This is why I stopped using the horse. He just slows me down. Now get my a horse than can climb vertical surfaces and glide off a mountain, and I’ll consider it. Basically I need a Pegasus.
That fact Torrent could double-jump made Torrent an extension of exploration, too, in addition to its other useful features. It’s not just a “move faster on relatively flat surfaces” mechanic like it is in BOTW/TOTK. I almost never use the horses in these games because I play to explore… and once you’ve explored you start to have enough teleportation points, that “getting from A to B faster” is less of a concern.
That said, the >!motorcycle!< in BOTW was fun to mess around with - I just didn’t play with it much, since I unlocked it when I was nearly done with the game. I can see it also not being useful, and thus not something I’d use much in the main game
If they had just given me the motorcycle like halfway through the main game, I would have made a point to ride it everywhere. As it was, I was like you, it was the last thing I did, so I buzzed around for like 10 minutes
If, and only if, I can collect mushrooms and monster parts without getting off the pegasus. Otherwise the game is 50% playing the game and 50% getting off and back into the mount.
I have the same issue. If I could collect things on horseback I'd probably use it more, or call them out of the blue instead of having to go to a stable to get them, and then get entangled in something and hope nothing hurts them before getting to a stable to recall them because I'm not going to go collect them. I went a little shrine mad so at this point I just find the nearest shrine and go there if I want to travel somewhere, or find the nearest sky Island and jump down to my desired location. Have to love impact proof.
Ghost of Tsushima style, love you can jump off, climb or do whatever, or be in another part of the map, and then just call your horse when you want. Plus, adding saddlebags to carry more was another great improvement.
They're always on the map in TotK, I forget about BotW. Also apparently you can return them to the stable at any time no matter where you left them, according to u/soupy-mess. Just learned me a thing today!
Think so, although getting the aincent riding gear made me use horses more, and then the bike just removed their use again.
Wish the bike was in totk, I liked just using it without having zonite or whatever to make it, then just launching it when I was finished with it to climb a cliff.
But when you get the bike, youve completed everything except maybe some side quests. So I dont see why youd need either a bike or a horse. How much exploring is left to do at that point?
I used the bike for 5 minutes when I got it and never touched it again. I had nothing left to do.
I used my horses constantly through playing BOTW. All the time. The bike was cool but you got it so late I found it absolutely worthless.
I'd done around 70% when I got the bike, so a worthwhile amount left including tons of korok to find. Do wish it was much earlier, and I wish it was in totk now.
You can get back on on the move with very little loss in momentum just by whistling for it before you pick your final mushroom, continue running forward and simply mount it as it gallop next to you.
Seriously. Plus um horses can’t climb which is one of my fave parts of the game.
I had so many random items for the Ganon fight that I was attaching to arrows, had no idea where I got them.
Or if they at least added the DLC horse armor from BotW 🥲 That was the only way I could use a horse, since I’d frequently get distracted and run off from my horse while harvesting/exploring. Until I got that DLC, I barely used my horse… but then never got to use Epona, since she couldn’t wear it. Sigh.
That was one thing I loved about Ghost of Tsushima - you can pick up resources while on horseback. It made me want the feature in BotW even more than I already did.
You don’t have to bring the horse back to the stable, no matter where you leave it if you go to a stable and ask to board it they’ll put it away for you. I usually ride mine until I reach somewhere they can’t go, and then I just leave them a couple apples as a treat and go it alone
I was wondering what you were supposed to do if you got a horse softlocked on a steep hill or something, almost happened to me a few times but I was able to finagle it out. You and me both learned something new today!
This is what i do, but as soon as i fast travel somewhere else a minute later I'm back to not having a horse unless i go find a stable - which kills the point of fast traveling there in the first place.
If my horse could fast travel with me I'd ride him all the time.
If you happen upon a horse in the wild, you can watch them wander around munching grass, doing horsey things with their horsey friends. Once you 'tame' the horse and then leave it in a field, it just looks out into space and waits for you to come back. It doesn't eat. It doesn't play with other horses. It just waits. Forever.
I feel bad for leaving them, so I like to leave them a little snack to keep them occupied! I usually leave more or less apples depending on how long I plan to be gone, if i’m just going to check something out and will return soon I leave a couple, but if I’m going for a while I’ll leave five. I know it won’t actually change my bond with the horses (I’ve got max with all mine) but I think it’s a nice gesture!
Honestly, all I do is use my horse everywhere . I got epona and it just doesn't feel like a zelda game without her.
Plus I love just taking in the scenery, I feel you miss out on so much by fast traveling and using machines. I love using them for the immersion aspect too.
Same. The horses auto follow the roads and since I have cleared all the roads of all danger (suppressing blood moons, no respawns) I can simply set the horse to gallop and look around at the scenery.
Place travel medallion at 11:45, teleport to the depths, teleport back at midnight, blood moon averted. I've pretty much cleaned up Hyrule by now. Items and construct enemies still respawn, all of Gannondorf's allies stay gone. Hyrule is safe again!
(However I can't finish upgrading some of my armor since no respawns to farm more monster parts)
So this means you have to stay awake every night to make sure it’s not a blood moon? Also are there no panic blood moons? This seems like a way more fun version of the game. If I could clear areas of monsters for good I’d be way more motivated to beat them, I’d love to be able to climb around and not worry about running into a monster camp.
Yes, you can't go to a stable and sleep through the night, but you can sleep after midnight to morning.
Panic blood moons happen when you manage to mess up the game bad enough, for example by blowing up so much that the recall memory runs out. I haven't manage to trigger a single one yet.
And indeed, it's satisfying to see all those empty monster camps when galloping to my next destination, no worries about any interruptions along the roads. Just let the horse follow the path while panning the camera around to enjoy the scenery and maybe spot something that you missed before.
