Your opinion on "fast travelling" in open-world RPGs

[LookingGlass]

One of the things I didn't like in Oblivion and Fallout 3 was the whole system of "fast travelling", i.e. click a point on the map that you've been to before and you will instantly be transported there, alive and well. It sort of destroys the whole epic scope the game is meant to convey with its large map, and it removes a lot of the potential for chance encounters.

I was reading an old Extra Punctuation [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/8329-Extra-Punctuation-Fallout-New-Vegas] a minute ago and I noticed that Yahtzee happens to agree with me. I figure you'd rather listen to him than me, so:

When you instant fast travel in games like Fallout 3 you miss out on the adventure. If you had to ride a horse or a motorbike to your destination you might have an exciting encounter with NPCs, or catch a glimpse of something so intriguing on the horizon that you decide to take a detour to investigate it on a whim. Surely the whole point of the sandbox or open-world model is to give the player the chance to fill the gaps between major events with adventures of their own.

This was a big reason I failed to get the most out of Fallout 3. I completed the game in about 15 hours and I barely saw any of the map at all because I was waiting for quests to actually send me around the place and all that happened was I fast travelled between a few locations and then the damn story ended. Admittedly, partly my fault.

As stupid as it sounds, I even liked Morrowind's system better because it at least forced you to find Silt Striders and boats that would take you where you wanted to go (and would at least force you to move around a bit in between). But what I really want is Morrowind's system but where they show you doing the travelling (significantly faster than running of course). Possibly in a custscene, but why take control away? Why not put me aboard one of these things in my normal view... still able to shoot Cliff Racers as I fly by? Oh, and let me say to the pilot or equivalent "on second thought, set me down here next to that interesting looking ruin".


So that's my opinion: abolish fast travelling and implement my system. Don't even give me the option for fast travelling or I might use it. Don't let people skip sections of your game like that.

What are you thoughts? Do you like it? Hate it? What would be your ideal "faster than walking" travelling system?

Aside: has it been confirmed what the system in Skyrim will be?

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

I agree with you, for the most part. I do find fast-travel takes a LOT away from open-world RPGs. Sure, you can just not use the function, but the temptation is strong and it gives the developers an excuse to copy-past areas or just generally put less thought into landscaping.

Really made Oblivion seem small and minimal in comparison to Morrowind. I agree that the Silt Striders method of fast-travel was a better idea, and made more sense from an in-world perspective. Honestly, I would rather games go back to this kind of system.

But that's purely my opinion. I prefer the immersion to convenience, much of the consumer base prefers the latter.

 

[Mr Thin]

The main reason I stopped playing (and never finished) Morrowind was because of the tedious amount of walking around I had to do. It just dragged on too much for me.

Despite this, I completely agree that fast-travelling detracts from the game. Had the horses been faster in Oblivion, that would've been just fine. As it was, all but the best horses were barely better than walking.

I also enjoyed WoW's system (back when I played it) with the gryphons flying you everywhere. Made travelling much faster whilst displaying the scope of the game at the same time.

Finally, while I usually support games having as many options as possible, it is almost impossible to resist using the fast-travel in games, even when you know it will make it less fun. I'd probably get a mod that disabled fast-travelling if I liked the normal travelling enough.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I dunno. I haven't played much modern RPGs, but the Geneforge games had each map linked to one or more others. To travel, you'd walk through town X, wander through ruin Y to get to clearing Z. Being able to skip any of those once you've done whatever it is you need to do to clean that place out really cut down on the tedium, IMHO.

On the otehr hand, if fast-travel is a problem, could not you come buy some clever way of justifying it? In-universe you can fast travel through places, but only once you've removed the evil crystals mucking up the magic, or whatever. I find an in-game reason for a silly mechanic often helps alot.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

One of the things I didn't like in Oblivion and Fallout 3 was the whole system of "fast travelling", i.e. click a point on the map that you've been to before and you will instantly be transported there, alive and well. It sort of destroys the whole epic scope the game is meant to convey with its large map, and it removes a lot of the potential for chance encounters.

