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Tears of the Kingdom, Part Thirteen
I eventually want to start writing about things I like in Tears of the Kingdom, but I have one last complaint I need to get off my chest: I do not like the weapon fusion mechanic.
As an ADHD person, I’m unfortunately very sensitive to processes that have a lot of extra steps, and the weapon fusion in Tears of the Kingdom is intense. This is what you need to do:
01. Open the weapon menu
02. Equip the weapon you want to fuse something to
03. Switch over to the item menu
04. Select the item you want to fuse to your weapon
05. Have Link hold one of that item
06. Exit out of the menu
07. Drop the item on the ground
08. Open the special abilities wheel
09. Select the weapon fusion ability
10. Select whether you want to fuse the item to your weapon or shield
This process isn’t actually that complicated in practice, but that’s a lot of steps. What I wish you could do is fuse items directly from the weapon menu (or from the shield menu), which would reduce these ten steps to three or four steps. Even for neurotypical people, I’d imagine that streamlining this essential process would make the game far less aggravating.
Another drawback to the clunkiness of the fusion system is that you can’t use it in the heat of battle. Unlike Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom frequently finds you fighting mobs of enemies. Since weapons break so quickly, what you usually need to do is grab weapons from staggered or defeated enemies in order to continue the battle. Not being able to strengthen the weapons you pick up during the fight is a major disadvantage, even after you’re armed to the teeth later in the game.
I’m playing Tears of the Kingdom as a wildlife photography simulator, so this doesn’t bother me as much as it could, but it’s still a disappointment not to be able to enjoy basic combat.
As an ADHD person, I’m unfortunately very sensitive to processes that have a lot of extra steps, and the weapon fusion in Tears of the Kingdom is intense. This is what you need to do:
01. Open the weapon menu
02. Equip the weapon you want to fuse something to
03. Switch over to the item menu
04. Select the item you want to fuse to your weapon
05. Have Link hold one of that item
06. Exit out of the menu
07. Drop the item on the ground
08. Open the special abilities wheel
09. Select the weapon fusion ability
10. Select whether you want to fuse the item to your weapon or shield
This process isn’t actually that complicated in practice, but that’s a lot of steps. What I wish you could do is fuse items directly from the weapon menu (or from the shield menu), which would reduce these ten steps to three or four steps. Even for neurotypical people, I’d imagine that streamlining this essential process would make the game far less aggravating.
Another drawback to the clunkiness of the fusion system is that you can’t use it in the heat of battle. Unlike Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom frequently finds you fighting mobs of enemies. Since weapons break so quickly, what you usually need to do is grab weapons from staggered or defeated enemies in order to continue the battle. Not being able to strengthen the weapons you pick up during the fight is a major disadvantage, even after you’re armed to the teeth later in the game.
I’m playing Tears of the Kingdom as a wildlife photography simulator, so this doesn’t bother me as much as it could, but it’s still a disappointment not to be able to enjoy basic combat.