comprehensive as the lore in Dark Souls, but I welcome any and all flavor text.

You don't need a lot of text to make something deep and meaningful.

 

[GinoFelino]

Finding the indestructible Master Sword will feel like more of a reward than ever, after dozens of hours keeping an eye on your weapon's durability.

 

[danthefan]

I do like the changes they've made but man I just hate weapon degradation as a mechanic, I really do.

 

[hawthorneluke]

I love how they deal with the "all weapons being near useless objects to tediously sell when you get the chance after you get a powerful one you like problem" that plagues many rpg like games by having them break so regularly, forcing you to deal with all sorts of situations using whatever the environment gives you, ending up with you trying out all sorts of varieties instead of just using the same old thing the entire playthrough.
Mixes in well with the "using whatever tricks you can in the environment you're in to get through whatever problems the world throws at you" - sort of zelda feel, which seems to be a much bigger emphasis this time around. Really looking forward to playing it.

 

[Neiteio]

I'm cool with item degradation here since you're constantly finding new weapons (including those carried by enemies) and since you can amass a stockpile of backups. Trying to prioritize the right tool for the job (i.e. axes for heavies and chopping trees) to avoid untimely degradation adds a nice gameplay wrinkle.

I love the fact we'll have to think about everything we do now. No more mindlessly slashing enemies on autopilot. No more taking items for granted.

 

[takriel]

Finding the indestructible Master Sword will feel like more of a reward than ever, after dozens of hours keeping an eye on your weapon's durability.

Together with the green hero's tunic, yeah!

 

[LegendofLex]

I'll just copy my comments on item durability from another thread:

One interesting thing I noticed about item durability is that it forces you to make choices about how you want to balance the game.

You can get a fairly powerful (10+ dmg) sword/bow early on, and it seems more durable than the other weaker equips like Boko Clubs and Boko Bows. But...it'll still degrade like everything else. Do you use it on the weaker mobs to make those encounters less dangerous? Do you use it on boss creatures like Steppe Talus to speed up those high-risk encounters? Or do you save it for another area that's higher on the difficulty curve?

I beat Steppe Talus with a 5 dmg sword and a bunch of Boko Clubs, eventually offing it with a Torch. So it's possible that you don't even really need the top gear on an area to beat even the toughest foes...and you might even be wasting its potential on them. This keeps you from getting good weapons early on and just rolling over the entire game with them - they'll all be used up eventually, it's just a matter of when you think you need them - but it still gives you powerful options to make tough battles easier.

This is a little different than a game like Dark Souls which uses item durability in a less all-in way that just feels like an annoyance. And, likewise, you really can get weapons in Dark Souls that let you dominate for most of the game. Dark Souls doesn't rely as much on the survival aspect of managing equips based on their durability, or the balancing effect that has on gameplay.

 

[TheGreatMightyPoo]

Link kicking the chest with his barefoot should take at least a quarter of a heart away.

 

[yllekz]

Many scoffed at the idea at the time, saying they couldn’t imagine a Zelda without a rigid structure, linear progression and handholding.

Those people probably weren't real Zelda fans, as the first Zelda on the NES had none of that.

 

[RoadHazard]

Finding the indestructible Master Sword will feel like more of a reward than ever, after dozens of hours keeping an eye on your weapon's durability.

Yep. Master Sword, Hylian Shield, Hero's Bow, Green Tunic. All decked out, ready to punch Ganon in his stupid calamitous face.

 

[RootCause]

Game is so far away.

Link kicking the chest with his barefoot should take at least a quarter of a heart away.

Maybe in hero mode.

 

[DrArchon]

It's gonna feel really nice when I get excited to open a chest that actually has something previously mundane like rupees in it. I remember those challenge areas in ALBW having chests with rupees in them as rewards and every time I got them it just bummed me out. I never even spent them on anything that wasn't some key item like a bottle.

If BotW can make rupees interesting again then it'll be high up their in the list of best Zelda games in my opinion.

 

[Pejo]

I do like the changes they've made but man I just hate weapon degradation as a mechanic, I really do.

