Game UX - It grinds my gear
-about the weapons system in Zelda: Breath of the Wild-
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Many highly popular and well-known games that have sold extremely well end up receiving similar criticisms or points of frustration that bring the masses together around a shared (negative) experience.
Whether it’s the navigation system in GTA V, the unique aiming in Resident Evil 4, or even the camera controls from back in the days of Mario 64, examples abound since the birth of video games.
Despite these very minor flaws, some of these games remain highly appreciated and played even today. This proves that, in small doses, these frustrations cannot overshadow an overall enjoyable experience. Whether it’s longtime fans or newcomers, everyone who launches the game today still faces the same issues.
Even though some of these negative experiences stem from the technical limitations of their time or experimentation in uncharted territory, many solutions have since been established, laying solid foundations to avoid such frustrations. This is why, when a game as acclaimed as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild introduces a system that is less elegant or less refined, it immediately stands out.
In the face of this highly advanced Hyrule, these inventive enemies (and all the different ways to deal with them), and this overall renewal of the Zelda franchise, it’s only natural that one particular system drew the ire of players: the weapon durability system.
Apparently, adding a flashing red effect to the weapon two or three hits before it breaks, along with a small on-screen message, isn’t enough. Obviously, it’s not optimal, but with a few tweaks, it’s possible to make the whole system more interesting, more enjoyable to use, and even more integrated into the game’s world.
Objective: Visualize wear and tear
I’d like to issue a small disclaimer before diving deeper into the subject. This article should be seen as an essay based on a personal idea. I haven’t done extensive research to see if others have proposed solutions on their end. I’m basing this on a feeling and an idea I had while playing the game. It’s also important to remain aware that this is more of an isolated design exercise. Indeed, we can never propose a ‘miracle solution’ without knowing the technical and logistical conditions of the game’s production, nor the challenges the team may have already faced during the creation of the work as a whole. The goal here isn’t to ‘do better’ but to theorize an alternative vision of its implementation.
With that said, let’s now move on to the topic of this article and go through the various points of this proposed improvement to the weapon durability system in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Contrary to many opinions expressed online, I find this system useful and necessary for the overall experience of the game. It helps to energize the gameplay, offers a welcome variety in combat against different enemies, and also enhances players’ adaptability in the face of the unexpected, encouraging them to improvise more with what their rich environment has to offer.
Given the various videos that explain the hidden complexity of this system, our solution is therefore not to remove it — quite the opposite. I believe it is possible to make it more intelligible and, above all, more present in users’ understanding. To achieve this, we will modify only a few key points to stay close to the overall experience, with the idea of presenting this concept to the team as if we were discussing it during the game’s development.
The changes made to the system will be most visible and effective in three key areas. Naturally, the first is the weapon selection interface, which serves as the primary source of information regarding the available combat options. The second area of focus will integrate and bring the system to life in a diegetic way (anchored within the game’s universe). Lastly, the third will be an exploratory theory of a potential gameplay change.
Enhancing and Energizing the Interface
The weapon selection mechanic is easily accessible. It operates through a combination of simple actions, giving players the time to choose and decide which weapon will be their next tool. By pressing the right arrow, the game world pauses, and a grid of slots appears, allowing players to select a sword (or an equivalent melee weapon). They simply move the right joystick to highlight their weapon of choice, then release the right arrow to confirm their selection.
Even though this is not the main focus of this article, it is important to highlight that weapon switching requires a combination of inputs (including holding a button while using the joystick), which presents a common accessibility issue. Not everyone can hold a button while navigating with a second simultaneous input. However, we will not be making changes to this aspect in this article, as our focus is on enhancing the visibility of weapon durability information.
This information is currently not represented in most situations. The only indication is a flashing red texture that appears three hits before the weapon breaks, accompanied by a text message warning that the weapon is about to shatter. Three hits happen very quickly in combat, and the suddenness of this warning can cause panic, potentially leading to a decisive turning point in the fight.