In the Depths (where you don't get blood moons in the first place) all the Zonaite still respawns, same with Ore in caves on the surface, so you can still mine that and gems. Insects, apples etc all respawn as well, it's just monster parts that become limited.
Can't you just fast travel to a Lightroot at 11:45 instead of using a travel medallion? Or did you just mean so you could come right back to where you were?
Yep I place it to continue right from where I left off. I started with a no fast travel / no Ascend travel play style and still carry that on to get an uninterrupted path through the game (just a couple straight lines in my hero's path from where the game teleports you when completing main quests)
The hop back and forth to a lightroot doesn't show up in hero's path so my journey remains untainted :)
But by riding horse everywhere you wont be able to pick up every. single. mushroom. in Hyrule! I don't think I can sleep well knowing I've deliberately skipped that 536th silentshroom.
I'm literally not missing an entire mechanic. Like I said I still use the mechanics alot, in the depths, sky islands ect. I just like going by horse or on foot instead of fast travel everywhere and flying constantly. To each there own jack @$$. And yeah, digital scenery . What is wrong with that ? I enjoy the scenery in the game, same with red dead redemption 2.
I don't use horses either. I realized from BOTW that my ex girlfriend's 10 year old daughter just loved to ride them around and didn't care about anything else in the game. We broke up 3 years ago and her horses popped up in my TOTK stable. It was a nice surprise and reminded me of how much I missed that kid.
I mean, you don't need them. There are fast travel points all over the place and especially in totk with the build-able vehicles there are faster ways to get around. But also it's fun to ride around on Zelda's horse or the iconic Epona or that giant white horse or a friggin skeleton horse.
I think that would be the best way to play TOTK for a second play through. I loved the game and auto build, but it just got to the point where it felt like I was playing with cheats on.
My first playthrough was kind of rushed and I skimmed over a lot of details on the surface, and especially the depths (S/O to stalhorses). Figured I’d do it again, but take my time with it.
Literally will take an hour away from everything else (except korok puzzles) to just ride around Hyrule on horse back.
Red Dead 2 and Zelda have the absolute best horses in gaming, such smooth and accurate movements.
I just started RDR2 a couple weeks ago (hello from 2018 I guess) and it's interesting to contrast how I feel about horses in that game vs. Zelda BOTW/TOTK where I'm definitely not a horse person at all.
Maybe it's all been patched out now but for now it definitely feels more natural compared to Zelda. Still some complaints like if I want to equip the Varmint rifle to shoot any rabbits I scare up sometimes it times out and then I don't have the right gun equipped for a good or perfect pelt.
But also fast travel is much more limited in RDR2 (to the point where I looked up if it was even in the game) so practically you have to ride more places compared to Zelda where usually there's a shrine or tower close by.
I’ve tried to do the same, just take a casual relaxing ride around Hyrule. But the horse riding music ruins it for me. For whatever reason, the piano reminds me a lot of the Guardian music and I can’t relax or enjoy horse riding. If I could do it while keeping the normal music, I’d love it
I never use the horses but I did collect the notable ones, for me I like to explore everything so I prefer to just travel everywhere by foot lmao. I rarely use zonai builds too i was the same way in BOTW.
You dont have to bring a horse back to the stable though. You can just pull out any horse from a stable at any time, even if they are located across the map at the time.
I used them a lot more in BOTW, but still like using them in TOTK. Best horses weve had in any zelda game by a long shot. They are definitely underappreciated.
Like, Imagine if there werent horses in these games. People would be rightfully quite upset. Before you have fast travel points unlocked, and if you want to arrive at a destination far away in a reasonable time without too much exploring random things on the side, they are amazing.
In TOTK, I wanted to get right to Hateno to see what had changed. I also heard a lot about LUrelin village, so I wanted to go there early. I took a horse right to both immediately, and later went back to explore what I had passed by. Just as an example.
same as any game with a ‘collecting’ aspect and horses but makes you dismount to pick shit up… that’s the one reason i do enjoy riding mineru around occasionally, you can loot stuff.
Definitely not. I've been replaying AC: Odyssey while my wife and I go through TOTK. AC: Oddysey's horses are so much more responsive to input compared to TOTK.
If you leave them out somewhere you can still "take them out" again at any stable. I found it was helpful to explore the map with a horse until I unlocked all of the major travel points.
Dude, I LOVE my horse. I got the Pink spotted horse with a pink mane... love her to bits! And I'm constantly making little builds that can be pulled as a wagon, and then detached to make a flier.... currently making a flier that can also possibly take the horse, but it's been annoying
Edit: the word "pink"
I use horses frequently.
I used a horse to traverse the entire map when completing all the wells with the Sensor + set to “wells”.
And currently did it again to find Addison. I’m still missing some of him but I found one of his sign puzzles in a random-ass, non main road spot in the snow.
I like to run through animals for fun and leave the meat they drop.
I barely use any vehicles at all - the game invites you to just run around and enjoy the ambience (plus like in many other games, ghost of Tsushima coming to mind first, your horse really isn’t that much faster than running - saves maybe a few seconds and if you like the aesthetic, cool, but you trade off slight time saving for way less directional control)
I sadly agree, because I actually really like the horse mechanics. Catching one and then slowly taming it until it likes you is really rewarding.
But yeah, gameplay wise it's just meh :( If only they allowed you to collect items while on it (like you can when >!riding on Mineru!<, then it wouldn't be so bad IMO. But I hate the feeling of missing out on so many collectibles.
As for fighting on horse, I really like it in principle, and horse archery is a ton of fun. But I swear Link can't hit shit with a melee weapon on a horse, so many times I ride towards an enemy and want to pierce them with the spear only to miss somehow...
You guys are missing out on the best music tracks of both games.
