Fast travel is a revolutionary open-world game mechanic which is being used by all modern role-playing games. It’s good for saving time and viable in errand quests. However, fast travelling out of nowhere is super immersion breaking especially in role playing games. What’s the solution though? Should you stop using fast travel in open world video games? I think I know the answers for that question.
Firstly, I want to take you back to Elder Scrolls Morrowind (2002) of Bethesda. It came before the Skyrim and Oblivion. Anyway, in Morrowind, you can’t fast travel whenever you wanted. But still, there are some immersive ways of fast travelling such as using boats in coasts, gondolas, stilt striders (carriage-travel), propylon Chamber (ancient Dunmer teleportation chambers), and recall scrolls.
All in all, Morrowind did it right by making fast travel limited, lore-friendly, and super immersive. In modern games like Skyrim you can fast travel whenever and wherever you like. It’s time saving but also immersion killing. I think in order to enjoy an open world role playing game, you shouldn’t use fast travel all the time.
The games should still have the option. But it’s up to player to be responsible and use fast travel less frequently.
Fast travel pros and cons:
| Fast Travel Pros | Fast Travel Cons |
| Time saving. | Immersion breaking. |
| Manageable huge maps. | Unrealistic. |
| Widely accepted feature. | Hardcore RPG players avoid using it. |
| Quality of life feature. | Implemented badly most of the time. |
| Boring quests can end fast. | Game becomes boring. |
| It’s actually optional. | It’s too tempting… |
Cannot Fast Travel When Enemies are Nearby
It’s the worst thing you can imagine in an RPG. Especially if you can’t see any enemy nearby. They are either hiding in grass, or far away but also close enough to stop you from fast travelling.
Also, it might be bug where an enemy got stuck near you that is not visible. It can make you paranoid!!! Imagine trying to fast travel in the middle of nowhere all alone and get the message saying enemies are nearby… I would literally freak out. Which have happened multiple times to me in Skyrim. It ended out to be a mudcrab in the river or a bug from a random mod.
You cannot fast travel. – Most cursed message in a role playing game.
One more thing. There are some special quests in games that are disabling fast travel for story-related purposes. If you’re unaware of that quest and try to fast travel, it might turn you into a crazy person…
I think best thing you can do is to avoid using fast travel altogether. Because it’s immersion breaking, really unrealistic, and makes you get bored of the game. Avoiding fast travel is not going to be easy to. We’re all have ADHD in this day and age. We need instant gratification. Not using fast travel is going to be hard. But if you can pull it off, you’ll really enjoy the game.