Breath of the Wild changed up the formula for all most Zelda games that came before it by introducing breakable weapons. This promoted trying out new weapons and helped with the sense of exploration in the game. Not everyone liked this feature though and if you ask any Zelda fan what they’d like to improve about the original, they will likely mention the weapon system. Today I am going to look at what Nintendo may do in Breath of the Wild 2 with weapons, will they stick with breakable weapons, or will they introduce a new weapon system?

There are plenty of good things to say about the weapons system in Breath of the Wild. There was a large amount of weapon variety with swords, staffs, halberds, axes, hammers and even simple sticks. When a weapon broke, you’d have to try out something new in your arsenal, which might even be the arm of your skeleton enemy. That sense of improvision was very powerful and fed into the overall free nature of Breath of the Wild. As the player, you had to mix things up and try out new weapons, rather than rely on your crux weapon.

However, Nintendo introduced quite a polarising formula with their breakable weapons system. It can be frustrating when you find a decent weapon you like, after going through a bunch of weapons that didn’t feel like the one for you. Personally, I like the traditional sword and shield approach with Link. Yes, you can get hold of Master Sword in the game, but I don’t mind using a Soldiers Sword. They look good and feel good. It was always annoying to me when they broke and I had to revert back to my Boko Club. When weapons are breakable like they were in Breath of the Wild, players find it harder to develop relationships with the weapons.

I would like to see Nintendo go the other way and invest in weapons. I’d like to see specific weapon quests. Much like we had side quests in the original game, however many of these side quests only rewarded rupees or other financial rewards. I’d like to see top-tier weapons as rewards for quests. You could make these quests intricate, with multiple steps. Make these weapon quests hard, I want to earn these special weapons.

I’d also love to see some personalisation on the weapon. Let me know the stats, and let me know how many kills I have with the weapon. Rather than being disposable, go the other way and really make them mean something. You can still promote the use of multiple weapons, but instead of breakable weapons, have weapon tiers that incentivise players to use different weapons types, classes and rarities.

There has been talk that the development team were playing Red Dead Redemption 2 during the early stages of the development of Breath of the Wild and this may offer some clues as to where the team are going or what they may be thinking about. There is no doubt Nintendo heard the feedback related to the weapons system, the decision now is whether they are going to do something about it or carry on regardless.

In Red Dead Redemption, weapons weren’t necessarily breakable, although they did get dirty and degrade over time. Arthur Morgan, the main protagonist in Red Dead Redemption 2, could clean his weapons throughout the game. I can see this system working in Breath of the Wild 2 as well. Weapons get dirty or degrading, then you have to take them to a specific vendor in a village or town, and perhaps use a rare currency to clean or fix weapons.

Breath of the Wild was a departure from another long-held Zelda tradition, and that was getting unique items and weapons from Dungeons. The boomerang was a classic Zelda weapon, and it was relegated to a simple breakable weapon in Breath of the Wild. I really like it when the weapons we have display attributes from where we got them. For example, if you beat a boss you could take their weapon, or perhaps if you slay a dragon, then a sword or axe could be made from its teeth. Similar to Monster Hunter, when you take down a monster in that game, you fashion a weapon from its remains, I’d love to see something like that come to Breath of the Wild 2.

I think Nintendo has a few options when it comes to weapons in Breath of the Wild 2. They can stick with the system they have where all weapons, except the master sword break (although the last shot we saw of the Master Sword, didn’t look very healthy at all).

Another option would be to have breakable weapons sit alongside non-breakable weapons or special weapons. These special weapons would be durable, they’d be able to take a certain amount of damage or get dirty and then they would have to be cleaned. These could be related to specific dungeons, and perhaps have some characteristics of where they came from.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

That’s it for this look at what Nintendo will do with their weapons system in Breath of the Wild 2. For more Legend of Zelda content like this check out Triforce Times on YouTube and subscribe today.