Why hasn't a 'bash lock' been featured in a TES game before?

Post » Tue Dec 06, 2011 8:00 am

A few of those options actually sound sort of nice. Regardless, it's all based in that many people actually want to "Roleplay" when they play roleplaying games, and as such their Warrior may for example shun magic altogether, and lack the gentle touch needed to pick locks, and thus people just want a way to open locks that adhere to their playing style. Adding too many options could of course be counter-productive, but one for each main role of the game isn't too much to ask for, one way for mages, one way for thieves, and one way for warrior style characters (which sadly looks not to be present this time either. It's not like they haven't done this before either (see Daggerfall), and a lot of people, me included, simply want this to return so we don't miss out on most of the loot when playing a pure warrior.

This could of course also be fixed by simply doing what should've been done in the first place as well, actually adding keys to (most of) locks that you can either loot of the corpse of their owner, find hidden in their house/cave/dwelling or similar. Preferably this should be added on top of the bash lock feature to give a good and balanced amount of choices for how to get those chests/locks opened.

I could see adding it to another utility skill. But tacking on utility to primary combat abilities is going a bit too far. Something like smithing as key forgery or bump keys.
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neen
 
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Post » Tue Dec 06, 2011 9:51 am

It's a player wanting to consolidate all his utility in a few core skills of his choosing.


I wouldn't mind adding a bashing skill that warriors could level as a strength-based alternative to lockpicking, but when I've brought it up, it's always turned out that what was wanted was a no-cost option.
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[ becca ]
 
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Post » Tue Dec 06, 2011 6:03 am

I could see adding it to another utility skill. But tacking on utility to primary combat abilities is going a bit too far. Something like smithing as key forgery or bump keys.


Well, I can definitely see how adding it straight up as a perk to say 2-handed weapons would be sort of unbalanced, even though it would be the most obvious choice. As long as they made the cost of it as well as the relative level/effort required to get the same amount of lock-opening capabilities from the other skills the same it wouldn't really be much of an issue though, also coupled with that bashing should never be allowed to open magical or heavily reinforced doors/locks for obvious reasons and that it would alert nearby enemies/guards.
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Erika Ellsworth
 
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Post » Tue Dec 06, 2011 6:11 am

I agree...
Thf picks lock..
Mage unlocks lock wit magic...
Warrior should have a door kicking mini game or sumthing..

Would be real loud!
and u would get a guards attention
and it would only work on cheap wooden doors

but at least all jobs would have their own way...


to be honest Mages magic should be quite alarming sight. so only thief gets the full usage of lockpicking
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Sabrina Steige
 
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Post » Tue Dec 06, 2011 9:56 am

So basically it goes like this:
-Player bashes lock
-Guards are alerted
-Guard comes
-Pay the fine
-Go back to the door and go in with no loss except for maybe 25 gold and a couple minutes of your time.

And if it's a chest, then what can you damage that is loot? Weapons don't degrade, maybe you could get less gold, but it's so abundant eventually (based on Oblivion) that this is not a balancing issue. Everything else you just sell for gold and so if it's damaged you just recieve less gold, which I've already discussed.

Well since such feature is not in vanilla Skyrim we can make it better and take in account such situation.
-Player bashes lock
Weapon damage + current stamina + maximum stamina vs lock level is used, door is bashed all actors in an radius alert thats include door owner,
-Guards are alerted
-Guard comes
-Pay the fine
Fine value can be affected by level of lock (so more Hard locks mean more expensive doors and greater fine) + dispositions will be lowered with faction what control such area, if disposition will be lowered to certain low level then guards will try banish player from area and permit enter this area next time since we have walled cities again with few city gates thats make sense does not?
Additionally thats will disallow any fast travel markers in area until disposition will not be increased to certain level, thats can be part of Crime system enhance.

-Go back to the door and go in with no loss except for maybe 25 gold and a couple minutes of your time. and found thats door locked again and owner of door has lowered disposition toward to player.

Good idea for interesting mod does not?


I don't want to take Illusion, why can't I frighten my enemies by glaring angrily at them?
I don't want to take Restoration, why can't I recover from my wounds with bandages and sheer force of will?
I don't want to take Alchemy, why can't I poison my sword with my own deadly saliva?

