Fast Travel Musings

[kirbwarrior]

A recent status post by @BloodletterQ seemed worth being a full discussion, but status isn't a great place for that. So,

What do you think of Fast Travel as a mechanic in games and (namely) rpgs? Note, I do want to break it down into separate categories;

Meta - The mechanic has no in universe explanation. In Bethesda games, you just cut out actual travel and the game clock is moved forward some amount (in general).
Skill - The mechanic is a skill of the character or otherwise involves the character doing something. In BotW, you have to actually turn on places you can travel to (and can build one with the DLC). In Dragon Quest, Return is a simple spell that can take you to any town you've visited (and sometimes even to dungeons)
Map - The game doesn't have slow travel. Either it uses some sort of list of areas you can visit, or it implements a map of travel. In the Final Fantasy Tactics series, you click on the location you want to go to instead of actually walking there.
Airship - Like skill, but you can't do it freely and have to go to a specific place to initiate fast travel. Unlike map, you often can still travel from area to area. Note, this category only really works if you get the "airship" early, such as Final Fantasy X-2. If you get it late, it's often a bonus of some kind and not actually fast travel.

Are these the only categories? Do you like the mechanic, or only like it done in certain ways? I intentionally cited more well known games, I'd love to hear about games nobody's played that uses fast travel in interesting ways.

Personally, I generally do like it, but it also makes me wonder if in some games it's a crutch to excuse bad map design. I don't generally like just looking around and exploring for no reason in Skyrim, only doing it to find places I can later travel to when I need to, but in BotW the environment is just enjoyable to see and explore (plus, the "summonable horse" makes it fun while going fast), but even there sometimes I just want to get to (say) the desert and I'm over across the world in the volcano.

I can see it being "necessary" in huge world games, but are huge worlds actually a strict upside?

(I'm used @ for BloodletterQ since I thought you'd like it and you have a different view than me)

 

[MushroomCake28]

I use it in my project. The player can fast travel to locations he has already visited and clear, but it is only available at the end of the game (otherwise it screws my rather linear story in the second half of my game). To fast travel, the player has to access a mana crystal (I picked the pink/purple crystal) on a map, which will open the world map with all the known locations. He can than travel to another mana crystal in any unlocked locations.

It is nice to have a fast travel system in big RPGs, especially at the end when you are running around the world completing side quests.

 

[NinjaKittyProductions]

In one of my current projects, I have a type of fast travel system setup. While you cannot teleport from place to place, I do have it setup that once you have went through a place, you can either choose to explore that place some more or fast travel to the other side. Example: I have forest that divides the continent. Once you travel through the forest to the other side, when you approach the forest to go in, you are given the choice to go into the forest or fast travel to the other side.

All in all, I do not mind waypoints/fast travel/teleporting as long as it serves a purpose.

 

[Xenphir]

Mine is an airship style that can take the player anywhere they would like, for an initial fee to purchase the ship. The player always has a spell or item however that can teleport them home. ^.^

 

[kirbwarrior]

Example: I have forest that divides the continent. Once you travel through the forest to the other side, when you approach the forest to go in, you are given the choice to go into the forest or fast travel to the other side.

I can't remember what the game was, but I recall a game doing this for one specific forest. Once you've gone through it, the forest actually gains a "straight line" to make travel easier (Maybe there was a roadblock you had to travel around? I can't recall). On the map itself, it was similar to Chrono Trigger where you press Accept to enter places, but the forest entrances are adjacent and allow you to continue walking instead of entering on the map.
That idea taken to the whole game sounds awesome.

The player always has a spell or item however that can teleport them home. ^.^

Ah, that reminds me of DQ1, where the teleport item only brings you to the main castle, which conveniently was also the only place you could save in the game.

 

[TheoAllen]

In 3D games like Bethesda games, I stopped doing fast travel, simply because the game is meant for immersion. I roleplayed as my character I created myself, encountering bandits, monsters, and a boring pack of wolves that they're suicidal enough to attack me while traveling through point A and B. With a mod that adds hunger, thirst, and sleep, it's also interesting that I had to pay visit to a random inn for sleep or stocking my foods, and select my route that will visit a town/village. It's fun.

Granted, I might be doing fast travel for the first time I play the game just to get to know about the quest, its progression, and conclusion faster, but the second playthrough I usually stopped doing fast travel for more immersion.

In 2D games? Nah, I hardly get immersion, especially when the game is divided by disconnected maps. Fast travel will be a huge help in this type of game.

 

[Redeye]

Fast travel is good, and in fact is almost a necessity, for games that don't use an overworld map. Most players don't want to have to walk everywhere (especially when backtracking), so being able to quickly teleport to previously visited destinations makes life so much easier. Games with world maps do not need this feature at all because going from a town to a dungeon takes 10 seconds, and the inclusion of vehicles allow for quick travel between landmasses.

