A Naughty Dog developer has revealed that most beloved Zelda game in history, Breath of the Wild still contains gameplay elements that some players could do without. Although very different, both BOTW and the Uncharted series are critically-acclaimed adventure titles, and do share some of the same mechanics.
The Uncharted series follows treasure hunter Nathan Drake as he travels the world with various companions. Uncharted 4 follows Drake as he sets out with his brother to find the supposed pirate utopia Libertalia, taking them to locations like Scotland and Madagascar. Uncharted 4 added new elements to the famed series, including expanded climbing mechanics and a somewhat open world that could be explored. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild also features an open world, but the way Link traverses it is different from Nathan Drake. To do things like climbing, sprinting, or fighting Link must utilize stamina. Although the stamina bar in BOTW can be upgraded, its finite limits have been a source of frustration for many players.
In a recent Let's Play on the Couch Soup YouTube channel (via Eurogamer), Naughty Dog's Josh Scherr revealed that Uncharted 4: A Thief's End almost included a stamina bar not unlike BOTW's. Scherr stated that, "the long story short version of that is that we did all these interesting things with a stamina bar, trying to make it feel more challenging." However, these stamina elements were ultimately not included in the final version of the game, as developers felt it impacted the player experience too much and detracted from overall gameplay, with Scherr commenting:
"We didn't want to have people paying attention to stamina while they were also outrunning people shooting [at them] and all that kind of stuff. We wanted to keep everything quick and moving along."
Many Uncharted fans are undoubtedly relieved that this feature did not end up making its way into the franchise. Stamina is almost always a frustrating element to manage in any video game, especially ones so heavily reliant on exploration like Breath of the Wild. Although weapon durability is most likely BOTW players' biggest complaint about the game, the stamina bar is not far behind. For many veteran Uncharted players, the sudden addition of a stamina mechanic in the fourth mainline entry in the series could have been an incredibly unwelcome surprise.
Video game developers will always try new additions to their games in an attempt to make them more challenging, but it's important that fan expectations about the series be taken into . If new mechanics are going to be added, they need organically fit in with existing ones, and the decision by Naughty Dog to abandon a stamina meter for Uncharted 4: A Thief's End was likely the right one for players. As for Zelda fans, it's possible some of their frustrations with BOTW's stamina could be assuaged in the next Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild entry.
Source: Couch Soup/YouTube (via Eurogamer)
