Video Game Tuesday: Breath of the Wild’s Durability System

Hey all I’m back with my thoughts on last year’s probably best game’s, that I only just got to play this last weekend, only flaw. It’s all about Breath of the Wild’s Durability System!

Durability System?: For those unaware the weapons in Breath of the Wild all have a set durability that prevents you from keeping any one weapon indefinitely. There is an exception though, but the base game still prevents that exception from being usable 100% of the time. This is highly annoying and causes you to constantly scrounge up weapons. For hoarders like myself we hate having to waste good weapons on trash enemies, but sometimes we are left with no choice but to do so.

What can you do?: Well thankfully there are trees everywhere so if you get really desperate you can always throw a bomb at a tree to knock it down to get a quick weapon i a tree branch. Unfortunately they last as long as you’d expect a stick to last, which is to say not long at all. They also do absolutely crap damage, so you won’t be taking down any real enemy quickly with it, only the easiest of monsters will fall before the branch breaks.

Does it get better?: Like I said there is one weapon that doesn’t break, but with just the base game you won’t ever be able to use it all the time, as it also has a durability and has to wait a few minutes before being usable again.

My hope is that in future Zelda games they never include the durability system in this form again. I’d really like to be able to at least repair some of my weapons for a few Rupees.

That’s it for this week’s Video Game Tuesday, do you enjoy the Durability System in Breath of the Wild? Leave your thoughts below in the comments below.

Retro Game Friday: Phantom Hourglass

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering one of the better DS games to utilize the touch controls. It’s The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass!

Plot Synopsis: Picking up immediately after The Wind Waker, in which Link defeats Ganon who turns to stone and remains at the bottom of a now sealed away Hyrule, Link and Tetra travel over the flooded Hyrule called the Great Sea on board Tetra’s pirate ship. Along the way, the pair discover the Ghost Ship and Tetra enters it; however, immediately after entering the Ghost Ship, she screams for help. While Link attempts to follow her, he slips and falls into the ocean.

Plot: The plot is pretty great and is the direct sequel to one of my favorite Zelda games of all time, Wind Waker. That being said if you are expecting epic and intricate plots worthy of something like Final Fantasy, you’re looking at the wrong series.

Characters: Linebeck and Ciela are the two new additions that make the most impact in this Zelda entry. I have to say that I actually did like Linebeck, this was as much a journey for him as it was for Link. Ciela was a fairy, but she didn’t reach Navi levels of annoying thankfully.

Gameplay: This is one of the few Nintendo DS games that properly used the stylus and touchscreen features of the system. It also wasn’t super annoying to play even for someone like me who has trouble with handwriting and drawing. That being said it did have it’s moments where it was more frustrating than not to be playing a game that only allowed the player to use the stylus.

Art: The art was pretty good at the time, but it’s aged poorly since it was first released.

Music: Classic Zelda music. That’s all I really need to say.

Overall: An excellent Zelda game that had a few flaws, mainly the requirement to use the stylus to play.

For those who like: Action, Adventure, Puzzles, Zelda Games, Touch Controls, Good Plot and Gameplay, Interesting Cast of Characters.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Retro Game Friday: Link’s Awakening

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering one of the first Zelda games I ever played! It’s The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening!

Plot Synopsis:After the events of Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons, the hero Link travels abroad to train for further threats. A storm destroys his boat at sea, and he washes ashore on Koholint Island, where he is taken to the house of Tarin and his daughter Marin. She is fascinated by Link and the outside world, and tells Link wistfully that, if she were a seagull, she would leave and travel across the sea. After Link recovers his sword, a mysterious owl tells him that he must wake the Wind Fish, Koholint’s guardian, in order to return home.

Plot: This is one of the few Zelda games that doesn’t take place in Hyrule at all, with Oracle of Ages, Seasons and Majora’s Mask being the ones I can remember off the top of my head. The plot is pretty great as well.

Characters: Marin is the best character and I love her, but there were plenty of other Nintendo series cameos including Goombas and Chomps. It was a fairly odd game. Oh and the Shopkeeper was awesome as well.

Gameplay: The game plays like a lot of other 2D Zelda games, with the player being able to assign items to the A and B buttons and using them to solve various puzzles. This is also one of the only entries in the game where you could actually steal something from the item shop, although doing so would instantly change your name to THIEF.

Art: It’s aged pretty well, and it was revolutionary at the time, especially since it was made for a handheld console.

Music: Pure Zelda.

Overall: If you’ve never played the game, you really need to.

For those who like: Zelda Games, Action, Adventure, Puzzles, Great Gameplay, Fantastic Story, Awesome Characters.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

 

Retro Game Friday: Zelda Oracle of Ages

This week I’m cover the other Zelda game in the Oracle sub-series for Retro Game Friday. It’s The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages!

Plot Synopsis: As with Seasons, the Triforce calls out to Link. Link is transported to a forest in the land of Labrynna, where he hears screaming. In a clearing, Link finds a woman encircled by monsters. When the monsters see Link, they scatter in all directions. The woman is Princess Zelda’s nurse, Impa, who asks Link to help her find a singer in the forest. Continuing through the forest, the two find Nayru, a young woman with blue hair singing on a tree stump, surrounded by forest creatures.

Plot: The plot is quite similar to the Oracle of Seasons, and that’s not to say it’s bad. Of course if you played one of these first than used the gameboy connector cable you could play an expanded story in the second game, with an extra boss.

Characters: I enjoyed the cast of Ages more than I did of Seasons, but I think that’s because the game has a blue theme more than anything about the characters themselves.

Art: Same as Oracle of Seasons with a few minor differences due to items.

Music: The same as Oracle of Seasons essentially.

Overall: If you liked Oracle of Seasons you’ll love this one.

Retro Game Friday: Super Smash Bros.

This week I’m covering the original casual fighting game. It’s Super Smash Bros.

Plot Synopsis: Wait you were expecting a fighting game to have a plot?

Plot: See above.

Gameplay: The gameplay was good, although some characters were ridiculously overpowered, like Fox or Samus or Ness. Having only 12 characters was the only downside to this game, but at the time it was a lot of characters.

Music: It took music from the various series represented in the game, as well as some original music. Nothing amazing though.

Art: It shows it’s age now, but back in the day it looked pretty freaking good.

Overall: If you’ve never played it you should give it a whirl, just don’t pay more than a few dollars for it.

For those who like: Nintendo games, Fighters, Casual fighting games.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, or fighting games with a shallow learning curve.