Because it's a core mechanic of the game. The weapons break but there are more all over the place, which rewards you for exploring the huge open world. Conversely, the world is so huge because there are more consumable items like weapons and food to scatter around it. This is not a 100% new game, it's going to use largely the same assets as BotW, so they can't do away with one of the core mechanics without drastically altering the way the game is played.

 

Majora's Mask used largely the same assets as Ocarina of Time. Drastically altering the way the game is played isn't entirely out of the question.

 

These are two, wonderfully creepy shots.

Made somewhat less creepy by Mario's face in the corner.
"It'sa me!"

 

The real question is will it come out before the switch gets replaced? I kid...sort of.

At any rate, I may have to get a switch now.

 

3 words:

Make. Zelda. Playable!

 

The breakable weapons are fine. The game gives you so many weapons that there’s no way you should ever be short of them.

What I would like is more of an actual story, more variety in the monsters and weapons, and more traditional dungeons. And also some old school caves to explore.

 

My only wish for breakable weapons is that there are ways to repair them. Just sayin’.

 

Couldnt be happier about the BotW sequel news. Goddamnit that’s awesome.

 

So glad that we’re getting a sequel to BOTW. I wasn’t ready for the story to be done. I just hope we get a bit more story this time. I hope we get to see more interaction between Link and the rest of the cast.

I swear, I’m torn on whether they should have him talk or not, but if they do.... Will Friedle is always my goto for young hero types.  

This is easily the most anticipated game for the Switch in my book now.

 

Nintendo let me climb on the monsters

 

Being able to go Shadow of the Colossus on a Hinox would be cool.

They only sort of let you do that with the Stone Talus enemies.

 

And not having weapons break left, right and center is a staple of most of the series. Nor is Link being forced to slow down and gasp for breath like a chain smoking asmathic every ten steps running. Why they chose to bring back a divisive mechanic from one of the worst Zelda games of all time is beyond me.

 

I guess they thought skyward Sword had some stuff worth saving? Seriously, fuck that game.

 

You need to have some kind of limit on climbing. Otherwise I think the game balance will be really messed up, and everyone would just climb everywhere instead of exploring to find ways to get to where you want to go. I'm OK with eliminating the stamina function for running, or at least making it last longer.

 

Yeah, the irritating functions don't need to go away... they just need to become less irritating. If they can go away without breaking the game, that's fine too.

 

I got used to the breakable weapons pretty quickly. It was annoying when I first started playing but soon I got to a point where I had a full menu of good weapons and was leaving perfectly good weapons on the ground because I didn’t need them.

As for the stamina wheel, I got used to that quickly as well. Between stamina upgrades and edibles I never felt especially irritated. I do actually appreciate having limits because it makes me think more carefully about which routes I’m taking and the best ways to get from one place to another. If I could just climb and run endlessly then I wouldn’t have as much enjoyment of exploration and I wouldn’t have as much drive to hop on a horse, a deer, a bear.

I get the complaints though, we all enjoy different aspects of these games. I know many are into battle tactics and learning different attack methods and sword strikes where I just straight up hamblast every enemy the same way because mastering the different moves isn’t interesting to me.

Also, yes, hopefully there will be more dungeon crawling, caves and a wider variety of enemies in this one. The ability to swim under water would be lovely as well.

 

Personally I never liked riding the horses etc, because I felt you missed too much stuff that way. But I know a lot of folks loved it.

I was never able to use any of the special moves other than the shield reflect thing against guardians, and even then I wasn't great at it. Seeing videos of these folks who can beat a Lynel without taking a hit via all the QTE moves is humbling.

 

I always had plenty of weapons to switch to, but I had to switch a bit too often for my liking. Large melee battle? Good chance at least one weapon will break. Trying to pick them off from a distance to avoid that? Bow's gonna break instead. This is amplified if you're hunting for ore or you need to knock things around with Stasis. It's not game-breaking--again, there was always something to switch to--just annoying. Plus it doesn't make a lot of sense how easily things break. It would be one thing if just the Bokoblin weapons broke constantly, but the game leaves the impression that everything in Hyrule other than the Master Sword is just incredibly flimsy.  

While we're on the topic, BotW was a huge missed opportunity to feature the shield-stealing like-like enemy  

Anyway, I guess really my complaint is that the rarer, better weapons tend to break just as easily as the common ones (sometimes even more easily!). They don't have to hold out forever, necessarily, but I'd be a lot happier to find them if they were reliable. They can put a lot of trash weapons throughout the game, and have a much lower number of rarer, better, more durable ones that you have to go out of your way to find. Put 'em someplace where there aren't a lot of quest items or events, and there's your motivation to explore.

Others have mentioned wanting the ability to repair weapons, but I don't need a lot of broken weapons taking up inventory space. What would be better IMO, is a way to maintain weapons before they break. E.g. "Oh, this bow is getting low on durability! I really like this one, so I'd better use it sparingly until I can find a bowyer to recondition it for me." And if you don't, it breaks, but you get materials from it to give to various weaponsmiths.

 

Yes some of the better weapons actually break easier. The Royal Guard series especially is too flimsy to really be useful, other than for when you are on a Lynel's back (since using a weapon there doesn't affect durability). I would usually trade them to that lady in the stable for a ruby.

For getting ore I generally used bombs. Only problem with that is it sometimes sent the ore flying too far away and I couldn't get it. The sledgehammers do last quite a long time if you only use them to smash up ore deposits.

 

Same, but there are many areas where bombs just aren't suitable. Too easy to fling the minerals off a steep ledge, not enough room to escape the blast, etc. The sledgehammers are great for this (and for flinging anything with Stasis) but they take up valuable inventory space that I could be using to hoard the non-shitty weapons I find.  

EDIT:
I'm also not sure I even buy the explanation that flimsy, breakable weapons are necessary if we want a big, open map. Your armor doesn't break, so how's that work? Well, you have to comb the map for crafting parts that are scattered everywhere so that you can upgrade them multiple times, right? You also need money to revive the Great Faeries. OK, so do something like that for the weapons. Problem solved. If Nintendo wants to ditch durability without breaking the game, they definitely could.