Skyrim: Why can't I bust this door down?

neverarine

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TopazFusion said:
The lockpick minigame in Skyrim took me by surprise.
When I first saw it, I thought "oh it's just like Fallout 3, this is gonna be easy!"

Yeah, it wasn't easy ...
realy? i thought it was a joke... i would pick expert locks with 1 lockpick and a level 5 lockpicking...

oblivions lockpicking was a pain... i miss Morrowinds style for its simplicity though...
 

SajuukKhar

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neverarine said:
i miss Morrowinds style for its simplicity though...
Morrowind's lock pick was weird... it was just... stick your hand out and do a twisting motion..... you may fail or not randomly.
 

Smeggs

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I figured it was because the inside of the buildig is another area, which is why the game has to load when you enter.

If you blew the door down, what would you see inside? The game would still have to load the inside of the house when you entered anyway, so what is the point?
 

Neonit

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open lock spells? yeah, i recall them from morrowind. i also recall spellcrafting.

one of the first spells that i crafted in every mage walkthrough was open 100pts on touch. it basically added an extra button click needed to open locked stuff. removing any point of lockpicks and corresponding skill.

guess thats why they got rid of it.

to me, its logical from gameplay standpoint. as a roleplay warrior you have an armor, and a lot of hp, you should endure most attacks. as a roleplay mage, you have healing and protection spells. as a rogue, you have money, to buy potions, poisons and scrolls. how do you get money? well, from the locked chests of course!

there are mods, if you chose to use them, and if you cant - well, its your fault for picking a TES game on console, everyone would tell you thats a bad idea....
 

josemlopes

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Scrustle said:
I didn't realise they took the open lock skill away from Skyrim. I knew they took several spells away, but I didn't notice that particular one. For all the improvements they made they really goofed on the spell selection. No idea why they did that. That aspect of the game was kind of disappointing. Even though the lock picking mini-game in Skyrim is actually pretty fun, picking locks is not something a mage does. They use magic.

As for the door bashing down thing, I have no idea. I started with Morrowind so I never knew it was even an option. Sounds like a cool feature. People always complain about how you can't just bash down doors in games, and doing so could cause unique consequences so it's not like it's redundant.

But if anyone says that consoles are at fault they can go fuck themselves. There's no reason why you wouldn't be able to do something like that on a console.
Maybe its because they keep the interiors out of the main world, I think (I assume this because of the loadings when using doors, I cant really confirm on it)


It would be a cool feature, and now that I think of it Fable had it lol
 

cerebus23

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you successfully bash the door in the game says grats and loads the next area while you get some slow mo door smashy scene?

then you get mauled by every npc in the place when you enter since breaking a door down is not exactly stealthy.

more choices were good look at fallout 1 and 2 how many different ways those games could be played, hell even how the dialogue shifted based on your int, village idiot to stephen hawking.

now days since games have to be voice acted that takes out the oh so simple branching text trees, games cannot do things so varied and fancy.

stripping out game mechanics is either lazy, or the engine cannot handle it period. since mods let you bash stuff and cast open lock spells then i chalk it up to laziness, maybe just not wanting to bother to add and extra flag or two to doors with values like str req to bash, or have flags that set bashable and unbashable doors.
 

Scrustle

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josemlopes said:
Maybe its because they keep the interiors out of the main world, I think (I assume this because of the loadings when using doors, I cant really confirm on it)


It would be a cool feature, and now that I think of it Fable had it lol
You're probably right, although I don't think it would be impossible to still have the feature in. They could just replace the model for the door with one that looks like it's smashed up a bit, like it's had the lock ripped apart. I think they could do something like that and still not have to render what's on the other side of the door. It doesn't have to be completely disintegrated.
 

Mariakko

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I started with Morrowind and I'm surprised to learn you could bash a door down in Daggerfall. I miss the Open Locks spell but mostly I miss the trapped doors and chests. Sure they have pressure plates and stuff now but I still want the game to try harder to kill me.
 

josemlopes

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Scrustle said:
You're probably right, although I don't think it would be impossible to still have the feature in. They could just replace the model for the door with one that looks like it's smashed up a bit, like it's had the lock ripped apart. I think they could do something like that and still not have to render what's on the other side of the door. It doesn't have to be completely disintegrated.
I see, yeah, that would work perfectually well actually.
 

Terminal Blue

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Lupus80 said:
I wonder why did they do this?
You clearly played Morrowind and Oblivion. Was there ever any point in taking lockpicking in those games?

When magic can do everything you could possibly need to do, there's no point doing anything else. By making it so that magic cannot do everything, non-magic skill can now be worthwhile.
 

Elf Defiler Korgan

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I really liked the lockpicking mini-game and how delicate you have to be with the hardest of locks.

Picks just instantly breaking though, that isn't at all realistic.

I would like the opportunity of "bugger this" if you have a two handed weapon. They take out the mighty axe or what not, and bash it down over 5-15 seconds. Which alerts everyone, but you get through.
 

l0ckd0wn

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nikki191 said:
sigh i miss daggerfall.. prowling the cities at night, avoiding the guards and shop keepers as i clean out shops and fill up my wagon
This, it made the art of being a thief/battlemage/assassin/etc. so much more appealing than it is now! One of my favorite things to do in Daggerfall would be to get my jump as high as I could and stay on the roof of the buildings as I pick off guards... Made it even more fun when you had a high archery and really high sneak.

