Jump to content

Challenging lockpicking process


Please read the thread before voting  

231 members have voted

  1. 1. What do you think of this system ?

    • Very good, I want that !
      6
    • Not bad.
      16
    • Better than nothing.
      10
    • Nothing would be better than that !
      3
    • Don't care.
      8
    • Project Eternity becomes "Lockpicking: The Lockpickening" ? Just no.
      188
  2. 2. Suggestions ?

    • More complexity !
      9
    • Less complexity !
      117
    • More character skill influence !
      77
    • More player intelligence influence !
      38
    • More freedom of action !
      25
    • More guided process !
      7
    • The cake is a lie !
      89


Recommended Posts

This is way too complex!

Personally as long as they don't attach a minigame I'm OK with pretty much anything that involves at least some of my char's stats/skills/whatever. FO was awesome I must add, it was skillbased, and you had the alternatives of prying the door open with a crowbar (OF COURSE, depending on your STR), kickin' them down (STR and unarmed?), blowin' them up (explosives, though it didn't matter much), etc... just awesome.

Edited by Tychoxi
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Right. First things first requiring 4+ skills, that have no value on there own or in other context, to do one very specific thing is a very bad idea. It means I'd have to invest 4x the resources on that one activity to be just as good as I could be at any other. That's not really a tactically sound position and I think it would turn most people off lock picking.

 

You are obviously unaware of the possibilities of game balancing. You can scale up or down the xp required by any given skill to level up..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can't I just click on something, click on my character, select their lockpicking ability, click on the thing I want to open, and then hoard all the treasure for myself? Why does everything have to be so complicated? A lockpicking spell would be even less complicated, then you can just say "the magic did it" and be done.

image-163149-full.jpg?1348680770
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seems like this is a case of trying for a simulation.

Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can't I just click on something, click on my character, select their lockpicking ability, click on the thing I want to open, and then hoard all the treasure for myself? Why does everything have to be so complicated? A lockpicking spell would be even less complicated, then you can just say "the magic did it" and be done.

 

Why do you even want something to be locked ? Do you want a mode where nothing in the game is locked ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

God dammit, please just leave lockpicking to something like either Fallout or KOTOR. We don't need a bloody lockpicking minigame screwing with our flow!

FNV style would be the best i think. at most you can add the need for specific lockpick types for specific lock types but no more than that. let's say 3 diferent types of locks and 3 diferent types of picks if you have the right pick and the skill you can try to open the lock fallout style and that's it.

 

I agree, FNV style would be a good option to go with imo.

 

OP has suggested WAY too much depth and complexity for me regarding such a skill for this game, that even sounds like a tall ask to be implemented in a game where you basically play a thief, no party, that's it (kind of like what I imagine the Thief games may be like - not that I have played them).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I proposed a magic system less complicated than this and got shouted down for trying to turn PE into an alchemical lab simulator (which was a fair criticism).

 

I don't think this will fly.

 

But I would totally play Lockpicking: The Lockpickening

  • Like 2

God used to be my co-pilot, but then we crashed in the Andes and I had to eat him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Right. First things first requiring 4+ skills, that have no value on there own or in other context, to do one very specific thing is a very bad idea. It means I'd have to invest 4x the resources on that one activity to be just as good as I could be at any other. That's not really a tactically sound position and I think it would turn most people off lock picking.

 

You are obviously unaware of the possibilities of game balancing. You can scale up or down the xp required by any given skill to level up..

That only applies if you can level skills individually, in which case having 4 different skills is meaningless (since they'll all get used at the same rate) or punitive (since some skills will level faster than others and the player has no control over it). Neither of those options are good. For my part, since this is a class based game I was assuming you'd be adding skill-points en-mass on level up. If that's the case having 4 skills would still require you to waste 4 times the resources and while yes, you can, change how much xp a skill gives when you use it futzing with that is actually a bad thing because it will cause you to level faster then people who don't pick locks which means either you'll be over-leveled or most parties will be under-leveled. Again, neither option is good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Liked the lockpicking minigame in Fallout 3/NV, but it seems like a poor fit for a (largely) party-based game. Wouldn't that leave five of my guys are unattended? Unless the game paused during lockpicking, but ehhh...

