Just thought I'd ask and see why so many people seem to dislike the hacking minigame. I always thought it was one of the best minigames because you actually had to use your brain in order to figure it out or just keep randomly guessing words while exiting every three tries so you didn't get locked out. I considered it pretty cool that hacking, which would require some intelligence, required at least a little brainpower in the minigame.

But every time I see mention of it or watch a playthrough I see people either hating it or just guessing words until they eventually get it. Is it too hard for people? Is it too slow? Is it too complicated? Or is it something else?

I heard that Fallout 4 will be reusing it and I was excited, but other people seem upset about it.

I dunno but I enjoyed it also. Nice little puzzle game that felt like fictional hacking without being anything like real hacking. I'm glad to see it back.

I liked the hacking mini-game. It was a reasonable facsimile of what I imagine alternate-timeline, post-apocalyptic computer hacking might feel like.

I liked the hacking minigame, but felt like they didn't explain it well. If they had done it better, we wouldn't see so many people who didn't know that [ ] and < > could remove incorrect words, and replenish your attempts count.

The lockpickng minigame I didn't like as mch, if only becuase it was dumb EVERY SINGLE DOOR had the EXACT same lock, but, at the same time, I do understand why it would be hard to create a minigame for every single possible type of lockable door or container.

if there were multiple ways to get through locked stuff, i'd wager people would be more receptable to the lockpicking system, like using acid to melt a lock at the expense of possibly alerting any npc that notices the melted lock. things like that.

I personally don't mind it though.

for the hacking mini-game maybe a buyable item that helps highlighting incongruenties/errors in the programming (something that was in fallout 3) in order to make it easier

I liked the computer hacking mini-game.

That would actually be kinda cool if they had a different type of lock for each kind of door.

oh my god this! for i dont know how long i didnt know you could replenish allowance and remove duds when I realize that This could be done i almost cried at all the times this knowledge could have come in handy. I wish this was explained more thoroughly. I still enjoyed the hacking though.

Agreed. Breaking open most locked doors and containers should also be an option, given high enough Strength and/or appropriate tools.

They shouldn't have to explain it, it is hacking, after all. If Beth went and explained how to do everything, the game would be extremely boring, as it would take all the fun and challenge out of figuring out how to do it yourself.

For a while I really struggled with the minigame, and even grew to dislike it, but once I realized (all by my lonesome self) there was a method to successfully hacking terminals, it wasn't so bad. In fact, I rather like it now, I hope they haven't changed in too much.

It might be because I'm dumb, but I feel it takes me out of the flow of the moment. When I'm on the move and there are raiders around me, I want the hack to take a couple of seconds, so I can immediately get back to what I prior was doing.

Now that it's allegedly hacking in real-time, you may not get the chance to break the flow of a raider attack with a hacking minigame. I understand what you mean, though, even if I love the hacking minigame; the pacing is a bit different from the rest of the game.

My only desire with the Hacking minigame is that they do something different with the lockout mechanic; getting permanently locked out of a terminal for running out of attempts is solid in theory, but in practice it encourages a ton of save-scumming (or terminal exit/reentry scumming) and doesn't really offer any interesting alternatives.

It was ok. Way more enjoyable than the pipe puzzle for Bioshock 1.

It was alright at 1st but became tedious after a while, I used the unlock command for a while intill I found the FWE mod for fo4 which would let us "auto-hack" the terminal with a chance of based on your skill level to lock the terminal.

I don't mind it really. If a terminal is giving me fits, you know what, the firewall is doing exactly what it's intended to do, and I respect that.

True, but still think the hacking minigasme in system shock 2 was the best I've seen

I thought it was fine, im glad they chose to reuse a minigame and spend time working on other content instead of developing a new minigame

I actually loved it, especially since I can guess the password on the first try over 50% of the time (at least in FO3). I'm so glad they kept it the way it is, and especially not a tube mini-game. I actually kind of like the lock-picking game also.

I enjoyed the hacking game, though I wish it were a little more challenging and the interface showed a few more lines of output.

Lock picking I found rather boring. Every lock in the wastes are the same type: single tumbler spring lock? Some different types of locks would be welcome, as well as some new methods to opening them (bump key, etc..)

Honestly, I always felt like the hacking game took to much time and was just plain annoying

Does there even need to be a minigame? Why not just have it where if you have the science skill to get through you do, and if you don't have the science skill you don't.

I don't actually hate the hacking minigame as a minigame, but it feels so unneeded.

The trouble is after you've done a couple, it's just a case of going through the motions. A "hard" lock is no more difficult than an "easy" lock, just more letters to compare.

I believe we only know that it looks the same from one example, so there maybe slight changes to the rules based on lock difficulty and your perks. Making it real time is significant too, as you may be forced to rush it and make a mistake.

Because we can force lock but not force hack.

My gripe is mainly with FONV. Apparently Obsidian missed the load screen in FO3 that suggested exiting and re-entering the terminal as a perfectly plausible strategy when you're at three tries and don't want to cause a terminal lock, because you have to wait 15 seconds to try again. And they didn't ease the difficulty for hacking either.

Thankfully, for us PC folks, that's a game setting accessible in the NVGECK.

It took me a few different computers to actually figure out what I needed to do, but once I did I kinda found it amusing for a short while but then it just got tedious. The only hacking mini-game I can think of that I also played was the one in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which I found much more interesting for a longer period of time. I realise it couldn't be something similiar, but personally I would hope for something different.