A4 Remake: Random Lockpicking... aka Savescumming

[Quiconque]

Apparently random lockpicking rolls are coming back for the first time since Nethergate.

 

However, it was greatly mitigated there because you had the option to bash down doors or just cast Unlock instead.  So there was some RNG, but the RNG could simply consume renewable resources (HP or SP) rather than lockpicks.  This version appears to force you to consume a non-renewable resource (lockpicks, which ultimately means GP).

 

This just creates pointless savescumming, pointless reloading.  Please don't do this, Jeff.  It works on tabletop but not in single-player CRPGs for a reason.

 

[Randomizer]

It depends upon whether the lock picking result is determined once you first enter a zone or when you decide to try it. If it is fixed to the zone entry, then scum saving won't help as much since players may not want to redo fights just to save a lock pick.

 

Worse is saving, use the retrain cheat to raise your skills for just the lock and then retriam to original skills.

[Quiconque]

How could it be determined when you enter a zone?  It's a random result for an arbitrary number of lockpick attempts, not just one.

 

I suppose you could set an RNG seed at that point, but... ugh.

[Edgwyn]

I am sure that Jeff will get feedback from the play testers on how his attempt to implement lockpicking is working and hopefully will take that feedback into account.  In most of the games money has been fairly abundant and I generally don't spend it, so I  could live with spending coins on lockpicks, I would be more concerned about them taking up previous space in my inventory unless they stack.  Using a combination of tool use, luck and spells to enhance the effectiveness of my lockpicks would be fine with me from a role playing standpoint.

[Randomizer]

Don't be too sure about beta tester feedback. None of the early testers thought anything about a 4043 hit point Clawbug Queen. It didn't get changed to 434 until the last round of testers, maybe the backers, started seeing it.

 

Testers assume lots of really hard things are normal.