This is the funniest takedown of fast travel systems I've ever seen. So matter of fact. God damn
My reflex actions are mechanized like Japanese camera tourists happily milling in Bloomingdales shooting at beautiful symbols
Last listened to:
You must log in to comment.
in reply to @MOOMANiBE's post:
I love this. Like, why are you making your game boring just don’t do that 
Also I really like travel so making it fun sounds like a good idea to me!
Different vibe in 2d but this is something I think Hollow Knight did exceptionally well!!! As you get to know the map, traversal is a pleasure and training itself for skilling up, but you get some shortcuts that are incredibly grounded in the lore, slowly. Then by the time you know the map pretty well, you can not only get around so quickly, but you get a little genuine fast travel and it's so satisfying and earned!
It also involved a philosophy of fast travel best used in Demon's Souls and Bloodborne, and to a lesser extent Dark Souls 1, where levels are built around fast travel points rather than between them. One thing i'm annoyed that no other Soulsborne has done yet is how not every bonfire in DS1 was a fast travel point. The fast travel point for the catacombs was right next to the bonewheel pit, so for most purposes it was better to enter through Firelink.
"built around fast travel points rather than between them" is going to be a design idea I think about for years, thank you!!!
An interesting thing about that is even From Software themselves don't do that any more. In DS1 vanilla, the bonfire fast travel list was extremely limited and only included bonfires that were "kept" by a Firekeeper or Blacksmith NPC or were at least justifiably connected to one. And that fast travel was only obtained over half way - closer to two-thirds of the way - through the game. With the patches and the PC version, the bonfire list was expanded to include more locations, but still nowhere near all. As of Dark Souls 2 and onwards though, every single bonfire, lantern etc. is warpable, and fast travel is available the moment you have more than two locations. DS3 notably has bonfires spawn every time a boss is defeated, even if a second bonfire is visible immediately prior to or after the boss arena! Elden Ring does the same.
I've been feeling this for years and I'm glad some devs I like also feel it
(Now having seen the post in question).
100%. They get it.
thinking about how in Dark Souls 1, before you get the Lordvessel, travel always involved a degree of peril. There was a great degree of tension involved in having to cash out fat stacks of souls gained in Blighttown or Anor Londo, because it involved having to bring them through The Depths and Sen's Fortress before you could spend them where all the merchants are around Firelink.