I don't use world maps, myself, I prefer to make "Roads" or "Zones" that act as the connection between dungeons and towns. These zones are usually only 1 map large, but the maps are fairly large. Fast travel in my game comes in the form of train stations that allow you to travel between towns. In order to quickly traverse the zones in order to reach the dungeons, I also plan to integrate horses that allow you to move across the outdoors way faster than on foot. You can't ride horses in towns or dungeons though, only in zones.

 

[Finnuval]

In my current project I have the world divided in regions and each region has a fast-travel point back to the players HQ (and vice versa). That's fast-travel enough (for now anyway) without breaking the game/story

 

[kirbwarrior]

I roleplayed as my character I created myself

I love doing that, in fact at this point I don't think I could play Bethesda games without it.

In 2D games? Nah, I hardly get immersion, especially when the game is divided by disconnected maps. Fast travel will be a huge help in this type of game.

It's the opposite for me, I find I get far more immersed in the story and world in 2D games than 3D ones, and I especially find the "first person" of things quite jarring. It's probably one of the few things that could break my suspension of disbelief.

Granted, I might be doing fast travel for the first time I play the game just to get to know about the quest, its progression, and conclusion faster, but the second playthrough I usually stopped doing fast travel for more immersion.

If fast travel was more of a thing the character did, would you still not use it (as in, anything other than Meta)? I remember using a mod once that added hidden teleporters in Skyrim just so you could fast travel without actually using fast travel (you have to find them, then go to them to get to another one).

Fast travel is good, and in fact is almost a necessity, for games that don't use an overworld map.

Just realized that, wow, Pokemon without fast travel sounds far worse. Now I'm wondering if there is a (not extremely linear) rpg that doesn't have fast travel in some form.

 

[Aesica]

My fast travel is a mix of this:

• Inspired by the early (and possibly modern, dunno) Dragon Quest games, a spell (called "Return" for now) that allows the player to teleport to any previously-visited town or either teleport to the last-touched save point in a dungeon or outside the dungeon entirely.
• A ship, pretty standard really.
• An airship toward the end of the game, also pretty standard.
• A (not yet implemented, but planned) rentable land vehicle that negates random encounters if I choose to have random encounters on the world map. If not, it'll just be for speeding up world map travel pre-airship.

In general, I think fast travel options are a good thing, even if you use a standard-issue overworld/world map.

 

[TheoAllen]

I especially find the "first person" of things quite jarring

I don't play as a first person, rather I play it as the third person. If that makes difference. Except in fallout, I enter the first person when doing an action because it's easier to shot that way.

If fast travel was more of a thing the character did, would you still not use it (as in, anything other than Meta)? I remember using a mod once that added hidden teleporters in Skyrim just so you could fast travel without actually using fast travel (you have to find them, then go to them to get to another one).

Well, instead of teleporters, why not pay someone for a transport I remember I added some carriages and water transport mods.

 

[Xenphir]

Ah, that reminds me of DQ1, where the teleport item only brings you to the main castle, which conveniently was also the only place you could save in the game.

Its because my game is like rune factory/harvest moon where the save point will be a diary next to the bed.

 

[kirbwarrior]

teleport to the last-touched save point

That's a cool idea. I always wondered why some save points in FFX2 were only one way to the airship.

I don't play as a first person, rather I play it as the third person. If that makes difference. Except in fallout, I enter the first person when doing an action because it's easier to shot that way.

Finding the third person button poured new life into the game for me.

I remember I added some carriages and water transport mods.

The few carriages that do exist are very cool, and I still sometimes use them even though it's technically wasted money, it just feels nice to get around that way.

Its because my game is like rune factory/harvest moon where the save point will be a diary next to the bed.

Oh, that is cool, and it works with getting back to it being painless.

 

[Xenphir]

Yeah it is mostly important in my game since there are only so many minutes in a day and the player will pass out and get sick when up at 2AM so no matter how far away they are I want them to use their daytime to explore and not have to calculate how long it takes to get home.

 

[Grunwave]

I stole an idea from FF1: At the end of every intricate dungeon/stage , there is a warp back. So far this has been dialogue and a fade to black like the end of an Act.

My world is pretty low tech, so no airships.

I think anyone with the ability to teleport a group around is too powerful. In a video game this is fine, because from a mechanic standpoint it is great for players. Unfortunately for me, my project is a sequel to a novel I wrote. A character this powerful would be breaking for my world.

If by the end of the project, I feel world travel is too sluggish, I will introduce some literal deus ex machina and have a friendly god offer to teleport the group around.

 

[samkfj]

I haven't gotten to travel in my game just yet--but I have fairly basic plans.

1. A ground vehicle to negate random encounters; either one you "rent" or one you carry with you. Since my game is "semi-modern" thinking something like a Polaris style mini-car.

