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[Hawks Eclipse]

Well, because it's the exact same concept. Used in countless other RPGs of that kind, too.
Darklands and Realms of Arkania come to mind.

I'll have to check out RoA footage on YouTube, have heard the name before but never witnessed how it played. First two Fallouts were the main CRPGs that I actually played to completion when younger.

Anyway, to reiterate the point I made the in previous reply, the bottom line is that your big open world will NEED to have some fast travel, but the experienced designer with a clear goal in mind will design most of the game to work (and pace well) without it, only to offer it anyway as a late-game convienience.

Good points. I'd have to think about it more but fast travel as a lategame QOL mechanic does jive well with me in games where the world is really big.

The modern "triple A" designers that need to satisfy an audience of clueless wankers, on the other hand, will give you unlimited unrestrained fast travel from the start, "because it's convenient", ignoring how that will kill most of their own world building.

While I agree with the bolded, I'd assume in some cases it's a reluctant implementation. Not everyone has the ability to march to their own drum like FromSoftware/Miyazaki's design philosophy of "You will experience this as I intended.".

Not completely related but I came across a Reddit comment weeks ago from someone who claimed to have done QA for Shadow of War IIRC. Gist was the devs didn't want to put MTX in the game but Warner wanted it, so the devs tried to minimize its impact as much as possible. If I manage to dig it up I'll edit it in later in and tag you or something. It's from an r/games thread talking about the Nemesis System, probably the Mark Brown video.

Edit: Found it faster than I thought it'd take

 

[Codes 208]

Yay. Dark souls 1 proved to me that it's a pain in the ass to traverse before you get the ability to fast travel.

 

[KellyNole]

I don't enjoy wasting my time these days so fast travel it is. Explore the first time fast travel every other.

Just played the remake of Nier and you could save a ton of time not having to walk/ride back every other minute needlessly.

This is me these days. When I was younger, I wanted not to use fast travel. With a wife and kids, I don't have time for that. You have to find the place first before fast travel is fine, after that I am using it.

 

[joseph7jk]

Yay, thank god for that option

 

[fart town usa]

Dragon Quest.

Cast Zoom and revisit towns you've been too. Super convenient.

 

[Raonak]

I prefer when it is related to some item/unlockable skill.

just having it off the bat feels a bit anti-climactic.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

If the game is designed it not having it, like in Dragon's Dogma, then nay for me. I love the sense of place it can give to a game world. If it's something like Nier with all sorts of mindless and uneventful back and forth, then I definitely want the ability to fast travel.

 

[MasterCornholio]

It's like trying to drive normally in GTA. After a few minutes you're like "Fuck it".

Remember yellow means go faster and red means stop.

 

[linkroi]

It really depends, I did like the way Dragon's Dogma implanted the fast travel in the universe of the game. You had to possess (if I remember right) some sort of crystal that you choose to place wherever you wanted, and you didn't have a lot of those. You had to choose carefully where to put the crystal, so you can teleport back there. I thought it was an intelligent way to establish fast travel in that game, it was immersive for a feature that is not.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

All for it.

As others said, explore to find it, fast travel from there on.

With no fast travel, have fun making a trek from Riften to Solitude on foot. Even if you did a mod for unlimited sprint stamina, you'll be there forever.

 

[Spukc]

It's like trying to drive normally in GTA. After a few minutes you're like "Fuck it".

Reminds me how open worlds these days mostly feel like interactive menu's

with extra hassle.

and once every blue moon you get a game like BOTW. That shows the rest what they are doing wrong

 

[tvdaXD]

I would say to a degree it's fine, I remember getting bored with Skyrim in my first playthrough because I unlocked many points of interest and fast traveled to the next quest marker or close to it. Then I decided to just travel with horse, and not fast travel at all... What an amazing experience that was! All of the random encounters, new things I'd see and come across... If I were to make an RPG I'd make fast travel available from/to big cities, the rest would be up to the player to discover.

 

[MilkLizard]

Yay, because you can completely ignore the feature if you don't like it.

 

[MayauMiao]

Playing Fallout 4, fast travel is a must especially when the only mode of transport is just walking/running as well as constantly check on settlements progress/defend.

 

[lyan]

Give me an airship

 

[bbeach123]

I hated fast travel in the past ,loved game build around playing without fast travel . Nowaday not so much anymore...

But still appreciate game like dark souls 1 and botw , which put fast travel into mechanic of the game .