Variety in Design

 

I have, once again, returned to Breath of the Wild. Every time I try to play other video games I just wind back up here. It’s an ongoing thing. I’m done with fighting it. I may just play Breath of the Wild until I die at this rate. 

So don’t take this post as “How did I get here??” sorta a rant. I’m taking stock. Trying to understand the terrain. I’ll be here awhile. May as well understand what I enjoy.

Breath of the Wild balances four finite resources: health, stamina, items, and time. Any action in the game demands at least one of these resources. Success in the game is measured by how few of these resources you consume on a given action. Each of these resources have different rules. Managing these resources is key to the game.

Health is the most draconian of the resources: you only get so much, and it doesn’t regen naturally, requiring you to rest, eat, and drink potions.

Or, y’know, just don’t get hit!

Yeah, about that.

Health is there to punish you for sucking at the game. You figure I’d want more of it, but it actually makes the game boring for me. So I don’t increase it beyond Divine Beast hearts. That keeps combat tense and makes me avoid pitched battles unless I have a good plan or overwhelming advantage. Which I usually don’t.

Stamina is limited, but regens. It also takes up resources if you want it back faster. It’s there to force you to plan and scheme. It also sets a hard limit so you can figure what’s reasonable to attempt and what you may actually be able to barely pull off. If something costs that automatically makes it more interesting, as constriction of choices naturally leads to creativity. I usually increase stamina every chance I get, because the fun part of the game (exploring) keeps getting more fun, especially once you see that each stamina increase gets you that much farther.

Items are there to help you cheat the other three resources. You use food to get back health, potions to do a variety of actions, and almost always to cut down on time. But items aren’t given to you straight usually, and almost all of them have limited usage before you have to go and find more. So you look for more.

Which means you have to engage with hearts, stamina, and time.

Oops.

Time is the one resource that isn’t strictly delineated by the game, nor does it have to be. Everything has a time  cost, from walking a few steps to going around a hill when it’s raining. While items help somewhat with time there’s two different mechanics for time management: saves and game overs. Both of these help you contextualize the time you spent on the game.

I think a thing that hooks me is none of these resources are separate. They all interconnect. They all inform my experience in a way that I have some (but not total!) ability to control. Breath of the Wild doesn’t dictate to me how to interact with these resources, but it does respond to my decisions via those things.

It’s a part of why I keep coming back.