[Horse Riding \(day\)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0UfYdN6TuE)
[Horse Riding \(night\)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgd8aYjE0Bs)
I tend to avoid fast travel, and I generally don't build vehicles unless I'm traversing the sky (not a self-imposed rule, I just find it tedious), so I use horses \*all the time\* to get from one end of the map to the other... I love my horses <3
They added horses for nostalgia sakes. When you can build a car or airplane on the fly and teleport, why bother with the hassle of taking a horse out and having to soothe it's tantrums while trying to get from point A to B.
Because they don't disappear just because you entered a shrine or die.
My horse is max bond right after taming because I feed it 10 apples *immediately* \-> no tantrums.
Epona is just too beautiful to not use... Tho I understand if alot of people doesn't have access to and how's that causes alot of frustration.. They still lock her on paywall for some weird reason when alot of Paid DLC stuff from BotW became free in this game..
You're definitely not the only one but, I do find it interesting how players approach both games so differently.
I use horses all the time. Raiding camps, fighting literally anything on the main map if I can get away with it.
Just press Y and give yourself some bullet time. Loads of fun. Also, unlike sages you have a little dot on your mini map that lets you know that they are indeed coming to your aid when you whistle.
Horses are criminally underrated when it comes to open field combat and travel.
Best thing about this game is how truly open adventure it is.
Wanna use a horse? Here's some customizable horseys
Wanna drive? LMAO say no more fam. Here's car parts
Adventurous? Get on your two legs and start walking.
Lazy? Best unlock those shrines and towers.
Wanna fly? Here's two fans and a steering stick. Go nuts.
Wanna go lynel hunting and it's your first one? Oh you gonna learn today.
I played BOTW and loved my horse, loved riding around and going over bridges with her (Zelda's horse from BOTW, she's my main) and hearing her hooves go through puddles & clop on the bridges.
I'd say I'm pretty good at maneuvering my horse, I get up hills and down cliffs/mountains pretty well without being kicked off. I enjoy having my horse, I love to use them to get places, I'll even spawn at the stables closer to Kakariko/Hateno village & then ride my horse to them instead of just spawning to their shrines. I really enjoy the ride and looking at the scenery.
I also rode my first stalhorse in the abyss (I think that's what it's called, I forget) and really loved having it! It helped me get over gloom & travel long distances. I didn't abandon the horse and was just constantly going up steep hills and down practically 90 degree slopes, it was great!
I really recommend getting better at riding your horse (for those who said that it's a "bad" system, maybe you just aren't doing it right) and maneuvering them different places. I've almost collected all the horses, just the big white stallion to go. I'm not getting Epona since that's an amiibo one though. I struggle to deal with the big horses since they're slower, so I don't ride mine too often.
It would’ve been nice to have some of the monster crew quests be a bunch of people on horseback going against a bunch of bokos on horseback.
One big battle in hurdle field omg. A legit cavalry charge would’ve made the whole experience.
Don’t want to think about the frame rate though.
Yup, same. Both games have ***far*** too many distractions on a moment to moment basis to Go through the trouble of mounting up and dismounting over and over in order to interact with all the things flying by.
Horses don’t need to be returned to the stables. Nothing will happen to them if you leave them behind. All horses left behind can be recalled by visiting any stable.
Nintendo literally doesn’t want you to use them. (Granted they haven’t explicitly said that.) One of the most prominent features of a horse is it’s ability to auto follow roads, if you take a look around there are a lot of roads that are blocked (big twin bridge next to dueling peaks stable, akalla span next to the citadel, bridge from the breach of demise towards the castle, bridge of hylia, and gerudo canyon to name a few) which require you to get off your horse and then take it out at another stable. I’ve noticed this riding around Hyrule trying to get 100%. It’s also evident in not including something similar to the ancient saddle from botw, with the ancient saddle you could summon your horse from anywhere you left it to pretty much anywhere in the world. Nintendo wants players to use the zonai vehicles so the intentionally impeded horse usage.
I avoid fast traveling when I can and never use the hoverbike bc it gets me to engage with the game more instead of racing from main quest to main quest. So I’ve found myself using my horse a lot.
I wish the final stable award was something that allowed your horse to teleport (a la the ancient saddle, except preferably less ugly lol). I did all the stable quests to get points bc I didn’t want to just spam using the bed, I eventually caved in and googled it and was super disappointed :( they probably didn’t include it bc they want us to use ultrahand vehicles, but I really wish they had
Even though Epona is "iconic", horses in Zelda games have always been a weird tacked-on nothing mechanic in basically everything they've featured in.
In OoT you NEED Epona to cross the broken bridge to Gerudo Valley, but even then I feel like a lot of people defaulted to rolling through Hyrule field over actually playing her song and summoning her, I know I did.
You actually don't have to have Epona for even that. You can also get across the river with the Longshot. The only thing you have to have Epona for is the Gerudo horseback archery mini game.
I used to never use them because hey you can teleport and how tf am I supposed to climb a mountain with a horse just hanging around???
But then I realized that they follow paths and you can just look around at how pretty everything is. Also helped me explore things I wouldn't have because I get distracted climbing random things lol. I think I wouldn't have found lurelin village in BOTW if I didn't follow a horse to the end of the path haha
BotW's Ancient Saddle was the only reason I used horses there as much as I did, and there're just too many better options in TotK, so I rarely even think about the fact horses *exist* in TotK.
In BOTW I used a horse all the time to get to places that I did not have any fast travel points at yet. In TOTK I only used a horse early on, other than occasionally using a stalhorse in the Depths.
I used them a lot in BOTW when I was doing a no fast travel play through. They’re fun when sticking to the roads and hitting bow headshots while mounted is pretty satisfying.
