Hi guys!

Long time lurker first time poster. I played around 100 hours at launch, never completing much of the main quest but a bunch of guild and side quests. Playing on the PS3 I soon found my game would lag for a second every five seconds after my save file became a little large so I started using fast travel everywhere in till I decided to shelve the game entirely waiting for a fix.

I am so happy I did. I have started a new character after 1.4, I have over 60 hours of gameplay and haven't fast traveled once. I love the game so much more and my goal is to be able to know where I am at and where I am going based on landmarks. If you haven't tried it I really recommend it. Before I would know where I was but not really how to get say to Iverstead from Riverrun without checking my map every 60 secounds.

I think It really adds something special to the game. Skyrim itself is its own character and IMO can't really be appreciated intill you know the place like the back of your hand. Everywhere you look there is a new path or cave or something you never noticed before. I will spend hours not really doing quests but making sure I am mapping my location in my head.

Not really much of a point to this thread I guess but just wanted to share a little of my game play style and my way of experiencing Skyrim, my first Elder Scrolls game. While I am riding my horse to a location I notice a place and say to myself, "oh, thats where I killed three wolves and bandit!" Plus I shot five arrows in a direction sign by robbers gorge and they are still there and that was days ago!

Anybody else trying to memorize Skyrime?

Welcome to the forums.
I don't fast travel either,theres just too much out there to see and experience.

Try walking everywhere. It enhances everything around you. A yes, welcome.

Yes! I recently started turning off the quest markers. I didn’t think it would make much of a difference, but I must have been looking at the top of the screen a lot more than I realized. Now I rarely need to check the map. Still get very lost around Falkreath, but that’s part of the fun.

I have also slowed down quite a bit, walking more than running. It’s easier to find the mountain passes by looking up than running along looking at the road.

I used to do that in Morrowind but in Skyrim I don't care anymore about memory. I'm glad that you are having a blast in Skyrim and welcome to the forums.

The title says it all, it definatly is, I like to use characters that use and don't use the fast travel.

Welcome to the forums! Here. Have a http://images.uesp.net/c/c4/Fishystick.jpg. They're good for you.

Sometimes, if I'm in a hurry or don't have a lot of time to play I'll fast travel, but usually I like to take it slow and enjoy the sights.

I posted in another thread about my encounter with a non-hostile giant. I followed him around for a while and, even thought he didn't do anything particularly interesting, it was still good fun. Bethesda gave us a beautifully detailed world to wander, I like to take advantage of it. Sometimes I'll stop at the top of a waterfall and just look out over the valley below. It takes me forever to complete quests because I'll be walking towards my destination and something interesting catches my eye. In my mind, doing things like that is one of the best ways to enjoy Skyrim.

Tell me about it. I just spent over 2 hours starting Clavicus Vile's quest - I'm not even at the cave yet!

Reason for that is mostly down to me deciding to summon Odahviing on every grown of Forsworn I met on the way Oh, and no fast travel makes the quests that randomly teleport you across the map a LOT more fun. Just before I started 'A Night To Remember', I had finally made it back to Whiterun and was going to do the Companions, and even some main... and then BAM. MARKARTH. It was the first time I'd been there too, even to the Reach, and it was so fun finding out about the area just by being dumped in it!

Yeah I walk everywhere myself,I only run in combat.
I'll be playing this game for years so theres no hurry.

Welcome.
Yeah never fast travel - you miss too much and it's much more immersive if you don't.

wellcome, buddy.

man, if you were a PC player you'd be in heaven. ever since some great mods started appearing i almost stopped fast traveling and riding horses. i just dont want to miss all the great stuff that might happen if i just walked around.
all the mods out there for the PC that include epic wars and random encounters everywhere you go (like here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcxL08Cg3SU) and with enhanced combat like deadly combat (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcZQrqMK44g)
while im just travelling around i get so much fun action and things to do, loot to find and things to kill that i enjoy every new game i start like it's my first and slowly walking around gives me as much satisfaction as doing missions.

@SirBryghtside
what quest that teleport you around the map?! what are you talking about

Exploring, adventuring, and familiarizing yourself with all the world is fun.

Darn these falsehoods.

Yeah not fast traveling is how all the good random stories happen.

I usually don't fast travel.

But after a while walking the same path over, and over, and over, and over again can get a little boring. Particularly if you just walked between the same two locations just a few hours ago. So in cases like that I might fast travel.

So I avoid fast travel, but I'm not fanatical about it.


And darn those absolutes. And darn those commands on how you must play the game.

When I first started playing I was in such a hurry to accomplish this or that, that I fast travelled everywhere. Then I decided to walk along the northern coast from Dawnstar one day, just for fun. Then I realized that Solitude wasn't too far away, so I struck out in that direction... and I realized the other day that I haven't fast travelled since. The thought doesn't even occur to me anymore.

Skyrim is beautiful. Nothing is so important that you should miss out on all the wonder out there....

I agree. Same here ...

Ill do that every now and then, but I dont have a lot of time to play now a days, and (call it ocd if you will) I CAN NOT STAND saving and geting off while in the middle of a quest.I like to save it in my safe, warm home by my fire,wife,dog,and housecarl, not in some dark wet nord ruin that's cwral'n with dead guys.

I will say though, it does make the game much more enjoyable.The wrighting might svck, but bethesda knows how to build a map.

I agree with all this.
I've walked the Whiterun-Ivarstead so many times that it's just dull.

Pretty much the same for me, but I'd also add if I'm looting sometimes I fast-travel back to a town to speed up the process of improving/selling my loot. Then I'll fast-travel back and walk from there to wherever I'm going next. Purists will stay that's cheating, but my gaming time is not what it used to be so I can't spend it dawdling around for most of it.

Knew it.. PS3's doing just randy dandy now. It's official, you backstabbed your 360 community with 1.4.

ANYWHO, back to the OP. I haven't tried it yet myself, I'm trying to decide on my next character and they will start doing it. But since I've already FT'd everywhere with this char I'm not going to just start not FTing lol.

EDIT: Agreed SLH. Once I move out and get my own place again maybe.. until then I don't want to waste all that time.

I recently starting using fast travel as little as possible. I also removed the compas via the console. It's been a much more involving experience. I took me 2.5 hours to go from just outside of Whiterun to Solitude for a quest I was on. I ran into a few diversions along the way (dragon, bandits impersonating imperial guards, a crypt full of ghosts in agony and a nifty little trap, a fort full of necromancers and alchemical goodies) and literally felt like a weary traveler once I reached Solitude's gates.I nearly exhausted my supply of potions and poisons.

Alternatively, I could have FT'd to Meeko's Shack (bee-lined via horse at the beginning in order to get my sidekick) and zipped up to the 'Tude, but I'm glad I didn't.

It really is a game changer. Same goes for playing without markers.

The difference is remarkable; it improves the game by about 10x.

I have done this since my first char. It really is great I would also recommend no HUD. Suddenly the world makes much more sense, as i no longer know what is behind that hill or that door, unless i check it out.

To each their own, but I couldn't stand playing games like Elder Scroles/Fallout without fast travel. Maybe if they brought the system from Morrowind back.....

I've NEVER fast traveled at all since I got the game (11/10/11, it was released a few hours earlier than the midnight launch on steam). I have fast travelled about 2 times but only to the closest location near me and only if I get stuck in the environment.