We've all played games where the weapons, equipment, etc degraded in various ways. I have a very strong opinion of this since I've been playing games so long.
Ways of 'degrading' items:
1. Set number of uses. (Think secondary find-able weapons like the ninja stars in the original TMNT game or the entire Dead Rising game.) We'll call it "use it or lose it" from now on.
2. Durability that goes down with use over time. (S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl had a system like this, weapons would also jam on occasion in that game) Called "watch where you use it" from now on.
3. Durability that goes down with use over time, but infinitely repairable in some way or another. (Demon's Souls weapons would degrade at various rates, but spending souls would completely bring them back. Fallout 3 also used this model, as long as you had 'parts' from a similar weapon or piece of equipment) Affectionately called "repair addict" from now on.
4. Durability that goes down with use over time, but repairing has a limit. (Dark Age of Camelot model, where you could repair more times based on original item quality. quality and durability on items were intertwined.) Referenced as "finally broke at the worst possible time".
Now, I feel each has a place in the gaming world, but my major concerns arise when the developers implement them poorly.
1.) Use It Or Lose It: Simple, straight-forward, no surprises with this one. You know up front how many uses you're going to have so you can plan accordingly. The poor implementation of this comes into play when the number of uses aren't to your effective liking or they give you a large number, but near the end of a level for example. Sure I like having the 40 bolas right before I enter the lava boss in Star Tropics world 3, wait a minute, he's immune to my weapons and I have to defeat him with a jumping//timing puzzle? Fail.
2.) Watch Where You Use It: This one is very over-used in a lot of games, and as a player it always takes some getting used to. You find the Uber weapon, you're 3/4 the way through the level and you want to make sure you have enough of it for the battle at the end so you're still ratcheting through the sub-par ones to save up. Well, one of two things happen in most cases. A) You used it too much and left you hanging on the boss by having it break, or B) you barely used it to save it up, and you finish the level with most of it left leaving you to wonder how much easier that level would have been had you used it a bit more. Fun right?
3) Repair Addict: This one is very common, but problematic in it's implementation because developers seem to feel that if they give you a weapon that you can use forever it's either going to be getting repaired every 5 minutes, or it's going to cost you an arm and a leg in money or items to do so. Effectively making you the sole supporting 'godfather of the local blacksmiths kid's private schooling.
4) Finally Broke At The Worst Possible Time: I include this one for all the MMO players out there who've ever spent hours (years) finding that last piece of gear for your 'epic template'. It always seems to have that one little drawback of having a durability, and since it's a OTD (one time drop) it makes it all the more pleasant to think about. You've got your wicked weapon, you're a raid machine, you are primary DPS on the one boss you haven't killed yet, the monster is half-way dead, and your weapon breaks, effectively neutering you from the fight. Best part is, you can't repair or replace it meaning you're now the lucky little devil that gets to re-farm a whole new wardrobe to keep your stats up. Have fun with that.
In conclusion I prefer games that keep it simple. Realism with weapon degradation is a stretch on every level except on the Use it or lose it level and then only with some weapons like throwing stars, etc. I prefer developers to leave weapon degradation out of games unless they make it something that's done in passing or every so often, rather than consuming the thoughts of players.
Disagree? Have a comment or addition to my list? Please let me know!
-CadDad
