Breakable Weapons: Difference between revisions

If you're lucky, there will be ways to repair or reinforce your equipment before the durability expires. If not, you had better have a spare on hand, or be good with your bare fists.

 

 

Occasionally, the [[Infinity+1 Sword]] has infinite uses, often because a boss would be impossible to defeat without that weapon. If the designers feel like making things ''really'' difficult, it will have exactly one use (and promptly become [[Too Awesome to Use]]).

 

If you can break weapons before even ''getting'' them, it falls under [[Destroyable Items]].

{{examples}}

 

* In ''[[GURPS]]'' guns will jam on a bad roll and this becomes more likely if the weapon is not cleaned regularly or is poor quality.

** Shooting without pausing can cause the same problems but heavier barrels warp more slowly and cooling systems allow for basically unlimited fire so long as they work.

** Melee weapons can break when struck with optional rules.

* ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' has had this trope since the beginning, and broken weapons usually cannot be repaired. This is the case for ''every'' unit, even ones without physical weapons (such as healers and mages). Even the legendary weapons have limited durability (except in ''[[Fire Emblem Tellius|Path of Radiance]]''). Certain games have repairable weapons (that when broken gain a statset and a name of "Broken Sword"), but most of the time if a weapon breaks it's gone. One interesting piece is that weapons have always had a fixed number of uses (A "Steel Sword" will always break after exactly 35 hits), rather than random rolls or a a "durability" stats that goes down at an unknown rate, and that Fire Emblem generally has limited money, making money management another factor of the game's strategy. As a general rule, cheaper weapons and staves have more uses, and are still quite effective in the right hands, so it's strategic to have run-of-the-mill equipment as a back-up for fights\heals that don't need the good stuff.

** Spell books are also afflicted. Even worse, if you miss with a spell or staff, it still loses durability. Weapons don't.

* The weapons in ''[[Ryu ga Gotoku|Yakuza]]'' are breakable, as per its focus on hand-to-hand combat.

* Weapons in ''[[Dead Rising]]'' tend not to last very long, largely because one of the game's main features is the fact you're in a shopping mall stuff ''full '' of potential weapons, so the breakages encourage you to grab something new on a regular basis.

* ''[[Dark Cloud]]'' and its sequel feature '''Breakable Weapons''', and "Repair Powder" to restore the weapons' HP.

** In the first game, any weapon that dropped to zero HP broke and disappeared ''forever'', save for each character's default, starting weapon (and one [[Sword of Plot Advancement]], which itself became breakable afterwards). Even if you spent forty hours building up and evolving your weapons to forge the [[Infinity+1 Sword]], if it hit zero HP, it's gone. Forever. The only way to get it back is to reload your previous save file, assuming you haven't [[Rage Quit|thrown your PS2 out the window]] yet.

** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword|Skyward Sword]]'' gives us breakable shields with their own health meters lowered by improperly deflected attacks (and for the wood shield, being set on fire). A damage shield can be repaired by [[Gadgeteer Genius|Gondo]] or using a special potion that's poured on the shield, and the Divine Shield [[Regenerating Health|fixes itself over time]], but a broken shield is gone entirely. Gondo can also [[Item Crafting|upgrade]] your shields to make them more durable. {{spoiler|The [[Infinity+1 Sword|Hylian Shield]] you can only win in a [[Boss Rush]] is indestructible.}} The sword isn't easily destroyed, being of [[Forged by the Gods|divine origin]], but the shields can be destroyed if subject to too much abuse. This forces the player to time their shield bashes well so as to keep the shield meter up. {{spoiler|Ghirahim's [[BFS]] in the final fight against him is also breakable when attacked in the same spot several times from the right angle. Better do it quick though, or he'll just magically repair it.}}

** All weapons (including bows) and shields in [[The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild|Breath of the Wild]] break after a limited number of uses, although it is sometimes possible to avoid using them by instead attacking with Remote Bombs, or by swinging metal objects around with Magnesis. The Master Sword also recovers after a while.

** Except for clothes, which turn into unattractive "rags". You can still wear them—no nudity allowed, even the cartoon variety—but they don't look good.

