Security was a useless skill in Oblivion. Anyone with a bit of patience or a stack of lockpicks could break into anything. I'm hoping that the "Lock is too complex" from Morrowind makes a return to prevent us from opening very hard locks at level 5. I also think Fallout's system of forcing the lock (one chance, then key required) could replace Oblivion's auto-lockpick. Another part of security that I had forgotten about until recently was trapped containers and doors. This added another factor. If you had used a spell to unlock the container or didn't have a probe then you had to consider if it was worth the risks to open the door.

Edit: I still like Oblivion's lockpicking minigame, I just want there to be a skill check before I start picking.

In Morrowind, it depended on your Security skill and what kind of lockpick you were using. A return to that might be nice (especially the different level lockpicks). But I want the lockpicking Mini-Game to reappear, that was fun.

Yeah, they need to make some changes to security. I think in terms of dexterity you could combine it with pickpocket and shoplifting to make a Theft skill, but they have to scrap that mini-game from Oblivion. Maybe for some harder locks you can't really do anything with them, on some it just takes you a long time and a guard will walk by and catch you.

I'd also like for lock bashing to return. If it's a locked chest in a bandit hideout, you should just be able to break it open with your mace, like in previous games.

I have mixed feelings about this. In my opinion evry character should be even able to try to pick the lock, but that then would allow a skilled player to get past any lock.

Maybe make the minigame way harder, and more related to the character skill level and also have a way to just auto-pick the lock that is based purely in characters stats.

I agree with OP.

I also recall sitting outside of Vivec's chamber for half an hour trying to break into his chamber and kill him using the cheat that restores PC's Health/Magicka/Energy for another five minutes.

Once I found the skeleton key locks didn't matter.


I would run out of lock pics before too long. Nocturnal's shrine was at the top of my list once I discovered it. No more running out of lock picks. I still can't instantly open a very hard lock with out the deadric lock pick.

fallouts minigame was so much better than oblivions


combine fallouts lockpick system with morrowinds different picks


add to the poll

different lockpicks (noob,apprentice,journeyman,advanced,master,grandmaster) or no different lockpicks


fallouts minigame,oblivions minigame, or a completely new minigame

I second this.

But do not use modern screw driver, but something similar.

You should see your lock pick while it is going to break, like in Fallout.

Like in Fallout, the range where the lock can be opened, can be narrower, depending on the lock's difficulty setting, and the player character's security skill level.

You can try it for a few times and if you can not find the range in the mean time, the pick breaks, so it depends on your skill level and a bit of luck.

But on the other hand, if the range gets smaller than a specific range, i.e. the lock level get to hard related to our skill level, then we can get the message that this lock is too hard for us to tackle.

I would like these mini games to be in real time to make it feel tense and dangerous.. but we would need the ability to look around while picking the lock.

The system as it is now is just fine if you make it impossible to unlock hard locks with security skill 25.

And it should be easier to unlock those locks you accually can open.

Hmm.. Lockpicks should also be rarer, no fence should have 100 of them, maybe 20 max.

Sounds like a great system to me. I definitely preferred Fallout's minigame to Oblivion's. Felt more realistic and also provided a nice balance of relying on PC skill level, player skill, and luck. Though personally I don't like the option of forcing a lock; it's ultimately just a way to bypass the minigame IMO. The way I look at it, if I am going to pick a lock, I want whatever is on the other side of that door. That means I'm not going to risk losing it by jamming the lock, especially if that is determined by a dice roll. So I'm either going to play the minigame, or I'm going to save my game right before I attempt to force the lock and reload if I fail...

Basically, forcing the lock ceases to be a gamble because of the ability to save anywhere. To me personally, I'd rather just play the minigame than bypass it or risk being locked out, so I don't see the point of using the "force lock" option.


Why should lock picks be rare? If anything I feel they should be fairly easy to come by. I imagine they're extremely easy to produce, so anyone who makes them would just make them in bulk. Making them rare/expensive makes little sense because it implies that someone has a monopoly over the lock pick market in Skyrim, which would be extremely odd for something so cheap and simple to make, with such a specific target demographic.