Clearly "pure" warriors should be able to do everything that anyone else can do combined. /sarcasm

Play as Khajiit they have Eye of Fear ability
Consume food to restore health, good chunk of roasted meat help much as same as bitter medicine for warrior.
Deadly saliva seems wasn't deadly enough perhaps need chew some poison glands of frost bite spider first? :teehee:
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Cayal
 
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Post » Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:40 pm

But why not add incentives for a strength based character? Doesn't seem much effort into putting it in the game.


There is no Strength anymore. Just skills, which makes conditioning this lock bashing a lot harder.
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Trey Johnson
 
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Post » Tue Dec 06, 2011 10:32 am

Why should I have to use a scroll to open a chest or door? It's not like I need scrolls to kill the owners. How did they intend to open the lock anyway?

Every single door that can be locked should have a key associated with it.
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Laura Elizabeth
 
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Post » Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:46 pm

I don't want to take Illusion, why can't I frighten my enemies by glaring angrily at them?
I don't want to take Restoration, why can't I recover from my wounds with bandages and sheer force of will?
I don't want to take Alchemy, why can't I poison my sword with my own deadly saliva?

Clearly "pure" warriors should be able to do everything that anyone else can do combined. /sarcasm
Fighters handle large numbers of enemies/tough enemies by forcing them into melee and dispatching them one at a time.
They survive through having a Wall of HP and strong armor.
They deal damage by smacking things repeatedly with large weapons, not poisons or fireballs.

How do Fighters gain access to locked-off loot? That's what this question is about. And honestly, I see lock-bashing not as a "Fighter Exclusive" ability, but as the most time consuming, least stealthy, and most assured way of opening doors and chests... I'm for giving chests and locks HP instead of some sort of Strength or Skill check to open.
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Dean Ashcroft
 
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Post » Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:55 am

Yes Daggerfall has a Bash option for all locks, even magical locked doors could be bashed open (eventually). And the sound was loud enough to alert every damn guard within 800 miles of the character. :) Even if you were already inside a house.
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Taylor Tifany
 
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Post » Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:52 pm

Every single door that can be locked should have a key associated with it.

I agree. The master of each interior should either have it on his person, or among his personal possessions.

Keys to locked dungeons or crypts could be located anywhere. Even laying on the ground in the wilderness.

Some ancient vaults could be warded from using open spells and the lock could be too intricate for lockpicks. Bashing might be an option, but doing so could cause a cave-in. If one occurs, then the player enters only to find a massive pile of rubble blocking access. Attempting to mess with it could cause another one right on top of the player. Instant Death. Let the key be hidden somewhere within the gameworld. Imagine finding a skeleton with the key laying where his stomach should be. He swallowed it while he was alive...
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Benji
 
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Post » Tue Dec 06, 2011 9:19 am

Counter Argument "A Warrior who does not buy a Open Lock Scroll or get an enchanted item that has an open lock spell is making poor game choices"

Warriors can already open any lock in the game with in game provided tools and techniques.
Why is lockpicking a skill if a thief can buy an open lock scroll? Or why is speechcraft a skill if you can buy a charm scroll?

I see the spell scrolls here as a roll playing disaster.
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Darlene DIllow
 
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Post » Tue Dec 06, 2011 10:09 am

I see the spell scrolls here as a roll playing disaster.

TES does seem to like using them as a gameplay crutch. "We need someone to use here." "But the player may not have the skills for !" "Just plop down a few scrolls."
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STEVI INQUE
 
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Post » Tue Dec 06, 2011 5:19 pm

Um guys - there is a VERY simple rule to counterbalance lock bashing.

Stronger locks = harder to bash = More bash attempts required
Each bash attempt has a chance to break a (non-plot related) item inside the chest.

In this way, any character can attempt to smash up a container to get it's contents, but you don't get as much of the contents (if any) as a trained thief or mage. Also bash attempts should have an alert radius and count as a crime if spotted - so a barbarian can't just walk around the town square at night and bash his way into every shop because SOMEONE is gonna notice

Neverwinter Nights (some of the later expansions anyway) used this approach to locks
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Amanda Furtado
 
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Post » Tue Dec 06, 2011 5:02 pm

Um guys - there is a VERY simple rule to counterbalance lock bashing.

Stronger locks = harder to bash = More bash attempts required
Each bash attempt has a chance to break a (non-plot related) item inside the chest.

