Fidcal on 26/2/2007 at 23:04
Came to a wooden bridge over a gulley. Sitting on my horse I bang my head on an overhead pole strut at the start of the bridge. Get off and I can walk under the pole and walk across the bridge. But the horse won't follow. Is there any way to get it over? I tried punching it from behind to 'coax' it forward but it eventually died.
Vigil on 26/2/2007 at 23:45
you monster
Pisces on 27/2/2007 at 01:57
Can you walk around or through the gulley? Horses can swim so you don't have to worry about water and horses tend to be able to run up steep hills fairly effectively.
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him cross a bridge;).
Fidcal on 27/2/2007 at 08:21
Quote Posted by Pisces
Can you walk around or through the gulley?
Yes but I'm as stubborn as my horse.:cheeky: I fought two bandits and a wolf to take this bridge!
It does seem odd though that no provision was made for situations like this. It turned an immersive drama into a Monty Python comedy: Bridge, horse, player, pole at head height. Mmm... My toughest quest yet. How can I get past this terrifying 'barrier'? Keep expecting two guys to leap out of the horse costume.
It would be nice to frob the horse's bridle and get it to follow closely as if on a tether or even for the player to duck when the sneak/crouch key is pressed. Or to be able to whistle to signal the horse to come to you. That'd be cool.
I'll try thrashing the pole with my sword but I doubt that will work nor is it a happy solution anyway. Otherwise it's Plan B, ride around. I didn't want to cross that stupid bridge anyway. :mad:
Pisces on 27/2/2007 at 10:25
There was a troll under it anyway.
~s:a:n:i:t:y~ on 27/2/2007 at 11:20
Flat tyres.
Lytha on 28/2/2007 at 10:11
Well, see it like this: while you're running around on your feet, you train your athletics. While running on the horse, you train nothing.
My characters usually fasttravel to something (also trains nothing :( ) and then run around on foot for athletics. The horse just stands at the fasttravel point and looks stupidly at point of interest.
And really bluntly, I don't see the point in the mounts anyway, when you're faster on foot (except when you've got a real fast horse, ok) and when riding means that you can't pick up flowers and always have to unmount for fighting off pesky wolves or stuff. Also, they tend to get stuck with fallen trees and rocks when you ride across away from the roads to avoid most of the pesky bandits.
Steep mountains? I get up there better on foot than on the horse, too. Just strafe+forward around a bit along the mountain's side (just like a wallhugging cartographer in guildwars) and it's possible to find a path to the top. Using this technique, the horse would tend to fall down the mountain.
Fidcal on 28/2/2007 at 10:59
I agree in general but it's early days for me and I am still enjoying the story-immersive concept of riding around from place to place. So far I've found it easier to get up slopes on the horse but my method (on horse or foot) has been to zigzag up hill (ie moving forward but along the side of the slope like a typical path up a hill might be) with a few side strafes and jumps thrown in here and there. I'll try your forward upwards with side strafes method - sounds a bit like zigzagging a different way. Logically in the real world zigzagging means the incline is less but the journey is longer. But then there is slippage.....
The horse is certainly a nuisance with wolves and other enemies (except to gallop away if there is a long clear run.) Even after you get off it is often hard to hit the wolf without hitting the horse though often the horse kicks the wolf to death first anyway. Those wolves are suicidal. Why don't they hunt in packs? Maybe they do on later levels?
Matthew on 28/2/2007 at 11:09
Quote Posted by Lytha
And really bluntly, I don't see the point in the mounts anyway
Roleplaying reasons.
Lytha on 28/2/2007 at 12:35
Point taken, but the riding in Oblivion still feels like an awkward reaction to a staff meeting that came up with the line: "other games have mounts, we need mounts, too."
I used the horse at one point: to travel from Weynon Priory to Kvatch because I wanted to avoid an accidental levelup on the way. Maybe I should've just maptraveled though. :)