** In ''[[The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall|Daggerfall]]'', only weapons wore with use, to be repaired at a shop, while your armor remained spotless. Enchanted items that wore with "Use" could not be repaired without tweaking the game's *.cfg file. Starting with ''[[Morrowind]]'', magic drain/recharge and physical wear/repair were isolated from each other as item properties.

* In most [[Wrestling Game]]s, all weapons, from broomsticks to steel chairs to sledgehammers, break after you hit somebody with them [[Rule of Three|three times]]. This convention started with games like ''[[WWF]] Wrestlefest'' and ''Saturday Night Slam Masters'', and continues to be used today.

* ''[[SaGa Frontier 2]]'' has this. Each weapon is good for so many hits (except for rare/special weapons) and you must repair them at certain shops to continue reusing them. This is because the game universe allows people to use magic...as long as they're using "natural" weapons. As a result, the weapons are made of things like wood and stone. In fact, {{spoiler|one main character is unable to use magic at all, and as a result discovers the incredible offensive properties of ''iron'', which does not allow magic use, but absolutely destroys an army armed with natural weapons and magic.}}

* In ''[[Jade Empire]]'', your character's personal weapons are [[Unbreakable Weapons]], but you can also pick up legs from broken tables and other improvised weapons, which break after a certain number of uses.

** The game's sequel was a bit nicer, having all weapons unbreakable unless a certain Sealstone was used, which also boosts their attack power by 300%. Odd, somehow in the time between the beginning of the two games, the ability for Normals to make unbreakables was lost.

*** [[Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume|Covenant of the Plume]] does away with this entirely, though it makes sense - it's only humans using human weapons, and many of them are soldiers or mercenaries who would know how to maintain their weapons between battles.

** However it is justified with the Crossbows and the bombs since they are ammo based weapons anyway.

** An Early on [[Infinity+1 Sword]] would be the Fire Crossbow which you win in a Minigame

* ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'' has multiple weapons that can be picked up that eventually cease to function. Some won't work anymore, but can still be thrown, while others simply vanish after some time or a certain number of uses. The hammer occasionally loses its head when you use it, making the handle completely useless, although the head can be thrown a few times with devastating results. Containers, which release additional items when damaged, basically count as breakable weapons since they can be broken open on enemies.

* Nonmagical metal weaponry early on in ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' would sometimes break on you without warning, justified because the first major quest of the game involved a "plague" upon all the iron coming out of the mines that supply most of the region, meaning much of the processed iron and steel goods in the area were constantly breaking because they were so weak. It sucked, but at least they had a ''reason''. Once you got magical weapons (and paying for them at low level was like drinking gold dust) it wasn't an issue.

* A rare few blades in ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' also would break easily, simply because they weren't meant for combat or were in extremely poor shape—things like steak knives, rusted blades, and so on.

** Don't forget the Glass Gauntlets! (Er, Shards of Fate.)

* Free MMO ''Voyage Century Online'' does not allow repairs to the basic starter versions of weapons, nor to any versions of the various tools used to perform crafts. Not much of an issue because starter weapons are extremely cheap and replaceable at any blacksmith, and the basic versions of tools are much the same. More advanced versions of tools last so long before wearing out that it's rarely a major inconvenience to go back and replace them. Repairing more advanced equipment can be a pain if you do not know how to make the item in the first place, meaning you'll be lowering the item's max durability even as you fix it up, meaning it'll break more easily next time, and blacksmiths will do much the same with advanced equipment.

* A major part of the ''[[Way of the Samurai]]'' series of games on PS2. Aside from only being able to carry 3 different swords at a time, each could have different durability stats that represented how much stress the blade was under. Each attack raised the red bar a little, though extremely powerful attacks, some instant kill attacks, and blocking heavy attacks added lots of stress. Hitting the limit dropped the durability one point, making it easier to break again. Losing all durability generally meant the end of the weapon, particularly painful considering the upgrading you can have done to a blade, and that skills you know and attacks automatically blocked are unique to the sword used to acquire them.

