Horse Combat mods: Which do you use and why?

[VGI]

So far, my initial research came up with two mods for horse combat (I can't believe horse combat is not a vanilla part of TES4).

 

1. Deadly Reflex

2. Mounted Combat OBSE

 

Deadly Reflex is such a cool mod...except for all the violence. Too bad. I HATE MORTAL COMBAT and any mortal combat-ish crap out there. If only it is modular so that you can turn off all that decapitation and blood and guts, I may have given it a try. I'm sure that the Horse Combat part of Deadly Reflex is well-made.

 

Mounted Combat OBSE...does not convince me very well. You can trample enemies with your horse, but can you swing your weapon against enemies while charging at them? I'm not convinced about it.

 

 

So, having said that, is there any other Horse Combat mod out there?

[HellsMaster]

No deadly reflex is the best.

Oh and to set you right it isnt Mortal Combat-ish crap its Dark Messiah Style Combat. True war and fighting isn't all flower and blossoms. Please respect Skycaptains effort and not call his work/art "crap" will you?

 

-HellsMaster

Edited March 17, 2011 by HellsMaster

[Axxaw]

To be honest I've kind of come to the side of the fence where everything regarding mounts is pointless because mounts themselves have no value to me anymore, the novelty has certainly worn off. I guess I'd just go with Deadly Reflex though because in addition to the mount combat you get a much more interesting combat experience. Regardless of how you feel about the gore it's impossible to say it makes the combat any more boring than it already is. In fact I feel that it's quite the reverse.

[VGI]

No deadly reflex is the best.

Oh and to set you right it isnt Mortal Combat-ish crap its Dark Messiah Style Combat. True war and fighting isn't all flower and blossoms. Please respect Skycaptains effort and not call his work/art "crap" will you?

 

-HellsMaster

 

I didn't per se called Skycaptain's work crap. I said any "mortal combat-ish" thing is crap. Have you seen Mortal Combat? Of course you have. Its meaningless and pointless, except for the violence. I mean seriously. Why glorify such violence as if there is anything worth glorifying in cutting wrists and decapitations and squirting blood like a fountain? Such things, though not "flowers and blossoms" are terrible.

 

True war and fighting isn't all flowers and blossoms? Why, is isn't flowers and blossoms at all. True war is horrible, as war-veterans will tell you. But still, Deadly Reflex is unrealistically violent. I hate unrealistic violence. Its just plain pornographic. Sort of like sex-porn making it seem like men can ejaculate buckets upon buckets of semen and women can ooze vaginal fluids like a water-dam, but it isn't true: Its unrealistic.

 

I mean its appeal is the violence because its soooo bloody and gory. And sorry, I cannot see such violence as art. I wish Skycaptain would have made his mod optional when it comes to how much blood and gore the player wants, then I could appreciate his work.

 

Please respect my opinion.

[VGI]

To be honest I've kind of come to the side of the fence where everything regarding mounts is pointless because mounts themselves have no value to me anymore, the novelty has certainly worn off. I guess I'd just go with Deadly Reflex though because in addition to the mount combat you get a much more interesting combat experience. Regardless of how you feel about the gore it's impossible to say it makes the combat any more boring than it already is. In fact I feel that it's quite the reverse.

For me, the close-quarters combat of Oblivion hasn't lost its appeal yet, it is still challenging to me. Hacking and blocking with just the right timing...its cool enough for me. I could most certainly appreciate its present amount of blood and gore though. But if I add Deadly Reflex, its like its just way too much.

 

I hope that the author of Deadly Reflex would make his mod tune-able, so that players could tune the amount of violence.

[Telyn]

You make an interesting point, VGI, and I respect your opinion but must disagree. I have a similar visceral response to a lot of gore mods, but I think for some people they are cathartic. We like to think we're not a violent species, but just under the surface we still are. We have all those old instincts primitive man had. World events force us to face that now and then. Perhaps you have seen the famous painting Guernica? It's very abstract but there is a lot of gore in it if you look carefully. A lot of people consider that painting high art. There are a couple of reasons for that. One is that it's a painting by Picasso. The other is that it has a message, and the message is "war is terrible." It's a message almost everyone agrees with, especially soldiers and veterans. Gore in games is not generally considered to be art, much less high art. Lots of people argue games cannot be art, that it is impossible. Even more people would argue that violence and sex in games cannot be art in a game but might be in a museum.

