Are horses in the game kind of pointless?

[Uncle Jon]

I haven't played Skyrim since all the way back when it was released in 2011 on my 360. But I just watched a youtube video of a horse fumbling and dying easily in Oblivion which made me remember that I didn't really ride on horses a whole lot in Skyrim. Actually I think I only bought like one horse in the game and then it died and I never bought another one because I thought it was easier to get around without it. Like there are certain places where its easier to go on foot without the horse getting stuck and there is fast travel in the game. Are horses pointless in the game?

[Grumpy Old Dude]

IMHO...yes. There only REAL advantage/purpose, is as a porter. But a cheat ring fixes that so...

[westrud]

Shadowmere is a pretty awesome training dummy.

[Fear2288]

They kinda are, yes.

Unless you decide to not fast travel and stick to using the roads to get around, there’s no real benefit to having one.

Heck, even when doing the above they can be kind of a pain because it’s along the roads where you get random encounters every 30 yards and you either need to run away, deal with the simplistic mounted combat, or dismount to fight/loot.

They’re really just there because they’re EXPECTED to be there.

Though it is quite silly that while the player can buy and ride a horse all over the place it seems like 99% of the population of Skyrim either can’t afford a horse or don’t know how to ride one.

[Uncle Jon]

Originally posted by Fear2288:

They kinda are, yes.

Unless you decide to not fast travel and stick to using the roads to get around, there’s no real benefit to having one.

Heck, even when doing the above they can be kind of a pain because it’s along the roads where you get random encounters every 30 yards and you either need to run away, deal with the simplistic mounted combat, or dismount to fight/loot.

They’re really just there because they’re EXPECTED to be there.

Though it is quite silly that while the player can buy and ride a horse all over the place it seems like 99% of the population of Skyrim either can’t afford a horse or don’t know how to ride one.

Once the horse died wasn't it like permanently dead? I think I remembered that being one of the other main reasons why I never bothered getting another.

[th]

Originally posted by Big Brother Darunia:

Are horses pointless in the game?

May be they are not as meaningful as we would like them to be, yes. But no, they are not entirely pointless.

Have you played in Survival Mode? Coz with it on horses acquire a lot of purpose.

1) In Survival there is no fast travel.
2) In Survival carry weight is very limited.
3) And yes, good horse can be really handy in fights. Some horses are immortal and much stronger than standard horses. They can even kill a dragon. Like Unicorn from the Wild Horses creation which has 50 level.

So I advise you to test Survival Mode. It gives a lot of purpose to many ingame mechanics. Like inns system for example. Or food system. And so on.

[th]

Originally posted by Big Brother Darunia:

Originally posted by Fear2288:

They kinda are, yes.

Unless you decide to not fast travel and stick to using the roads to get around, there’s no real benefit to having one.

Heck, even when doing the above they can be kind of a pain because it’s along the roads where you get random encounters every 30 yards and you either need to run away, deal with the simplistic mounted combat, or dismount to fight/loot.

They’re really just there because they’re EXPECTED to be there.

Though it is quite silly that while the player can buy and ride a horse all over the place it seems like 99% of the population of Skyrim either can’t afford a horse or don’t know how to ride one.

Once the horse died wasn't it like permanently dead? I think I remembered that being one of the other main reasons why I never bothered getting another.

Standard horse, yes. Permanently. It will be respawned after some time in the stables from where it originates. But you have to buy it again coz it will be a "new" horse from the gameplay point of view.

But there are many horses in the game. Some are much stronger, even immortal, some are even summonable which is very convenient.

Check it here:
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Horses

[Stardustfire]

only help a horse is, is that you can be overloaded, mount a horse, and can still fasttravel.

[th]

Originally posted by Stardustfire:

only help a horse is, is that you can be overloaded, mount a horse, and can still fasttravel.

And in Survival when you can't fasttravel at all this helps a lot lot more.

Sorry for pushing this topic. :) After I've tried Survival I now can not imagine the game without it. It totally fits into the game. Makes it the way it always should have been. Makes many game mechanics actually work.

In other words it's fast travel which kills the purpose of horses. It is not vice versa. The horses is not the reason. They are not good enough because fast travel exists.

[sdack]

Originally posted by Big Brother Darunia:

I haven't played Skyrim since all the way back when it was released in 2011 on my 360. But I just watched a youtube video of a horse fumbling and dying easily in Oblivion which made me remember that I didn't really ride on horses a whole lot in Skyrim. Actually I think I only bought like one horse in the game and then it died and I never bought another one because I thought it was easier to get around without it. Like there are certain places where its easier to go on foot without the horse getting stuck and there is fast travel in the game. Are horses pointless in the game?

Just because something is not a necessity does this mean it is pointless. Horses are amazing creatures and you can just keep them as pets. Even in modern times where steam and combustion engines have replaced horses do we still hold on to them, because we love them for being social creatures. Skyrim is not only a game where you level up, get stronger, kill more monsters, and collect more gold. It is also a role-playing game where you can immerse yourself in a fantasy. A part of that fantasy is to ride a horse. Of course, a horse cannot go everywhere, but neither can a car or a bike. Pointless is when you there compare a horse to a game mechanic such as fast-traveling and have not yet understood why it has horses in a game.

[peppermint hollows]

Imo the main problem with horses besides the aforementioned fast travel is actually that they have very little Stamina and is not too much faster than sprinting. Most of them cannot sprint for very long although iirc some of the special horses have more Stamina. But even then in Vanilla it just does not feel like very much.

[worm_master]

Lol GET A HORSE..... i noticed not 1 person said, "Lets go OVER the mountain" With a horse u can say goodbye to having to go around em....

That said, it takes a bit of skill, to get the horse up the mountain.

[SpeedFreak1972]

Without mods they are pretty limited ....

[smr1957]

The two top mods for horses are:

Convenient Horses - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/9519
Immersive Horses - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/13402

[Docsprock]

In vanilla, horses are very limited in their abilities. I have used Convenient Horses mod for many years and it allows for a lot of horseback antics. Being able to train your horse's skills, improved mounted combat, and of course, the climbing ability.

[mister_lobos]

there is also a lot of other things that are "useless" or nearly useless, but they do add to realism / immersion.
a big land like skyrim having no horses or some kind of transport would seem very unrealistic. also, they do pull the carriages, that are very useful early on, and for immersion (and if you don't use fast travel)
is there a good game play reason to own one?? not so much... other then climbing mountains for whatever reason.