Ok I'm starting this thread to replace the Will Skyrim give you more incentive to fast travel Thread, which was kindly set up by owain1122. It was locked due to dicussion slipping onto should fast travel be in the game. JUST TO BE CLEAR THAT IS NOT WHAT THIS THREAD IS FOR! NO DEBATE ABOUT SHOULD FAST TRAVEL BE IN THE GAME!

OK so here is owain1122 OP (Hope you don't mind owain1122, I'll happily remove and reword if you do)

"Ok first off, i adore oblivion. The one thing that really annoyed me was that when i went travelling and exploring, i would see the same things over and over.

1.cave
2.alyleid ruin
3.fort ruin
4.bandit camp

it basically meant i got bored of exploring real quick. On fallout 3 and New vegas I found every location on the map in both games because the location were different.
I can't wiat for sktrim and it looks like it will be the best TES yet but i wondered if this will change.

The only good thing i liked about exploration was the scenery, like some stunning views from the big mountains in the jerrall mountains. "

Remeber NO discussion about whether fast ravel should be in the game or not!
Thanks! :wink_smile:

No this great thanks, seen as though my thread got derailed

I think we know that each area will be distinctly different so that will definitely make moving around more enjoyable. I'm sure random encounters were mentioned somewhere, but I'm not sure whether this was referring to radiant story or actual random wilderness encounters that will fun to find and see.
I'm looking forward to seeing the improved wildlife AI, e.g. finding wolves protecting a kill, things like that are going to be awesome!

Not really sure what you mean with "rewards for travelling on foot".
Exactly what is your thesis?

I hope the exploration extends to under water too - that was one aspect which was really lacking in Oblivion imo.

it would be nice if chests or crates were hidden behind trees with rewards in them, or there was a random encounter thing like red dead redemption,maybe a group of bandits beating on a single person and you have the choice to help or just ignore it and slip by without being seen.

Well, the entire world was hand made, so that will help. Also, most dungeons are supposed to be entirely unique, with 8x the people working on them.

I have to agree that most of the fast travel locations in Oblivion looked the same, but there were plenty of cool little areas the I found too. For example, (I think it was a little bit to the NW of the Imperial City) there was a cave entrance that could only be reached by crossing a rope bridge over a waterfall. That little area was packed full of charm and flavor, just because it was different. I suppose one just needed to travel a bit farther off the beaten path and stray to areas that were not near fast travel sites to find them.

It's pretty simple... what and how do you like to explore the world that Bethesda gives you.


I always like to wander - I usually have a quest active, but I often really just use that as an excuse to head off in a direction. If I see part of a ruin over a hill, I have to go look. If there is a cave just off the road, I need to check it out. Sometimes I'll fully explore, sometimes just a bit, then note it to come back to. (In MW, exploring some caves early on got me killed fast, but I always marked them to come back to and take my revenge when I was uber! Ha! Take that bandits! )

that sounds cool. The problem is though i have got back into playing oblivion again, and i decided to go wayyy off into the wilderness and all i found was clones of the exact same landmarks, over and over.

Hm okay.

Then I think the reward for travelling on foot should be itself
Exploring is one of the foundations of TES. Has always been and will always be, which I'm very glad for.

Yes this game is going to be incredible to explore... I think they made it a focus to make walking through the world an experience its self especially since Todd said they were still thinking about the place of mounts in the game it seems to me that the sights and sounds of the world will draw you in and all you'll want to do is explore the wilderness on foot...

Now that I think about it, there is a certain sense that Aelyd (Spelling?) ruins and old forts would look the same, since most cultures produce similarly looking dwellings, and Imperial Forts are government cut/paste buildings. It didn't make sense, though, that Imperial Forts would be a single tower and a massive, sprawling underground complex.

Unless I get paid real money, I don't think I'll do it. The only reason I didn't fast travel in Ob. was to see the great views or get to a quest objective. Imho, fast travel is a useful tool that cuts out reasonably annoying, pointless hours of traveling from A to B, then A, then back to B.

As my characters in Oblivion were sometimes role-played, it was nice sometimes to find a pool of water, perhaps with a scenic waterfall in which the character could bathe, or otherwise refresh themselves. There were many other views that I enjoyed, like the trail to Bruma, and in the high hills where one could enjoy views of the surrounding countryside. I am very much anticipating discovering new places, and admiring the scenery in Skyrim. Those would be "rewards"to me.