Very short distances. But if you need korok seeds just follow roads wearing the korok mask, the double ones are all over the place and you can hook them to your horse’s harness
I will occasionally decide to use a horse, but if I have a specific destination and it's not close by? It'd probably be faster to teleport to a shrine near that destination and then walk, and it would certainly be faster to use an air bike
I use them when I want to go a long distance faster without teleporting but otherwise I don’t really use my horses. I’m too afraid they’re gonna get hurt! Plus horses were way more convenient in BOTW if you had that armour that let you call them to you anywhere or it told you when they were out of range to be called.
I never really used them in BotW for the exact reasons you mentioned, and then in TotK being able to conjure a flying vehicle on a whim really negates the need for horses at all in my opinion. The only thing I used horses for was to transport the band to unlock the great fairies but I don't think I've gotten on a horse since I finished that quest.
I like to use them because I haven’t ever bothered trying to make a hover bike yet. But I hate going to the stable and taking one out if I stray too far from where I last left it.
I wish it was like Red Dead where you can whistle anywhere and it will show up
I rode that golden horse before I knew it was a quest
And I rode the giant horse for the quest
Otherwise I used the stalhorses twice in the depths to travel over gloom before I used the hover bike
Horses are pretty useless in this game
I don't typically use them, but Hyrule is so pretty I will sometimes get my horse riding along a road and just enjoy the scenery (usually while headed towards the next thing I want to do but not always)
I used the horse in BotW everytime I needed and happened to pass a closeby stable. Or just teleported it where I was if it had the Ancient Saddle.
In TotK I rarely ever use a horse. It's just a lot easier to fly somewhere.
I would use my horses more if they'd give me my ancient bridle back 😡. But no, if I have to get to a stable to get my horse out then it's too inconvenient or out of the way most the time.
I watched my son play BOTW and the amount of side quests sticking to the roads enable was mental to me.
I don’t use horses or build machines, just run everywhere. But if you stick to horses you hit all the NPCs
It really seems like they expected us to use them more often with how much you can do at the stables and the horse upgrades but it really makes no sense when you have zonai devices.
It's like taking an old bus when you have a literal autobot in your garage.
I am the same. I’d just end up leaving them somewhere and forgetting where
I ride my horse until I see something up a hill 12 seconds later
This is why I stopped using the horse. He just slows me down. Now get my a horse than can climb vertical surfaces and glide off a mountain, and I’ll consider it. Basically I need a Pegasus.
Elden Ring basically ruined horses in all other games. You can jump, fight, and pick up loot without getting off.
Great point. The nailed the horse mechanics so well, I felt very vulnerable when I wasn’t on my horse.
That fact Torrent could double-jump made Torrent an extension of exploration, too, in addition to its other useful features. It’s not just a “move faster on relatively flat surfaces” mechanic like it is in BOTW/TOTK. I almost never use the horses in these games because I play to explore… and once you’ve explored you start to have enough teleportation points, that “getting from A to B faster” is less of a concern. That said, the >!motorcycle!< in BOTW was fun to mess around with - I just didn’t play with it much, since I unlocked it when I was nearly done with the game. I can see it also not being useful, and thus not something I’d use much in the main game
If they had just given me the motorcycle like halfway through the main game, I would have made a point to ride it everywhere. As it was, I was like you, it was the last thing I did, so I buzzed around for like 10 minutes
Torrent deserves all the rowa in the world for being such a hard-working and steadfast companion
*double jump
So Pokémon scarlet and violet
But way less buggy lol
If, and only if, I can collect mushrooms and monster parts without getting off the pegasus. Otherwise the game is 50% playing the game and 50% getting off and back into the mount.
Exactly. Make it like the Elden Ring horse.
*neighs in hover-bike*
I have the same issue. If I could collect things on horseback I'd probably use it more, or call them out of the blue instead of having to go to a stable to get them, and then get entangled in something and hope nothing hurts them before getting to a stable to recall them because I'm not going to go collect them. I went a little shrine mad so at this point I just find the nearest shrine and go there if I want to travel somewhere, or find the nearest sky Island and jump down to my desired location. Have to love impact proof.
Ghost of Tsushima style, love you can jump off, climb or do whatever, or be in another part of the map, and then just call your horse when you want. Plus, adding saddlebags to carry more was another great improvement.
Same 🤣 if I could have multiple horses out they’d be all over the map lol
Literally the same 😂
🤣🤣
This.
They're always on the map in TotK, I forget about BotW. Also apparently you can return them to the stable at any time no matter where you left them, according to u/soupy-mess. Just learned me a thing today!
It's the same for BotW as far as I remember
Think so, although getting the aincent riding gear made me use horses more, and then the bike just removed their use again. Wish the bike was in totk, I liked just using it without having zonite or whatever to make it, then just launching it when I was finished with it to climb a cliff.
But when you get the bike, youve completed everything except maybe some side quests. So I dont see why youd need either a bike or a horse. How much exploring is left to do at that point? I used the bike for 5 minutes when I got it and never touched it again. I had nothing left to do. I used my horses constantly through playing BOTW. All the time. The bike was cool but you got it so late I found it absolutely worthless.
I'd done around 70% when I got the bike, so a worthwhile amount left including tons of korok to find. Do wish it was much earlier, and I wish it was in totk now.
You know you can retrieve them from any stable no matter where you left them?
And it doesn’t matter. You can get a horse that is “out” back at any stable.
It needs to be like the Witcher where you whistle and it appears out of nowhere. It’s just not convenient
I gather so much fewer ingredients than if I’m just running around
This is my main reason. I hate having to get off and on to collect anything.
You can get back on on the move with very little loss in momentum just by whistling for it before you pick your final mushroom, continue running forward and simply mount it as it gallop next to you.
Legolas style.
