That's one key issue. (Does anyone really think they'd manage that?)

The other key issue is.... how much time & effort would have to go into making mounted combat (both making the systems work, and then balancing the world for it), and how much would that drag down on other aspects of the game.


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Personally, I'm not a fan of the whole "horse" thing. The one ride I suffered through in Oblivion was enough to make me never want to touch one again. And they're terrible for exploring.... I'd be mounting and dismounting every five feet, to pick some plant, or mine some ore, or whatever. Just staying on foot is much more practical. Again, personal opinion.

^Let me aim, and let me aim in first person. WASD can stay as tank controlls for all I care. This would be a huge step up from what we have now. There is little to no incentive to ride a horse, other than to quickly travel to an unmarked location. The damn thing might die and we are left defenceless. A waste of money and time.

Agreed. The controls in Oblivion wern't the problem, it was more the handeling and momentum of the horses.

Best horse simulation I have ever seen in a game was Agro in 'Shadow of the Colossus'. You steer the horse left or right, Agro actualy pulls at the reins a little. You don't press forward to move the horse, you give him a kick to start walking, each succesive kick makes Agro speed up to the next stage, hold the kick button and Agro sprints. Pull back, and your pulling the reins to get him to slow down. and if you try to run into a wall, Agro will turn and slide and basicaly stop himself from colliding with the wall.

Probably a bit much to expect so much effort on horses in a TES game, but some good lessons can be learnt from it.
The Skyrim controls for horses are terrible >_<

look i can totally picture the epicness of what you're going for. honestly i dont think skyrim is that type of game (for my own reasons), but realistically, the physical landscape of skyrim is NOT tailored to horse travel. we would need big, empty plains to maneuver and have these epic battles. there's really nothing like that in skyrim, i mean the only 'plains' i can think of is the area west of whiterun which is hardly sufficient. its clear that this game was meant to be traversed on foot, harvesting ingredients and being cautious of an ambush at any second.

Thats simply not true at all, every hold has areas where fighting from horse back is possible. You don't need to joust, just being able to swing your sword and lop the head off a bandit who attacks you on the road. Horseback gives a height advantage in combat and doesn't mean you have to be galloping along when fighting.
Anywhere you can ride a horse (basicaly all major roads) has enough room to fight from horseback.

The point is, it is stupid having to get off the horse to combat a lone bandit/sabercat/wolf ect. You should be able to trample enemies under your horse and strike enemies with your weapons. It's just logical and without the option it makes horses seem trite and tacked on as an afterthought.

You don't need it to be 'epic' to be good and enjoyable. Personaly I'd love it if NPC's could fight from horseback too. It would be great to have a bandit on horseback charge me down, it adds diversity and choices to combat.

And remember folks, if TES had mounted combat we once again have a reason for spears...

This.

Look people. We don't need to lie to each other: mounted combat is as useless to Skyrim as a stormtrooper is to Han Solo. You want it because it looks cool. It doesn't even hold "RP value": mounted combat has as much RP value as the ability to turn yourself into a frog that can only transform back when it meets a hot woman.

Mounted Combat is a very welcomed idea, but we don't need it. We simply want it.

Not to seem rude or anything, but who are you to say it doesn't hold 'RP value'
Not having mounted combat is more like your frog story.

Why ride a horse if you have to dismount every time an enemy attacks you? I don't want mounted combat because it 'looks cool' I want mounted combat because I want to be able to fight from horseback just like a real medieval/fantasy character should be able to.
Fighting from horseback gives you a height advantage (and momentum when moving). Thats why people have participated in mounted combat throughout history, to be able to ride a horse and not fight from it is like having a FPS where you can drive a tank, but it has no guns on it, and it can't run people over (and small-arms bullets will blow it up)

Again, tone is hard to convey online... I'm not trying to be rude or anything; I just think it is perfectly reasonable to want mounted combat, for gameplay, roleplay and reaslism reasons.

This. This. This. This. This.

Yes, there are dungeons. Yes, the terrain isn't exactly ideal everywhere for mounted combat. But horses should be USEFUL. Mounted Combat would provide that, without necessarily making it overpowered, thanks to the above.

This.

You need to design the gameworld around mounted combat for it to work. In fact mounts themselves don't work because of the wya the world is designed. Take a game like Red Dead Redemption or Mount & Blade and you'll how more open and flat the world design is to accomandate for mounts.

If Bethesda can fix the problem without compremising on the world than I'd be open to mounted combat but until than I'd rather have a detailed world than mounts. Bethesda could however add better main-roads in the game and have ingame transportation that actually uses them. It would be a start from which they can build upon.

@wintercross:
What kind of RP can you do with mounted combat?

Gandalf, Joan of Arc, jouster (is that the correct term?), Ezalor, Genghis Khan.

Mounted combat does not allow that much RP, because the application is severely limited. Just like the ability to turn into a frog: you can't really RP with it.

Just as "any addition is always welcome", everything technically has RP value, but there is big difference between need and want.

Mounted Combat is awesome, but that's what it is. Just like Levitation, it's a very welcomed novelty. Who doesn't want to kill a giant on horseback? But do I need to be able to kill a giant on horseback?

