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[The artful mincer]

If it is a chore to travel in your game consider:

-Improving your traversal mechanics.
-Improving engagement in your open world.
-Rethink the amount of a-to-b traversal in your quest design.
-Shortening your game length.
-Question why your game is open world in the first place.

Basically all of this.

Fast Travel by the in game menu will only ever be a convenience.To add to what you said Distance traveled should mean something and be a gameplay consideration like in Death Stranding.

If you're fast traveling your skipping all the gameplay to get to your destination. Which is probably an indictment on your game design.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

Here's the objective factual undeniable truth:

Fast-travel without consequences is bad design.
It's like admitting you wear diapers and want the ez pz way of getting somewhere.

Kingdom Come Deliverance and the upcoming Dragon's Dogma 2 did it the right way:
If you want to fast travel, you risk getting ambushed by enemies.

It's about time designers STOP BEING LAZY and use their brains for a change.

THERE, I SAID IT.

 

[Belthazar]

Here's the objective factual undeniable truth:

Fast-travel without consequences is bad design.
It's like admitting you wear diapers and want the ez pz way of getting somewhere.

If I already got to that place though normal travelling, why would I want to traverse the entire planet to get back to a place I already visited in the first hours of a game? That's actually insane to me that anyone would want to go through the same stretch of land again for no reason... I have better shit to do with my time than that.

Kingdom Come Deliverance and the upcoming Dragon's Dogma 2 did it the right way:
If you want to fast travel, you risk getting ambushed by enemies.

It's about time designers STOP BEING LAZY and use their brains for a change.

THERE, I SAID IT.

That sounds awful, utterly awful

 

[sendit]

I’m tired of easy fast traveling, moving a cursor and hitting a button, I get that it’s sometimes convenient or even needed but I wish devs would do a better job at making it fun to traverse the map normally instead. Or make me walk to a taxi or something and show an animation how I actually travel. Like Hollow Knight which I’m currently replaying (top 10 all-time). Use some procedural tech so it’s not the same animation all the time.

SpiderMan 2 is the bar imo.

 

[rofif]

Here's the objective factual undeniable truth:

Fast-travel without consequences is bad design.
It's like admitting you wear diapers and want the ez pz way of getting somewhere.

Kingdom Come Deliverance and the upcoming Dragon's Dogma 2 did it the right way:
If you want to fast travel, you risk getting ambushed by enemies.

It's about time designers STOP BEING LAZY and use their brains for a change.

THERE, I SAID IT.

While fast traveling can be a sign of bad traversal design... I don't want top be arsed around and have my time wasted either.

There are 2 examples:
-Forbidden West which had world so annoying, they knew this and put bonfires every 50 meters from one anoher
-Hogwarts Legacy which got ton of fast travel points but in HL, it feels like a quality of life improvement and not a cop out. The flying on broom is awesome. Imo Hl does it the best

 

[The artful mincer]

While fast traveling can be a sign of bad traversal design... I don't want top be arsed around and have my time wasted either.

There are 2 examples:
-Forbidden West which had world so annoying, they knew this and put bonfires every 50 meters from one anoher
-Hogwarts Legacy which got ton of fast travel points but in HL, it feels like a quality of life improvement and not a cop out. The flying on broom is awesome. Imo Hl does it the best

In Hogwarts Legacy they should have allowed you to upgrade your broom to fly as fast as Spider-Man can fly in Spider-Man 2!.

They probably couldn't because they had to release the game on Last gen consoles.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Love what I'm seeing from this. Can't wait to play that beautiful soundtrack on my pulse elites

 

[bender]

Here's the objective factual undeniable truth:

Fast-travel without consequences is bad design.
It's like admitting you wear diapers and want the ez pz way of getting somewhere.

Kingdom Come Deliverance and the upcoming Dragon's Dogma 2 did it the right way:
If you want to fast travel, you risk getting ambushed by enemies.

It's about time designers STOP BEING LAZY and use their brains for a change.

