Wait, what?


Howso?

I honestly didn't even know that there was a console command for that :shrug:

In case you didn't see; here's my explanation why I as a PC user don't like Oblivion's fast travel system, but do like/prefer Morrowind's fast travel system:



The main problem I have with Oblivion's fast travel is that it's unimmersive. It has no explanation, no downside, and you can use it from anywhere to everywhere.

Morrowind's fast travel system (also called transportation system) solved these problems.
There was an explanation - travel services (Silt Striders, Mages Guild teleportation, boats; also mark/recall and intervention spells existe; To note is that the Silt Strider can possibly be replaced by a Mammoth)
There was a downside - costs of money by travel services and costs of magicka by mark/recall and intervention spells.
You couldn't use it from anywhere to everywhere - travel services (NPCs) were on specific locations near towns, which only took you to specific (often nearby) towns. Mark/recall took you from its own spot (self explanatory, but from anywhere; making it a good option when you were tired to walk back) and intervention spells (Divine or Almsivi) or a took you to the nearest Imperial Cult shrine or the nearest Tribunal Temple (this location can be changed though to something logical and suitable for Skyrim).

The result of this, is that I find Morrowind's fast travel system more suitable for an open-world RPG like The Elder Scrolls series. It has some possibilites and some restrictions; and I feel that it is a nice balance between hardcoe (travel services) and casual gameplay (mark/recall and intervention spells).

Another possibility is also to keep Oblivion's fast travel in the game, while also including Morrowind's fast travel system. My guess is that this would please both crowds, and it would be, from an utilitarianistic point of view be the best solution.
My personal recommendation is that there should be a togglable option for Oblivion's fast travel system, because I believe having two systems that accomplish the same thing simulatiously, but in two completely different ways, is breaking logic.

The real question is therefore not about resisting a temption not to use Oblivion's fast travel system (and to walk or ride a horse instead), but to improve and change the foundations of how to travel in the world to what I believe to be a more immersive way - a way that gives you an explanation, a downside and where you can't travel from anywhere to everywhere.

"They have taken you from the Imperial City's Prison, first by carriage and now by boat. To the East - to Morrowind. Fear not, for I am watchful. You have been chosen." - Morrowind

Cause the console is not there, actually. Nothing reminds you of it. And who the hell knows the console codes ? I sure as hell don't. And sure as hell won't go through the hassle of shutting the game, searching, copying it, opening the game again.

Not an argument.

This /\ plus I don't play Mage so can some tell me if the teleport spells work from inside or while in combat, would just like to know what made the devs give up on the idea. Even tho I wouldn't use it the more alternative the better really I'd live horse and cart but that is time and disc space that could be used for mud crab dialog. You have to have ur priorities straight.

But what if it were implemented alongside the Radiant schedules of Skyrim? Ships leaving riverside ports every other day, NPCs accompanying you on caravan trips...then there'd be both an explanation and added gameplay incentives. :shrug:

Much moreso than the player's ability to teleport freely at will whilst NPCs have to travel on foot would, at least.

Actully that's an excellent arguement for the dreaded don't like it don't use it the console let's you do anything try not to get carried away pc goers plus lay off the smack you obviously don't have the will power to stop your selves.

I have tried playing Oblivion without Fast Travel and I've done it in two different ways. The 1st one where I didn't use fast travel at all and the 2nd where I used a Warp Point system.

The 1st file where I didn't fast travel at all, that one lasted 32 hours before I gave up on it. It was grueling, fun but grueling.

The 2nd file the one where I use a Warp Point system. That file is still going at 11 hours in and I'm having a lot of fun with that file. My warp points are at Anvil, Kvatch, Imperial City, Bruma, Bravil, Cheydinhal, Chorrol, Leyawin, Skingrad, Shivering Isles Entrance, Priory of the Nine and Cloud Ruler Temple. The Shivering Isles has warp points at the entrance, The Gatekeeper Entrance, Crucible, Bliss and Sheogorath's palace. It's a fun system to play under and I only broke my rule once and that was because I didn't want Big Head to kill himself before I finished his quest.