If there's to be some special challenge to lockpicking, it should probably be what you do with the five guys who arent doing the 'picking.

But they could surely improve on the lockpicking from the early Fallouts or Baldur's Gate, where you'd just keep using the skill until you got "success!"

Like maybe a time element... this door takes so-and-so seconds to open - during which time the rest of the party fights gorks and gumblins or whatever.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I proposed a magic system less complicated than this and got shouted down for trying to turn PE into an alchemical lab simulator (which was a fair criticism).

Care to point it? I'm genuinely curious now.

By any chance it was something reagent-based like for the old Ultima games?

It was.

God used to be my co-pilot, but then we crashed in the Andes and I had to eat him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Right. First things first requiring 4+ skills, that have no value on there own or in other context, to do one very specific thing is a very bad idea. It means I'd have to invest 4x the resources on that one activity to be just as good as I could be at any other. That's not really a tactically sound position and I think it would turn most people off lock picking.

 

You are obviously unaware of the possibilities of game balancing. You can scale up or down the xp required by any given skill to level up..

That only applies if you can level skills individually, in which case having 4 different skills is meaningless (since they'll all get used at the same rate) or punitive (since some skills will level faster than others and the player has no control over it). Neither of those options are good. For my part, since this is a class based game I was assuming you'd be adding skill-points en-mass on level up. If that's the case having 4 skills would still require you to waste 4 times the resources and while yes, you can, change how much xp a skill gives when you use it futzing with that is actually a bad thing because it will cause you to level faster then people who don't pick locks which means either you'll be over-leveled or most parties will be under-leveled. Again, neither option is good.

 

 

Imagine you have only one skill named "lockpicking", you earn 100xp for whatever action, your lockpicking skill advances by 100xp.

Imagine you have a group of skills under "lockpicking" section. You earn 100xp for whatever action, you got to chose how to distribute those 100xp between the subskills.

There could also be a "lockpicking level", just to show your advancement in that department, and could be used or not as a check against higher level locks.

 

Anyway, the devs have already separated combat skills from non-combat skills, they recognized that killing a rat shouldn't advance your lockpicking skill, they recognized that it is not the ideal, most consistent system. Now I am just waiting for them to announce that they want to separate non-combat skills from other non-combat skills, in the same fashion. They are free from any D&D rule..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I proposed a magic system less complicated than this and got shouted down for trying to turn PE into an alchemical lab simulator (which was a fair criticism).

 

I don't think this will fly.

 

But I would totally play Lockpicking: The Lockpickening

But I am not sure that your proposition is less complex than mine. You haven't entered the complexity of it. IMO you should create a thread and present it, even if you know most will disregard it. You will also realise that the more you unfold it, the more complexity you will find.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with Hoverdog. Don't want minigame for lockpicking, and I see no fun increase for the player by breaking a lock picking skill down into sub skills.

 

What I'd like to see is as others have mentioned: several ways to get through a lock. Lockpicking, bashing, spells. All are good. As much as I love playing Thief/Rogue type characters, I don't want a game where you feel you must have one in the party.

 

If containers are bashed, I wouldn't mind seeing a percentage chance that something fragile inside breaks (So you'd still get the gold and that magic dagger, but the potions of invisibility and healing are shattered).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not crazy about lockpicking minigames either. This is partially because they seem to either err too much on the side of the user (making it relatively easy to lockpick any lock with a modicum of personal skill) or too much on the side of the locks (in which case even with a good skill the user has a hard time doing the minigame).

 

Ultimately I'd like my characters skills to be their skills, not how fast I can bop some tumblers up.

 

That said I actually wouldn't mind the idea of the lockpicking skill encompassing multiple types of locks in some way (maybe after X skill rank you add new locks to your repertoire showing your expertise?) or specialized equipment. I just don't think I as the player should be required to pick a lock for my character with my skills when they're the one whose invested the time in learning how to pick a lock. :)

I cannot - yet I must. How do you calculate that? At what point on the graph do "must" and "cannot" meet? Yet I must - but I cannot! ~ Ro-Man

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...