Agreed. Weapon breaking/repair as a mechanic just seems to be there to be a limiter/money sink.

I'm also one of those guys that hordes potions and consumables til the end of the game and never ends up using them. I know how I'm going to play this. I'm going to find a weapon I really like, then never use it because I'll want to have it for that *special* moment. I am a big proponent of a lot of these changes, like giving rupees value, but I wish there was a way to "fortify" any weapon you want if you really like it so it won't break. Even that would be enough for me.

 

[Pinky]

I'm loving everything about this. I feel it will make the exploratory aspects of the game more exciting and enticing. With weapons and items having real value and importance, I feel it will push players to want to explore every nook and cranny of the world to discover what's out there. Such a huge world with great mystery and surprises. You just never know what you'll find.

Spoiler

I need this game and the NX RIGHT NOW!

 

[Vital Tundra]

I was surprised when nothing they opened was junk items. The amount of junk items in RPG's is baffling.

 

[neeksleep]

Just play the same game for a longer time, or just go with The Order 1886.

Glad you have time to post your opinions on gaf though, that's time you won't spend crafting and healing yourself.

He makes a valid point though...

If you have other shit to do, even if you love a game so much, if you don't have time to do everything or keep track of everything, it's a lot easier to fall off a game sooner than you want. This is what happened to me and XCX. I put around 40 hours into it, but then had to tend to life and was away from gaming for a couple weeks. By the time I could game again, I wasn't really feeling like diving into something like XCX because there was so much to do.

 

[Anth0ny]

Back in 2012, I made a thread on how to fix Zelda. Among my humble requests: Nonlinear progression in an open world, with immediate access to core items and a skippable tutorial. Many scoffed at the idea at the time, saying they couldn’t imagine a Zelda without a rigid structure, linear progression and handholding.

oh god what a painful thread to read

fanboy responses in bold

Fan suggests reasonable, positive changes to Zelda: RAH RAH RAH THAT SOUNDS BAD IT WOULD NEVER WORK NINTENDO WOULD NEVER DO THAT THAT'S NOT EVEN A ZELDA GAME YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT THANK GOD NINTENDO DOESN'T LISTEN TO THEIR FANS ZELDA IS FINE

So you want wide open unfun areas with nothing to do.



So you want Majora's Mask, only without the good game design that makes Majora's Mask good.



So not only do you want a wide open empty unfun world in which after wandering around for hours, you'll stumble into the hardest dungeon, you then want to make it so that if by some miracle the poor player doesn't do that they'll still end up putting down the terrible unfun game because it's too difficult.




You to never have any input in the Zelda series because it's a sure fire way to kill it.

Nintendo implements those exact changes to Zelda: OMG BEST GAME EVER NINTENDO IS SO GODLIKE GENIUS ONLY NINTENDO COULD PULL THIS OFF WOOOOOOOOOW


AND GET A LOAD OF THIS ASSHOLE:

it's nice to want things

dark souls is as close as you'll get.

 

[Davey Cakes]

I dread it, I just don't have the time for it at all. Almost made me cancel my preorder when I found out about it during this E3, but it would be the first Zelda ever I don't play and it's one of my favorite series so I'm just going to have to suffer through it. Might invest in a cheat code device to not have to waste swaths of time on item crafting, hunting for HP, cooking, breakable weapons, etc. My game time budget is sadly very limited because of a busy job and other responsibilities.

I don't know. If it's an open world game where you can theoretically go to the final boss right away, then there's probably a degree of "play it your way" where you could beat the main game within a reasonable amount of time by forgoing optional parts.

I think of a game like Fallout 3, where I played it for 60 hours due to side quests but could've beaten the main story in 20.

Heck, Skyward Sword was a 20-30 hour game that could be stretched to 60+ hours as well.

 

[Llyranor]

I do like the roguelike-like approach to a finite inventory with limited-duration items. Will make managing those a fun part of the game, and will encourage USING said items.