THERE, I SAID IT.

 

[Doom85]

Here's the objective factual undeniable truth:

Fast-travel without consequences is bad design.
It's like admitting you wear diapers and want the ez pz way of getting somewhere.

Once again, it’s an OPTIONAL FEATURE. If you want to waste your time going through areas you’ve already fully explored, do that shit yourself. Right now, you sound like a crazy person yelling at someone for ducking under rope barriers as opposed to walking left and right even though there’s no one in line.

Fuck that shit, just take me there, but you enjoy smacking your head and eating shit on the ground because “you play games to the extreme!!!” Meanwhile us sane people will move on ahead and get actual shit done.

 

[The artful mincer]

Once again, it’s an OPTIONAL FEATURE. If you want to waste your time going through areas you’ve already fully explored, do that shit yourself. Right now, you sound like a crazy person yelling at someone for ducking under rope barriers as opposed to walking left and right even though there’s no one in line.

Fuck that shit, just take me there, but you enjoy smacking your head and eating shit on the ground because “you play games to the extreme!!!” Meanwhile us sane people will move on ahead and get actual shit done.

That's not what I think he means. I fast travel in games, but if I'm doing it it means I've said to myself that travelling to the destination won't be fun so I'm skipping it. That's what's bad design.

E.g. in Spiderman I never fast travel because swinging is fun. Or in resident evil working out what route is safest to your destination is fun. Or in Death Stranding planning your route building infrastructure, deciding which equipment to use is fun.

Adding Fast travel in say Resident Evil 2 remake would take all challenge and fun out of the game which shows its designed robustly. The fact that Fast Travel arguably improves some of these open world games shows there design isn't

 

[Fart Knight]

 

[rofif]

In Hogwarts Legacy they should have allowed you to upgrade your broom to fly as fast as Spider-Man can fly in Spider-Man 2!.

They probably couldn't because they had to release the game on Last gen consoles.

yeah there are ways to upgrade the broom but it barely goes any faster

 

[Arioco]

That took about 5 seconds. It's fast, no doubt, but other Square games like FFVII Remake or Forspoken load faster, around just 1-2 seconds.

 

[rofif]

That took about 5 seconds. It's fast, no doubt, but other Square games like FFVII Remake or Forspoken load faster, around just 1-2 seconds.

Lol you know I wanted to post this exact example but I held off
Yep. Forspoken goat fast travel speeds

 

[Skifi28]

That took about 5 seconds. It's fast, no doubt, but other Square games like FFVII Remake or Forspoken load faster, around just 1-2 seconds.

It's much faster, but then you also have to play Forspoken after it loads. You win some and you lose some.

 

[Fredrik]

One can just not use the fast travel if it triggers them so much. As for the rest of us, heaven forbid if we think good game design is giving players options that reduce things from feeling tedious.

Options is great of course. Problem is, games might not really be made to travel normally. Distances are too long, so the choice isn’t really a choice but necessary to not end up playing for thousands of hours…

And imo fast travel can make games more tedious, if you end up skipping segments where there could be actual fun action and instead end up just going back and forth between quest markers to progress a linear story.

Personal opinion of course.

For me, when it feels like I’m just going between point A to B and back to A etc without much actual fun in between it’s time to add some fun padding or tweak the quest design. Like adding a new threat on an old path you think you know, classic thing in scary games which can work in any type of game. Having a dynamic game world is another way to do it and make the standard action fun and loot rewarding. Or again like in a game like Super Metroid, super static design, where an old path you know inside and out can be fun from the sense that you’ve progressed through suit upgrades. It’s rewarding to feel like you’re a badass and truly know the world.

 

[Doom85]

That's not what I think he means. I fast travel in games, but if I'm doing it it means I've said to myself that travelling to the destination won't be fun so I'm skipping it. That's what's bad design.

E.g. in Spiderman I never fast travel because swinging is fun. Or in resident evil working out what route is safest to your destination is fun. Or in Death Stranding planning your route building infrastructure, deciding which equipment to use is fun.

