A Horse of a Different ... Owner?

[SlavemasterT]

If you own the horse, it'll stay where you leave it when you dismount. Otherwise, yeah -- the horse'll run back home. Price you pay for being a horse thief. Of course you could always put it in a corral when you're not using it, and then it won't be able to get away. There are farms & settlements all over with fenced-in paddocks & such.

Was this idea rooted in nostalgia for stupid old movies about pets making cross-country treks to reunite with their masters? Because in reality, you see, I thought that horse thieves really existed, and if horses had a carrier pigeon-quality homing instinct it just doesn't seem like horse thieving would have been a profitable venture. Are you sure you weren't thinking about centaurs when you were thinking about equestrian creatures being able to trace their way back home, and does this mean centaurs are definitely in?

 

[GhanBuriGhan]

I am almost sorry I read about this. It would have mad a nice surprise in game. Damn you stupid mare, where do you think you are going!

 

[SlavemasterT]

I am almost sorry I read about this. It would have mad a nice surprise in game. Damn you stupid mare, where do you think you are going!

I don't know, imagine someone following it all the way back to its home and then thinking "WTF?". They'd probably report it as a bug...

 

[Higher Game]

Calm down, guys. This is where game balance is more important than realism.

 

[kingcomrade]

PATR---wait no....must resist...

 

[Fresh]

For some reason I feel the urge to steal like 15 horses from one city, keep them all together in an enclosed area somewhere and then letting loose the whole pack at once to make their way home.

 

[Goliath]

Calm down, guys. This is where game balance is more important than realism.

Game balance?
Have you ever played Morrowind? The guys at Bethsoft are the champions of unbalance.

 

[bryce777]

Will you be able to follow the horse back to his owner walking through miles of wilderness? WIll it actually walk the whole distance or zap home between load zones or something?

Stealing the owner & bringing him along is a great suggestion btw. It would be nice if you could shrink him and keep him in your pocket.

I imagine dargging around a bunch of bodies in a big sack.

 

[HardCode]

It'll run all the way home. If it gets unloaded because you're too far away, it'll go into the low processing level list and move there over time.

And yes, there are stables outside of every major city where your horse stays while you're inside.

@MSFD:I mean a horse making its way home. If you are miles away, and the horse runs home, what happens when the lone horse reaches the city gates? Does the game put it back into its stable?

---

I bet people would report it as a bug similar to not being able to find Casius.

 

[Lumpy]

So, how can a horse tell whether he was stolen or bought?

 

[HardCode]

So, how can a horse tell whether he was stolen or bought?

Okay, that is an excellent point. Maybe the RAI gives the horse super sm@rtz.

 

[Anoik]

So, how can a horse tell whether he was stolen or bought?

Okay, that is an excellent point. Maybe the RAI gives the horse super sm@rtz.

How can a dog know who is his owner?

 

[Rat Keeng]

Dogs often form familiar bonds with the people that take care of them and spend time with them, thus making those people the dog's "owner", but let's not go off-topic here, the discussion was about horses.

Question: Is there a time limit for how long a horse will remember where it came from? I mean, if you steal a horse and ride around on it for months, will it eventually switch ownership?

 

[obediah]

Calm down, guys. This is where game balance is more important than realism.

Game balance?
Have you ever played Morrowind? The guys at Bethsoft are the champions of unbalance.

Not that the home-seeking horses isn't a stupid idea - but give Morrowind a break on balance issues:

* it's a single player game
* balance is a worthy sacrifice for freedom and options.

It's a lot easier to gain balance by whacking features than by testing all combinations and possibilities. So balance being a bugaboo of morrowind puts pressure on Oblivion to be simpler.

So, how can a horse tell whether he was stolen or bought?

Okay, that is an excellent point. Maybe the RAI gives the horse super sm@rtz.

Well it is balance - if the PC has a quest radar, then so must the horsies.

 

[LlamaGod]

what if the horses' owner was particular mean and now you are his only chance at freedom?

also, how will boats be handled?

 

[Seven]

Calm down, guys. This is where game balance is more important than realism.

Now that's excellent use of sracasm, it is sarcasm, right--otherwise, you'd just be stupid.

 

[Twinfalls]

also, how will boats be handled?

yeah will boats sail away on their own if you've stolen them?

Saucy Sloop come baaaaaack.......

 

[LlamaGod]

maybe a group of daedric ordinator almsivi boogaloo guards will chase you on their boat while Hulk Hogan's "Beach Patrol" will play

 

[Twinfalls]

As long as my klepto elf can play Devil's Cabaret 'Enema Beach Party' back at them it will be an OK solution. There better be Speedboat jumps Betathesda you listening to me?!!?

 

[vazquez595654]

Saucy Sloop? That sounds like the name of hooker I dated once...well actually that was her nickname...

yeah will boats sail away on their own if you've stolen them?

Silly guys. You know if there are boats they will be instant travel and no you won't be able to steal a boat.

There better be Speedboat jumps Betathesda you listening to me?!!?

Yeah and there better be timed missions where you have to race around and back, if not you lose the mission and have to start over.

Back on topic

What about wild horses? Alright I know that is too much to ask.

I still want to know if you can kill the horses. Imagine jumping in one of those speedtrees with a bow and shooting someones horse and watching them crash into the ground with the arrow stuck in the horse.

Or how about a bear chasing you up a speedtree. Yeah. No. Fuck you...I ah mean amen.

 

[bryce777]

Calm down, guys. This is where game balance is more important than realism.

Game balance?
Have you ever played Morrowind? The guys at Bethsoft are the champions of unbalance.

Not that the home-seeking horses isn't a stupid idea - but give Morrowind a break on balance issues:

* it's a single player game
* balance is a worthy sacrifice for freedom and options.

It's a lot easier to gain balance by whacking features than by testing all combinations and possibilities. So balance being a bugaboo of morrowind puts pressure on Oblivion to be simpler.

So, how can a horse tell whether he was stolen or bought?

Okay, that is an excellent point. Maybe the RAI gives the horse super sm@rtz.

Well it is balance - if the PC has a quest radar, then so must the horsies.

Well, when you aren't a complete moron you can just use your head to balance things a little, or something magical called MATHEMATICS, which seems to escape most developers' peabrains these days. The unbalancing things in a lot of games are just ridiculously badly thought out game design.

 

[Fresh]

I'd prefer if the horsies just were ridiculously difficult to steal instead of the whole cyberbrain-horsies-thing.

 

[LlamaGod]

they should have a rodeo mini-game when you get on, with patrick stewart and richard dean anderson yelling out pointers to you

 

[Twinfalls]

New screenie + in-game book

To paraphrase Killdozer - Obligon needs no less a man than LOOOORNE GREENE!

 

[Fresh]