Just as a game is tricking you into feeling like you are having an adventure or experience, even though you're sitting on your computer chair or couch. Congratulations, you discovered the key to good game design! immersion; tricking the player into feeling like they are performing actions when they are really not. If I wanted the game to play itself for me I'd just go watch a movie.
Yes, since somehow fast travel, which is the exact same thing as siltstriders, allows for the game to play itself. Makes perfect sense. Siltstriders are truly unrealistic. Oh look the same siltstrider is there even though I just teleported back after being dropped off by that siltstrider in Balmora. That is the fastest Siltstrider ever! I said that Oblivion's fast travel was a bit much allowing you to fast travel to anywhere you have ever been before but Siltstriders are unrealistic and a waste of time that it doesn't need to be. Like I said, if fast travel allows you to only travel to villages and cities, it will be siltstriders limitations without the needless backtracking like in Morrowind. But I disagree with you guys because frankly, fast travel in Oblivion makes more sense than Siltstriders always being there.
Where are you getting this "same play time" crap from?
The issue people have with oblivions fast travel is that it feels like teleporting, yeah sure time goes by, but why dont you get attacked by bandits fast traveling from bravil to the jerral mountains? Why does a 1 second feather spell last the whole days travel time? How can your character get back to town with only an inch left of his life after dungeon diving just because he looked at his map and 'poofed' into town?
The same play time crap is from playing all of Oblivion's content and Morrowind's content and they were relatively the same play time, Oblivion had 34 min than Morrowind's. And look Oblivion had fast travel, OMG! Also, where do you get the fact that it doesn't feel like teleporting when using a siltstrider if you think it is teleporting with fast travel? It's the SAME thing. Also, when has a spell effect ever lasted a fast travel? When you fast travel with a feather effect, it will wear off, I don't know what version of Oblivion your playing. As for the inch of life left, if I can't fast travel with an inch of health left after dungeon diving, which means my character walks back to town, then how do you walk back to town in Morrowind? By your logic, while walking back to town you would fall to the ground and die from blood loss. Your argument is flawed. Fast travel is doing the same thing as you would in Morrowind, walking back from doing something, but without having to walk back the exact way you came, which offers no more exploring value and nothing but a boring walk back.