Sunday, March 17All That Matters

Unpopular Opinion: Oblivion’s lockpicking is better than Skyrim’s. Yes, it was tedious as hell but I’d argue that’s the whole freaking point, especially if you’re RPing as a Thief and/or Assassin


Unpopular Opinion: Oblivion’s lockpicking is better than Skyrim’s. Yes, it was tedious as hell but I’d argue that’s the whole freaking point, especially if you’re RPing as a Thief and/or Assassin



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28 Comments

  • Mandrivnyk_703

    It was an awesome one but died down so quick once you gain Nocturnal favor and suddenly is all auto attempt.

    Still. This lockpicking outclassed Skyrim/Fallout lockpicking without trying.

  • xARCHETYPEx

    Skyrim is an improvement in nearly every way. The lockpicking is one of very few exceptions. I’m fairly certain that most of us prefer Oblivion’s system.

  • Reasonabledwarf

    I always thought that it was a shame that it paused the game when you started picking a lock. No chance of being discovered really takes the fun out of it.

  • Prometheus720

    Playing Skyrim for the first time, the difficulty felt somewhat appropriate.

    Playing it a second time, it was ludicrously easy to just open tons of locks that were way above my character’s skill level, with minimal lockpicks.

    Also, I really don’t find the idea of broken lockpicks being the main punishment for failure. I really enjoy stealth games and I’d find it much more fun for *time* to be the major factor, in that you increase your risk of being seen.

    Nobody in real life carries 100 lockpicks. That is super stupid. I’m ok with them occasionally breaking but carrying like 5 should be plenty, and losing one should be a horrible feeling.

  • ericplankton

    %100 agree. I’m even gonna go ahead and say Oblivion is better than Skyrim overall. Almost all of the side quest is golden and you can actually play something other than stealth archer. Besides I geniunely love Oblivion’s goofy little world.

  • ohesaye

    I played Oblivion so much, I was able to catch the pins on even the hardest locks in one or two goes without perks or anything. I feel like a combination of Skyrim and Oblivion’s system would be neat, where you have to fish around a bit.

    Oblivion’s pin jump speed is in a pattern, there’s not a force feedback system. They alternate from fast to slow, you’re supposed to rely on slow to catch them. Skyrim’s twisty system has force, but its just positional. Combine it into a more three-dimemsional mini game should be fun, interesting, and a challenge. Or may even too tough.

    Kingdom Come’s system is also 2D, but I don’t really like it. It is more involved, but a little too sensitive. It’s abstract. It’d be more neat to have a 3D cutaway of a lock to manipulate than just a graphical representation of a concept.

  • HeadhunterKev

    After almost 20 years I still don’t know how to do it. Hit some up and right-click. Don’t know, always did auto attempt.

  • Rustlin_Jimmie

    Nothing tedious about a fun minigame

    And I would agree that finding the random angle in a 270° arc is less fun than actually simulating lockpicking

  • Bright_Economics8077

    Hotter take: they should reuse both, and perhaps a third, to simulate different kinds of locks and lock difficulty.

    The Skyrim one is nice because its quick but just enough of a challenge to stop you from zoning out into mindless clicking. For your everyday burglary from ordinary people, it’s perfect. The Oblivion one is harder and just takes longer – great for questline locks and stealing from richer people with more valuable goods. I’d like a third to be more magic-flavoured for when you’re robbing powerful mages and ancient tombs.

  • PseudoKirby

    Unpopular Opinion: Oblivion’s ~~lockpicking~~ is better than Skyrim’s. Yes, it was __awesome__ as hell but I’d argue that’s the whole freaking point, especially if you’re RPing~~as a Thief and/or Assassin~~

  • Zaelus

    There’s a specific clink sound that it makes when the pin is going to stick at the top for a second. If you listen for that sound, you can pick any lock in the game even at skill level 1.

    It’s been years since I played it, but from what I remember, the typical clink sounds were just single clinks, but that special one was kind of like… “clinkCLINK” really fast, two little sounds together. All you had to do was listen for that, and hit the button immediately afterward. Guaranteed success.

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