Just a poll to see what opinion people have on whether horses should be in the game or not... My vote goes to 'I don't mind either way', on the one hand it would be a bonus if horses were in but I'm not going to end it all if they don't make the final cut. Thoughts?

I voted for the second one.

If they can't be done well in the time allotted, I'd rather them just pass on them. They could always be brought back in a DLC.

Unless they have combat tied with them this time, then I don't really care either way.

All horses were to me in Oblivion were just a more cumbersome pair of legs. I barely used them. That is until I got Deadly Reflex.

I don't care if they are mounts or not. I'd like for them to appear as visual flair though.

The speed skill was pretty useless in Oblivion since you had a horse..now that it has been removed I think horses would be kind of necessary.

EDIT: Will I die? Probably not.

I want the horses in, but at RdR level. Now that Todd admitted the horses in Oblivion were not quite state of the art, I want nothing less than RdR's.

I wouldn't say it was useless, considering that horses couldn't be used indoors, in cities, or in combat, they could allow you to travel between places more quickly, but once you got where you were going, they wouldn't help you much. And often, I didn't bother to ride my horse anyway as it was annoying to have to constantly dismount whenever I'm attacked.

But whether the absence of speed will make horses important or not really depends on how fast movement is in the game, and how far you need to travel.

As to whether horses are important to me, I certainly would not complain if Bethesda could do mounts and do them well, but if they're not in, I wouldn't think of it as a big loss. Regardless, even if horses aren't ridable, I'd say having them in the game just as animals would still have its benefits, because it's not like horses don't exist or aren't used in Tamriel, it's just that riding them may not be part of the gameplay, and considering we saw a horse in the trailer, I think we can at least expect to see them, if Bethesda wasn't confident horses would be in the finished product at all, I don't think they'd let one make it into the trailer.

I've added in a 'horses in-game if not mounts?' question now...

Horses in Oblivion were Awesomely Terrible?, and I never used them again after the one quest that had you ride one (near the beginning of the MQ, I think? Been a long time.)

Lousy animation, lag, terrible controls.... bad, bad, bad.


No interest in mounts since.

Won't care, definitely don't want the half-assed and awkward horse riding of oblivion, and Skyrim isn't the sort of place I'd expect horses are great for anyway as it's a lot of mountainous and snowy terrain I'm assuming.

I didn't think about terrain as a factor, but now I think of it riding on any sort of slope looked a lot more awkward than the already cringe-worthy (from the modern perspective of having played RDR etc.) horse riding in Oblivion...

Die? Probably not, I hope so at least.

Horses are awesomely great when done correctly, in Shadow of the Colossus the horse riding system was EPIC and the best one I've ever seen (you were actually riding the horse instead of being the horse like in other games).

Thing is, in Oblivion horses ruined the game for me... They were really awful, don't get me started.

I voted "No" and "Yes". For one thing, the second question is unnecessary cause there really isn't any REAL reason why anyone would vote no for having horses as visuals. That way they can't actually be "Bad" looking (animation, control-wise).

I won't die, and I don't want to have horses if they aren't done correctly except for visuals.

Todd was right when he said horses in OB controlled like tanks. I rarely used horses in OB because I did not find them all that smooth to use.

I would only like horses as a visual thing really. Even while there were horses in Oblivion I didn't really ride, ever. I could do without this time as well, but sure, if it's very well made, maybe.

A tiny bit of me will die. not all tho

I'm with Todd on this one. I don't need them unless they are done really well.
After all we need to do these awesome creatures justice.

Why would you want to be riding a horse when there are dragons about? That would be like painting a bulls eye on your forehead during an archery competition.

1: Maybe because you want to fight dragons? duh.

2: Because if it's done correctly, it's awesome.

3: Would be great to try to escape a dragon while riding on a horse, like a chase scene with the dragon flying after you breathing fire and what-not.

I want horses in, regardless. In Oblivion, they certainly weren't comparable to the horses you see now in games like Red Dead Redemption, but I don't care. I liked them in Oblivion and if I just saw Oblivion-style horses again, I'd be okay with that. I also could really care less about mounted combat, maybe because I can't recall ever playing a game with fun mounted combat, but I really don't see what the fuss is about that. When I get a horse, I don't get it to fight on it, I get it to ride on and to have an animal companion.

If they aren't mounts, I'd still like horses to be in the game, because that'd make it much easier to mod in the ability to mount them.

Right, so the dragon can swoop down and grab both of you at once. Brilliant approach!



It would have to be a very slow dragon for you to have even the slightest chance at escaping.

"Will you die if horses aren't announced? "

Eventually, yes. Due to starvation.

I am kinda missing the option "No, I don't want them as mounts AT ALL.". I think having them as random creatures in towns etc will be fine. Don't have to be in though.

I didn't use horses in Oblivion because:
1) I could fast travel anyways
2a) I would either lose it or it would die on me
2b) It's something to worry about/take care of

I never had issues riding it. I'm sort of used to the tank mechanics and I wouldn't mind if Skyrim's mounts handed the same. Perhaps because of the whole "running backwards is now slower than running forwards" it should probably be handed the exact same as walking normally. Maybe like Halo's warthogs.

Yes, then No.
Horses are mounts & work animals (plow horses, cart horses, etc.)
If they aren't going to be implemented in some way that displays how they fit into life in Skyrim then it doesn't work for me.
Horses aren't pets. If they're just going to be shown standing/walking around it will look odd.