I was reading an old Extra Punctuation [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/8329-Extra-Punctuation-Fallout-New-Vegas] a minute ago and I noticed that Yahtzee happens to agree with me. I figure you'd rather listen to him than me, so:

When you instant fast travel in games like Fallout 3 you miss out on the adventure. If you had to ride a horse or a motorbike to your destination you might have an exciting encounter with NPCs, or catch a glimpse of something so intriguing on the horizon that you decide to take a detour to investigate it on a whim. Surely the whole point of the sandbox or open-world model is to give the player the chance to fill the gaps between major events with adventures of their own.

This was a big reason I failed to get the most out of Fallout 3. I completed the game in about 15 hours and I barely saw any of the map at all because I was waiting for quests to actually send me around the place and all that happened was I fast travelled between a few locations and then the damn story ended. Admittedly, partly my fault.

As stupid as it sounds, I even liked Morrowind's system better because it at least forced you to find Silt Striders and boats that would take you where you wanted to go (and would at least force you to move around a bit in between). But what I really want is Morrowind's system but where they show you doing the travelling (significantly faster than running of course). Possibly in a custscene, but why take control away? Why not put me aboard one of these things in my normal view... still able to shoot Cliff Racers as I fly by? Oh, and let me say to the pilot or equivalent "on second thought, set me down here next to that interesting looking ruin".


So that's my opinion: abolish fast travelling and implement my system. Don't even give me the option for fast travelling or I might use it. Don't let people skip sections of your game like that.

What are you thoughts? Do you like it? Hate it? What would be your ideal "faster than walking" travelling system?

Aside: has it been confirmed what the system in Skyrim will be?

Well it looks like the problem is that someone has an issue with self control, not a fault of the game itself. Sure i like to walk sometimes so i can take in the massive landscape, but other times i really dont think walking twice around the map is worth it just so i can deliver some persons cheesecake or whatever they want.

 

[frehls]

hue

 

[Bostur]

I'm guessing FO3 had fast travel because FO1 and FO2 had it and they wanted to get a feel close to the previous installments. FO1/2 didn't have a seamless world so fast travel was kind of a requirement.

In general I think fast travel is ok as long as it is limited somehow. I agree with the arguments against fast travel. It takes away the opportunity to have an adventure, and it also hurts the illusion of time and distance. But limited fast travel can be used for good, it makes it possible to have a larger world without players having to spend all day doing trivial trips to the magic shop or the gun shop.

I think WoW originally had a good system. Using flight routes made trips significantly faster, but long travels still took a while and you had to find the stops first. This allowed players to have a travelling adventure on the first trip, and retained the illusion of time and distance on subsequent trips.

 

[kypsilon]

I have nothing against fast travel systems, i would rather have the choice than none at all. The biggest problem I have with games like Fallout is the never-ending back and forth quests that might have you treading the same dreary path two or three times before the damned quest is over. I'll explore the map at my leisure, but if I'm mission hopping, I'd like the option of cutting to the chase.

 

[bakan]

Well, doing all these sidequests and exploration without fast travel in Fallout and Oblivion would be kinda tedious and I don't know if I would want to explore as much if I wouldn't have the option.

 

[evilneko]

On one hand yes it does take away from the feel of a game and skips potentially fun encounters, but on the other, sometimes I just don't want to have such an encounter. I want to do something particular (such as pop over to a vendor's) and then get back to doing something else.

Since I'm doing a blog of my Fallout character's travels I usually let the story dictate whether or not I fast travel somewhere. If she's traveling over areas she's already been in, and it wouldn't really make for anything interesting to write about I'll fast travel. For example, Megaton to Big Town or Super Duper Mart and back. However, I haven't really used fast travel at all since she moved to New Vegas, except maybe short meaningless hops (like the annoying back and forth between Mojave Outpost and Primm). When she returned to Goodsprings after reaching Vegas, I made a point of it in-story that she was taking a different route, so I didn't fast travel. Now that she knows a safe, short route from NV to Goodsprings, I might use fast travel in the future.

Basically in sum, I'd rather the option be there. Let people use mods to disable or modify it if they don't want it or like it.

 

[trollnystan]

I'm lazy so I like the fast travel system. I totally see what you mean though. I liked the silt striders from Morrowind and the gryphons from WoW because of the in game feel of them. Of course silt striders were basically fast travel with less convenience and some window dressing, but that just made sure you explored more while still giving you the feeling that you weren't walking everywhere.