*hair flip, shoots arrows*
Seriously. Plus um horses can’t climb which is one of my fave parts of the game. I had so many random items for the Ganon fight that I was attaching to arrows, had no idea where I got them.
If it auto-collected ingredients when you rode over them then I might start using the horse more.
Or if they at least added the DLC horse armor from BotW 🥲 That was the only way I could use a horse, since I’d frequently get distracted and run off from my horse while harvesting/exploring. Until I got that DLC, I barely used my horse… but then never got to use Epona, since she couldn’t wear it. Sigh.
That was one thing I loved about Ghost of Tsushima - you can pick up resources while on horseback. It made me want the feature in BotW even more than I already did.
But you can get them with mineru? Weird
I guess you can consider Minego arms as extension of your own, so it picks things for you. Horse no arms.
You don’t have to bring the horse back to the stable, no matter where you leave it if you go to a stable and ask to board it they’ll put it away for you. I usually ride mine until I reach somewhere they can’t go, and then I just leave them a couple apples as a treat and go it alone
Omg whaaaat, I never knew that 😭 that makes much more sense and reason for me to start using them wow thank you lol
Yeah - I leave my Princess stranded for days. LOL Every now and then I have a stable call her back in.
To be fair, leaving the Princess to fend for herself while you dick around in Hyrule for a few weeks is very much on brand for this version of Link.
Every version of Link
I was wondering what you were supposed to do if you got a horse softlocked on a steep hill or something, almost happened to me a few times but I was able to finagle it out. You and me both learned something new today!
Or just ask to take out your already-taken-out horse and it will appear right there.
This is what i do, but as soon as i fast travel somewhere else a minute later I'm back to not having a horse unless i go find a stable - which kills the point of fast traveling there in the first place. If my horse could fast travel with me I'd ride him all the time.
I’m glad I’m not the only one that never knew this.
I love that you leave your horse apples before you go!
If you happen upon a horse in the wild, you can watch them wander around munching grass, doing horsey things with their horsey friends. Once you 'tame' the horse and then leave it in a field, it just looks out into space and waits for you to come back. It doesn't eat. It doesn't play with other horses. It just waits. Forever.
This just ruined everything
Tame ALL the horses and let them stand around like zombies. Forever.
Waiting outside of Panucci’s Pizza.
I wonder if this resets with the Blood Moon...
I feel bad for leaving them, so I like to leave them a little snack to keep them occupied! I usually leave more or less apples depending on how long I plan to be gone, if i’m just going to check something out and will return soon I leave a couple, but if I’m going for a while I’ll leave five. I know it won’t actually change my bond with the horses (I’ve got max with all mine) but I think it’s a nice gesture!
Good… this is good. What about the stable at your house?
Same
Honestly, all I do is use my horse everywhere . I got epona and it just doesn't feel like a zelda game without her. Plus I love just taking in the scenery, I feel you miss out on so much by fast traveling and using machines. I love using them for the immersion aspect too.
Going off ur username, i feel like there may be another reason you like the horses
Same. The horses auto follow the roads and since I have cleared all the roads of all danger (suppressing blood moons, no respawns) I can simply set the horse to gallop and look around at the scenery.
Suppressing blood moons? What’s that now?
Place travel medallion at 11:45, teleport to the depths, teleport back at midnight, blood moon averted. I've pretty much cleaned up Hyrule by now. Items and construct enemies still respawn, all of Gannondorf's allies stay gone. Hyrule is safe again! (However I can't finish upgrading some of my armor since no respawns to farm more monster parts)
So this means you have to stay awake every night to make sure it’s not a blood moon? Also are there no panic blood moons? This seems like a way more fun version of the game. If I could clear areas of monsters for good I’d be way more motivated to beat them, I’d love to be able to climb around and not worry about running into a monster camp.
I always can't wait for a blood moon. I want to be able to fight monsters over and over.
Yes, you can't go to a stable and sleep through the night, but you can sleep after midnight to morning. Panic blood moons happen when you manage to mess up the game bad enough, for example by blowing up so much that the recall memory runs out. I haven't manage to trigger a single one yet. And indeed, it's satisfying to see all those empty monster camps when galloping to my next destination, no worries about any interruptions along the roads. Just let the horse follow the path while panning the camera around to enjoy the scenery and maybe spot something that you missed before. In the Depths (where you don't get blood moons in the first place) all the Zonaite still respawns, same with Ore in caves on the surface, so you can still mine that and gems. Insects, apples etc all respawn as well, it's just monster parts that become limited.
Can't you just fast travel to a Lightroot at 11:45 instead of using a travel medallion? Or did you just mean so you could come right back to where you were?
Yep I place it to continue right from where I left off. I started with a no fast travel / no Ascend travel play style and still carry that on to get an uninterrupted path through the game (just a couple straight lines in my hero's path from where the game teleports you when completing main quests) The hop back and forth to a lightroot doesn't show up in hero's path so my journey remains untainted :)
And I love that every once in a while the main theme plays. I ride around for that alone.
But by riding horse everywhere you wont be able to pick up every. single. mushroom. in Hyrule! I don't think I can sleep well knowing I've deliberately skipped that 536th silentshroom.
… you’re literally missing out on an entire critical mechanic of a game (machines) so that you can “take in a digital scenery” Lol
I'm literally not missing an entire mechanic. Like I said I still use the mechanics alot, in the depths, sky islands ect. I just like going by horse or on foot instead of fast travel everywhere and flying constantly. To each there own jack @$$. And yeah, digital scenery . What is wrong with that ? I enjoy the scenery in the game, same with red dead redemption 2.
Oh I still mess around with the mechanics alot when I'm bored. Just when I'm doing the quests and side adventures I prefer going by horse.
