It is a nice wish and maybe they will add alternate forms of travel but I can assure everyone that fast travel is not going away. As I am sure almost everyone is aware that they are trying to appeal/appease a wider audience then just the hardcoe RPG fans........which is why fast travel is here to stay....along with map markers etc.

That being said I am all for alternate forms of travel in the game and the option to be able to turn off the compass and stuff.

Another benefit was the added suspense. If you were lucky enough to survive a tough battle where you were outnumbered or outmatched, the fight wasn't over...you couldn't just fast travel to safety. You could either back track to the nearest known settlement, which if you were fighting difficult foes it usually meant that it was a long way off, or take off in a new direction in hopes of finding another settlement. Now, anywhere in those extended travels you could encounter another deadly enemy, especially considering you didn't have that silly quest compass to clue you in to where they all were. That level of suspense and adventure was severely limited in Oblivion, which I think removes a lot of the fun of an RPG. I can't be alone in this...

To be honest I'm not really concerned how they impliment fast travel. I always walk everywhere in Elder Scrolls (I used fast travel in Fallout becuase I didn't really like the game world. I know it's intentionally grim... My focus in Fallout was doing the quests and enjoying the action whereas in Elder Scrolls games I love the game worlds I love to explore, hence why I walk everywhere, I'm seldom tampted to fast travel) because I love explore the game world and 'role-play' as much as possible. I think walking everywhere helps with immersion. I suppose I'm trying to say that it doesn't matter to me what they do with fast travel because I will walk everywhere whether I have the option to fast travel or not. If I had to vote I'd vote for a Morrowind type system because that seems to be the most wanted system and hopefully (even though I'm really not bothered) it may help sway devs opinion?

EDIT: Also I find walking everywhere helps prolong the game and makes you experience more of what the gameworld holds.

But if you want to solve it ASAP, then you obviously don't mind going from point A to B. In Morrowind it was no different, I STILL went from point A to B, it just took longer.



Really, I walk around in OB all the time, you don't need to fast travel, you actually encounter some of the more interesting things if you just walk or ride.



I keep hearing this all the time, but I have never had a character that runs faster than a horse, you need to specialize in speed in order for it to be a viable alternative to a horse.

I actually enjoyed both versions so i really don't care either way.

I prefer Oblivion style. For all the 100s of hours I spent in Morrowind, I enjoyed getting lost only a few times. Most of the time I was just frustrated when I was told to go to the other side of the continent to some remote location. I felt like a bunch of my time playing Morrowind was just filler. Just traveling from point to point. Sure Morrowind was beautiful but could only take so much before traveling was no longer interesting and became a chore. I think a lot of the people on these forums view Morrowind through rose colored glasses. It was a great game 10 years ago but I hope Skyrim pushes gaming forward, not backwards. Oblivion was a step forward in my opinion in every way but one. The setting wasn't interesting. It was a standard high fantasy setting with a standard high fantasy story. Morrowind actually had a pretty typical story too, but it was set in such a unique setting if felt new and different. I mean seriously, does not having spears or pauldrons or gloves or something really take away from the gameplay value? Can game not be great unless they are populated with tons of crap? Does it really matter? Wow, really went on a tangent there but you get my point. DOn't make another Morrowind, I loved it but I don't want Morrowind 2. I want somewhere new and fresh with a completely different style and new update gameplay that pushes the way games are played forward.

Lackof water? The whole northern border is a coastline! And there are rivers and lakes, look at the map in the Beth-video.

Anyway, I voted Morrowind but I don't think that's going to happen, so please, a little more realistic fast travel at least? You can see the transportation services and pay them like in Morrowind. The difference is that when fast travelling, you can choose whether to go by foot or boat or a silt strider equivalent, like in Daggerfall.

Why would Morrowind's fast travel system just appeal hardcoe RPG fans?
It does a lot of the same things, just adds a little more logic to it
It gives your travel an explanation, rather than "click on the map".
Fast travel might as well be called "teleport-click-on-location-and-you're-there" in my opinion.

To just give an actual explanation to your travels, and some logic to them, isn't really much to ask for
Especially as the definite majority wants it (at least here on the forums).

Anyway, you can't say that fast travel appeases a wider audience unless you bring me a real survey from "non-forum" people as well.
And I can't say the same about Morrowind's fast travel system.
It's a problematic situation, and that's why we have to discuss it, so that the devs might reconsider and think "Ah, perhaps it's better if we do it this way..."

Certainly there must be a fast travel function. I never played any of the other series, but I can understand paying for a trip by boat, that makes sense. I don't see why you would pay to fast travel on land, though, at least not if you own a horse. By yourself, on a horse, you'd be able to travel faster than any caravan could ever transport you.

