You can't kill enemies as easily with these, but they're enough to get you out of most scraps.
However, the player is given almost immediate access to a collection of renewable abilities. Picture a mechanic where players are given terrible weapons to start - swords, axes, and spears that break after three hits. Take, for instance, the idea of a cyclical weapon degradation system.
Ultimately, this approach is a savvy way to cultivate unique ideas before trying to bend them around IPs. In fact, much of their development philosophy is built around designing a mechanic first, then seeing what series that element fits. Their games live and die by just how well they sell on you on an individual gameplay element, and how well that element fits a game. Nintendo is a company that values, above all, mechanics.