What I like about fast travel is that it takes away the monotony going back and forth between the quest points. True, I think if you have an escort mission you shouldn't be able to simply fast travel to the town in question, but if dude in town A wants me to get things from spot B, C, D, and E and they're all nowhere near each other then give me fast travel please.

But like I said, I'm a lazy bugger =P

 

[Atticus89]

It's the warp spell. You can go to places instantly so long as you traveled there first.

When you think of it in that perspective, it has been around for decades.

 

[Xerosch]

I think the fast travel is a great feature. And I don't think it breaks the immersion because you simply don't have to use it if you really want to walk from Anvil to Skingaard every time. Claiming to missing out on the adventure is your own fault if you beam everywhere, for me this works.

This and the questhelper are two of the main reasons I like Oblivion much more than Morrowind.

 

[Kenami]

This was one of the major problems I had with Fable 2.

 

[Gregg Lonsdale]

I get the feeling it's the kind of thing that people don't like, but would miss if it were ever removed. The debate reminds me of two games, assassins creed and zelda wind waker. Assassins creed did it wrong by making the travelling slow, arduous and irritating. Wind Waker did it right by making travelling slow, but also peaceful and relaxing without much combat or challenge. it's like the difference between a half-hour bike ride and a half-hour bus ride, i.e. in the former you've very little possibility of playing fruit ninja on your phone while you're waiting.

 

[Bags159]

In Oblivion it was fun to see the world once. After that it was tedious.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

One of the things I didn't like in Oblivion and Fallout 3 was the whole system of "fast travelling", i.e. click a point on the map that you've been to before and you will instantly be transported there, alive and well. It sort of destroys the whole epic scope the game is meant to convey with its large map, and it removes a lot of the potential for chance encounters.

I was reading an old Extra Punctuation [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/8329-Extra-Punctuation-Fallout-New-Vegas] a minute ago and I noticed that Yahtzee happens to agree with me. I figure you'd rather listen to him than me, so:

When you instant fast travel in games like Fallout 3 you miss out on the adventure. If you had to ride a horse or a motorbike to your destination you might have an exciting encounter with NPCs, or catch a glimpse of something so intriguing on the horizon that you decide to take a detour to investigate it on a whim. Surely the whole point of the sandbox or open-world model is to give the player the chance to fill the gaps between major events with adventures of their own.

This was a big reason I failed to get the most out of Fallout 3. I completed the game in about 15 hours and I barely saw any of the map at all because I was waiting for quests to actually send me around the place and all that happened was I fast travelled between a few locations and then the damn story ended. Admittedly, partly my fault.

As stupid as it sounds, I even liked Morrowind's system better because it at least forced you to find Silt Striders and boats that would take you where you wanted to go (and would at least force you to move around a bit in between). But what I really want is Morrowind's system but where they show you doing the travelling (significantly faster than running of course). Possibly in a custscene, but why take control away? Why not put me aboard one of these things in my normal view... still able to shoot Cliff Racers as I fly by? Oh, and let me say to the pilot or equivalent "on second thought, set me down here next to that interesting looking ruin".


So that's my opinion: abolish fast travelling and implement my system. Don't even give me the option for fast travelling or I might use it. Don't let people skip sections of your game like that.

What are you thoughts? Do you like it? Hate it? What would be your ideal "faster than walking" travelling system?

Aside: has it been confirmed what the system in Skyrim will be?

umm... ok? then just walk. no one's FORCING you to use the fast travel.

Personally, i love it because if i need to deposit a bunch of stuff into a container or get out of a dangerous zone really quickly without having to travel through a shitload of dangerous territory just to be safe.

 

[Rule Britannia]

I think if games incorporated an fast travel encounter system like in dragon age origins so taking Oblivion as an example.

If I travelled from Leyawin to Bruma (very bottom of the map to the very top) I would encounter perhaps 5 different groups or sets of enemies.
I would only want this to be added to a game if it didn't just place you into a closed off place on the map like it does in dragon age origins (I don't want that to be clear). After you killed the enemies the you encountered it would give you an option to continue fast travelling or walk the rest yourself. I would consider this a great feature and make fast travelling less "fast travelly"

To be honest I really don't mind fast travel so long as it doesn't cut out too much of the game, in Fable games it definetely cuts out too much of the whole game experience. If there's a golden glowing trail of sparkly happiness to follow that should be enough, fast travel shouldn't be necassary.