To address this and provide players with better organization tools, we will make this information more accessible and easier to understand. To do so, we will use a simplified version of the durability calculation, expressed as a percentage — 100% being the maximum and 0% indicating the moment the weapon breaks, much like a health bar.
Throughout this process, key indicators will change based on three arbitrarily chosen states. These states will be distributed across the following thresholds:
- State 1, “Weapon as new”: 100% to 50% ;
- State 2, “Worn weapon”: 50% to 25% ;
- State 3, “Fragile weapon”: 25% to 0%.
The displayed slots have multiple components, some more relevant to this exercise than others:
- The first is, of course, a graphical representation of the weapon in question.
- The second is a numerical value representing the weapon’s power, making it easier to choose based on the strength of different enemies.
- The third is less obvious, but it is the background of the slot, which displays a color (blue) to indicate the currently equipped weapon.
- The fourth is a symbol indicating a modification or a bonus on the weapon in question.
- The fifth is the border of the slot, which serves as a navigation marker within the list.
Since the interface already includes a numerical value for weapon power, we will not use this type of marker to indicate remaining durability. For a more elegant solution, we will instead focus on the background of the slot, which can display different colors.
By assigning different colors based on the weapon’s durability state, we bring the fragility of the weapon to the forefront of the interface, making it instantly recognizable at a glance. A logical color scheme can be applied to the different states, following the classic green-orange-red trio, which is widely used in various gauges and progression interfaces. This way, the background color of each slot will change at each threshold.
To add an extra level of precision, we could even imagine the background acting as a progress bar, where the colored area gradually shrinks over time.
Reflecting the progression on the 3D models.
The approach taken with Breath of the Wild is relatively comprehensive. For Nintendo, it is a large-scale project, which is reflected in the vast open world created at the time, incorporating many elements from the franchise’s origins. Through these design choices, Nintendo demonstrates its desire to make the immersion in this new world both tangible and engaging.
With the addition of a “Minimal Interface” mode, which had been relatively underutilized, the development team aims to enhance the sense of involvement in the adventure by removing certain informational elements in favor of greater immersion. Key details become more implied rather than explicitly displayed, and I believe we should incorporate part of this approach into our weapon durability system.
What better way, then, than to reflect our different states by adding textures to the existing 3D models? By incorporating signs of wear — such as patina, scratches, and dents — we can bring this progression to life, giving it a meaningful presence within the game’s physical environment.
With the aura of corruption that Ganon has spread across Hyrule, we could even consider creating a variant inspired by the striking visual effects of this corruption, applying its unique and recognizable graphic signature.
Influencing the gameplay
Finally, with a more established weapon durability system that players are more aware of, we could introduce a gameplay consequence. One obvious application of this wear progression could be an immediate impact on the weapon’s damage output. We could imagine that the weapon’s power is directly affected by its overall condition.
This impact would be represented by a color-coded indicator on the damage value displayed in the weapon selection interface. Naturally, we could tie this power loss to real-world effects, such as a blade dulling over time or the tip of a spear becoming blunted with repeated use.
This new system and its gameplay implications could open the door to additional features that might already be missing from the game, making it more complete and coherent within its extended universe. Notably, this includes the lack of a way to repair weapons as they deteriorate or the ability to salvage broken pieces for resources. It could even be expanded to allow players to reconstruct a lost weapon they particularly valued, reforging it to an acceptable level.
We could absolutely explore the different options available to implement this system, considering the richness of the world around us. These options are numerous and varied, and to name just three, we could leverage the magic present in this universe, introduce a Non-Playable Character (NPC) to handle repairs, or even have Link himself work at various crafting stations scattered across Hyrule’s villages — such as an anvil, for example. After all, in this installment, Link already uses different cooking stations to prepare meals, remedies, and potions.
If only there were an all-powerful sword in Hyrule that never breaks, allowing us to finally become the Hero of Legend… But perhaps that’s a story for another day. 😉