* In ''[[STALKER]]: Shadows of Chernobyl'' all conventional firearms wear out from prolonged use. The lower the weapon's durability, the more likely it is to jam, necessitating a lengthy reload (not a happy prospect in the middle of a firefight). Weapons with a durability of less than 30% become practically unusable.

* In the ''[[Monster Hunter]]'' series weapons become duller the more they are used. However, one can buy an item (or gather them from the environment) and resharpen the weapon back to it's original form during hunts. Also, when the weapon loses all its sharpness, it is still usable, albeit very weak.

** Rather bizarrely, you also have to sharpen blunt weaponry to the same effect.

* In ''[[Condemned]]: Criminal Origins'', most melee weapons would last forever if you wanted them to, with the sole exception of firearms used as melee weapons in order to prolong the inevitable invocation of the Law of Conservation of Ammo. In ''Condemned 2: Bloodshot'', -all- weapons degrade and eventually break if used in any form of melee combat, especially blocking. Whether it's to encourage [[Good Old Fisticuffs]] or keep you scrounging for weapons is unknown.

* In ''[[Def Jam Series|Def Jam: Fight for NY]]'', participants can get their hands on any number of nifty weapons, from [[Batter Up|baseball bats]] to beer bottles to barbed-wire-wrapped 2x4s, all of which break after 1-5 hits. This even applies to the rare (and devistating) chrome tube and lead pipe, though they don't actually ''break'' - once you hit the limit, the item bends over the opponent's head.

* The ''[[Streets of Rage]]'' series has all weapons vanish after a certain number of hits, but a certain exploit in the some of the games can make the weapons' durability gauge refill again, basically renewing them. If an enemy picks up a weapon dropped by the player, its durability will be near full once the player take the weapon back.

* ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'' has a few breakable items, mostly due to them being of flimsy make, like the Palm-Frond Whip. Usually they have an advantage to offset their fragility; the whip, for example, deals a ridiculous amount of bonus damage when it hits.

* From the page quote, ''[[Silent Hill Origins]]'' and also ''[[Silent Hill 4]]''. The golf clubs snapping after a few hits was particularly irritating.

* In ''[[Drakan]]'', only the weakest weapon is indestructible.

* ''[[Betrayal at Krondor]]'' has a curiously rare system where the weapons' and armors' effectiveness (measured in percents) degrades gradually over use instead of going from 100% to snapped in half in one sudden moment. A sword in 73% condition will only do 73% of the normal damage. It employs a similar system for people - when you get injured, all of your skills will temporarily drop in proportion to the injury. Whetstones and hammers for repairing gear exist, though they also degrade over use.

** A bug in the game's code made the displayed condition of the weapon or armor independent of its actual use; a sword will do the same damage at 10% as it does at 100%, and a suit of armor prevents just as much damage at 35% as it does at 100%. The only in-game effect for the durability is for crossbow strings (which ''will'' break randomly, based on the condition of the string and render the weapon unusable) and selling looted or obselete armor to shops.

*** Components of one "[http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Weapon_repair_kit Weapon Repair Kit]": Three pieces of Scrap Metal. Two bottles of Wonderglue. Two Wrenches. One pile of Scrap Electronics. And of course, a spool of [[Duct Tape for Everything]]!

* Partially done in the [[PlayStation 2]] ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' game ''Chaos Bleeds''. A shovel, for example, will eventually snap (including if you bash it against a wall enough times), but since vamps are weak to wood, you can just pick up the handle and keep using it until it snaps again and makes a standard-sized stake, which you can then keep using until it is completely worn away. Metal weapons like swords never break, though.

* ''[[EVE Online]]'', believe it or not. If you overheat your modules, they will shortly start to incur heat damage, too much heat damage and the module(s) will go offline; you will either need to drop by a station with a repair facility and pay to have them repaired, or use some (expensive) nanopaste if that is not an option. Assuming you don't (or can't) overheat your modules, however, the only way for them to get damaged is to be in or on a ship when it goes boom...