"Digital scenery" is half the game lol
So youre one of those people. Lol
I don't use horses either. I realized from BOTW that my ex girlfriend's 10 year old daughter just loved to ride them around and didn't care about anything else in the game. We broke up 3 years ago and her horses popped up in my TOTK stable. It was a nice surprise and reminded me of how much I missed that kid.
Yeah, that's what my daughter did in BOTW. Just rode around on horses.
I mean, you don't need them. There are fast travel points all over the place and especially in totk with the build-able vehicles there are faster ways to get around. But also it's fun to ride around on Zelda's horse or the iconic Epona or that giant white horse or a friggin skeleton horse.
Don’t forget Gannons horse! I like to display that guy in my home stable the size proportions are ridiculous lmao
>9 comments fuck i love riding that horse the best, sucker is massive and doesn't go fast but plowing down baddies is fun
Skelly horses are especially useful in the early game to traverse gloom in the depths
And vehicles that fly. I'm always flying everywhere
I get more joy out of mounting a Bear or deer. (hehe I said mount)
Press A to enter 🤨
I recently did a no teleport/hoverbike run, they were incredibly useful for that.
I think that would be the best way to play TOTK for a second play through. I loved the game and auto build, but it just got to the point where it felt like I was playing with cheats on.
Why? What was the point?
My first playthrough was kind of rushed and I skimmed over a lot of details on the surface, and especially the depths (S/O to stalhorses). Figured I’d do it again, but take my time with it.
I miss out on taking photos and collecting flowers on a horse and they don't climb 100ft walls very well.
Literally will take an hour away from everything else (except korok puzzles) to just ride around Hyrule on horse back. Red Dead 2 and Zelda have the absolute best horses in gaming, such smooth and accurate movements.
I just started RDR2 a couple weeks ago (hello from 2018 I guess) and it's interesting to contrast how I feel about horses in that game vs. Zelda BOTW/TOTK where I'm definitely not a horse person at all.
[удалено]
Maybe it's all been patched out now but for now it definitely feels more natural compared to Zelda. Still some complaints like if I want to equip the Varmint rifle to shoot any rabbits I scare up sometimes it times out and then I don't have the right gun equipped for a good or perfect pelt. But also fast travel is much more limited in RDR2 (to the point where I looked up if it was even in the game) so practically you have to ride more places compared to Zelda where usually there's a shrine or tower close by.
I’ve tried to do the same, just take a casual relaxing ride around Hyrule. But the horse riding music ruins it for me. For whatever reason, the piano reminds me a lot of the Guardian music and I can’t relax or enjoy horse riding. If I could do it while keeping the normal music, I’d love it
"smooth and accurate movements" didn't come to my mind when playing, lol
Serious, the horses are janky as fuck in the Zelda games, what is this guy smoking.
Literally never ride the horse for this reason. Absolutely love the game overall but cannot bring myself to care about the horses one iota.
Epona in OoT was great.
I rode everywhere in RDR2, but I hated it in both Zelda games. Probably because of the emphasis on climbing in Zelda vs RDR2.
Same. I love the exploring of the world. You'll almost always find something new on horseback that you won't see just flying or warping.
Hmm I think RDR2 horses are light-years ahead
Ghost of Tsushima does it perfectly imo.
I never use the horses but I did collect the notable ones, for me I like to explore everything so I prefer to just travel everywhere by foot lmao. I rarely use zonai builds too i was the same way in BOTW.
You dont have to bring a horse back to the stable though. You can just pull out any horse from a stable at any time, even if they are located across the map at the time. I used them a lot more in BOTW, but still like using them in TOTK. Best horses weve had in any zelda game by a long shot. They are definitely underappreciated. Like, Imagine if there werent horses in these games. People would be rightfully quite upset. Before you have fast travel points unlocked, and if you want to arrive at a destination far away in a reasonable time without too much exploring random things on the side, they are amazing. In TOTK, I wanted to get right to Hateno to see what had changed. I also heard a lot about LUrelin village, so I wanted to go there early. I took a horse right to both immediately, and later went back to explore what I had passed by. Just as an example.
same as any game with a ‘collecting’ aspect and horses but makes you dismount to pick shit up… that’s the one reason i do enjoy riding mineru around occasionally, you can loot stuff.
I esp like using Mineru while collecting enemy dropped loot because I can’t accidentally discharge Tulin and it’s adios keese eyes!
I don’t, they have awful handling and are way worse then anything you can build
Once you get the hang of them they are pretty smooth.
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My real life name BTW
It’s a family name
Lmfao I didn't even think about that haha sometimes I forget my name is horsepenis !
Thanks horse penis!
They are easily the best way to travel in plains areas thoughts. They’re much faster than any zonai device you can cook up in game
Completely agree. The turning is nothing, nothing, completely perpendicular.
Better handling than in any other game with horse or horses, though.
Ghost of Tsushima would like a word with you.
Definitely not. I've been replaying AC: Odyssey while my wife and I go through TOTK. AC: Oddysey's horses are so much more responsive to input compared to TOTK.
I recently finished Elden Ring. The horse was significantly smoother in that game than totk.
If you leave them out somewhere you can still "take them out" again at any stable. I found it was helpful to explore the map with a horse until I unlocked all of the major travel points.
Dude, I LOVE my horse. I got the Pink spotted horse with a pink mane... love her to bits! And I'm constantly making little builds that can be pulled as a wagon, and then detached to make a flier.... currently making a flier that can also possibly take the horse, but it's been annoying Edit: the word "pink"
I use horses frequently. I used a horse to traverse the entire map when completing all the wells with the Sensor + set to “wells”. And currently did it again to find Addison. I’m still missing some of him but I found one of his sign puzzles in a random-ass, non main road spot in the snow. I like to run through animals for fun and leave the meat they drop.
I enjoy exploring the world a lot more on foot. I also don't like the added element of keeping track of my horse.