 

I personally don't really like game violence to be extremely gory. I am pretty squeamish about beheadings. My imagination is very strong. I identify too much. However, I do question that it must be pointless and it must not be art just because it's in a game. Maybe it does have some sort of message the modder wishes to convey. Maybe it's an unpopular message, maybe not. Unpopular messages aren't necessarily any less valid. I wouldn't begin to speculate why individual modders make these mods, but we can come up with reasons that might not be pointless hypothetically. Let's suppose a modder somewhere finds some sort of beauty in it, and for that modder focusing on the beauty of red blood distances that person from the horrors of the real world, makes something terrible in real life dreamlike and beautiful because it's really stylized. There are many famous artists who have done this exact thing, making something beautiful out of something painful or tragic. Maybe another modder is angry and gets the aggression out in games instead of real life (a cathartic response). Again, there are many artists who are famous who did something similar. Look at The Scream for an example of a cathartic painting that is very famous. There are all kinds of reasons for making and playing such mods that might have perfectly valid artistic reasons, or may have constructive emotional effects on people. You and I maybe wont ever understand them, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. Honestly, the vast majority of mods on this site aren't to my personal taste, and that is probably true for most members. One of my favorite mods puts little glowing fairies in the game. I like just about anything with particle effects and most people here probably don't. However, I have seen videos of Deadly Reflex, and even though I don't like gore, that mod is artistic. I wouldn't use it, but it's clear that a lot of work and care went into it, and it's very well done. I daresay, some of it is even abstractly beautiful. I wouldn't want it in my game, but there's nothing about it that encourages violence against any specific group of people, so I am perfectly glad it is here for people who enjoy gore. I don't need to know why they enjoy it. It's not hurting anyone and it's excellent work.

 

Why not just use Mounted Combat, or ask the modder nicely for that less blood option?

[VGI]

You make an interesting point, VGI, and I respect your opinion but must disagree. I have a similar visceral response to a lot of gore mods, but I think for some people they are cathartic. We like to think we're not a violent species, but just under the surface we still are. We have all those old instincts primitive man had. World events force us to face that now and then. Perhaps you have seen the famous painting Guernica? It's very abstract but there is a lot of gore in it if you look carefully. A lot of people consider that painting high art. There are a couple of reasons for that. One is that it's a painting by Picasso. The other is that it has a message, and the message is "war is terrible." It's a message almost everyone agrees with, especially soldiers and veterans. Gore in games is not generally considered to be art, much less high art. Lots of people argue games cannot be art, that it is impossible. Even more people would argue that violence and sex in games cannot be art in a game but might be in a museum.

 

I personally don't really like game violence to be extremely gory. I am pretty squeamish about beheadings. My imagination is very strong. I identify too much. However, I do question that it must be pointless and it must not be art just because it's in a game. Maybe it does have some sort of message the modder wishes to convey. Maybe it's an unpopular message, maybe not. Unpopular messages aren't necessarily any less valid. I wouldn't begin to speculate why individual modders make these mods, but we can come up with reasons that might not be pointless hypothetically. Let's suppose a modder somewhere finds some sort of beauty in it, and for that modder focusing on the beauty of red blood distances that person from the horrors of the real world, makes something terrible in real life dreamlike and beautiful because it's really stylized. There are many famous artists who have done this exact thing, making something beautiful out of something painful or tragic. Maybe another modder is angry and gets the aggression out in games instead of real life (a cathartic response). Again, there are many artists who are famous who did something similar. Look at The Scream for an example of a cathartic painting that is very famous. There are all kinds of reasons for making and playing such mods that might have perfectly valid artistic reasons, or may have constructive emotional effects on people. You and I maybe wont ever understand them, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. Honestly, the vast majority of mods on this site aren't to my personal taste, and that is probably true for most members. One of my favorite mods puts little glowing fairies in the game. I like just about anything with particle effects and most people here probably don't. However, I have seen videos of Deadly Reflex, and even though I don't like gore, that mod is artistic. I wouldn't use it, but it's clear that a lot of work and care went into it, and it's very well done. I daresay, some of it is even abstractly beautiful. I wouldn't want it in my game, but there's nothing about it that encourages violence against any specific group of people, so I am perfectly glad it is here for people who enjoy gore. I don't need to know why they enjoy it. It's not hurting anyone and it's excellent work.