Seems like they learned well from ALBW's flawed rental system. There wasn't much to manage when you could all the items fairly easily, and could keep them as long as you wanted as long as you didn't die (which was easy given the easy difficulty)

 

[Meesh]

I want this game so bad. I think this could be an Ocarina of Time 2.0 in terms of its reception.

Btw, Ocarina of Time is the greatest game of all time. For now.

Couldn't agree more.
The possibilities truly feel wide open (much like Hyrule this time ) for gamers to sort of tailer the game to their liking in so many aspects. Whether combat style, story/game progression, exploration, item management.
It's like they had this checklist of Zelda dream goals and ticked every box!
No word on boss rush mode though...

 

[SoRuffShoNuff]

How does the weapon storage system work? So let's say you have an axe, from what I've read so far the axe can degrade and eventually break, but are you limited to only carrying one axe at a time? If I can amass 20 axes in my inventory then the fact that they can break doesn't matter that much.

So is this going to turn into a weapon hoarding game or do I need to swap my current axe for a new one whenever possible?

For the most part I don't like weapon degradation systems. They just force me to not use a new weapon because I'm scared of wasting it on inferior enemies. Or in this case I won't use the axe because I don't want it to break and now I see a path I could have created if only I didn't use my axe on a moblin.

 

[Izayoi]

The only thing I'm concerned about with the new system is inventory size. I tend to stockpile, especially in a game where gear is treated like consumables...

Weapon durability makes me really nervous.

 

[Kinsei]

I never noticed that Link grabs his foot in pain after kicking open a chest if he doesn't have shoes equipped. That's some amazing attention to detail.

It is pretty cool. Hopefully it's not super easy to fully stock up on good weapons.

The only thing I'm concerned about with the new system is inventory size. I tend to stockpile, especially in a game where gear is treated like consumables...

Weapon durability makes me really nervous.

I think you'll be able to upgrade your equipment pouches. It's really odd that the weapon pouch is a row and a half long, why not make it an even two rows?

 

[Flare]

I like that when your weapon is about to break, its last attack will do critical damage. That and the fact that you can throw these weapons adds a lot more to the weapon durability mechanic.

Not to mention that from what we've seen so far, weapons are found commonly. Either off of enemies, or lying around, or salvaged (albeit weaker) from the environment.

I honestly prefer this way of doing durability and I hate the mechanic too.

 

[Izayoi]

I think you'll be able to upgrade your equipment pouches. It's really odd that the weapon pouch is a row and a half long, why not make it an even two rows?

That's good! Do we know how the upgrade system works? From what I understand, you can still get rupees by liquidating excess items - do we purchase the upgrades with them?

I wonder if the weapon row isn't fully upgraded in the demo?

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

Yep, continuing the very positive trend started in Skyward Sword.

 

[Enduin]

I found this video on BotW to be very good. Basically talking about how BotW is more a return to form than something brand new. I think it's a bit of both, in so far as this entry is introducing a lot of new elements never before seen in the series, but it is doing so in ways that capture the feeling and style of the original games, and 2D games, that previously wasn't possible or thought of for the 3D titles. I thought of making a thread about it, but I'm lazy, and we already have about 64 Zelda threads active right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsal3HVpy9o

 

[Kinsei]

That's good! Do we know how the upgrade system works? From what I understand, you can still get rupees by liquidating excess items - do we purchase the upgrades with them?

I wonder if the weapon row isn't fully upgraded in the demo?

The only things Nintendo have said about upgrades are that it's in the game and you can upgrade a variety of elements. They said they'll talk more about it at a later date.

 

[SmokedMeat]

I despise weapons having a limited lifespan. It forces me to holster my best weapon, and leave it unused until I find a time I might need it.

I wish there was a blacksmith skill Link could learn to repair weapons.

It's not going to keep me away from the game, but it's not a mechanic I'm happy to see. As for clothing helping out in different temperatures didn't we have that in OoT? Seems like they're expanding on it which is cool.