Adding Fast travel in say Resident Evil 2 remake would take all challenge and fun out of the game which shows its designed robustly. The fact that Fast Travel arguably improves some of these open world games shows there design isn't

You‘re being very picky and choosy with those examples.

First of all, you admit you CHOOSE not to fast travel in Spider-man. Meaning the option doesn’t ruin the game and people with either preference can be happy.

Resident Evil is SURVIVAL horror. Not every game is survival-focused where you have to watch your resources.

Death Stranding is pretty much different from just about any game out there. I love the title, but using it as an example for all games on how they should be designed is ridiculous.

Just because some people want to hurry up and get to certain destinations if it’s places they’ve been to before because that’s their preference doesn’t mean the GAME is badly designed. I don’t like the weapon durability in Breath of the Wild, but I’m not about to act the fool and try to pretend the game is badly designed. I just have preferences and want standard weapons, but I get that the BOTW gameplay is well designed for what it is.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

It's a non-issue to you that others find clumsy. It being optional doesn't negate the effects it can have on the design of the game.

It didn't affect games like The Witcher, Horizon, Elder Scrolls or GTA V.

So your point is moot.

 

[Fredrik]

SpiderMan 2 is the bar imo.

Haven’t played it but you need to go through the rings to do the fast travel? Great idea in that case

 

[Killjoy-NL]

While fast traveling can be a sign of bad traversal design... I don't want top be arsed around and have my time wasted either.

There are 2 examples:
-Forbidden West which had world so annoying, they knew this and put bonfires every 50 meters from one anoher

Curious, what exactly was annoying about the world of Horizon and what did it have to do with campfires every 50 meters?

Fast-travel could be ignored completely and you could walk, ride or fly everywhere around the map freely. Even go by boat in Burning Shores.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

Fast travel aside, one thing that really got me by surprise in Elden Ring were those teleport chests.

The first time I opened that chest that teleported you to those bug-ridden mines my mind was blown out.
It teleported you to the middle of nowhere, with no prior explanation and nothing to prepare you for it.
(what made it even more fun is that I had no idea there was fast-travel in Elden Ring, )

Reminds me of those Moongates in Ultima IV that appeared in different places and teleported you to different locations depending on the phase of the Moons.

I wish developers put their imagination to good use like they used to in the past.

Ultima IV walkthrough - The Codex of Ultima Wisdom, a wiki for Ultima and Ultima Online

wiki.ultimacodex.com

 

[Fredrik]

Well, Symphony of the Night is a better game and has fast travel.

Great game but not even on my top 10. Super Metroid has been up there at #1 for 30 years now, I replay it regularly and I still think it’s genius in game design. Bosses aren’t perfect though but all games has some sort of weakness.
Metroid Dread improved a lot, control perfection and quite possibly some of the best boss fights ever, but fell short on some added exploration hand-holding which is the core in Metroid for me, far too easy to 100-percent.

 

[Danjin44]

I would say dont use the fast travel if you dont want to but it makes doing quests much easier, this is even true with games like Elden Ring.

 

[rofif]

Curious, what exactly was annoying about the world of Horizon and what did it have to do with campfires every 50 meters?

Fast-travel could be ignored completely and you could walk, ride or fly everywhere around the map freely. Even go by boat in Burning Shores.

Devs clearly felt the need to put fast travel campfires every 50 meters.
The climbing was very clunky and navigating terrain in aw ay to avoid constant fucking dinosaurs was annoying.
Obviously, once you unlock flying, it's good

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Devs clearly felt the need to put fast travel campfires every 50 meters.
The climbing was very clunky and navigating terrain in aw ay to avoid constant fucking dinosaurs was annoying.
Obviously, once you unlock flying, it's good

Still don't get the big deal about the many campfires and fast-travel.

Certain gamers really like to whine over petty stuff that's quite easily ignored.

 

[The artful mincer]

You‘re being very picky and choosy with those examples.