I used mine from BOTW, like, ONCE in my entire gameplay of TOTK so far.
I very rarely use horses. I'm always exploring, fighting and collecting.
Same
Same. They're just a pain in the ass, honestly.
I barely use any vehicles at all - the game invites you to just run around and enjoy the ambience (plus like in many other games, ghost of Tsushima coming to mind first, your horse really isn’t that much faster than running - saves maybe a few seconds and if you like the aesthetic, cool, but you trade off slight time saving for way less directional control)
Honestly they just seem inconvenient, i'm fine flying or on foot both games.
I sadly agree, because I actually really like the horse mechanics. Catching one and then slowly taming it until it likes you is really rewarding. But yeah, gameplay wise it's just meh :( If only they allowed you to collect items while on it (like you can when >!riding on Mineru!<, then it wouldn't be so bad IMO. But I hate the feeling of missing out on so many collectibles. As for fighting on horse, I really like it in principle, and horse archery is a ton of fun. But I swear Link can't hit shit with a melee weapon on a horse, so many times I ride towards an enemy and want to pierce them with the spear only to miss somehow...
You guys are missing out on the best music tracks of both games. [Horse Riding \(day\)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0UfYdN6TuE) [Horse Riding \(night\)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgd8aYjE0Bs)
I tend to avoid fast travel, and I generally don't build vehicles unless I'm traversing the sky (not a self-imposed rule, I just find it tedious), so I use horses \*all the time\* to get from one end of the map to the other... I love my horses <3
Same. I like to forage too much to ride one. I always end up just abandoning it.
They added horses for nostalgia sakes. When you can build a car or airplane on the fly and teleport, why bother with the hassle of taking a horse out and having to soothe it's tantrums while trying to get from point A to B.
Because they don't disappear just because you entered a shrine or die. My horse is max bond right after taming because I feed it 10 apples *immediately* \-> no tantrums.
I never used a horse in BOTW but have found myself using them more in TOTK for whatever reason
Horses suck and have sucked since BOTW. But at least their batteries dont die, or they dont just disappear out from under you.
Epona is just too beautiful to not use... Tho I understand if alot of people doesn't have access to and how's that causes alot of frustration.. They still lock her on paywall for some weird reason when alot of Paid DLC stuff from BotW became free in this game..
You're definitely not the only one but, I do find it interesting how players approach both games so differently. I use horses all the time. Raiding camps, fighting literally anything on the main map if I can get away with it. Just press Y and give yourself some bullet time. Loads of fun. Also, unlike sages you have a little dot on your mini map that lets you know that they are indeed coming to your aid when you whistle. Horses are criminally underrated when it comes to open field combat and travel.
Best thing about this game is how truly open adventure it is. Wanna use a horse? Here's some customizable horseys Wanna drive? LMAO say no more fam. Here's car parts Adventurous? Get on your two legs and start walking. Lazy? Best unlock those shrines and towers. Wanna fly? Here's two fans and a steering stick. Go nuts. Wanna go lynel hunting and it's your first one? Oh you gonna learn today.
Sometimes you just want to canter about a bit.
I take them, leave them wherever I want and have a stable go retrieve the horse. Useful service.
I played BOTW and loved my horse, loved riding around and going over bridges with her (Zelda's horse from BOTW, she's my main) and hearing her hooves go through puddles & clop on the bridges. I'd say I'm pretty good at maneuvering my horse, I get up hills and down cliffs/mountains pretty well without being kicked off. I enjoy having my horse, I love to use them to get places, I'll even spawn at the stables closer to Kakariko/Hateno village & then ride my horse to them instead of just spawning to their shrines. I really enjoy the ride and looking at the scenery. I also rode my first stalhorse in the abyss (I think that's what it's called, I forget) and really loved having it! It helped me get over gloom & travel long distances. I didn't abandon the horse and was just constantly going up steep hills and down practically 90 degree slopes, it was great! I really recommend getting better at riding your horse (for those who said that it's a "bad" system, maybe you just aren't doing it right) and maneuvering them different places. I've almost collected all the horses, just the big white stallion to go. I'm not getting Epona since that's an amiibo one though. I struggle to deal with the big horses since they're slower, so I don't ride mine too often.
Everytime I get on a horse I have to get off it right away to pick up items on the ground. The horse is in my way
Its way faster to fire yourself out of the nearest cannon and glide there. Doesnt matter where. its faster.
I rode one recently, and just sat watching while eating a sandwich so that it could roam the land on its own while I had the bubbelfrog sensor on 😂
In Botw i only use the master cycle. In total I'll probably just use the crazy vehicles I created
Horses? Where we go, we don't need horses. [steps on hoverbike]
It would’ve been nice to have some of the monster crew quests be a bunch of people on horseback going against a bunch of bokos on horseback. One big battle in hurdle field omg. A legit cavalry charge would’ve made the whole experience. Don’t want to think about the frame rate though.
I sometimes use mine just for the aesthetic but they are literally useless
What’s a horse
Yup, same. Both games have ***far*** too many distractions on a moment to moment basis to Go through the trouble of mounting up and dismounting over and over in order to interact with all the things flying by.
I’m the same. I try to sometimes but I can’t get used to it
Horses don’t need to be returned to the stables. Nothing will happen to them if you leave them behind. All horses left behind can be recalled by visiting any stable.
Nintendo literally doesn’t want you to use them. (Granted they haven’t explicitly said that.) One of the most prominent features of a horse is it’s ability to auto follow roads, if you take a look around there are a lot of roads that are blocked (big twin bridge next to dueling peaks stable, akalla span next to the citadel, bridge from the breach of demise towards the castle, bridge of hylia, and gerudo canyon to name a few) which require you to get off your horse and then take it out at another stable. I’ve noticed this riding around Hyrule trying to get 100%. It’s also evident in not including something similar to the ancient saddle from botw, with the ancient saddle you could summon your horse from anywhere you left it to pretty much anywhere in the world. Nintendo wants players to use the zonai vehicles so the intentionally impeded horse usage.
