There has been a sizable backlash over the first official mod from Bethseda. The problem? They’re charging $1.99 for something that boils down to a new pair of cloths for your horse. There are two looks to choose from, an Elven armor appearance and Steel. Both looks are included in the $1.99 mod.
The problem is one of value versus cost. Horses in Oblivion are something that players are fond of, yes, but they’re totally unnesessary. For those of you who have not yet played the game and may be wondering why, it’s because you can instantly travel from one location to another. Towns can be instantly accessed from the beginning of the game, but the dungeons and landmarks that dot the land scape must be personally visited once.
You can instantly travel to those locations after the initial visit.
This seems to underline a big part of the problem. Horses are really neat, but charging $1.99 for a new decoration for something that a player may rarely ever see to begin with seems to be pretty silly.
Here are a couple of pretty good images of the two suits of horse armor. Note that they’re large and the image may take awhile to load after clicking on the thumb nail.
Elven Horse Armor:
Steel Horse Armor:
Would you pay $1.99 for that? Ultimately it’s up to the individual and I won’t judge the choice that folks make with their own money, but I personally wouldn’t. Besides, I like my Shadowmere just the way she is.
UPDATE Note: I originally had an incorrect price for the mods and said $2.50. It is $1.99. I said $2.50 because that is what I had read on the forums, but the $1.99 price is taken from the Oblivion web site. My apologies for the confusion.
~Steph
April 5th, 2006 at Apr 05, 06 | 8:21 pm
I forgot to mention that I’ve read that the armor is supposed to add protection to the horse. I can’t confirm this personally, but it’s a moot point. Shadowmere is invincible and that’s not the result of a cheat code. She can only be knocked unconcious.
April 5th, 2006 at Apr 05, 06 | 8:32 pm
Here’s some additional info on the horse armor mod.
The first time that you start the game after installing the mod you are presented with a box of text that initiates a quest. It’s a simple system that tells you where to go to get the armor.
Speak to the NPC in the building behind the horse in the elven screen shot above and she presents you with a choice: Elven armor or Steel armor.
The first time that you do this it will not cost your character any gold. However, any time after that it will cost your character 500 gold. You do not get to preview what it looks like in-game, so save before you make your choice.
I think that Shadowmere is the only horse that can’t be killed, but I don’t know that for a fact. I’ve seen some mentions on the forums of a unicorn but have not seen it myself and do not know if you can claim it as your mount.
Luckily, after a certain point in the game that 500 gold is not terribly difficult to come by.
April 17th, 2006 at Apr 17, 06 | 10:23 pm
*** spoiler spoiler spoiler****
About the unicorn.
You can mount the unicorn. it is directly east of the inn of bad omen or whatever the place is called, the inn is on the golden road. if you look at the map. but if you attack it it chases you around and tries to kill you, if anything attacks it while you arent on it, it spazzes out and tries to kill you. after killing it of course. And once you get off of it, it will walk back to the grove where you found it. You end up having to kill it later for a quest anyway. The best way I found to get on it is to sneak up on it and mount it. after that, as long is nothing is attacking it, you can just catch up to it and mount it again. I think its too much trouble to try and keep it longer then some fun but I would like to know if you could armor it. hmm.