No, it is immersive if you know what it's actually doing, which apparently you missed out on the point that your WALKING to your destination. It has an explanation and time actually changes as a result, calculated on how long it would've taken to get to the destination. Why should there be a downside? You can use it anywhere, which is fine, but only to destinations that you have found before. In a massive world the size of Oblivion/Skryim, it's necessary. Like I've mentioned before, the average play time for Morrowind and Oblivion are about the same and Oblivion has fast travel, what does that say to you?



Yep, it has an explanation just like Oblivion/Daggerfall's fast travel. Mark/recall doesn't fit into the lore and neither do the intervention spells. Portals between mages guilds do however make sense and could return (which you forgot to mention). The "downsides" of the travel systems in Morrowind weren't really downsides at all. The cost of the silt striders were pathetically low and magicka is easily restored by sleeping or potions.



The thing is, it makes less sense using static travel networks in a living world than somehow fast travel doesn't make sense. Why would a carriage or boat or caravan always be there waiting for YOU, to take YOU wherever you want? Surely those things are taking other people places, why should they be at your beck and call? The fast travel system we have now has an explanation, which is you walk/ride to your destination and it is far more versatile than a travel network. If you really want to only be able to travel between cities with fast travel, only use it when your in a city to go to another city, problem solved.



I've given that option a lot of times but no one ever likes it because then the travel network won't be at their beck and call. That is the problem, people want the travel network just because they want nostalgia of Morrowind because it was their first entry into a true 3d world even if those systems are flawed compared to what is in place or is given forth as a compromise. There just isn't any compromising with people that want it their way or no way.

Travel to a city, designate the spot for mammoth travel, drop a gold coins on the ground, and fast travel to the other spot on the map you think should have a stop. I agree, more options would be cool, but I like having fast travel. On a journey, I don't NEED to see the scenery both ways. The trip back always svcks. So let me fast travel back. If you can't have those options you could still stay in character and make your own ways. But by all means keep complaining about it. Maybe they'll listen eventually.

That's all fine and dandy for explaining how people travelled around, but it isn't good for tying a mechanic to, which is a mechanic only for the player. I like playing barbarians who hate magic and generally scuff at mages, but in Morrowind I have to learn mark/recall because I don't feel like wasting time, my character wouldn't give a rats [censored] about walking everywhere, but because I the player, is forced to stay with the character real time, it becomes a hassle to play such a character, which it shouldn't.



Why am I forced to use magic, mark/recall/intervention spells aren't even real Fast Travel, they are spells which as a side effect functions as Fast Travel.



No argument from me here.



I don't understand the need for explanation, the only thing it needs is random encounters, which would be more immersive, and function as a down side. However I still feel one should be able to travel anywhere and everywhere provided you've been there already, there's no reason not to.



Presents of boats and carriage would be nice, tying Fast Travel to them is debatable depending on how it's implemented.

yeah, it's a command that can teleport you to specific cells if you want. I never use it except to get to the test area.

theres actually PC users who didnt know you could use the console to teleport?

wow, now thats sad... you mod the hell out of things and have no idea what simple commands are?

"coc balmora" ...boom!

"coc vivec" ...boom!

it doesnt require research, you just type in "coc" and the name of the location... you can even teleport to dungeons/houses if ya know the names.

not to mention you can do anything else with the console... add special NPC/enemy-only magic effects, add any amount of gold or items to your inventory, god mode, etc...

you try modding out fast travel caust your willpower is incapable of stopping you from going out of your way to warp around the map, yet there is so much more power available to you that could RUIN the game completely... you just make no sense, and saying you never knew about the console's commands just make it even more sad, cause that was the only thing stopping you, most likely... and i dunno how you use these forums for so long and not know about console commands. :facepalm:

i highly doubt skyrim will be any different in that aspect.

Again, regardless of the validity of each position on the fast travel debate, the console doesn't enter the equation. Nothing in-game tells you there's such a thing as the console ; nothing ever reminds you it's there. I played Morrowind for one year before I was told it was here (had to fix a 'Progress of Truth' quest bug). It didn't cross my mind to use it in Oblivion - I was much too busy actually playing. I could not name you a single code, and I doubt many people could name you more than one or two on the top of their heads. And I also doubt very much there's people nuking their printer's cartridges to print the list of codes, quest, items as they start the game - why even play then.