I agree, Oblivion's exploration was just too dull. Everything felt exactly the same. I felt Morrowind's exploration was a lot better. Obviously you had a much larger variety of places to explore, plus they all felt unique (and random loot really helped out with that.) It actually made exploring worthwhile and fun.

I feel Skyrim will pull this off as well. It sounds to me like they've spent plenty of time hand crafting the world, and I think exploration will definitely pay off this time around.

I want it to be rewarding enough to never have to make me use Fast Travel.

Basically what would make you want to travel on foot and not use fast travel. Lots of Oblivion was repetitive so at times travelling on foot could become a bit dull. What sort of things in the game world would you like to stumble upon? What would make you go wow! I'm glad I didn't miss that! what would make the game world more exciting?

All locations in Skyrim will be different, naturally it will be simulates as a cave is a cave but I guess the differences will be at least as big as in Fallout 3. Now add that enemies in different locations would be of different levels so you will want to find bandits with a level a little over your own.
Now add that the landscape will have more variation than Oblivion and it gives you more reason to explore.

One downside with exploring is that you lock dungeons at your level, so if you visit a level 15-25 level location at level 7 and run away it will be locked at level 15 then you come back at level 27.

- Stunning landscapes, graphics and visuals.
- Unique landscapes
- Rather hidden dungeons
- More interesting underwaters
- Cool encounters (i.e. a few farmers trying to defend their farm helplessly from a horde of bandits; bandits that ambush you; assassins that track you/ stalk you wherever you travel, just so that you might get an idea that you're being followed to eventually be attacked in surprise)

All in all, travelling should be a reward of itself.

I would really like it if the stalking was in the game in the way you describe it. Would be cool if you just got little hints that someone was following you waiting for the right moment!

I don't understand how we are supposed to honestly and accurately discuss such a topic without comparing it in some way to 'that which cannot be named'.

I mean the obvious benefits have already been mentioned and outlined. What more is there to say--not much.

I don't do 'that which cannot be named' when I play, because I enjoy the journey through the game world. Doing 'that which cannot be named' really destroys that immersive, enjoyable experience for me. I loved the scenery in Oblivion and am looking forward to Skyrim's new graphics and more rugged and hostile terrain. The wild and random encounters were always fun even if they seemed repetitive(that's what an imagination is for). Fighting for my life as I trekked across the countryside, hunting deer and gathering plants and mushrooms to survive, and all the while travelling with no particular destination in mind...just surviving and exploring with my hunter/woodsman character, often a commanded creature at my side, camping under two moons and a thousand stars, clearing out dungeons, caves and ruins along the way and stumbling across random gold, items and treasures, which the 'that which cannot be named' type of player would never find.

The injection of variety in Skyrim's dungeons will be a nice addition.

I guess the random dragon attacks out in the wild would be good incentive to always be prepared when you set out on foot. The idea of no quest markers(hopefully) will be great as well, when you only have a vague set of directions to follow, or a complicated set that you have to remember. The variance in animal and creature behavior will also be a huge plus for those that get around on foot rather than by doing 'that which cannot be named'.

PS: may you all travel swiftly but never fast.

Actually, I found myself being stalked in Oblivion a few times. If you started a fight with a group of people (the guards in the Malacath quest for me) and ended up running away, they would continue to follow you. I traveled all over the world using fast travel, which apparently made you faster, and kept out running them. Then one day, I'm exiting a cave, and run head first into the guards, who were still after me.

Curious and confused... how did that work?
Whenever an NPC is after you in Oblivion battle music kicks in and stays that way until the enemy no longer is following you (this pretty much eliminates any... surprise ).
And you can't fast travel while being "followed by an enemy"???

If I remember correctly there were chests hidden around in Oblvion that weren't easily fast traveled to. But yes.. I would like areas of exploration to maybe have chests or items hidden around. And as somebody mentioned previously I would love some fun underwater explorable areas. I mean you can make items or potions for water breathing and Argonians can do it naturally.. so an entire area that's unreachable unless you have the ability to breath underwater would be neat.