I'm not. I'm just giving examples of where it's been executed well.

First of all, you admit you CHOOSE not to fast travel in Spider-man. Meaning the option doesn’t ruin the game and people with either preference can be happy.

Agreed having the choice to fast travel doesn’t effect spiderman too much.

Resident Evil is SURVIVAL horror. Not every game is survival-focused where you have to watch your resources.

It was just an example of how having an optional fast travel would ruin a game. Sometimes having more options is not always good. Not saying every game should copy Resident Evil.

Death Stranding is pretty much different from just about any game out there. I love the title, but using it as an example for all games on how they should be designed is ridiculous.

I wasn't saying other games should copy it. Other games can come up with their own creative solutions to encourage travelling to destinations.

Just because some people want to hurry up and get to certain destinations if it’s places they’ve been to before because that’s their preference doesn’t mean the GAME is badly designed. I don’t like the weapon durability in Breath of the Wild, but I’m not about to act the fool and try to pretend the game is badly designed. I just have preferences and want standard weapons, but I get that the BOTW gameplay is well designed for what it is.

I disagree there's only 2 reasons to fast travel as far I'm concerned.

1. To save time.
2. Travelling to the destination is boring.

To save time is fine sometimes we just want to get things done. This can be applied to anything though e.g. I may want to skip a fun boss fight because it's too long.

Traversal being boring though is always a problem though and designers should at least try and discourage fast travel even if it's included as an option.

 

[Hudo]

If I cannot jump immediately to the ending, then the fast travel is not fast enough, man.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Traversal being boring though is always a problem though and designers should at least try and discourage fast travel even if it's included as an option.

Most developers already do that, but at some point people's expectations become extremely unrealistic.

You can't possibly expect developers to implement an infinite amount of random encounters and mini-games to prevent repetitiveness, because that's simply not possible.
Blaming it on "fast-travel" is quite short-sighted.

 

[Arioco]

It's much faster, but then you also have to play Forspoken after it loads. You win some and you lose some.

True. That's its main drawback. xD

 

[Fredrik]

I would say dont use the fast travel if you dont want to but it makes doing quests much easier, this is even true with games like Elden Ring.

Elden Ring is a great example where traversing the game world on foot/horse is about 1000 times more fun and exciting than when you have unlocked a site of grace and can just fast travel there. And even though it’s my all-time #2 I think the game is too big, you really can’t travel manually all the time. And the high difficulty means that once you unlock the fast-travel point you often sigh from relief knowing you won’t have to do that again.

Is that great game design? I don’t know, personally I don’t think so, it’s just how modern games are built now. It annoys me.

Tbh, I would never design a game that helps the gamer skip a section I might’ve spent thousands of hours creating after they’ve just gone through it once to unlock a fast-travel point. Seems absurd.

And the best times for me in any open world game with some exploration is when I can’t fast travel and has to pick a direction into the unknown and search for something cool, that’s where the magic is for me.

Once I can fast travel it often becomes a zapp away to point A to B to A to C to A game.

Goes for Zelda BOTW as well as Elden Ring and Skyrim and Starfield and Oblivion and No Man’s Sky etc etc. These are games I genuinely love but aren’t afraid to say I wish would’ve in some ways been different.

Does that make sense? Maybe not, it’s time for bed now so maybe my mind is a bit fuzzy.

 

[Danjin44]

Elden Ring is a great example where traversing the game world on foot/horse is about 1000 times more fun and exciting than when you have unlocked a site of grace and can just fast travel there. And even though it’s my all-time #2 I think the game is too big, you really can’t travel manually all the time. And the high difficulty means that once you unlock the fast-travel point you often sigh from relief knowing you won’t have to do that again.

Is that great game design? I don’t know, personally I don’t think so, it’s just how modern games are built now. It annoys me.

Tbh, I would never design a game that helps the gamer skip a section I might’ve spent thousands of hours creating after they’ve just gone through it once to unlock a fast-travel point. Seems absurd.

