Tuco on 5/4/2006 at 01:42
Do you guys stop and explore all the caves you see on the minimap when you do that? Or do you just run straight there?
Komag on 5/4/2006 at 02:23
I am a firm non-fast traveler, but I use the fast horse mod to double my horse's gallop speed (which feels a LOT more realisitic to me) so it's playable on those especially long hauls. I also use the no borders mod to eliminate the "go back" messages, and I'll sometimes cut down into Elswhyr (or however it's spelled) and the other one (?) when running between some of the more southern towns.
I was on one midnight run all the way from western Anvil down to Lleyowinn (I can't spell those names), so I cut south past the elvin ruins and the water fall south of Skingrad, up into the forbidden mountains of Elswhyr. After racing my stallion up and around numerous foothills and mountainsides, eventually I crossed one last eastern peak and my vista opened up between the trees down to a beatiful night view of (that ugly poor town north of Lleyowinn) and the wide moonlit bay beyond it. Then I looked off in the distance to my left (northward) and spied the Imperial city and it's white tower, dark against the night sky. It was a grandiose moment.
I headed down the mountain at a walk (running your horse down will just kill it because of the falls) and slowly the hillside forests swallowed up first the Imperial City, then (the crappy town). Eventually I was at the bottom, worked my way around a river head, re-entered Cyrodill, made my way to the town, found the Mages Guild, and hit the sack for a brief respit till morning three hours away!
Aerothorn on 5/4/2006 at 03:54
Yeah, maybe I should get the fast horses mod, but I'm hesistant to mod the game this early - I was suprised at how slow horses were, though.
NeoPendragon on 5/4/2006 at 05:14
How can you use a Fast Horses mod? Mine already runs faster than I can load cells.
killed on 5/4/2006 at 07:06
I had never been on the east side of any of the Niben bodies of water so I decided to travel from the Imperial City to Leyawiin by foot. I mostly stayed on the Yellow Road but took time out to do some other things. Just think, if I would have fast traveled, I would have never spent the night with those struggling settlers, or helped that scientists get his notes back, or any of the other 20 things I ended up doing. I think it took me a little longer than six hours to travel, and I skipped about half of what I found. You really end up with this "I finally made it" feeling.
Although, I'm getting that "Well what do I do now? I'm bored" feeling stated in the first post. I've seen a lot of the map, I don't really feel like I have a reason to do anything. I have over 20,000 and chests full of items. I'm only level 16 and I don't feel like there's anything to work towards.
I think I may need to get involved in a storyline to give me purpose. I'm the Grand Champion at the Arena, and have beaten all of the Thieves Guild missions. I'm not really into killing innocent people, so I've stayed away from the Assassin group. I'm saving the main storyline for some far off time. I'm not really into the Fighter's or Mage's Guilds. Although, the Fighter's Guild sounds the best about now. Anyone have any recommendations? I would prefer sneaking missions that don't invovle required killing.
Jmac9186 on 5/4/2006 at 13:30
I can understand what you no fast travel guys are saying, but at the same time I love the fact they included it. After I get out of work and make dinner and all the other crap I need to do I ussually only have an hour or two to play before I gotta head to bed, and I don't want to spend half that time running back and forth on the same road.
io organic industrialism on 5/4/2006 at 14:25
Quote Posted by Tuco
Do you guys stop and explore all the caves you see on the minimap when you do that? Or do you just run straight there?
a little of both. i stop at ones that seem interesting. or sometimes i'll go in one and the monsters will be too hard or i'll see a ghost and i'll chicken out and run out, screaming, get on my horse and say GIDDYEUP! and continue my trek through the woods
RarRar on 5/4/2006 at 18:23
Quote Posted by Jmac9186
I can understand what you no fast travel guys are saying, but at the same time I love the fact they included it. After I get out of work and make dinner and all the other crap I need to do I ussually only have an hour or two to play before I gotta head to bed, and I don't want to spend half that time running back and forth on the same road.
This is absolutely true. People with lives will want to play the game a different way I imagine. People like me who visit Cyrodill right after work and shed their real life for 5 or 6 hours (or 7 or 8!) and simply want to lose themselves completely in some other place and become a different person, well, I recommend shunning fast travel. And does that last sentence sound as sad to everybody else as it suddenly does to me? If you're only playing an hour a day, you'd NEVER get anywhere close to finishing the main quest in a year's time if you horsed it everywhere.
My own map has this dense string of icons following the main highways. Except for Chorrol and Kvatch I think. I have yet to travel there by horseback. I visited those places back when I was fast travelling everywhere. Anyway, aside from the densely icon'd road, the rest of Cyrodill is practically blank. So much unexplored territory out there still. And I don't even stop at every abandoned fort, cave, or shrine I see from the road. Often I'm just not in the mood. So there's still a lot right there by the roads I have yet to explore.
Like killed I haven't done too much with the main quest. A few tidbits here or there to keep things fresh. I'm thinking at some point I'll just settle down in one of those little hamlets out there in the wilderness, far from any road. Build myself a little cabin perhaps. And use it as a base of exploration to strike out into the unknown.
To answer another question, it hasn't been my experience that the encounters along the road are any more interesting than anything else out in the wilderness you might stumble across. Travelling the roads by horse just kind of gives you something to do, focusses your goals in a way. And I really never get tired of those imperial guards, I really never do. I have backtracked to where one was slowly plodding along, chased by a troll or mountain lion so many times I'm surprised I ever make it anywhere. They are defenseless against Will o' Wisps. Completely. Occasionally I'll make out that horrid yellow smudge waiting just ahead of some unsuspecting patrol and feel it's my duty to race ahead and kill it first. The least I can do after all the times they've saved my hide. And like somebody
else said, those roads are so hazardous, just getting to where you're supposed to be is a real accomplishment on its own.
As for faster horses, my Mabel is plenty fast enough for me. I'd never trade her in or "upgrade" her in any way. Why, the very thought is monstrous.
Komag: Yeah, I've gotta get me that borders mod. Sounds like a fun little diversion. Actually, it's not even a mod, right? You just flip an .ini configuration to 0 or something like that.
io organic industrialism on 5/4/2006 at 18:40
RarRar, your posts here are very entertaining to read. you need to be the person who does an Ironman run and writes a story about it.
what is this borders mod and what does it do?
Tuco on 5/4/2006 at 18:47
btw: a lot of the dungeon areas are placed in such a way that most people will be likely to find them. What that means is that a lot of areas aren't as dense as you'll first think they are. EX: the eastern mid-section of the map has as many dungeons as an area west of IC that is around a fifth of its size.
You'll see what I mean if you're as exploratory as I am.
