on my second play through of oblivion the security skill was completely useless because i had no trouble opening the locks with a skill of 5. It's one of those things that even though it's less realistic in some sense it'll make the gameplay better if there is a "Must be level X to open" concept
This. I'm an RPG fan, I want an RPG lockpicking system. I'll resign myself to [censored] minigames since they're basically a must these days, but the nonsense of twitch-gaming player skills overriding all else is unacceptable. The game isn't about whether I can pick a lock, it's about what
my character can do. So if it makes "some folks" happy I'll live with the minigame, and live with any chump being able to
attempt any lock- but if the character's skill isn't high enough, the lock shouldn't open,
period. Don't stop time, and the character must have the skill or the lock doesn't open.
Now someone will come along and yell about how this is a "new school" RPG, and should be a combination of character and player skill- sure, fine, I've outlined a combination. Combination doesn't mean "character skill optional unless player skill overrides it and makes it utterly meaningless," it means both have some effect. Making character skill meaningless or at best completely optional (Oblivion) is not combining the two.