And the best times for me in any open world game with some exploration is when I can’t fast travel and has to pick a direction into the unknown and search for something cool, that’s where the magic is for me.

Once I can fast travel it often becomes a zapp away to point A to B to A to C to A game.

Goes for Zelda BOTW as well as Elden Ring and Skyrim and Starfield and Oblivion and No Man’s Sky etc etc. These are games I genuinely love but aren’t afraid to say I wish would’ve in some ways been different.

Does that make sense? Maybe not, it’s time for bed now so maybe my mind is a bit fuzzy.

You are still travelling the place you haven’t been before but once you do you can fast travel to get there, I don’t see anything wrong with that.

Doesn’t matter how good the traversal is you gonna up using fast travel to do quest and or find item you missed before.

 

[Beechos]

Nothing shown from Rebirth showcased invisible walls on the open world, so your gut feelings are completely baseless.

Also, Final Fantasy XVI doesn't have an open world, it's a linear action game...

My feeling is based on 15 and 16 worlds being empty and boring as hell. Open world or not. Never played forspoken but I haven't heard any praise about its world either so what confidence should I have that this would be any different either.

My invisible wall mention was just about alot of Japanese games in general that have this design that won't allow me to jump over a fence or a crate as if there's an invisible wall in the way.

 

[MagiusNecros]

Using fast travel in Forspoken is not recommended given how quick you can traverse the map with it's magic movement systems.

 

[The artful mincer]

Most developers already do that, but at some point people's expectations become extremely unrealistic.

You can't possibly expect developers to implement an infinite amount of random encounters and mini-games to prevent repetitiveness, because that's simply not possible.
Blaming it on "fast-travel" is quite short-sighted.

I agree some in some games fast travel will always be necessary.

I think saying it has to be there just don't use if you don't like it is not good either.

Some games not having it all is completely fine as it can lead too interesting game design.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Here's the objective factual undeniable truth:

Fast-travel without consequences is bad design.
It's like admitting you wear diapers and want the ez pz way of getting somewhere.

Kingdom Come Deliverance and the upcoming Dragon's Dogma 2 did it the right way:
If you want to fast travel, you risk getting ambushed by enemies.

It's about time designers STOP BEING LAZY and use their brains for a change.

THERE, I SAID IT.

Here's another objective factual undeniable truth.

Not having fast-travel can be a tactic to pad out a game lengths. All the time spent running back and forth from point A to B, back to A, back to B, then to C, back to A etc....

It's fine giving the players the choice. In Rebirth players can choose between travelling solely by foot, by Chocobo, by car (in certain regions), by fast travel. Then eventually add the airship to the mix.

 

[March Climber]

It's a non-issue to you that others find clumsy. It being optional doesn't negate the effects it can have on the design of the game.

You should also post example gifs of good/fast traversal mechanics in modern open world games to help bolster your argument.

I don't agree with half of your argument as I think fast travel is something that evolved with the times(as gaming maps became larger over time) and I also feel that fast travel is no actual direct indicator of level design quality, but I do agree about the parts of your argument regarding devs making it feel more fun and engaging to travel around in general.

The thing is though, no one here has the actual review/playable copy of FF7Rebirth on hand, so we don't know yet if one of the chocobos has super speed or can fly or something. We also don't know if the airship is playable yet.

So instead, people are simply jumping to conclusions about the design of an entire video game, based on the fast loading feature of a game that's being shown off. A game that isn't even out yet.

 

[rofif]

You should also post example gifs of good/fast traversal mechanics in modern open world games to help bolster your argument.

I don't agree with half of your argument as I think fast travel is something that evolved with the times(as gaming maps became larger over time) and I also feel that fast travel no actual direct indicator of level design quality, but I do agree about the parts of your argument regarding devs making it feel more fun and engaging to travel around in general.

The thing is though, no one here has the actual review/playable copy of FF7Rebirth on hand, so we don't know yet if one of the chocobos has super speed or can fly or something. We also don't know if the airship is playable yet.

