For my own two cents - I don't see where Fast-Travel suddenly has to be "design by restriction." That's generally not good game design (or at least doesn't lead to making the sort of games that I enjoy playing.) Why not give players freedom to go where they want to? I honestly don't see what that's taking away.

Sure, make sure I've explored a place before I can FT to it. I can deal with that. But beyond that, I don't see why Fast-Travel needs to be packaged with some form of innate and arbitrary "cost." I don't see how that brings anything to the table.

Personally, I find that to be a myth. I'd consider myself a "hard-core" player. Insofar as if anyone is one - then surely I'm one of them. (Though to be honest, the whole "hard-core vs casual" thing I find to be a rather onerous example of society appropriating a term thought up by marketing research groups to figure out how to make social networking sites more profitable.) But I digress...

My point is that I don't consider myself to be "casual" in approaching a Bethesda game (or any form of RPG, or even most videogames in general.) But I like having the freedom to fast-travel. The concept that I can "fast-forward," by an intimated time compression, from one place to another - but only by use of a Silt Strider or some other vehicle (when I'd be able to walk there just as easily,) is something I find "immersion-breaking." That it takes place via an arbitrary form of transportation doesn't, to me, make that loading screen any more immersive. Putting arbitrary restrictions isn't something that, IMHO, I would consider to be a compromise that would please everyone.

As to the RDR/GTA system - I am rather a fan of that. You can go wherever you want, essentially when you want to. You can skip right ahead to your destination, or you can even sit back and watch your entire trek from beginning to end. I love RDR's fast-travel. It didn't restrict the player in any way, while also allowing you to decide what was the most "immersive" way for you, the individual player, to get there.

No thanks, I like my idea a lot more.

We need to sleep to regain fast travel "bar" and there would be fast travel services, boats, charriots, mage teleport etc in the game too.

@nu_clear_day:

I'm not saying only casual players will like/use FT and only hard-core won't. I myself have played Oblivion to death and consider myself to be a hardcoe fan, yet I would probably just dont play it if I couldnt FT.

Sure, it's nice to take in the scenic view, perhaps find some new location or NPC. But that stuff isn't nice on your 5th playthrough, when you just want to get to where you want to go and have already experienced all of that. Or when you just remembered you forgot to take that weapon of yours from your house that you wanted to use or whatever, and then have to run aaaaalll the way back home...

If you hate FT so much, dont use it. If you lack the willpower to keep yourself from using it anyway, take a dice and stack something heavy on it and put it on the "c" key whilst having equiped some cheap destruction/restoration/alteration spell, go take the dog for a walk or whatever, and increase it on your next lvl up!

IMO the way to fix fast travel is to add random encounters with monsters, bandits, and such. That way, after you fight the monster, you can look around at the scenery, realize you're in an area you haven't explored before, and decide to explore it or continue fast travelling. The random encounter will remind the player that they're in this huge open world to explore that's much more than zapping between cities, even if they want to continue zapping between cities at the time.

It's better than having an arbitrary restriction on fast travel to "force" people to explore.

No. We shouldn't be FORCED to do ANYTHING. Bethesda is about player CHOICE and your suggestion clearly is not in line with that. What with all the FORCING to explore.

I, for one, like fast travel exactly how it is in Oblivion and I'm not at all interested in seeing it changed. I have faith that Bethesda will not force players to do these kinds of shenanigans.

THIS

100% agree.

reading the OB gave them this idea.. how about service based travel between city (morrowind style), boats, carriages watever and then a range based fast travel system.. let me explain in oblivion cause i havent played morrowind in a while so startin in the IC i travel by boat or mage teleporter to bravil then from there i can fast travel within a 1 mile radius or so... allowing me to explore n be able to FT to town to sell my unwanted stuff... then if i wat to return to IC i get the boat back...

I realise that i theory one could just jumb to the furthest point possible an the jump again in a leap frog kinda fashion but that would be an individual choice the one exception i would make would be to allow a mark item spell to be placed on/in ur house so if u live in the country u can easily FT back.. i would however place a restriction on this like maybe it begin a greater power or only twice a day...

open to ideas/suggestions....

Agreed. (Sorry if I wasn't clear.)

I use FT all the time in Fallout 3/ Fallout:NV/ Oblvion - whatever. At this point, I've explored every square inch of the map in all of those games. Fast-travel certainly hasn't discouraged the exploration aspect of these games. If anything, I find it encouraging - I know I can get off the "beaten path" without having to deal with needless backtracking when I want to get back to where I was going in the first place. Knowing that I can FT around at will gives me the freedom to get sidetracked when I feel the need to.

How about, no. If you don't want to fast travel, don't.

That's a bit like Mark and Recall.

I do not see any value in this system.
Are you saying that from any point in the game, as soon as you FT, then you can only FT from the one spot?
I see the simple work around being: Staring at place A, FTing to place B, then back to A only to FT to C. That adds time, as players can just not FT from B to C, but doesn't really change game play.
From what I understand, this actually hurts both sides instead of appeasing both.