I also hope they do away with the idea of an unbreakable pick. That broke the entire security skill.

I remember Fallout's mini-game to be okay and decent. Oblivion's was just...noooooooo

Morrowind was fine too I think. I liked it a lot, because it wasn't annoying. It may not have been very realistic, since it was just roll and dice and you had no control over it. But it wasn't annoying! And it was pretty fun I think

So... either Fallout's or Morrowind's. Or a completely new one. It can surely be improved even further...

Well, as a hunter, I don't have access to the thieves guild and fences (or any guild for that matter). So my only source of lockpicks is raiding goblin caves

Some basic limitations to lockpicking would be nice. For example, not being able to open hard locks until you're an apprentice, and not being able to unlock very hard locks until you're a journeyman. Also letting time pass while you're picking the lock. This would make picking a lock more tense, and it wouldn't reduce the minigame to waiting forever for the right moment. Also, when a lock breaks, it should make a sound, and possibly wake up or alert NPCs in the vicinity. Maybe then at expert level there's a perk that muffles the sound.

Mini Games should be removed, period. Oblivions mini game for lock picking was a joke. Lock picking should rely on your stats soley. You want to lock pick, get your skill up. Remove the useless mini games and put that time into other areas of the game.

They need dirty blacksmiths in the game, ones who make lockpick sets and probes for traps.

That sounds pretty perfect to me as well.

They should definitely re-institute Morrowind's different lockpick qualities. I don't know if there should be any locks with a skill cutoff ("the lock is too complex"), but perhaps some of them would only yield to higher quality picks - so a novice thief could still have a very slight chance of breaking in, but they would need to risk better equipment to do so. I don't care whether or not there's a minigame involved. The one advantage to Morrowind's system was that it was real time.

Oh, and bring back the ability to bash open locks! Much more befitting a warrior character than running around half the province trying to find an open scroll.

I definitely hope they go for the Fallout 3 style lockpicking in Skyrim, it is so much better than what we got in Oblivion.

For people who don't know what Fallout 3's lockpicking is like here is a video of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXGErjv2E_I

Give us Morrowind style. Different quality lock picks, and where security skill actually matters. Not the craptastic level 1 security skill can open every last lock on Nirn.

I thought the lockpick game was cool... but, once you know how to play the game, you can open any lock with 5 ranks in the Lockpick skill. =/ That kind of took away the point of the skill. Also, when you have 100 ranks, the tumblers are so freakin' slow, the whole process just becomes boring and tedious, not challenging.

So, I'd rather not have a minigame like that again.

I like how Lockpicking was done in Gothic 2. Locks are in combinations of a string of Left or Right movements (with the left and right keys on your keyboard. Or your anolog joystick, whatever). For example: L-L-R might be an easy combination. If you guess incorrectly, there's a chance your lockpick will break; this chance decreases as you increase your skill level. And this all happens in real-time - no taking a 5 minute potty break while the TESIV lockpick game is brought up and there's an NPC two feet away.

Really hard combinations are something like L-L-R-R-R-L-R-L-L-R.

I like TESIII's different levels of lockpicks, and their usage amounts, too.

Agree with this, "last ditch" gambles make no sense when an autosave is a few minutes back and quick is seconds.

That said, I would like this:

I should be able to play a brutish thief, like a swashbuckling pirate sort. Not every criminal is some nimble, mechanically-inclined master safe cracker. Some just gotta get in and bust some skulls.

I've always been a fan of the force lock option in FO, and I've always enjoyed the lock-bash in certain Oblivion mods. But everyone deserves an alternative to opening locks-you shouldn't HAVE to be a warrior with consequently delicate hands able to pick locks of any caliber.

I'm really against the whole "it's too hard so you can't even try" thing, so no I'm not in favor of that. however I do see an issue with someone simply saving and reloading till they get it right. So maybe make the lockpick minigame so that you can make it pretty much impossible with too low a skilllevel

Yes and yes.