 

Why not just use Mounted Combat, or ask the modder nicely for that less blood option?

 

I've never asked a modder to make it optional.

 

Upon further reflection, upon myself and such games, I think about what I liked about Dead Space. It is a violent game. But the violence there has a purpose. Within the game itself, it seems to be justified. But Dead Space and Mortal Kombat to me are still two different animals. I suppose what I liked about Dead Space is the suspense and the thriller, and the fact that the protagonist isn't easily frightened by the situation he has found himself in. Within that game I still hate what I see as pointless violence, and there are plenty. Like the monsters made of dead babies making NPC heads explode. The head of security being torn to many pieces by a tank-type monster, etc.

[Telyn]

Interesting, so basically you just don't feel gore fits the mood of Oblivion? Oblivion being a more classic fantasy type of story? I can see that. Some of the violence you describe sounds so ridiculous I'm not sure if it would even get to me. I'd have a hard time believing in monsters made of dead babies long enough to get upset. It might bug me visually depending on the graphics.

 

Back on topic, did you try either of those horse combat options? Were either of them close enough?

[chaospearl]

I can confirm that the Mounted Combat OBSE doesn't do what you're looking for. It allows you to cast spells from horseback, and to trample actors, but you still can't use weapons at all while mounted. Unfortunately you might have to just shrug and nod and accept that this is one of the things that Oblivion simply doesn't include, and try not to let the lack interfere with all the cool things you CAN do.

[VGI]

Interesting, so basically you just don't feel gore fits the mood of Oblivion? Oblivion being a more classic fantasy type of story? I can see that. Some of the violence you describe sounds so ridiculous I'm not sure if it would even get to me. I'd have a hard time believing in monsters made of dead babies long enough to get upset. It might bug me visually depending on the graphics.

 

Back on topic, did you try either of those horse combat options? Were either of them close enough?

 

I haven't tried any of those two mods unfortunately. I don't want to try a mod without asking first as much as possible, considering all the things that may go wrong.

 

Yes, yes I suppose I don't feel gore fits the mood of Oblivion per se. But it goes beyond just that. With Mortal Kombat, the thing that sells it is the violence in the game. I don't think gamers purchase it because the story is awesome or because of the suspense-type immersion that the player gets when playing it. People simply buy it because of the violence. Sort of like pornography; just portray lustful sex scenes, or beautiful people exposing themselves for your pleasure, and that is exactly what people will buy. Heck, you get it free nowadays in the internet, whether real people or "drawn" stuff, like hentai or "Second Life" or what not.

 

With Dead Space, there is a story, and you get immersed in the suspense. But as the player playing Isaac Clark; how Isaac Clark is seeps into you as the player; Isaac Clark isn't someone who will panic and run as those Necromorphs close in on him with the power to literally graphically rip him apart. You may want him to run away, and he can run, but not like a coward running for his life hopefully to a place that he can barricade himself in and be safe. So its like his nature is getting into you as the player, you are in a frightful, terrifying hell of a place, you are scared, terrified, but you suck it in and face the horrid bloody music. Bravery is facing your fears and in Dead Space, it can get into you. And that is what I like.

 

With Mortal Kombat, what gets into the player especially when you do those tasteless "fatalities"? A sense of violence, and that's it. "Oooh, look at me! Am I not cool? I can mutilate my enemies! Weeee!". (With porn, its a sense of lust, "Oooh, look at me, I take off my clothes for you. Get off of me while I do this, I'm yours." and that's it).

Edited March 24, 2011 by VGI