05-01-2003, 06:30 AM
One key working on all locks in unrealistic, but so is the fact that a Strength 300 barbarian weilding a gigantic maul that can slay Diablo himself... can't just BASH the chest open. Sure, potions might be destroyed and anything else damaged a bit with a maul, but the point remains that the game doesn't let you do that. Personally I'd rather see keys removed - I don't like cluttering my inventory and I don't like dealing with locked chests that I can't open, since neither adds much to the game tactically or fun-wise.
As for bows, the reason CRPGs handle them badly is because they're creating the entirely unrealistic charecter of the Archer, who has to be able to keep up with the Fighter charecter just fine. The most realistic use of archery in a game would be a fighter who fires a few shots before a fight, but even then, archery was designed for MASS COMBAT, and RPGs are designed for small groups instead. That's why archers are rarely realistic - it doesn't work from a balance perspective. Unless the fighter ambushed the archer, the archer should have more than enough time to put a couple of arrows through the fighters head, heart, or whatever. And if the fighter blocks these arrows with a shield, then the archer is mincemeat. Not a terribly fun game :)
As for bows, the reason CRPGs handle them badly is because they're creating the entirely unrealistic charecter of the Archer, who has to be able to keep up with the Fighter charecter just fine. The most realistic use of archery in a game would be a fighter who fires a few shots before a fight, but even then, archery was designed for MASS COMBAT, and RPGs are designed for small groups instead. That's why archers are rarely realistic - it doesn't work from a balance perspective. Unless the fighter ambushed the archer, the archer should have more than enough time to put a couple of arrows through the fighters head, heart, or whatever. And if the fighter blocks these arrows with a shield, then the archer is mincemeat. Not a terribly fun game :)