Just want to say thanks to the people on this forum that have helped me make playing this game more enjoyable. I've recently cut out fast travel, which by doing so, has added so much more to the game. I won't go into all the whys here, but for those people that use fast travel all the time, (like I used to) I suggest you try cutting it out too and see how much more expansive the game world becomes. I know I might be telling a lot of you how to svck eggs but, in my view, the people from the role-playing 'community' will definitely get the most out of Skyrim. I had never considered the role-playing side of Skyrim but having read the comments of a few of you it really opened my eyes to new possibilities. So thank you!
On top of that, riding around Skyrim on Shadowmere is pretty cool in itself - although I do wish I could use my bow whilst riding ...

Yea, I used to abuse FT before I too had my eyes opened. It was so dull doing 'vending routes' to get rid of my excess loot after each dungeon. It felt very 'gamey', and completely killed the game's awesome atmosphere. Now I don't FT or use carriages, and I avoid picking up heavy gear so I don't become encumbered so quickly (still have more gold than I can possibly use). As I travel from quest to quest, I explore the dungeons and caves on the way, so I rarely have long, uneventful journeys.

I use fast travel sparingly myself, and yes, running around everywhere makes for a better experience in my opinion. Nothing beats the many random encounters you either fall into or witness.

I almost never use fast travel in Skyrim, the world, for all of its faults, is very well done.

I haven't used fast travel at all, and don't intend to

Never used FT since I found what a game killer it was in Oblivion. Also, I disabled the compass and quest markers. Now, when I find something, it's because I found it

The land scape is so awesome and you completely miss it when you fast travel

I tend to only use FT to get to the remote places with tedious routes... primarily those 7000 (or so) steps.

You have to Fast Travel in Daggerfall. I play Bethesda games as normal. I FT and get my quests.

I'll take the carriages between cities I frequent, but that's about it. I enjoy walking everywhere in Skyrim. For all its flaws, Skyrim's world is definitely its strongest feature and is really well done for the most part -- it'd be a shame to miss it, fast traveling everywhere.

EDIT: and with those cities, the only reason I take the carriages more often than not now is because I've already walked to and from them many times (including the first time seeing them -- I feel like suddenly showing up in front of a city ruins first impression), and even still I choose to walk to and from them sometimes. Skyrim's world is just too nice to pass up.

I've recently taken to walking on my horse. My latest character is the only one I've owned a horse on, and having it walk instead of gallop around everywhere really lets you take in the game world more, and it feels far larger. Walking on foot is too slow and tedious (but I do that in cities and dungeons a lot), but on horseback the speed is good enough to be realistic without boring your pants off. Maybe give that a try too if you want to take it a step further!

Would be nice actually to have several speed settings. A stable trot inbetween the slow walk and gallop would be good. Same for on foot as well, walking on foot is very very slow! You'd swear my character was about 80 or something...

Same here, I have the UI off, which is the only way I can remove the compass (on the 360) I miss the health bar etc, and an aiming reticle, but it's better than having my hand held to every point of interest within 200 feet.

As for fast travel, I use it sometimes, like when I get sick of travelling up and down High Hrothgar, and I know nothing will happen since all the enemies are dead. So instead I'll use it to skip boring parts of travel like that, and some places in the reach are hard to navigate with companions.

Fast travel definitely has it's uses if you use it sparingly, it's definitely a gamekiller to use it exclusively, and all those people who use it without thinking, are missing out on the real meat of the game.

I've stopped fast traveling now as well, but still use carriages sometimes if there's a cluster of quests to be done in a certain area.

Yeah I won't stop until I move all my stuff out of my old house in Whiterun to Solitude... Then maybe your suggestion...

I'll use FT only when I have to go across the entire map, like from east to west coast type distance. What I normally do is use FT for about half the distance, or maybe 1/3, and then walk the rest of the way, which gives me time to discover and loot dungeons. Between the walking and dungeon looting, it can take 2-4 game days to get to my destination, which I think is perfect.

And traveling at night can be quite interesting lol. There are a lot of wolves, bears, thiefs, etc., that try to get you during darkness.

I use fast travel for the main reason that I don't want to be level 37 before I even reach the second town. (Exaggerated.)

