BlackTron
Member
I thought the sword that becomes the master sword in botw can be broken before it is fully restored, but it is a long time since I've played the game so might be remembering that wrong.
All I know from years of playing Nintendo games with Miyamoto and Iwata at the helm of gaming decisions, is that they would never send a Zelda game out the door that would leave the gamer feeling cheated and irritated after over 100hrs of playtime because the story was so weak and so incoherent with expectation of Zelda lore to accommodate a game mechanic around a major Zelda lore trope.
By the end of BotW the Master Sword doesn't even feel like the best weapon in the game(IMHO) and completely pointless when it can't be used to handle generic hordes without a 10min cool down.
I'm hoping TotK does fix that major issue, because if things are greatly improved and they've fixed that, I might be persuaded to buy a copy after my nephew showcases in a few weeks time, although after passing on the DLC for BotW, I'm pretty sure I'm done with this style of Zelda game, just like I am with MK, because it has been poor IMHO after the excellent Double Dash and the DS versions.
In BOTW I just remember picking the Master Sword up out of the pedestal and then having it. You just had to have enough hearts not to run out when you attempted to do so, so even if you found it quickly, you would need to clear a lot of shrines before "qualifying". You might be thinking of Skyward Sword which is the story of how the Master Sword was actually made, though I have to admit that's all fuzzy. I haven't played it since it came out on Wii.
I didn't think of it until sleeping on my/your comments after my post last night, but by pointing out the sword/Link/Zelda are all connected, you could say that both Link and the sword being greatly damaged at the same time is in some way symbolic.
TBH, my expectations from playing Nintendo games has always been that story means nothing, gameplay means everything, though this is more evident with Miyamoto in charge, less so as Aonuma gained traction. Majora's Mask is the most story-heavy Zelda I can think of, and it doesn't even have the Master Sword, doesn't happen in Hyrule and is somehow a fan favorite having been totally unshackled by conventions with Aonuma in the driver's seat. Link's Awakening was my first and still competes with OOT for favorite entry, same deal. Master Sword does not even exist in the game. So much for story conventions defining what makes a great Zelda. Gameplay always came first, and they just didn't have a gameplay-mandated reason to even consider nerfing it till now.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not rooting for a Master Sword that wears out and breaks and shit. But frankly I don't even give a crap whether its in the game at all, I care about the moment-to-moment gameplay. Put it this way, if the only thing they changed in BOTW was the Master Sword situation, it would still be a crappy unfinished Zelda. It's hardly the biggest problem in that game. If TOTK tightened up many of BOTW's flaws to produce a fantastic Zelda game, I don't think you should decide whether to skip it or not based on how the Master Sword works. Some of the most beloved Zelda's don't even have it, the series is defined by sinking hours in puzzles and exploring shit.
By the way, tossing that in that you don't like MK8 either just made you sound grumpy against new Nintendo games. I mean everyone has an opinion and they put out a lot of meh stuff with many nuances to discuss vs. earlier entries. But to say Mario Kart has been "poor" since GC and DS.....WHAT