*edit*


No, we don't do all those things. We sorely lack willpower while playing a video game.

Call me a realism [censored] but I wanted an optional basic map that I have to personally scribble on in ink to set waypoints, and no compass. The disorientation of getting lost amongst the mountains unless marking you're way or keeping track of the sun would make the hardcoe mode -if its in there- allot more 'hardcoe'.

*Shrug*

I would use fast travel alot less if I didn't get into a pointless fight every 30 seconds when trying to go someplace on foot. That's the beauty of fast travel. After fighting 20x Minotaurs one-to-two at a time it's a safe bet Minotaur 21 won't be any different. Rather fast travel and save my sanity if I've already been to the destination once already.

Fallout: New Vegas lacks these repetitive and tedious encounters when traveling around the map. Guess what? I almost never use fast travel in that game.

Don't forget spawning those pesky master skill trainers that like to wander into creatures and die in Oblivion. Stupid Destruction and Marksman masters always get in over their heads. I'm not much for spawning items or teleporting with the console, it's just cheating when your not using it to test mods or fix something that you need because they pathed in the wrong place.

Good point. That's why I'm not too bothered about this : from the bits we heard, exploring might be actually quite interesting - regions that will be more dangerous than others, improved AI, more realistic combat with more options, more varied dungeons, and above all, stupendous landscapes. And here's to hoping there's a good chunk of the walls we have to find to learn the shouts that we'll have to find on our own. All damn good incentives to walk and explore.

It was all in the GI magazine before the hub update today, fast travel was already confirmed by Todd.

At first i fast traveled ALOT but once i beat the main quest i started to walk 10x more then fast travel.

Well exploration was never ruined by fast travel since you had to travel to the destination before you can fast travel to it in the first place so you can stumble across ruins and such. You spent more time looking at your compass while traveling than the world around you. What really hampered but didn't ruin exploration, was the magic compass that showed when unique places were coming up and let you follow the compass to the quest marker. Since there is no HUD this time around, it's safe to say that the magic compass won't be making a return. I do want quest markers to return though but just show the general location of the place you need to go and not show me exactly where the NPC or item I'm looking for is. Also I would like a few quests where you don't get a marker but are told clues to where to go or where the person might be. They did this in Oblivion but I would like to have more of those quests then there were in Oblivion but quest markers are much more useful overall in questing in a big world than vague directions like those in Morrowind.

Uh, you know they said fast-travel was in like a month ago, in the original GI article :S

Honestly, I don't know why there is such hate for fast travel. The system in Fallout 3 was excellent- you had to go everywhere once on foot, but weren't forced to do it again. Exploration and tedious repetition are two very different things. In fact, I seldom used fast travel in FO3, but I was very glad it was there when I wanted it.

Regarding Morrowind's system: I loved Morrowind. Really. But the tedious travel system nearly destroyed my sanity. 'Now, how do I get to Gnaar Mok? Walk from Balmora to Seyda Neen- no, that won't work. Catch a strider from Balmora to Khuul. Not possible? Okay, to Gnisis, then to Khuul. Hmm. It always seems like such a long walk from the strider to the docks in Khuul [whistle]. Okay, here we are. What, you mean I have go to to Hla Oad? Okay, I'll do that, then all I have to do is catch one more ship, talk to so-and-so, and find a way to the Redoran quarter in Vivec. OMFG I left something in Pelagiad! I hate you! I hate you! The dreamer has awoken! Dieeeeeeeeeeeee!' :swear:

:toughninja: [facepunch]
lol. told you!
this thread is fun.

the thread is not about bashing fast travel, its suggesting ways to improve travel so that it is not just an annoying exploit.

question, why did you guys switch to fast travel in the first place?
why didn't you make it a feature that you had to earn instead of the annoying "click & go"

You point out exactly the problem I have with Morrowind's system. Awesome explanation.