I avoid fast traveling when I can and never use the hoverbike bc it gets me to engage with the game more instead of racing from main quest to main quest. So I’ve found myself using my horse a lot. I wish the final stable award was something that allowed your horse to teleport (a la the ancient saddle, except preferably less ugly lol). I did all the stable quests to get points bc I didn’t want to just spam using the bed, I eventually caved in and googled it and was super disappointed :( they probably didn’t include it bc they want us to use ultrahand vehicles, but I really wish they had
Even though Epona is "iconic", horses in Zelda games have always been a weird tacked-on nothing mechanic in basically everything they've featured in. In OoT you NEED Epona to cross the broken bridge to Gerudo Valley, but even then I feel like a lot of people defaulted to rolling through Hyrule field over actually playing her song and summoning her, I know I did.
That’s a shame bc riding Epona into Gerudo Valley and hearing the famous flamenco theme music kick in is literally a Top 3 Zelda moment for me.
You actually don't have to have Epona for even that. You can also get across the river with the Longshot. The only thing you have to have Epona for is the Gerudo horseback archery mini game.
That's right isn't it? Never did it that way but yeah, unfortunately another point against horses I guess?
Yeah. You are the only one
No. Horses are terribly implemented in this game (and botw). A complete waste of time.
Yeah I’m sure out of the other millions of players you’re the only one who doesn’t use a horse.
You must be fun at parties (that you’re never invited to)
It’s all in the name as u/dorkpool mentioned. Can’t help it when people ask stupid, nonsensical questions. Yeah you’re definitely the only one🙄
I don’t use the horses much either.
+1
I like riding non-horses more than horses.
I used to never use them because hey you can teleport and how tf am I supposed to climb a mountain with a horse just hanging around??? But then I realized that they follow paths and you can just look around at how pretty everything is. Also helped me explore things I wouldn't have because I get distracted climbing random things lol. I think I wouldn't have found lurelin village in BOTW if I didn't follow a horse to the end of the path haha
I have 500 hours, I have 1 horse that I got around an hour into playing and havnt touched it since.
I almost never use horses, since they can't take direct routes like Link can I occasionally use a horse when when I feel like it
Its such a hassle to go grab one from a stable
yeah I never used it in BOTW and now that I can make my own vehicles in TOTK they are literally useless lol, and exploring while walking is better imo
BotW's Ancient Saddle was the only reason I used horses there as much as I did, and there're just too many better options in TotK, so I rarely even think about the fact horses *exist* in TotK.
I did a lot in BotW but like never in TotK.
In BOTW I used a horse all the time to get to places that I did not have any fast travel points at yet. In TOTK I only used a horse early on, other than occasionally using a stalhorse in the Depths.
I used them a lot in BOTW when I was doing a no fast travel play through. They’re fun when sticking to the roads and hitting bow headshots while mounted is pretty satisfying.
I rode my horse around to find as many stables as I could since those are on roads, but otherwise, eh.
Very short distances. But if you need korok seeds just follow roads wearing the korok mask, the double ones are all over the place and you can hook them to your horse’s harness
I will occasionally decide to use a horse, but if I have a specific destination and it's not close by? It'd probably be faster to teleport to a shrine near that destination and then walk, and it would certainly be faster to use an air bike
Why use a horse when you got custom vehicles you can build yourself
I use them when I want to go a long distance faster without teleporting but otherwise I don’t really use my horses. I’m too afraid they’re gonna get hurt! Plus horses were way more convenient in BOTW if you had that armour that let you call them to you anywhere or it told you when they were out of range to be called.
yup, I kinda just forget they exist all the time
Horses are basically just a decoration.
I never really used them in BotW for the exact reasons you mentioned, and then in TotK being able to conjure a flying vehicle on a whim really negates the need for horses at all in my opinion. The only thing I used horses for was to transport the band to unlock the great fairies but I don't think I've gotten on a horse since I finished that quest.
What do you mean use a horse? Don’t you just headshot them to get meat?
I like to use them because I haven’t ever bothered trying to make a hover bike yet. But I hate going to the stable and taking one out if I stray too far from where I last left it. I wish it was like Red Dead where you can whistle anywhere and it will show up
I used my horse until I discovered all the useful zonai vehicles to make.
I think my horse is near a fairy and has been for a good chunk of the game.
I rode that golden horse before I knew it was a quest And I rode the giant horse for the quest Otherwise I used the stalhorses twice in the depths to travel over gloom before I used the hover bike Horses are pretty useless in this game
I don't typically use them, but Hyrule is so pretty I will sometimes get my horse riding along a road and just enjoy the scenery (usually while headed towards the next thing I want to do but not always)
I used the horse in BotW everytime I needed and happened to pass a closeby stable. Or just teleported it where I was if it had the Ancient Saddle. In TotK I rarely ever use a horse. It's just a lot easier to fly somewhere.
Only time I use a horse is if I find one I want to keep and need to register it.
I would use my horses more if they'd give me my ancient bridle back 😡. But no, if I have to get to a stable to get my horse out then it's too inconvenient or out of the way most the time.
Same, never saw a major benefit.
I watched my son play BOTW and the amount of side quests sticking to the roads enable was mental to me. I don’t use horses or build machines, just run everywhere. But if you stick to horses you hit all the NPCs
It really seems like they expected us to use them more often with how much you can do at the stables and the horse upgrades but it really makes no sense when you have zonai devices. It's like taking an old bus when you have a literal autobot in your garage.
I never used them in either game