And while I'm at it: what about Levitation? Does it hold RP value? Why yes, you can RP as a fallen angel or something. But do we "need" levitation? Not really. A bug-free game is what we need first

Additional features are nice, and they're definitely on the "wanted" list. But a solid base is what we "need"

I don't think the main issue is with the terrain, there are a lot of roads/ plain areas, where mounted combat is a viable option. If they fixed the horses' magical hiking abilities, they couldn't even reach most of those areas, where the terrain makes mounted combat impossible.

There are other issues to be addressed before adding mounted combat though:

Horses are slow so a pack of wolves/sabrecats(/mudcrabs in some cases) can easily attack you on horseback, which means you either dismount to fight them or hope that your trusted steed doesn't die in seconds.
That is until you discover that with the respite perk in restoration, and one of the weightless armor perks, you can have infinite stamina, and you're able to run faster than a horse.
So they should make horses faster.

The controls are weird (Y U move the exact opposite way I move the anolog stick, stupid horse ) , and I find the animations floaty (the jumping animation's horrible, the others are acceptable).

The weird camera angle they use for riding makes the need for a first person view even more prominent.


I agree with those saying that Beth needs to fix horses before adding mounted combat, even though I really want it.

If 'balance' is an issue: just make mounted combat a skill like any other. If you want to RP a mounted knight you have to put points into the horse combat perk tree, sacrificing another skill. With no points in horse combat your steed bolts when enemies appear, and you fall off. If you have a couple of points you can control the horse better, swing a weapon or shoot a bow, but you stand a poor chance of actually hitting anything, making dismounting preferable untill you add more points.

Well, for me personaly my favorite type of character to roleplay is a Ranger who is highly skilled in archery, swordfighting and an excellent horseman.
Being able to fight from horse back adds alot of role playing immersion for me. Not to mention, having NPC's able to fight from horseback adds alot of value too.

Also, I'd like to point out that no one 'needs' to kill people with magic, yet it is an option.
We don't 'need' warhammers as a weapon choice. We could have swords be the only weapon type and still be able to play the game; yet having these extra options adds diversity and allows you to build a background to your character.
You might be a barbarian warrior with a battleaxe and no armor
You might be a mighty fire mage forgoing any form of melee combat
you might be a noble knight with sword and shield who refuses to use daedric artifacts
a wandering rogue with a bow and a dagger who avoids direct confrontation
or a warrior skilled in horse comabt, yet weaker on his feet.

Options help to add character not only to your own character but also to the world around you.
It would be awesome to get run down by Imperial Cavalry when fighting alongside Stormcloaks, or to have a lone bandit on a horse demand money, and if you refuse he attacks from horseback in stead of leavinging behind his biggest advantage.

Mounted Combat would by no means be the BEST form of combat, there are times you would be disadvantaged (just like it should be) It adds to the usefulness of horses (wich are pretty useless otherwise)

@gloops:

I agree with making a skill that affects riding horses, and combat from them. However, I'd say that the horse shouldn't bolt...
Rather I think the skill should govern the turning speed in combat, the bonus damage you gain from melee, your speed and accuracy of horseback archery, and the chance of a power attack dismounting you.



My overall point is that an RPG with horses, and no mounted combat feels 'wrong' not becasue I just want mounted combat 'for the lulz '
I never once missed horses in Morrowind. Horses were not present on the island of vvardenfel and I was ok with that.

But Oblivion, and now Skyrim with horses and no mounted comabt... it just doesn't seem right. It feels like you SHOULD be able to fight from horseback... From even a LORE perspective; there are plenty of tales about warriors fighting from horseback. The most standout in my mind being the 'Fall of The Snow Prince'

I disagree with pretty much everything you said. I couldn't care less for mounted combat ...

I couldn't agree with this more.

I was appalled to discover that there was no mounted combat in Skyrimm, after not having it in Oblivion.

All this time passed, and they still never added it?

Not being able to draw a weapon while on horseback is the most unrealistic thing, ever.

That, and followers are prohibited from mounting and riding horses of their own. So, they chase my horse all over the world. Ridiculous. They need to make some serious changes to mounted gameplay.

I think its the tragic and misunderstood wine-sipping vampire / children of the night-type and elitist over-dressed mage characters that don't see any point in mounted combat since they spend most of their time in their overdecorated player homes lamenting on their unrecognized superiority over the common nord. I mean why should anyone else have mounted combat if I don't like it?

Ok seriously, without sounding like a total [censored] jerk like I just did, the main reason why people like to have mounted combat is fun. Playing games are about having fun and there are different ways to achieve it. I myself for example have fun with a game that I can immerse in. Having to dismount my horse every time a mangy wolf attacks me is a big immersion breaker. I really don't mind the mountainous terrain issue. If you are foolish enough to combat on horseback on an edge of a cliff that's your choice. The world not being designed for mounted combat is not a problem, since not even the real world is designed for mounted combat. Gladly I'm on a pc and we will get a mod for mounted combat soon enough, but I would not mind the console players have their own fun too.

I think that some of their arguments are valid, but still, horses are just plain useless. And they need to be fun, as you said. Instead of trying to make them better, they believe that resources would be better spent elsewhere. I honestly disagree, because its that moment of "Hey, I just slew that band of thieves on my horse, AWESOME" that wins the hearts of gamers.