For me, the great advantage to not fast travelling is in all the little adventures you have along the way to your destination. It might take me several hours to get to my initial objective because I've found new, interesting things to divert my attention along the way.

So you quote me, then go into an explanation of why the OP shouldn't stop using fast travel? Not exactly in keeping with the spirit of my post.

The. Landscape. Is. Spectacular.

I just sprint. It goes really fast. Problem is you get sidetracked so easy you never get where you started, but they did good making the game fun that wzy

I stop fast traveling whenever the game becomes robotic. It's good to take time out to wander and realize what Bethesda does right.

First thing I do on a new character once I have the money is take the carriage to every major city so I don't have to waste time fighting the 3 same wolves over and over. The only time I venture out on my own is to get a quest done.

Seen one tree you've seem them all, "oh look, some more mud crabs", please.

But as others have said, everyone plays differently. I personally don't like to waste half an hour just jogging down a road doing nothing.

I fast travel a lot, but you NEED to go from place to place on foot a lot. A lot of fun encounters/quests/locations can only be discovered that way. If you are on a PC you can make journeys less boring by increasing spawn locations among other things. That said, I never had the discipline to travel from Riften to Solitude on foot.

Ever since I got a mod that makes horses move about 30-35% faster than vanilla I ride to my destinations (why are horses so slow in vanilla?) before that I used to footslogg it as much as possible but fast travel is nice when you're tired and don't want to.

Recently I completed about 5 or quests only planning to actually do 3. From Winterhold I headed out down to Windhelm, then along the road that follows the Volcanic Tundra. By this point it was getting late so I stopped at a mill and did some work until nightfall, then slept in a spare house before heading out again.

I eventually climbed the hill/mountains into the Rift, taking a path that followed a huge waterfall I had never taken before (this is my third character) along the way a skooma pusher attacked me when I threatened to tell the guards, but a troll killed him. Then I ended up near my first destination, a cave next to Ivarstead. I fetched the book I was looking for from the cave then rented a room, next day I did a quest involving a barrow in Ivarstead before leaving for Riften.

At Riften, I spoke to Vex in the Thieves' Guild about a person I was looking for, then I quickly left Riften and headed down to Shor's Stone, where I spent another night. Here I was given 2 minor quests one of which was to go to Darkwater Crossing. On my way back down the mountain I was attacked by a Cave Bear so I leapt into the river, and washed up in Darkwater Crossing (this amused me greatly). Completing my business I headed for another cave I had a quest in, got the target item and headed back to Windhelm to turn it in. I spent the night in Windhelm before heading back for Winterhold, stopping at another Cave along the way to complete the quest I had been sent to Riften for.

By the time I got back to the college I was 2 levels up, 5 quests done and 3 in-game days passed (I did this all in about 1 real day). So you can see why I find not fast travelling to be quite a lot of fun. But if you only have one or two fetch quests you might still find it useful to save tedium.

Fast travel go so fast, you don't have the time to enjoy it correctly. And the wide open world suddently have a meaning. The feeling of standing on top of a montain saying: "I was there, walked all the way here and here? Incredible!"

And in fact you're not saving that much time with fast travel because the game keep throwing dragon in your face. What's the point of a open world if you teleport non stop?

I actually noticed the change of music with scenery after I began adventuring. Neat little touch I might add...

Stop fast travelling and if you are desperately in a rush take the carriage. Makes the game a lot more interesting

I love exploring (without fast travel) but I absolutely hated the compass. I found myself always looking towards the top of the screen towards it, to see if there was anything near by. It was somehow hard to ignore the moving icons on the top of the screen, and i hated it. So i removed it. As well as the 'YOU ARE HERE' icon on the map. Made myself look at the map only when i needed (vague) directions - its harder now to locate exactly where i am on the map.


Gotta say, i found it a lot better without. I went to explore places without knowing if it was dangerous, a town, a dungeon, etc. Made me much more aware of my surroundings, rather than just look towards the compass and see that ' oh, theres a cave towards the East!'. I stumbled upon things when i least expected it, without knowing 3 miles back exactly what and where it was. The prospect of being prepared is also more important - i cant just fast travel back to town to buy health potions. So.. i find it a lot more fun doing things ALA Morrowind - with no compass, or Fast travel. thats just me though. Its not a play style for everybody.

i had this thought but i went ahead and did it anyway. It does several things.

It .helps with immersion. You stay in a given area longer and feel more attached to it. It makes the cites feel MUCH further apart. I use the werewolf at night to travel because its MUCH faster, and it still takes quite a while to go from whiterun to riften (not stopping for much). You have quite a few random events (think red dead redemption style). I played 100 hours on my first playthrough that i used fast travel with. Ive seen things i never knew about it my first playthrough. Doing quest feel much more like an actual adventure. You have to fight your way to/from the destination, you have to prepare for that fight, limp back if badly beaten. I find it to be very fun. Note that im playing on expert difficulty, The little bit i played on master made it feel redundant at times, while the one below expert felt easy. I find its a good balance. Remember if you just HATE not fast traveling you could always go back to using it. Your not going to lose ANYTHING by trying.


also, i allow myself to use the carragies, though if your on pc i sugest that use download a mod that makes travel cost go up, ive got mine set to 600 gold per travel, That way i can use it but it ACTUALLY HITS me in the coin purse.


have fun.

http://j-u-i-c-e.hubpages.com/hub/Fast-Travel-and-Narrative-Elision-in-Skyrim

I walk or ride everywhere so Lydia doesn't get a big fat butt.

I look after my housecarl...the sweetroll scarfing hog.