The only thing that bothers me a bit in Oblivion is that it takes almost no time to travel. I guess I could slow down time in the .ini file, but I don't think I should have to mess with settings that are not offered in-game.

I haven't played Daggerfall yet and the download is offline for the time being. Was it Fast travel and Paid travel (were there pros & cons to each?).

I would choose Daggerfalls's method if that is the case. I have nothing against either method as they both get you where you want to be. :shrug:

Isn't this the same as Daggerfall style?

Basically it was fast travel like Oblivion where you chose method (horse/walk or ship) speed (cautiously or recklessly) and whether you'd stop at inns or camp out. These determined the time it would take you to reach your destination, how much it would cost, and your health/mana/fatigue when you got there.

I have to agree with you here. I loved Morrowind, but could not stand having to wander around aimlessly, trying to find some unmarked cave based on pretty vague directions from a quest-giver. This was especially annoying when first playing the game, and still attempting to get my bearings. Not having a compass or quest markers didn't help either. As you can probably tell, I played Oblivion first, then Morrowind, but I seriously think that if I had done it the other way around, I would never have tried Oblivion.

Just my 2 cents.

In configuration, I want an option to enable or disable fast travel.

How about you just dont use it if you dont want it.

I am for both methods at different times. If I'm in the mood to seek a waypoint to travel, then I'll do that, but If I just want to resume play after the PC arrives where I need them, then Fast travel is best. I would like (as has been said), for there to be consequences involved with each mode of travel. The [random!] chance of ambush should always be present in either mode, but the paid transport implies allies if it happens, and Fast travel would (usually) have none unless you had a companion.

With Realtime travel (IE. regular exploration), the PC encounters whatever they pass near and notice. With Fast Travel, the PC is focused on getting there. They take off and single-mindedly trek towards their destination (the game resumes when they get there). With paid travel, the PC (conceivably) has time to stare out, and look at their surroundings more closely, and so perhaps has a better chance of finding something interesting.

So ideally [IMO], both should be options, there should just be added the random chance of an event during the trip (say base chance of 8% :shrug:; with increase or decrease based on 'perks', stats, and politics). If an event happens, the mode of transit affects the result. With Fast travel its more likely an ambush (but could be beneficial (like passing a long dead traveler ~with a purse); With Paid travel perhaps the odds are switched, with a lone highwayman less likely to ambush a group. :shrug: (and a group of bandits having to face the PC and their fellow travelers). Odds for a good encounter can be higher or perhaps not... as the paid travel is assumed to be taking a well traveled route.

For myself I'm fine with either or any method. With Fast Travel, I'm fine with an overland map that charts progress as you travel (Indiana Jones style) or immediate transition (barring an event on the road); However IMO the overland map has a bit of the "Sword of Damocles" going for it, and would add suspense ~watching the marker move and hoping for or against having an encounter; (Just like it was in the original Fallout BTW). I would even be all for the option to leave the paid transport mid route if you were stopped for an a ambush or other event, and them continue on without you if that were your choice.

thats like saying "dont use magic because the regen rate is too fast" most people dont want to walk everywhere...........we dont however want EZ fast travel in the game. daggerfalls and morrowinds had cost to it and morrowinds system added to the world. i would take either of those systems over oblivions no risk and no cost system. if you complain about anything in the game like how the argonians look......or the armor is silly looking then hopefully someone will come along and just tell you "just dont use it"

as someone mentioned before sometimes you would be stuck out in the middle of nowhere low on supplies and surrounded by the wilderness and its denizens. the only time that happened in oblivion if i was in some dungeon or cave and even then all i had to do is back track to the entrance and i could fast travel to safety. even that wasnt a challenge cause all you had to do was pick another quest and the noob arrow would show you exactly how to get out of there.

some people complained about being forced to look for areas they couldnt find and they didnt like getting lost all the time. im sorry that you svck at gaming but do does the game have to be simplified for the rest of us that dont svck.

morrowind was not hard to find your way around. i can only think of 3 or 4 quests that i had any difficulty finding out of the 100s quests in the game. and those were fun cause they were actually challenging.

This.

Its like saying this.

Person-A: "I dont like the npc's in Oblivion. They stay in one place, dont' really do much, and they just don't feel life-like."
Person-B: "What, you don't like the npc's? Don't talk to them then."

Does...that make any sense?...To anyone?

I understand where you're coming from. Part of the fun of any good RPG is trying to develop the most powerful character you can within the limitations of the game, so if someone suggests to deliberately nerf yourself in some way (like not using creating the most powerful spell you can create, not using chameleon, etc) it is somehow counter intuitive.

