Horse implementation; whistling for your horse

[Gladix]

have a hard time imagining it is that hard. I am sure it is easiest and causes the least problems if the horse just disappears

First pathfinding isn’t a thing that will be used outside of AI towns. Which is very specific. Programming it specifically for all roads and dirt roads on the entire map, just so you can imagine how realistic it is. Because for player it’s no different if Horse travels to you, or spawns behind you… Nope they won’t do that. There is no mounted combat announced, nor it is an actual mechanic. Rather than just a gimmick, like fast travel. Furthermore they have sort of basic pathfinding which allows your horse to follow roads. But it will be basic.

And it’s not about how hard it is. More about how annyoing it is. Imagine you whistling and waiting even 10-20 second for a horse. Now imagine standing there for 5 minutes. When the difference in first person, when horse spawns behind you is negligable at best. This is not horse game, there won’t be mounted combat, nor cavalry mechanics. So don’t expect advanced horse behaviours.

[Aiax]

Gotta say, I’d love to see the kind of “persistent” horse the OP is talking about. I don’t think it would necessarily be tedious and annoying (I wouldn’t implement the “dying” or “stealing” feature though; the horse would simply wait where you left him; it could also come to you at a whislte - when within a whistling range; it could neigh to let you know he heard you or something).

First of all Henry’s own running speed and stamina is sufficient enough so you don’t really NEED a horse for travelling over shorter distances. Plus as Dan said many times, the quest structure would be “local based”. As I understand it you won’t have to travel all over the map while questing. That’s another reason the horse could be persistent since you’d mostly use it to traverse between quest “hubs”.

And lastly it would be much more suitable for a game like KCD. In Witcher 3 the disappearing horse is fine since the whole game is magical and fanciful and you simply don’t care. Plus Roach is kindda a throwaway horse - a lolhorse. In the lore Geralt doesn’t care about his horses and you don’t care about it in the game either. In KCD the horse is supposed to be a big part of your “life” and when it’s appearing from the thin air like that…it just doesn’t feel right.

I’m not a simulation fanatic and I do understand the devs are doing a computer game. But I feel the current horse is simply too gamey. The model OP is suggesting - without the dying and stealing - would be perfect IMO.

[pras]

Absolutely. Actually, I’m perfectly fine with the whistle mechanic being in the game as long as I don’t HAVE to use it, read: the horse wouldn’t disappear so I can only call it by whistling it out of thin air. Simply just stays there, walks and grazes in a few meters of ground, and if it’s out of sight, you can call it by whistling - or you can simply going back for him.