 

[AdanVC]

Absolutely. Every single items here serves a purpose. Every single video I have seen of BotW so far used pretty much all items they collected in order to survive. Either food, armor, weapons, clothing, cooking, etc. It makes the experience truly immersive and it makes you feel like you're really surviving in this world.

I just want the classic chest opening animation to return ��

Maybe it'll appear on more important items such as keys or special swords/shields!

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

I'll just copy my comments on item durability from another thread:

One interesting thing I noticed about item durability is that it forces you to make choices about how you want to balance the game.

You can get a fairly powerful (10+ dmg) sword/bow early on, and it seems more durable than the other weaker equips like Boko Clubs and Boko Bows. But...it'll still degrade like everything else. Do you use it on the weaker mobs to make those encounters less dangerous? Do you use it on boss creatures like Steppe Talus to speed up those high-risk encounters? Or do you save it for another area that's higher on the difficulty curve?

I beat Steppe Talus with a 5 dmg sword and a bunch of Boko Clubs, eventually offing it with a Torch. So it's possible that you don't even really need the top gear on an area to beat even the toughest foes...and you might even be wasting its potential on them. This keeps you from getting good weapons early on and just rolling over the entire game with them - they'll all be used up eventually, it's just a matter of when you think you need them - but it still gives you powerful options to make tough battles easier.

This is a little different than a game like Dark Souls which uses item durability in a less all-in way that just feels like an annoyance. And, likewise, you really can get weapons in Dark Souls that let you dominate for most of the game. Dark Souls doesn't rely as much on the survival aspect of managing equips based on their durability, or the balancing effect that has on gameplay.

You got to play the game? I'm hating on you.

 

[Mediking]

This.....this..........this is GOOD....

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

I was surprised when nothing they opened was junk items. The amount of junk items in RPG's is baffling.

What do you consider junk items? I've played FFIX recently and a lot of Pokemon, but I don't recall any items being worthless.

 

[Ensirius]

You got to play the game? I'm hating on you.

Yeah, let's hate him together.

 

[Izayoi]

The only things Nintendo have said about upgrades are that it's in the game and you can upgrade a variety of elements. They said they'll talk more about it at a later date.

Gotcha, thanks dude. I'm interested in hearing more. They've got all the right ingredients, and all of the footage looks fucking stellar...

As one of the minority (?) who really, really enjoyed Skyward Sword, I hope that this continues down that path. My biggest issues were minor annoyances, like item find animations resetting every time you booted up the game again, wonkiness with the motion controls (which I thought worked well most of the time), that kind of thing...

At least from the footage I've seen, everything looks really good at this point, from a usability standpoint. As much as I loved the novel controls, I'm honestly kind of pleased to see them go away.

 

[aBarreras]

i wonder if you can make a vegetarian run, i heard some users arent comfortable with the idea of hunting.

there would probably an instance where you need to use meat on your cooking to have certain buff or something, but i guess you can buy meat at the market?

damn, i want this game now

 

[jpax]

I welcome these changes so much that I am going to buy a NX just for this game alone, of the price is not too crazy.

 

[LegendofLex]

i wonder if you can make a vegetarian run, i heard some users arent comfortable with the idea of hunting.

in theory you shouldn't ever need to eat at all.

 

[aBarreras]

in theory you shouldn't ever need to eat at all.

yeah, i guess if you find warm clothes before going on the cold areas, you wont need to cook something to have cold resistance.

 

[Izayoi]

I'll just copy my comments on item durability from another thread:

One interesting thing I noticed about item durability is that it forces you to make choices about how you want to balance the game.

You can get a fairly powerful (10+ dmg) sword/bow early on, and it seems more durable than the other weaker equips like Boko Clubs and Boko Bows. But...it'll still degrade like everything else. Do you use it on the weaker mobs to make those encounters less dangerous? Do you use it on boss creatures like Steppe Talus to speed up those high-risk encounters? Or do you save it for another area that's higher on the difficulty curve?