I don't understand why people are against having an improved Morrowind system, along with the ability to toggle FT off.
This way, people who want immersion won't have to sacrifice anything, and people on with whatver reason for FT will be able to use it.
Perfect system, that only people who desire Oblivion style FT hate.

Keep fast travel, add public transportation...everyone's happy.


/Thread

That would be the best system IMO as well. And tbh, you should have to "find" the cities before you can fast travel to them (i.e. they are visible icons on the map but you can't FT to them untill you get there) which of course wouldn't be all to hard with a transport system.

Frankly, I didn't like Morrowind's system. I found it too restrictive and contrived. I never understood why I should have to pay money to board a vehicle whose sole benefit is the ability to take me to a loading screen, and then get me where I'm going. If I need to go through the same loading screen regardless - then I don't see how restricting or "punishing" the player to do so makes good gameplay sense.

IMO, the "best" Fast Travel system would be something more akin to Red Dead Redemption or the GTA games. Fast Travel to and from anywhere (I'd be fine with not allowing FT to places you haven't discovered - though if we're talking "immersion" I don't necessarily see why you ought to need to "find" something like a major city to know how to get there.) I'd also be okay with some form of arbitrary nod to "immersion." (ie, needing "make camp" a la RDR before initiating FT.) And then adding the "taxis" on top of that system. With the ability to watch the ride and enjoy the view, or skip right to the action.

I don't necessarily see any drawbacks to a system like that, personally. I certainly don't see any need to find ways to arbitrarily punish the player for choosing fast-travel.

(Though of course - to each their own. These are only my own preferences, of course.)

Exactly. "Taxis" like in RDR or GTA.

Best fast travel=Daggerfall

Good idea. I would however mix it with cities being linked by mages teleport and silt riders equivalent. Most importantly Tarhiel's, from Morrowind, great x 10 grandson has worked on the scroll of flight and from a few locations located around the world you can launch yourself, by adjusting fortify jump and angle. Thus launching yourself to the general location where you want to go. You still have to hike it out. So linked cities and and the TES equivalent to a human cannon. Ummm viewing skyrim as it flies by you :biggrin:

you should be able to fast-travel if your on a main road too, unless theres already teleporting

EDIT: oh wait, that already confirmed so... nevermind

I'll just chime in and point out the the OP's idea is useless as it's easy to get around it by simply doubling back to the starting point between each jump.

The other idea about fast travel to and from cities should sound familiar -- it's Morrowind's system, in case you didn't notice. Bethesda abandoned it for a reason.

Broadly, to the "if you don't like it, then don't use it" crowd -

I'm no more interested in slogging across the map than you are. Most of the time, I don't use fast travel, but - for instance - the fighters guild. One section of that questline goes like this:

You're told to report to Modryn in Chorrol. When you get there, he tells you to go see Azzan in Anvil. When you get there, he tells you to go to Bruma to do a mission. You go to Bruma, do the mission, go back to Anvil and Azzan tells you you have to go back to Chorrol. You go back to Chorrol and Modryn tells you you have to go to Leyawiin to get some information on what's going on there. You go to Leyawiin, then go back to Chorrol and Modryn tells you to go back to Leyawiin again.

Screw that. I'm not going to spend all that time running around the map just to do two quests. So there's a pretty good chance that I'm going to want to use some sort of fast travel. But - and THIS is the point, and the biggest reason that those who complain about OB's fast travel system do - I want that fast travel to make sense in-game. And OB's doesn't.

Okay - I get that the idea is that I actually walked or ran or rode my horse from point A to point B, and yes, the time elapsed in the game is (more or less) the amount of time it would've taken me to do that. But here's the catch - if I walk or run or ride my horse over that road in-game, I'm going to come across bandits and monsters along the way. If I fast travel - POOF - no bandits and no monsters. It's completely and utterly safe. And THAT'S really the problem. It's not that it exists - it's that it doesn't make sense in-game. I know for a fact that there's no way to travel between point A and point B without dealing with enemies, but magically, if I fast travel, the enemies disappear.

I have no problem with the concept of fast travel, and I want some form of it in the game. But I don't want a poorly-designed and unbelieveable system with the option to not use it - I want a well-designed system that actually makes sense within the game universe.

That shouldn't be too much to ask.


To the OP - while I appreciate the fact that you're actually trying to come up with a workable idea, I don't care for that one much, simply because it doesn't make sense. There's no mechanism in-game to explain why I could only return to my point of departure.

I really like the sound of that...I try not to fast travel, but it sooo tempting when you have to across the map *just* to go talk to someone or sell something a good price....nice work! :goodjob:

"How about we take all the Jewish people, gypsies, homosixuals, and anyone who isn't blond haired and blue eyed and put them in a Death Camp. That could work..."

It sounds like a bad idea, it looked like one as I wrote it too... idk about there being no bad ideas, it's kind of like saying there are no stupid questions when in reality there is. That being said, the only thing I am confused on is how would the game decide what is the last place you have been? If you walked from A to B you probably discovered something on the way there.

This idea still focuses on fast travel being available for every city at the beginning of the game; if you fix that (which is the real problem), your idea will only fit once you have already explored.

Nobody liked being able to go to every city via fast travel since the beginning of the game. Im sure it will not be that way this time around.