2. A sea vehicle that would provide two types of transportation; quick travel to an already visited port, or manual operation if you want to explore.

3. An air vehicle that would do the same as the sea vehicle, but only to locations that have a proper air landing, or manual operation.

I will also give the option to players to teleport to the entrance of a dungeon upon defeat of the boss; or they can walk back if they feel they may have missed any loot/secrets.

 

[kirbwarrior]

I will also give the option to players to teleport to the entrance of a dungeon upon defeat of the boss; or they can walk back if they feel they may have missed any loot/secrets.

Something related to that is I like it when games remove encounters in some areas once you beat it, making exploration easier at the cost of not having that loot for beating the boss. A simple teleport works quite well (it could even be tied to leaving the boss room bringing up a prompt).

 

[samkfj]

I actually have that mechanic for my only dungeon so far. As soon as the lair boss is defeated, all random encounters end. It ties to the dungeon itself, but may not be viable in all dungeons I have planned.

I thought the prompting to exit without consequence would be a viable solution for a still hostile dungeon. However I may just removeall encounters in the end anyway. Just depends really.

 

[Tai_MT]

I don't have Fast Travel in my game right now, but it is a feature I'd considered on more than on occasion. I continuously dismiss it because the world is split into different "Hubs" the player is meant to operate out of (and they're not all in the center of each map), so deciding on a place to "teleport" to other than the main hub zone is... difficult at best and frustrating at worst. Plus, it wreaks havoc with my other main feature.

I have a feature where gaining levels unlocks shortcuts or features in the map (new ways into old locations, new quests, new shops, new locations entirely, etcetera). What may have once been a journey around some mountains and through a forest is now an easy bridge crossing at Level 25. Fast Travel plays havoc with this quite a lot, but I'm thinking it may actually be necessary at some point. At the very least, for travel into each main hub zone (four maps).

However, in other games I've played, I generally appreciate fast travel. Especially large games where it's pretty much necessary. It's the "skip the boring crap" button. I don't want to have to travel over the same stretch of road 900 times with its familiar encounters and landmarks that never change... just because it's the most direct route to where I'm going to complete the 67th quest in the game. Just... No.

In fact, as a DM for D&D... I have "Fast Travel" as well. It isn't quite the "teleport" nonsense, but it is largely a "where are you guys going and what route are you taking?". I then roll for events along the way. I typically try to roll an event for every 6-10 miles traveled. Sometimes, nothing happens. Sometimes, interesting things. But, it makes the travel from one location to another a few simple dice rolls. Players' food/water is deducted appropriately along the journey, and we're back to the game. To the fun bits. Combat. Exploration. Discovery. NPC interaction.

There's a reason the Lord of the Rings movies get criticism for "there's too much walking". Because, frankly, there is. I doubt the books explore in excruciating detail for several hours how much walking they do. I'd wager the "we walk to such and such place" is probably largely plastered over by interesting things. Like... conversation between characters... events that happen along the journey, etcetera. But the movies? Oh, tons of walking, not much interesting stuff.

By and large, most RPG's today need a "skip the boring bits" button in Fast Travel. A way to cut out mundane travel. Especially over ground you've already trod, in which nothing in it has changed. You really need it if you have a large game with backtracking.

Basically, you need to decide how much players will backtrack in your game if you're implementing it. If it's a lot... you will need Fast Travel. You just will. But, if the game is largely linear and the player will have no desire or need to back track... You can skip implementation entirely.

 

[HeathRiley]

Great post and question! I think @TheoAllen made a wonderful point about immersion or; does the fast travel facilitate your game in a positive way/feel like a positive addition?

Is fast travel always a part of the game? Is it introduced later, or opened up in pieces along the story? Or is there a middle ground, like making it to an airship port/outside of towns and dungeons - (even ffxii had specific airships or specific tele crystals if you had the right currency)? What are the consequences; is it helpful and fun, or a hindrance to the game?

Some games where fast travel is an integral part of the game would be like "Disgaea" where you warp to your next story point from a portal, or "Etrian Odyssey", where you usually have a list of destinations when you leave town. The common thing these games share is the gameplay(map fights for Disgaea, and dungeons for Etrian odyssey) drives the story. You can't move on until you've played enough/past a certain point. As the OP mentioned FFT falls under this as well (even though the little sprite moves around on the map )

Why does only fast travel work for those games and not others?

Would other "Final Fantasy" games like 6-9 feel like part of the game was missing if they only chose destinations from a list? Yes, imho. Its not just the fights that drives these; there are puzzles, one way dungeons, a need to upgrade to the next mode of travel/open a path, finding secret locations. These are very important parts of ff 6 - 8. You can't fully explore those with a point and click menu. So they explore fast travel in a different manner more fitting to their gameplay. Mostly getting an airship later.

So that's my important 2 cents. Does it work with the game, and if it does what type is a positive or a detraction.