But it's true, exploring the game world "on foot" is worth the time invested, it's very well done and atmospheric as well, but I don't always feel like doing so and instead just want to sell my loot quickly before I get to the next quest. I think if I forced myself to abandone quick travel, I'd lose patience rather soon.

As for finding more dungeons, I'm not that interested in it anyways. Most of them play the same and the loot usually svcks and is only good for selling it. Now I'm always heavy with loot from questing already and must find places to sell all of it. (Yeah, I know Riverwood, now imagine that without fast travel.) So I need not more places to find loot in. I prefer the nice little spots they placed all over the maps like shipwrecks or cottages in the wood and stuff like that, but when I see another Draugr Tomb or Bandit Fortress, I just walk past and say to myself: "Later." (Which never happens unless a quest sends me there.)

Edit: Oh, by the way, I disapprove of the insinuation that people who use fast travel are somehow no role players. I guess TruRPers never use the wait function either and will install a mod that will make sleeping last as long as it would in "ingame time".

What really happened to make your experience better is not that you quit fast travel, but that you picked up overland exploration. You started playing at a more leisurely, less goal-driven pace and started taking time to wander the lands in-between places, and you discovered that you really enjoy it, and that's all there is to it.

As much as we love wandering and exploring, sometimes we in the role-playing community appreciate a break from the expansiveness. That's why we have fast travel. It does not rob us of any exploration time, for it takes practically no time at all. All of us enjoy taking the leisurely path as much as anyone else does, including you. There is no cause to promote a false dichotomy by saying that those who use fast travel are missing out on anything. Fast travel and exploration are not mutually exclusive things.

Yes... Fast travel is a game-dampener... It needs limits...

"You can't fast-travel to this destination. There is no known safe passage." {For areas too far away, or inland, without roads. Places they want to force you to walk.}

"Your travels have been interrupted." {Drops you onto a path, along the way. Just out of view, but facing the "interruption". Bandits, dragons, a messenger...}

{The feeling of a general sense of safety on the roads... plus having destinations that are not miles-away, would encourage walking... But the game discourages walking, for those who have issues with things like this.}

"You have not found a clear-path to this destination." {For destinations you have found, but have had an encounter along the way.}

How do you handle things like this? (The limitations of fast-travel.) Simple... Depending where you are... All "truly available" options are white. All "possible enounter" options are yellow. All "non-travel" options are red. (For the color-blind, unsafe travel-locations can pulse bright/dim. While the non-travel locations simply have a visible "X" that pulses over them. Not something I want, since I can see colors, but for those who need to see... it makes life easy, as opposed to guessing, or waiting for a prompt to yell at you.)

Slow travel is great. That's when Skyrim gussies itself up and puts its best foot forward. It's more immersive, fun and interesting. It forces you to interact with the world and its intricacies, rather than racing through the entire experience in a rush for the end or another level up.


I've always, always, always hated this in RPGs.

I used to fast travel more in Oblivion and then started using it sparingly for that game too. There's much more to these games if you walk and that's the point of them. They filled them with all kinds of things that are missed if you fast travel. Take time to smell the Mountain Flowers...and pick them for potions too.

I would keep it simple, but it would be nice to have some limits... I would not mind if you could only fast travel to points along a (main) road, and then you would have to walk to anything a way off from it.

I do love walking in Elder Scrolls games and particularly in Skyrim. I haven't had time to implement a "no fast travel" rule... but maybe someday.

I think people would fast travel less if they made horses better. A perfect example for me is Red Dead Redemption. I was able to both travel gingerly around with my horse and wonder around on foot. It really made me want to explore more. I could slow down as much as I wanted or get some speed if I needed/wanted to. In Skyrim, I do try not to fast travel as much as possible but as a heavy armor user. It can be really slow going especially if I have to travel across a 1/3 of the map.

I used to use fast travel all the time, than I took an arrow in the knee...

But seriously, yes, not using fast travel opens up new dimensions of play for the patient and self controlled. Inventory management suddenly becomes important and potion conservation plays a large role in which dungeon I can do as I pass them by.

think u can take the reticle off in settings

He wants to have the recticle back is the problem. It would be nice to be able to disable the UI but keep the recticle on 360.