** It should be noted that like all things in [[EVE Online]] this is a tradeoff. Modules that can be overheated will often give some addition boot. (range, [[Ro F]], Damage, etc) Additionally, keeping somewhat accurately to science, heat will "spread randomly" to other modules. So, one tactic used is to have an offline modules to act as a "heat sink" to run your other modules hotter longer.

** The game's sentient [[Empathic Weapon|"spirit" weapons"]] follow a slightly different mechanic. They also wear out and break; but have a much higher maximum durability, which can be increased. Unlike ordinary weapons, spirit weapons are repaired by the owner, using a more complex process, and the chance of a failed repair is dependent on several factors. A "spirit weapon repair potion" is available through the premium (cash) shop which eliminates the normal repair process, and the risk of losing durability.

* Capcom's ''[[Shadow of Rome]]'' for the [[PlayStation 2]]. Weapons in both the gladiator and stealth sections would break with enough use. [[Justified Trope|Justified though,]] since if they didn't break, any fight would become trivial when the [[BFS|Magnus]] lands in the arena.

** There is also equipment referred to under a blanket term as Barrows Equipment. There exists some incredibly powerful melee, ranged and magic equipment that belonged to immensely powerful warriors of days gone by, and you can go graverobbing to get your hands on some. They're the best weapons in the game...Usually. However, after about 15 hours of combat, they break, and require you to pay through the nose to repair. The PVP equipment released rather recently takes this a step further - Powerful to the point of bordering on being a [[Game Breaker]], but they're rare, expensive, and once used for an hour in combat, it's [[Lost Forever]]. Jagex then took it to the ultimate extreme with the Hand Cannon. It's an uncommon weapon with annoying-to-get ammo, but under the right conditions, it can hit right up to 60 HP (and in a game where the maximum HP is 99, this is a big deal). However, seeing what trope we're in here, it should be obvious what it's issue is - Due to the [[Sarcasm Mode|brilliant dwarven craftsmanship]], it can violently, and without warning, explode in your face. The 16 damage to your health will heal. The sheer fury of the weapon you were having so much fun destroying people with being suddenly [[Lost Forever]] will stay with you far, far longer...

* In ''[[Muramasa: The Demon Blade]]'', your swords will break and become useless for attacking and defending if you use them too much for blocking or using special moves. They can, however, be repaired if you keep them in your sheath for a while.

** The fact that you can switch between three equipped blades and the two not in use regenerate (faster if not broken) makes this less of an issue, though you won't have access to durability-draining special moves if you block too much.

* This is a very prominent [[Scrappy Mechanic]] in the ''[[Resident Evil]]'' clone ''[[Koudelka]]''. Breakable weapons do not show up in its sequels, the ''[[Shadow Hearts]]'' series.

** Guns in Koudelka don't break. They just use ammo from a limited ammo supply and must be reloaded once the clip's empty. Every bit as scrappy a mechanic, though. So much so that it's generally less of a ball-ache to have Koudelka spam magic and the other two characters use their fists. All the time.

* Items break at seemingly random in ''[[Albion]]''. There's no durability, just usable items, and broken weapons. Some items are found broken, and must be repaired before use.

* Melee weapons in ''[[Arcanum]]'' can be damaged if used on hard, hot, or corrosive objects (e.g., doors, chests, fire elementals, or certain slimy things). Certain weapons such as axes or hammers are more resistant to damage, but some enemies are still better dealt with from a distance.

** With the exception of [[Removable Turret Gun|detached turrets]], anything that doesn't use physical projectiles can and will run out of juice and become nothing more than a slightly interesting bludgeon. Everything else can be reloaded or [[Bottomless Magazines|never needs to be]].

** Vehicles will take damage to a certain point before exploding in a [[Every Car Is a Pinto|fiery ball of death]] for all passengers or nearbystanders, but will not be reduced in performance or capacity for destruction. Damage is even received by running into too many other players, which makes sense, as [[One-Man Army|Spartans]] are essentially [[Powered Armor|walking tanks]] with [[Deflector Shields|shields]].