I beat Steppe Talus with a 5 dmg sword and a bunch of Boko Clubs, eventually offing it with a Torch. So it's possible that you don't even really need the top gear on an area to beat even the toughest foes...and you might even be wasting its potential on them. This keeps you from getting good weapons early on and just rolling over the entire game with them - they'll all be used up eventually, it's just a matter of when you think you need them - but it still gives you powerful options to make tough battles easier.

This is a little different than a game like Dark Souls which uses item durability in a less all-in way that just feels like an annoyance. And, likewise, you really can get weapons in Dark Souls that let you dominate for most of the game. Dark Souls doesn't rely as much on the survival aspect of managing equips based on their durability, or the balancing effect that has on gameplay.

Are you locked into a boss fight once you start one? I never actually saw any boss footage... I'm just curious what happens if you run out of weapons while you're fighting him - can you just peace out, or do you have to take the L?

 

[Neoleo2143]

Are you locked into a boss fight once you start one? I never actually saw any boss footage... I'm just curious what happens if you run out of weapons while you're fighting him - can you just peace out, or do you have to take the L?

You can escape unless he snipes you something. The resource loss seems punishment enough.

 

[Izayoi]

I welcome these changes so much that I am going to buy a NX just for this game alone, of the price is not too crazy.

Well, hopefully they offer the console and handheld separately, instead of forcing you into a bundle purchase.

I have a feeling that, at least at launch, they are going to make you get both simultaneously.

You can escape unless he snipes you something.

Wait, are we talking about the boss that you fight on horseback? Can you fight him on foot as well? I guess I lied, and I have seen footage of a boss fight, if that's the case.

I was thinking like a traditional Zelda boss, locked away in a dedicated room at the end of a dungeon... I guess I'm going to need to part with a lot of these traditional notions, eh?

 

[Skelter]

He makes a valid point though...

If you have other shit to do, even if you love a game so much, if you don't have time to do everything or keep track of everything, it's a lot easier to fall off a game sooner than you want. This is what happened to me and XCX. I put around 40 hours into it, but then had to tend to life and was away from gaming for a couple weeks. By the time I could game again, I wasn't really feeling like diving into something like XCX because there was so much to do.

Then he shouldn't buy the game. Simple as that.

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

I love how they deal with the "all weapons being near useless objects to tediously sell when you get the chance after you get a powerful one you like problem" that plagues many rpg like games by having them break so regularly, forcing you to deal with all sorts of situations using whatever the environment gives you, ending up with you trying out all sorts of varieties instead of just using the same old thing the entire playthrough.
Mixes in well with the "using whatever tricks you can in the environment you're in to get through whatever problems the world throws at you" - sort of zelda feel, which seems to be a much bigger emphasis this time around. Really looking forward to playing it.

Yeah, I'm okay with weapon degrading if it means you won't ever be scarce on weapons.

 

[ryousuke]

I'm not against durability thing but during the demo, the weapons really lasted a very short time. I hope they'll tweak that a little, or some way to reinforce weapons durability.

I saw a lot of journalists complain about that

 

[Leafhopper]

My take on it? It should have been called 'Day Z(elda)'

This is going to be an actual finished product though.

 

[TheGreatMightyPoo]

I'm not against durability thing but during the demo, the weapons really lasted a very short time. I hope they'll tweak that a little, or some way to reinforce weapons durability.

I saw a lot of journalists complain about that

Hopefully you can snowboard on the Hylian Shield permanently.

 

[aBarreras]

I'm not against durability thing but during the demo, the weapons really lasted a very short time. I hope they'll tweak that a little, or some way to reinforce weapons durability.

I saw a lot of journalists complain about that

as far as i could see, if you fight correctly, weapons and shield last longer, if journalists were smashing b button without even thinking, of course their weapons lasted very little

 

[Chaos17]

This made me think that someone took scrrenshots of all the items showed during the Tree house XD

http://www.millenium.org/zelda/accu...endo-wiiu-nx-link-cuisine-potion-craft-145559

Yes, it's in french but not the screenshots.

Translated list

1. Introduction
2. Plants
3. Insects
4. ores
5. Drop monsters and meat
6. Dishes and potions
7. Quest items
8. recipes known