Lockpicking was a pain in the patoot in Oblivion for me, especially with my hours of lockpicking in Fallout 3. I much appreciate the change to the Fallout-esque feel. I feel quite at home with it and it is, at least for me, a lot easier. How about you guys? Which do you prefer?

I could pick every lock no matter the level on the first time, every time, in Oblivion simply by listening to the clicks. This lockpicking in Skyrim is more like luck than anything. The higher level locks break if you mess up twice, but it's impossible to know where to guess so you can't be skilled at it, you can only get lucky.

I don't mind it enough to complain, it just means a lot more picks get bought.

I like both versions.

At first I was really lousy with the Oblivion lockpicking minigame, but now I think I'm pretty good. And it is kind of fun.

Skyrim uses basically the same system as in Fallout 3. So after having played Fallout 3 for a while, it's pretty familiar too.

It's hard to say which I like better, if I had to pick a lockpicking minigame I'd probably pick Oblivion's. But it's close.

I'm just glad they don't have Oblivion's speech mini-game in Skyrim.

It's the Eight, Talos worshipping scum! ---The Thalmor

On topic though, yeah, I agree with you. I HATED Oblivion's lock picking system.

Better than Oblivion ....? You've got to be joking !

What was wrong with Oblivion's lockpicking? I liked it a lot but I have to say I like even more about Skyrim's lockpicking - it doesn't matter that it was easier to pick lock without breaking any lockpick in Oblivion.

I hated Oblivion lock picking. Auto-attempt FTW.

I prefer Skyrim's lockpicking. It feels more realistic to me.

Um, that;s saying it is like Oblivion.

I'm thinking this thread isn't not pointless.

Also, that sentence is redundant, too.

i wish they would have implemented the part from fallout where if you screw up more than three times it breaks the lock permanently. even if you could just exit and re-enter lockpick mode it would make it a bit harder to pick any lock even at low levels like it is now. why they didnt include perk/skill requirements for harder locks is beyond me that would have made lockpicking perks worth it.

It was even easier in Oblivion once you knew the minigame. Those Very Hard locks didn't stand a chance vs. my level 15 Lockpicking skill!

In Skyrim, yeah, it's more luck-based, but the skill-level and perks are still taken into consideration - The higher your skill level, the more "wiggle-room" you have with the locks, meaning you break fewer and find the general location of the right spot faster - like it should be. Perks increase the size of the correct spot of the locks.


The only other thing that "Can't be done" without the right perks is forging armor, but even then, you can still upgrade any item in the game - Anything can be done at any level in Skyrim - you just have to work harder if your skill level is lower. In order for them to make locks require perks to pick is by making all Dungeon locks (Ones warriors and Mages would come across) that lack keys be no higher quality than the highest "Anyone can pick" locks.

Breaking the lock permanently is just bad design choice all around.

I like both. I love the Fallout 3 style of lockpicks in Skryim though. Much more what i imagined lockpicking to be with lockpicks being hair trigger sensitive and very fragile to pressure.

The lockpicking in Skyrim IS better than Oblivion. It was taken straight from FO3 because it was recognised that it was good as a lot of people found it more immersive, intuitive and realistic. It doesn`t feel like a mini game.

The Oblivion lockpicking didn`t feel immersive at all. It felt awkward and not intuitive.

My only gripe with lockipicking in Skyrim is that it`s too easy to pick locks that you should not be able to.

Skyrim lock picking is way easier than Oblivions. Its so easy its just a waste of time and the perk tree is a joke as a result.

I'm with you,I was horrible at Oblivions lock picking.
I'm alot better with Skyrims lock picking.

Not for me it's not... I break thrice as many lockpicks on an Expert Lock in Skyrim than I do in Oblivion - In any new game, I break ten locks per pick.

Now, if only they could merge the lock-picking minigames, so that it wasn't just one-pick-one-lock.

nothing wrong with having areas inaccessible to warriors and mages if they dont have the required lockpick perks. critical areas like quest doors or chests would have keys that you could obtain or some other way to open them. fallout 3 and fallout NV had many areas inaccessible if you didnt have enough science or lockpicking skill. it just meant you had to find a key or password somewhere else or you just didnt get those goodies on that playthrough.

i would like to see some areas of the game inaccessible to anyone but a character that had the required perks sort of like how the mages guild would only open up the questlines for the master level spells when you got to the required level. there should be areas only strong mages could get to and only tough warriors could get to. being able to do everything on a single playthrough removes alot of incentive for mutliple playthroughs.

But, the areas that should be inaccessible to mages and warriors are those in towns, not in dusty crypts beneath the earth.

+1

No. It means your character actually needs to be good at lockpicking. Not just based on player skill. You should have to perk in lockpicking to make it work well. Makes sense.

Hey, look, a troll! Fireball to face!

i felt helpless against the oblivion locks. i went online and read many posts with helpful hints. i watched countless youtube vids. i understood what all these people where instructing, but for the bloody life of me i could never implement it myself. it was very embarrassing... the old hand/eye coordination is not what it use to be. oh, so yes, i prefer skyrims lock picking mini. even if its just for the fact that it doesn't make me wanna chuck the game off a tall building... i know, lame right? ah, it feels good to get that off my chest. admitting it is the first step!

Yes it works in good way. I'm not using perk points for lockpicking because I'm not the style of player who enjoys to play with thief-like characters. I still like to pick locks and I always keep a few more lockpicks with me to be sure I'm able to open even master locks. Anyway there's one thing I miss from Oblivion. When I picked locks in Oblivion I sometimes liked to close my eyes and do it only by hearing the sound of lock. It's not possible to do in Skyrim so I miss it.

are you talking about people houses and chests? if so then yes they should also be inaccessible to someone without the required perks/skills. unless its quest related of course then there should be an alternate way of getting in. its not unheard of there was a quest for the thieves guild that gave you three different options for how to get into a house. you could talk/bribe, do a quest to gain access or sneak/pickpocket his keys and sneak in.

there were areas in the fallout games that i couldnt get to because i didnt have enough skill. i couldnt wait to get to them on my next playthrough or come back when i was high enough level in that playthrough. its like when you get a candy bar and your all excited to open it up. for me at least its adds an incentive to come back to an area that i would never bother coming back to and also to make another playthrough. i feel the same way about speech checks. i wish those were done more like fallouts as well. as it is now you can bribe your way out of all of them except for the mages guild one.