[OBV] Horses are rubbish

[DraconisRex]

I have no difficulty with the horse controls. However, except for avoiding encounters by out-running enemies, I don't find them tremendously helpful.

[JrKASperov]

What's the problem with the controls? They work just like riding a jeep in BattleField 1942.

[WOLFGIR]

Just to add to what I already agree with Memnoch regarding the stupid horses!

7. They get attacked, sometimes a flock of enemies try to kill your horse instead of you.

8. They fast travel with you and they don't sneak, no shit a village of Chtulian rip-offs finds that strange!

9. Can't stress this enough: You move faster, better, more acurately and you increase your stats by running and jumping. Horses are just crap!

10. And they can't carry anything either, just some badly controlled bonusfeature for cool screenshots! Blah!

[Winterfell]

I can't say I agree with the whole crap control thingy. I picked it up in no time. It's just like any of the old 1st person shooters where there was no mouse look. I also think that until you reach a reasonable level then they are much faster for getting around to new locations, they can climb mountains that are much steeper than those you can climb, by moving back and forth across the slope. But it is a major bummer that you can't fight from them or store things in them - well not actually IN them, but you know what I mean...

[Bozos of Bones]

What's so damn special about horse controls? You go forward, you go backward, you turn and you jump... What's there to like?
Plenty to not like tho. They're clunky, slow, stupid, frail and get stuck on trees alot(I kid you not, my Shadowmere was once stuck on a tree after I dismounted to clear a gate).
So, to summarize the line of a developer "Hey let's add horses, they're cool!" and does exactly that, with no added planning, skills(no horsemanship that guides your speed, horse health or god forbid mounted combat) or importance. As WOLFGIR said, they're here for the screenshots.

As for storing things IN them... I did not need that mental image. Now, every time I go read GRR, I'll remember that demonic child and stuffing stuff inside a horse... DAMN YOU!

As far as I'm concerned, horses were only really useful in Daggerfall. The way the old TES system was back then, it was much more feasible and practical to use a horse (Back then, fatigue knocked you out). Not so much in Oblivion, its pretty much added for aesthetic value. Bethesda really should have relooked at the purpose/value of horses. We can only hope for TES V to change that (or an expansion)

[Kakero]

Add a pro : With a horse you can go up a steep hill/mountain where you can never reach on foot.

Add a con : A horse tend to charge straight into an enemy and tend to be in the way when you are fighting the enemy.

[Thoran]

I think Athletics must play some part because I can climb better than a horse... and I don't think I'm much slower travelling either. I don't use them, even though I have Shadowmare, who is one of the better ones. If I had some benefits that were traditionally horse benefits (like being able to fight better, see farther, and use my bow from horseback) I'd be using him much more.

[Memnoch]

The most annoying thing for me is having to dismount to fight enemies - that really sucks.

[Sever]

Originally posted by Memnoch: The most annoying thing for me is having to dismount to fight enemies - that really sucks.

Agrees.

There were so many Morrowind features that were left out of Oblivion for the simple reason that the designers couldn't find (the time?) a way of implementing them adequately. Then they give us walking paperweights... [img]graemlins/1ponder.gif[/img]