The most impressive characteristic of Oblivion is the sheer size of the game’s world. It is by far the largest in-game world you’re bound to have ever been seen or experienced in a videogame. I can just imagine players getting completely engulfed within the vastness of the game because of this characteristic. Hell, words like massive and gigantic don’t even seem like they fit the bill. The world is absolutely ****ing gargantuan. If going from one town to another on foot, you could literally take an hour or more to get from point to point, let alone a number of hours to reach the opposite end of the map. However, just to make our lives easier, we got some stallions to ride in Oblivion, not to mention a quick jump feature that lets you jump from one area you’ve already been to another.
Getting a horse might be a problem for some gamers but with the amount of ways to approach things in the universe of the Elder Scrolls, you can be sure that there are many ways to get that pony you’ve always wanted.
My first attempt wasn’t the most noble one. Not only did I try to steal a horse but I tried to get one by murdering an imperial soldier. I just attacked him on the outskirts surrounding the city at the center of civilization while he strode through a tiny village. Well, that didn’t work. After I slashed him with my blade he got off and preceeded to kick my ass. Not only that, but a villager joined his cause and assisted him in what lead to my quick death.
Alright, so that didn’t work and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do next. Was I to try and steal another horse or get one from the stable from town? Screw that, I didn’t want to waste my time and trod back to the city, so I pressed on till I arrived to this lowly looking ruin, a stone hideout of sorts -- one which had been the home of bandits. With that said, two bandits sprung and tried to take me down. I took one out but luckily an imperial soldier rode up with his horse and came to my aid to help me take out the other. By "help me" I actually mean, do it on his own, because I just ran and stole the soldier’s horse from under him and rode away as he ran after me, which he was to no avail.
Alas! I had finally acquired that steed I’ve wanted, but crap -- this stallion is no Epona, or even Argo for that matter. It’s just a nightmare.
To my dismay, riding on horseback isn’t the most enjoyable experience in Oblivion. I wasn’t too pleased to discover that a horse doesn’t seem to be able to gallop at faster speeds as one would in a Legend of Zelda game, GUN or Shadow the Colossus, or even jump. Being a fan of most games that offer some type of horseback riding, I was quite annoyed with this. Not to mention it’s almost unplayable to ride on horse back in first-person perspective. It feels too tank-like that way, so you’re best off using the game’s third person view when on horseback.
Anyway, back to my experience...
At some point riding across the land and enjoying the scenery, a bandit popped out of the bushes and started slashing my horse. If there’s one thing you don’t do, it’s hurt my pet, so I dismounted and proceeded to kill my attacker. Unfortunately, the blade I was using was of over-exaggerated size, like something you’d expect a character in Final Fantasy to carry, and I accidently hit my horse when defending myself and I think it’s safe to say that he got pissed. And behold! All of sudden this horse was galloping at a fast speed, attempting to trample me as I ran from him. The one thing to be done was to fight back and so I did. Thankfully, after I slashed him a few times he backed off in fear and ran way.
What’s the lesson we learned today? Be wary of horses. They are the spawn of Satan.
To be continued...
