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Can We Talk About Just How Great The Horse (Mount) is in Elden Ring?

I'm sure many of us have played more than our fair share of games with horses and more often than not they tend to be terrible with regards to their controls. I think it got to the point where it was just something to expect and very few games have really made it a joy to use.

And then Elden Ring came out and made me think about them once again. This game has given me very little reason to complain about it's design. It's quick to get on and off of it. It reacts exactly as I expect it to and I can even be right at the very edge of a cliff facing the drop and immediately turn around without it moving forward and making me fall. I think this latter part is really what tipped me off about how great it really is. It even traverses the landscape quite well and can take a decent fall.

The horse can even help you accomplish wild stuff like this:



Anyone have any actual complaints about the horse that I haven't noticed?
 

Mr Hyde

Member
From really nailed the horse riding. I was a bit worried at first because horse riding has never been fun, at least in the games I've played with them. The Witcher 3, Assassin's Creed, Zelda. It doesn't feel right. But in Elden Ring I'm using the horse regularly. My only complaint is the lack of customization options. I hope From gives us the choice for different skins. Maybe equipping it with more items etc.
 

Aesius

Member
My only issue with horseback combat in Elden Ring is that you shouldn't get knocked off of Torrent unless he "dies." It's BS to get knocked off only to find out that he's still alive. I get that the horse shouldn't be able to tank hits until you personally die, but it's too easy to get knocked off.
 
It has issues as mentioned above, and to add on to those issues it is a nightmare to platform with and the game constantly has moments that ask of you to do so. It's really slippery and especially imprecise which is the opposite of what you need when trying to carefully land on a ledge. Instead at times it will inconsistenly slip off or land facing a completely different direction and I barely even touched the left joystick. Oh and don't dare try to mount while near a ledge either. He tends to move forward a few steps sometimes when calling him out which can also lead to a death. One time I was standing still, called torrent out, and he burst into a full speed gallop instantly throwing me off of a cliff. There were multiple moments where I said "Yea, that's exactly what I wanted to do torrent" in a very sarcastic manner.

It is a good first attempt at a magical horse by From, but it needs improvement if it's going to be used for the next game.
 
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TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Yeah, this goat+horse thing is very good for a game like this. It moves perfectly and the double jump makes exploring the overworld a breeze.

It would have been cool to be able to customize it, like I dunno, maybe adding some armor or something so he doesn't die so quickly.
 

Robb

Gold Member
I haven’t played it but it looks really great - fluid, quick and useful.

I’m hoping BotW2 takes some pointers because the horse riding in BotW did not feel great imo. I very very rarely chose to ride a horse in that game which feels strange to say about a Zelda game.
 

BossLackey

Gold Member
For traversal? It's fantastic

For combat? It's pure and utter trash in the later game because Torrent doesn't get any kind of upgrade and just gets instantly killed by anything later on. Then you're on the ground for five whole seconds just hoping you're lucky to not get killed.
 

NinjaBoiX

Member
Its alright. No inertia,feels like its missing animations. RDR 2 horses are probably the best we'll ever get.
Yeah, it does control well, in terms of doing what you want it to do in a fairly responsive manner. But it’s incredibly rudimentary in almost every other aspect, its not “impressive” as much as it is functional.

It’s basically just a graphical asset that spawns underneath you to modify your moveset, it’s far from a technical accomplishment.
 

ethomaz

Banned
From really nailed the horse riding. I was a bit worried at first because horse riding has never been fun, at least in the games I've played with them. The Witcher 3, Assassin's Creed, Zelda. It doesn't feel right. But in Elden Ring I'm using the horse regularly. My only complaint is the lack of customization options. I hope From gives us the choice for different skins. Maybe equipping it with more items etc.
I'm not even sure to what tell you.

Horses are fun to control since well decades ago... did you tried Shadow of Colossus? Or Zelda Ocarine of Time? Or Uncharted 3? Red Dead Redemption 2? TLOU2? Or maybe more recently Breath Of The Wild, Metal Gear Solid V or Ghost Of Tsushima?
 
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Bartski

Gold Member
My only complaint with the horse is the same one as with the animation with every other character in the game - its last-gen inverse kinematics system was clearly not designed to work on such a variety of terrain and elevation. (Edit: the game was initially way less vertical in early prototypes). So while it's super responsive and very "game'y" unrealistic, which here is obviously a GOOD thing, it's all jittery and a source of all kinds of bad collision and jank on screen. So while it feels great on the stick, it can look pretty bad at times. One doesn't contradict the other IMO, we're just not there yet. I hope we'll see that improvement in Elden Ring 2.
 
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SafeOrAlone

Banned
I really appreciate that I don't have to get off my horse to summon people or interact with messages, as well as the fact that it controls easily. It's pretty frustration-proof.
 

Mr Hyde

Member
Horses are fun to control since well decades ago... did you tried Shadow of Colossus? Or Zelda Ocarine of Time? Or Uncharted 3? Red Dead Redemption 2? TLOU2? Or maybe more recently Breath Of The Wild, Metal Gear Solid V or Ghost Of Tsushima?

I've played every game except RDR 2 and MGS 5, and yes, all of the horse riding sucked ass in those games. Shadow of the Colossus is probably the worst offender on that list. How you can call the horse riding enjoyable on that game is beyond me.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Its just ok, good for traveling but getting stunlocked because the horse can only take a hit or two in a fight makes the combat feel like a gamble that i personally would prefer being on foot for
I would say its good against dragons but for every other boss, you better off on foot.
 

ethomaz

Banned
I've played every game except RDR 2 and MGS 5, and yes, all of the horse riding sucked ass in those games. Shadow of the Colossus is probably the worst offender on that list. How you can call the horse riding enjoyable on that game is beyond me.
Shadow of Colossus is probably the most realist horse unless it is really really well trained but that should be boring even in games.

BTW you don’t control Agro… she is independent… what you control is the man riding her that makes things even more fantastic.
 
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Bartski

Gold Member
Its just ok, good for traveling but getting stunlocked because the horse can only take a hit or two in a fight makes the combat feel like a gamble that i personally would prefer being on foot for
IMO is super OP as soon as you get a feel of the dash iframes and L2 and R2 weapon charge timing. It actually makes most situations easier to handle than on foot, it just takes a while to get into. I really haven't figured it out till very late game but once I did I started clearing out enemy camps on it, those big gold armored knights all over Lyendell are helpless against it.
 

DeceptiveAlarm

Gold Member
The mount is awesome OP. The only game I've played with a equally cool mount system is probably guild wars 2. And that is only because there is more than one kind.
 

-tetsuo-

Unlimited Capacity
Its fine I guess. Not that much different than most other games I play with horses. Not enough for me to notice anyway.
 

nemiroff

Gold Member
It's kinda embarrassing but It took me about ten hours to realize I could dismount simply by pressing down on the stick..
 
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Antwix

Member
Well let's point out the elephant in the room - there's only one! No other mount skins, customization, etc, seems like a wasted opportunity.
Actually would've been cool if you could sacrifice/convert an armor set you already have to convert it into horse armor or something.


Anyways, I actually kinda dislike the horse combat. One of the very few things I dislike about the game. It just feels tedious to keep doing drive-byes then circle around....and keep doing it over and over.
 
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