In this way, any character can attempt to smash up a container to get it's contents, but you don't get as much of the contents (if any) as a trained thief or mage. Also bash attempts should have an alert radius and count as a crime if spotted - so a barbarian can't just walk around the town square at night and bash his way into every shop because SOMEONE is gonna notice

Neverwinter Nights (some of the later expansions anyway) used this approach to locks

And Neverwinter Night 2; so many broken items.

This was also a feature in Wizardry 8, in which bashing the door open depend how strong the character is and how much energy s/he has in opening the door (a strong character would fatigue to zero after 2 try for example, in which the said character is knock out and need a rest).

But ya; Daggerfall present us with bashing lock, which usually result with "HALT! HALT! HALT! HALT!" in public area or mods from Morrowind and Oblivion with degraded the weapon/fatigue if us to bash the stuff open.
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Lance Vannortwick
 
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Post » Tue Dec 06, 2011 8:16 am

I always wanted bashing. I figure it alerts anyone in the area to your presence anyways, and destroying/damaging minor items also sounds fair.
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Emmi Coolahan
 
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Post » Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:14 am

I hate the "Broken Item" rule.
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Lady Shocka
 
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Post » Tue Dec 06, 2011 12:04 pm

You can beat a door with your weapon in Daggerfall and it will open it up. Its the only way that I've ever got through locked doors in that game.
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Horse gal smithe
 
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Post » Tue Dec 06, 2011 8:04 am

The game will not put something you need behind a lock you can't open without giving you a way to do it.

It will put things you want behind a lock that you can't open. but that is what choices and consequences are all about.

I do agree that lock bashing would be a nice way to get around locks, but from a game play perspective it bothers me. If I choose to not buff up my lock picking skills or the magic that is needed or acquire the scrolls that let me cast the spell without knowing the magic or find or enchant an item that does this for me, then I have made the choice that some locks are not going to open for me.

In other words, there are 4 ways to open locks in the game, two of which are available to any character irregardless of skill, do we need a 5th?

Because this is TES, a series ALL ABOUT freedom of choice. If you've played Deus Ex, then you'll know it really does work well.
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Maeva
 
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Post » Tue Dec 06, 2011 9:17 am

Because there is no such thing as strength attribute anymore! DUH! :sadvaultboy:

Really, though, this IS a bit of a failed opportunity.
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Adrian Powers
 
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Post » Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:48 pm

I agree fully to the concept of breaking open doors. It could be similar to how Dead Island handles door breaching. There should always be a way to enter someplace, even if you are without pick and scroll.
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Stephanie Nieves
 
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Post » Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:08 pm

What is the purpose of the locked containers at all? All it does is restrict access to loot the player has earned after killing everyone. Having a bash feature that always eventually works, (except against specially-crafted containers or doors, which can't be picked or opened magically anyway) is a great option for Warrior gameplay.

"Only Thieves can get loot" is a bad design philosophy.

A thief doesn't neccessarily kill everyone, just slide in undetected, silently pick the lock, and slip out again.

A mage uses MAGIC to open locks.


But you forget that the other two archtypes have their weaknesses, too.

A stealth character is less likely to be able to defend themselves in combat, and if they are - as you said, sneaking in and just getting loot - then they miss out on armour and weapons that their enemies are carrying. A mage can fall into a similar trap, as they have to rely on spells, and in doing so run the risk of spells failing/running out of magicka, or otherwise landing themselves in a situation where spellcraft is difficult. Oblivion and Skyrim have made being a mage easier, but there is a reason why in Morrowind they were recommended to stronger characters.

As for people complaining about how traditional RPGs have this feature - honestly, I play TES because it isn't traditional. Because the lore is pretty insane and out there (Especially before Oblivion).

All that being said, I wouldn't be totally against a bash option, but it would be fiddly to implement.
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Ice Fire
 
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Post » Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:56 am

Seriously, I think that just about all of you could do to play Daggerfall. I mean, it's part of the TES series, and it's available for free.
1. Because it would break quests and/or allow you into areas you shouldn't be in yet.
2. Because the game uses doors to trigger movement between different areas. Contrary to what people say, the Elder Scrolls has never been a seamless world.

  • Um... Does using lockpicking break the game? Even with low skill I can easily undo ANY lock not marked as "needs a key." That isn't exactly breaking the game, now is it?
  • Daggerfall let you bash doors into and out of houses. Bashing the lock doesn't mean you destroy the door.

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sarah simon-rogaume
 
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