In my case walking everywhere is how I enjoy these sorts of open sandbox games, resulting in playthroughs lasting hundreds of hours. Personally, I find fast travel to be a bit boring because I miss the opportunity to experience whatever happens during that particular day, as well as unlocking lots of locations during the course of my journey, working towards unlocking all of the locations on the map.

I imagine it would be a lot more enjoyable in Skyrim if there are at least a few interesting NPCs or unique quests you can encounter on the roads and in the wilderness, and if you have some sort of survival mod requiring eating/drinking/sleeping. For Oblivion I had to install FCOM and the overhaul mods that make the roads and wilderness a lot more populated, as well as Real Sleep Extended, Real Hunger COBL, Real Thirst and Bananasplit's Better Cities.

To be fair, wanting Morrowind's system so badly for immersion reasons doesn't make too much sense either IMO. It's still fast travel, it still takes you directly from one place to the next (even if you have to change stops or whatever). I don't see how Oblivion's is so much less immersive. Especially with the addition of horses, Oblivion's fast travel can be almost cinematic. You mount your horse, ride out to the sunset or whatever ... and then next scene you arrive in the other town or wherever you wanted to go. That's more immersive to me than buying the horse, getting dressed like a knight, and then getting the stilt riders/caranvans to have my adventure. I'm not saying I don't want the feature.. obviously there are people who want it, and it's not that hard to implement. I'd probably use it myself in the beginning.. but from what I want from my character (riding with his horse to his destination), having only Morrowind's form of fast travel doesn't help immersion. It detracts. Have them both I say so everyone can be happy.

Here's my thoughts. And I'm trying to appeal to everyone's concerns.

First, Yes there could be a system that allows for someone to use OBs style of fast travel. I don't agree with the idea that you can instantly travel to a cave or something. This can be addressed by adding the risk factor that many have described previously with certain areas having a higher level of risk than others. This could be determined by how far a player is from the main roads or if certain areas pose more of a risk than others (like if you were fast traveling in morrownd in Red Mountain). This option could be turned on or off depending on how one chooses to play.

Second, There will be a system of fast travel similar to morrowind's but changed to address some concerns that have been raised about it that a player can choose to use if the other fast travel option is enabled or not. I cannot believe I'm making this reference but it could be improved by taking some aspects of WoW's fast travel system. For the most part of my experience in WoW, cities, towns, and settlements were spaced pretty evenly. This would be done in Skyrim by having small outposts or major intersections of roads that could be traveled to in addition to the major cities. At the start, only traveling between cities may be available until the player discovers the other travel locations. Using this fast travel would not simply cut to a black screen, but show the player traveling to the next location similar to how it is done in WoW where you can see the landscape as you are traveling by. I think some of the longer trips took 15 minutes because the travel moved at good pace in WoW. There can also be a option to press a button to skip this and arrive at the destination. To cut down on the confusion that morrowind's system may have entailed, similar to WoW, you can pick you final destination and not have to choose your next city that most be traveled to in order to get there.

One final note about the improved morrowind style of travel is that to add to it, as you are exploring the world you could see boats or whatever form of travel traveling from one location to another. This might include just a driver going to another location or it could include npcs traveling to another location to visit some or buy something in another town. This last part would be very dependent of the game engine the Skyrim runs on, and the amount of time devs would want to take to plan different npcs travel habits.

I think this idea would truly solve problems on both sides. I like RDR travel system because it was both convenient (for those who are sane) and provided sense of "immersion" (for those who like cry). I also didn't think that Assassins Creed's travel system was that bad either. Sometimes both, RDR and AC, travel systems required some walking but both would send you where ever you wanted to go without pitstops or multiple loading screens. Morrowinds fails in comparison in that it required tons of walking at times and would only take you to a limited number of places. If "immersion" is really the problem at heart then a RDR or AC sort of system would appease both core fans and casual gamers alike. Doing away with a fast travel that took you exactly were you want to go would be a major flaw in game design that could not be worked around or overlooked.

maybe the devs should just tweak the horses from Oblivion to make them run a little bit faster.

this way those who want to use oblivion/fallout style fast travel can click on the map markers and those who want more "immersion" can save up money to buy or steal a horse.

or alternately, fast travel could have a chance to be interrupted by a random encounter on the roads.

Thats not to bad of a idea either. Horses in RDR were more of a joy to use than a burden or hassle.

i dont understand the issue with fast travel. dont use it if you dont want to, but dont complain that they made the game bearable for the thousands of others that dont want to walk from one end of the map to the other and back again.