So instead, people are simply jumping to conclusions about the design of an entire video game, based on the fast loading feature of a game that's being shown off. A game that isn't even out yet.

+forspoken

 

[MagiusNecros]

+forspoken

Another example.

 

[rickybooby87]

It's a non-issue to you that others find clumsy. It being optional doesn't negate the effects it can have on the design of the game.

Curious, do you think that devs design maps knowing that they’ll have fast travel? And maybe that affects world cohesion in a negative way?

 

[Danjin44]

You should also post example gifs of good/fast traversal mechanics in modern open world games to help bolster your argument.

 

[rofif]

Another example.

yeah and it's all inputs. you constantly do something.
Reminds me of infamous + a bit of crackdown when it comes to traversal

 

[Hugare]

That's not what I think he means. I fast travel in games, but if I'm doing it it means I've said to myself that travelling to the destination won't be fun so I'm skipping it. That's what's bad design.

E.g. in Spiderman I never fast travel because swinging is fun. Or in resident evil working out what route is safest to your destination is fun. Or in Death Stranding planning your route building infrastructure, deciding which equipment to use is fun.

Adding Fast travel in say Resident Evil 2 remake would take all challenge and fun out of the game which shows its designed robustly. The fact that Fast Travel arguably improves some of these open world games shows there design isn't

RE 2 isnt open world. And I bet that a lot of players used fast travel in Spiderman (not saying the majority). I've used it, despite enjoying swinging 'cause I just wanted to get shit done quickly.

I have played quite a few open world games since I started playing videogames, and all of them had bloat. All of them, no exception.

So no matter how good the traversal system is, or the overall design, there will always be some justification for fast travel.

Some players wont mind walking miles doing nothing, but some will, regardless of the game's quality

 

[rofif]

I need to play this.
Is it enough I play gr2 ?

 

[Killjoy-NL]

You should also post example gifs of good/fast traversal mechanics in modern open world games to help bolster your argument.

I don't agree with half of your argument as I think fast travel is something that evolved with the times(as gaming maps became larger over time) and I also feel that fast travel is no actual direct indicator of level design quality, but I do agree about the parts of your argument regarding devs making it feel more fun and engaging to travel around in general.

The thing is though, no one here has the actual review/playable copy of FF7Rebirth on hand, so we don't know yet if one of the chocobos has super speed or can fly or something. We also don't know if the airship is playable yet.

So instead, people are simply jumping to conclusions about the design of an entire video game, based on the fast loading feature of a game that's being shown off. A game that isn't even out yet.

Do those gifs classify as fast-travel though.
Unless I'm misunderstanding something, fast traversal methods and fast-travel are different, i.e. fast-travel being an instant jump to a distant location.

Like the Infamous neon-powers were really cool at first, but after a while it became a chore having to run all the way across the map.
It becomes "been there, done that". There's only so much fun to be had using the same traveling method, back-tracking while encountering the same "varied" random enounters for the bazillionth time.

 

[Danjin44]

I need to play this.
Is it enough I play gr2 ?

I would say play both Gravity Rush 1&2 and remaster for original GR is pretty solid.

 

[Lady Bird]

If it is a chore to travel in your game consider:

-Improving your traversal mechanics.
-Improving engagement in your open world.
-Rethink the amount of a-to-b traversal in your quest design.
-Shortening your game length.
-Question why your game is open world in the first place.

No matter how engaging an open world experience is, it is not and cannot be infinitely engaging. At some point, you have done nearly everything there is to do there, and walking back and forth becomes a chore. Fast traveling solves this problem.

Worth mentioning that Dragon Quest has had fast traveling since its first iteration in 1986, when games were shorter, didn't have modern quest design, didn't have open world, and traversal mechanics were primitive and minimalistic.

 

[March Climber]

Do those gifs classify as fast-travel though?

No, just faster-than-normal travel.

