For many players who jumped onto the Breath of the Wild craze when the game first released alongside Nintendo’s Switch console, it may be hard find too much to complain about. However, one thing that almost every player who made their way through Hyrule can agree on is that Breath of the Wild‘s weapon durability is possibly the most important feature that the sequel needs to address.
Fortunately for Nintendo, there is already a fairly complex feature already built into the original Breath of the Wild that could be expanded on in the sequel to both improve its own experience and balance weapon durability. Specifically, if the developer is looking to improve on the previously established systems, then the best course of action would be to retool the cooking mechanic and transform it into a full-fledged item crafting system.
As players progress through the game, weapons become more readily available through chests, environmental placement, and enemy drops. The rate at which these items appear and the likelihood of a player finding their inventory filled with a variety of useful weapons continues to grow as they become more confident in combat and access to these weapons opens up more access to more gear. Unfortunately, the accessibility of weapons in Breath of the Wild is between minimal and non-existent at the start of the game, making areas like the Great Plateau and the trip to Zora’s domain into a slog.
It’s this early game dilemma that a crafting system could easily mitigate, not to make the game actually play out any easier, but to keep players from getting frustrated and possibly dropping the game because of Breath of the Wild‘s weapon durability. Even something as simple as allowing players to take the sticks from trees to make a weapon slightly better than an ordinary twig could go a long way to keep the early game from being a barrier of entry for players with less patience. However, this could also bleed very well into the later game and incentivize not only the exploration that makes up the core gameplay, but the rampant collection that goes hand in hand with similar open-world titles.
There are tons of materials throughout the original Breath of the Wild, many of which being used in the cooking mechanic and others simply being used for trading with specific NPCs or as a way of gaining rupees. While some of Breath of the Wild‘s recipes are cookbook quality, the mechanic just isn’t enough to really make the best use out of every small item available in the game, especially the somewhat useless minerals. So implementing some sort of crafting system that allows players to better utilize the items would make exploration a much more rewarding experience, as every item quickly becomes a useful commodity worth going out of the way to collect.
To a degree, this is already the case for many of the items that can be found in Breath of the Wild, as monster drops like ancient gears can be turned in at the Ancient Oven for weapons, armor, and arrows. The main issue is that all of these uses for the items tend to feel more like turning in currency at a shop, an issue that isn’t quite as prevalent for the ingredients used for cooking meals and crafting potions at campfires. So, while armor upgrades at Great Fairy Fountains and material trades at the Ancient Oven might use plenty of these items, they only incentivize grinding for statistical progress as opposed to utilizing what players have found to keep moving forward.
One key aspect of Breath of the Wild is actually perfectly integrated into the weapon durability system, because it forces players to adapt to new environments and make do with whatever they can find. However, as players become comfortable with specific weapon types that might help them face certain bosses or combat encounters, that dynamic item engagement can keep some fans out of their comfort zone for hours worth of gameplay. Players certainly shouldn’t be able to have infinite access to Breath of the Wild‘s strongest weapons, but including a crafting system that allows them to keep one or two of their favorite weapon types on them at all times would be a massive improvement.
The system could still lean into the way that gear is area specific by including area specific materials that work with the crafting system, but still have a baseline set of gear that can essentially be made in any location. This could also make farming for enemy weapons a more manageable experience, since collecting items doesn’t cost durability in exchange for a new piece of gear in the same way hunting monsters does. Everything from Lizalfos boomerangs to Breath of the Wild‘s powerful Lynel gear could now be available to be crafted in the case a player’s favorite piece breaks when no enemy is around to readily fight for a replacement.
Beyond the ease of access and utilization of materials, however, there is still one feature that a crafting system could make infinitely more important. Specifically, having a level of customization over building equipment, especially in the same way they can build meals and potions, would mean that players would be free to add bonuses to weapons, instead of having to rely on random chance. Bonuses, like increased strength and durability, are available for Breath of the Wild‘s weapons and wind up becoming such a key part of item selection that it’s hard to justify not letting players have any agency over the feature.
Adding bonuses to already existing or found weapons may be stretching the crafting system beyond the limit that simply improves on the existing mechanics. For one, letting players loot Breath of the Wild‘s Hyrule Castle for powerful gear and then throwing upgrades on them immediately could completely break the pacing of the game’s open world progress. However, being able to use monster parts or other ingredients as additional materials for crafting weapons could mean that players have the limited option to maximize on their crafting in every way.
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is available now for Switch.
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