* ''[[Vagrant Story]]'', true to its nature, has a rather complicated example. Weapons in Vagrant Story have durability. Durability decreases with use, and when it reaches 0 the weapon is weakened by 1/2. The durability can then only be restored at one of the various workshops in the game. This drains the weapon's PP by the number of durability points that are restored. PP, which grows from use of the weapon, will cause the weapon to deal double damage when it is maxed out. On top of that, there is at least one skill that partially restores durability in the middle of combat.

* In ''[[Scott Pilgrim (video game)|Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game]]'', every weapon in the game will break after enough uses. ''Every'' weapon. Even the {{spoiler|[[Infinity+1 Sword|Power of Love sword]]}}, although it does have a very impressive number of uses before it fails.

* In ''[[Assassin's Creed II]]'', certain moves with the polearm will cause Ezio to break it.

* In ''[[Dead State]],'' improvised weapons have a chance to break whenever they're used—the kitchen knife even has an attack that deliberately breaks the blade off in the wound in order to cause a guaranteed critical and bleeding damage—but survivors are encouraged to carry an unbreakable weapon too, like a baseball bat.

* In ''[[Point Blank (2008 video game)|Project Blackout]]'', weapons have a set number of uses. When they run out, the weapon disappears and you need to buy a new one.

* In ''[[Arx Fatalis]]'', every hit damages the weapon as well, and hitting something hard, like armor, bone, or wall, only increases this damage. Repairing lowers max durabilty, to avoid this you can repair it at the blacksmith. Weapon, however, will be fully functional until the end, when it (according to the following sound) is ''pulverized''. Furthermore, buying or repairing weapon at blacksmith is virtually the only way to get non-damaged weapon; pieces you loot are generally in bad condition, due to being used. However, "generic" weapons with no bonuses can be enchanted with one of several magic ingredients, one of which makes them undestructible. Finally, any [[Mithril]] sword is unbreakable by design.

* In ''[[Dark Souls]]'', all weapons (and armor) degrade slowly with use. Certain enemy abilities cause durability damage on your items, and some weapons allow you to use a powerful special attack at the cost of rapidly degrading the weapon's condition. Fortunately everything can be repaired relatively easily aside from the frail and unrepairable Crystal items.

** One notable exception is the Dragon Tooth hammer which will never break. This is because the Dragon Tooth is literally the tooth of one of the everlasting dragons, whose bones and scales are indestructible even if they themselves could be slain.

* Some weapons and items in the ''[[Golden Sun]]'' series had a secondary function that could be used in or out of battles, such as a weapon that blinds enemies or an accessory that restores HP upon use. Using these functions one too many times causes the item to be broken, but all it does is render the secondary function useless and you can get broken items fixed for a small fee.

* In ''[[The Tower of Druaga]]'', though pickaxes can't actually be used as weapons, they will break if you use them on outer walls or, except with the Golden Pickaxe, when used on too many walls on the same floor. Breaking your pickaxe obviously isn't good, but since [[Guide Dang It|the puzzles in this game tend to be anything but obvious]], there's a floor where you need to break the Copper Pickaxe to get the Silver Pickaxe.

* In ''[[Escape Velocity]]'' it's possible to [[Game Mod|design outfits]] that wear out after a given amount of time by putting together two oütf resources (one for the good version, one for the bad version) and a crön resource (a time delay) that replaces one with the other. ''EV Nova's'' in-game example is the black-market versions of the Fission Reactor (which breaks down after a few months) and the Thorium Reactor (which becomes an explosion waiting to happen).

* ''[[Space Rangers]]'' has a similar example in that all equipment wears out if used (so you repair bot will not wear out if your hull doesn't need repair, and weapons don't wear out if you don't fire). Also, if something is broken enough, it starts malfunctioning—for example, the fuel tank starts leaking, making you waste fuel, and sufficiently damaged engine will slow you down to a crawl.

* In ''[[Shintolin]]'', all weapons can break, from simple sticks to ivory spears. This is justified to the extent that all the weapons are made with sticks, which tend to break when struck against something/one.

* Nearly every melee weapon longer than a knife in ''[[Resident Evil Outbreak]]'' will eventually break unless in [[Bottomless Magazines]] mode is enabled.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Video Game Items and Inventory]]

[[Category:Weapons and Wielding Tropes]]