Disregarding the other, odder arguments in this thread(I still have no idea why Super Metroid was even brought up), bender specifically is arguing for more options in regards to making traversal fun in order to discourage the usage of fast traveling as much as possible, which could make a game more fun. I can agree with this sentiment.

The other part of his argument about games with fast travel not being designed as good, is just poorly worded though. That would disqualify some legendary games(example: A Link to the Past) and removing fast travel entirely is not ideal.

Unless I'm misunderstanding something, fast traversal methods and fast-travel are different, i.e. fast-travel being an instant jump to a distant location.

No misunderstanding, you are right.

Like the Infamous neon-powers were really cool at first, but after a while it became a chore having to run all the way across the map.
It becomes "been there, done that". There's only so much fun to be had using the same traveling method, back-tracking while encountering the same "varied" random enounters for the bazillionth time.

Again, for me, it’s more about the added options rather than the removal of a feature(fast travel). I swung around for the entire Spiderman PS4 experience because that’s how well balanced the entire city felt to move around in and they had some precision cuts and mission/side quest placement to make sure that you didn’t swing for too long. I also took planes and helicopters around in Just Cause 2 because the devs made sure to place them around key locations that weren’t too far away, to encourage it.

Most devs don’t do this, so I understand his frustration on devs relying on fast travel like a crutch of game design.

 

[bender]

Curious, do you think that devs design maps knowing that they’ll have fast travel? And maybe that affects world cohesion in a negative way?

I think fast travel can often be a crutch that might prevent better decision in things like quest design. A lot of the arguments in favor of fast travel is that it prevent backtracking. That can be prevented by thinking more about your quest designs and how much you are asking a player repeatedly to go from point a to point b or maybe the backtracking is intentional to force players into dynamic events in the world or maybe your world is dynamic and you want them to see how it evolves.

Fast travel can be implemented well. I'll go back to Morrowind as a favorite example. You have the Silt Striders which is basically a stagecoach transit system between major cities in the game. You can do the Mage Guild quest to further open teleport options across the map. Further, engaging in magic and enchantment systems let's you "break" the game and fly or teleport anywhere. The dedicated fast travel systems fit within the lore most importantly. That's a major pet peeve of mine in games. A GPS system makes sense in an open world car game, but in something medieval feels out of place.

The main draw of open worlds for me is as sense of adventure, letting players get lost, letting players miss content so that in subsequent playthroughs you can have a fresh experience by something you didn't discover your previous time around and they can be great sandboxes. A lot of modern design choice neuter those aspects. I just often ask myself why certain games are open world in the first place. When I start to engage with fast travel systems is usually about the time I'll put that game aside as I could just play a game with linear levels which probably has better game play mechanics in it.

And that's not to say that a game can't overcome what I consider poorer design choices. Just Cause 2 has a lore appropriate fast travel anywhere system, a map that is ridiculously huge and underutilized and copy/paste content out the ying yang. The traversal system was so fun that I never felt the need to use the fast travel and the sandbox was fun enough for me to trek across empty mile after empty mile of its' game world.

I don't agree with half of your argument as I think fast travel is something that evolved with the times(as gaming maps became larger over time)

Game maps becoming larger with no real purpose is part of the problem and if developers and players feel the need to fast travel, I'd ask what the purpose of the vast worlds are in the first place.

No matter how engaging an open world experience is, it is not and cannot be infinitely engaging. At some point, you have done nearly everything there is to do there, and walking back and forth becomes a chore. Fast traveling solves this problem.

Fast travel isn't the only tool in toolbox that can overcome this problem. That's my entire point.

 

[Brigandier]

Fuck running/chocoboing all the way back to Kalm to hand in a feather or a pebble or to report you have killed an enemy when you're past Nibelheim

If you prefer the long way of no fast travel good for you but I'll be scooting over through the map.

I don't know why more RPGs don't have auto complete quests and guilds/quest NPC's in towns to report to upon completion for any quests that don't involve an interaction of importance.

 

[AJUMP23]

I want an airship.