I really don't get why they nerfed the options for breaking and entering... It fulfilled so many real life "heist" style fantasies with all the options... :-\

evilthecat said:
Was there ever any point in taking lockpicking in those games?

When magic can do everything you could possibly need to do, there's no point doing anything else. By making it so that magic cannot do everything, non-magic skill can now be worthwhile.
In those games, yes there was. In Morrowind specifically I'd always take the Tower Key so that I could gain access early off, from there it was then upping lockpicking as fast as you can to gain access to later game areas earlier off. I do see your point with the magic vs skill and the worthwhile argument, but even still if you were not a magic user you had one less option, and if you actually were trying to play as a thief or stealth character you only really had the ability of Tower Key or picking locks.
 

FootloosePhoenix

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Twilight_guy said:
Game designers made a design decision. For whatever reason they decided that wouldn't work in the game. Maybe because they felt it would make lockpicking into a useless skill when you can just bash everything open.
I don't think that would make lockpicking completely useless. By bashing down a door, you're sacrificing subtlety (well obviously) and if you're playing as a stealth character, you sure as heck don't want that. Plus you can't just smash a locked chest, at least not without destroying what's inside.

Garrett said:
I prefer to not be able to bust the doors open than to be killed by said doors.

First time playing Fallout (or Fallout 2, don't remember), first city I came across, there are these locked doors (I'm pretty sure they are unopenable without a key). I'm trying to lockpick them and trying, and trying, and trying, I finally epic failed and broken the lock. I got pissed, put some brass knuckles and punched the door. I was knocked back, knocked unconcious and lost 12 hp.

lol That reminds me of the very first time I played inFamous and a glitch caused me to die when I tried to beat up a dumpster. It made sense though considering Cole smashed his head against it. It would have been awesome if it wasn't just a freak thing I'd encountered and the designers had deliberately made that particular act of idiocy result in death.
 

Zantos

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kickassfrog said:
Zantos said:
It's one of the reasons I prefer playing tabletop D&D. In video games I've got the option to lockpick, or maybe try and persuade someone with a key. Tabletop "I want to tie this dead giant spider to a rope, tie the other end to the roof, and ride it through the door like a battering ram." "Roll a d20"

I can see how it works in DDO and other multiplayer games where they have to make sure each class has its perks and downsides, but in purely single player games are they worried that people not using one of the developer's builds will make them cry?
That does kick ass.
If only I knew anyone I could arrange to play tabletop games with.
It's so much easier to arrange if you sell it right. Many people don't realise most of it boils down to drinking with your friends and having a massive laugh. A few people have asked to join our game based solely on that description.
 

WanderingFool

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Judgement101 said:
Because locks are made from the finest ebony mined by the proud orcs.

Yeah, I got no idea. They need to have more games where you can just brute force your way though everything.
I wish there was more options to break open doors in games in general.
 

EnlightendDead

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Jaeke said:
EnlightendDead said:
Skyrim was dumbed down, no doubt, butthats why theres mods.
Want to break down a door? Mod.
Want to spell down a door? Mod.
Want to shout out of your ass? Mod.
Or... console commands?
I certainly wouldn't want to plug the crapper out of my PC just cause I can't open a door.
Console commands kinda ruin the point.
 

Sanshou

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The idea is that each archetype is supposed to have its strengths and weaknesses, they are trying to get rid of the view of the traditional three classes of the warrior, mage and thief. They want you to create you're own hybrid.

The issue is that the door bustin' ability would be factored into either your weapon skill or your health or stamina or whatever. All of these are skills that the thief would level up anyway as they progress, this makes the lockpicking skill redundant outside of hardcore RP circles.

Although the lack of the open lock spell is disappointing, typically I thought that the thief would pick the lock, the mage would magic the door open and the warrior would kill baddies for the key.

The issue is that there is so much overlap that it makes the harder/tedious option of lockpicking redundant.
 

Riddle78

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You on the computer? If so,there's a mod that allows you to bash open locks with one or two-handed weapons,with weapon skill requirements for harder locks. A Master lock needs level 60 Two-Handed,for example. It's on the Workshop and Nexus. If you're on a console,then I guess you're SoL.
 

Simonoly

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I always liked the approach KOTOR took to opening chests. You can either pick it to get all the items or smash it open with a lightsaber or vibroblade but with a high chance of destroying some of the items in the chest. It placed value on the lockpicking skill, but gave all play styles the opportunity to gain access to locked away loot albeit with a penalty attached.

With Skyrim I agree you should be able to smash down at least wooden doors. If weapon deterioration was still applicable I'd say that maybe if you smash a door open with your weapon it loses 50% of it's strength or something, so that lockpicking still has some value. I think you need some sort of penalty for instantly breaking open a door or chest instead of investing in lockpicks. Open-lock spells should really exist in vanilla Skyrim. They should have just made them high level (expert maybe master) spells for mages.