Well, since I haven't been posting all that much on the board, I thought I'd toss this one out... ;P How would you improve the continental map in Morrowind? I was thinking that rather than boxes for cities and different colored lines for mountains and valleys, it would be nice to see something more visually appealing. Here's what I was thinking in a nutshell: Use a low poly 3D map that has enough resolution to show valleys, hills (as bumps) and mountains (maybe using the map as a heightmap for this). Allow the player to travel anywhere on the map that's not blacked out, either by clicking or "driving" their character step by step. Use the Scout skill to determine whether markers or icons appear on the map indicating possible encounters with monsters. For towns, draw them with a couple of different 3D icons which reflect who owns them and how big they are. Allow the player to click on a town and see a list of services offered, and maybe characters they've met. EDIT: Also allow the player to travel in stealth mode, but at a slower rate. (Grrr... if I had a drake for every time I had to kill one of those annoying racers well after it stopped being fun!!!) Only interrupt the player if they get into an encounter, contract some disease, or need any supplies that match the level (like Cure Blight near Red Mountain). By using this quick travel, the player does miss out on NPC encounters of the friendly kind, and on opportunities to explore caves and whatnot. But when they're on a mission, they can generally get there faster, and still experience all sorts of things in the wilderness (like werewolves!) rather either slogging it out or paying to be transported to hub after hub. btw, I think this system would work for a continent several times the size of Vvardenfell, which is why I'm interested in your feedback.

I think this would only be a good idea if it were limited to staying on established paths. For instance, at the start of the game when you need to get to Balmora, one person will put the city on your map, while another tells you how to get there. Only after talking to the second person should clicking on Balmora and saying 'go there' be sufficient. Alternatively, you could walk there yourself once, and get the same option. But taking the sift trader wouldn't work because he takes a path you [presumably] couldn't possibly mimic. Basically, the quick travel option shouldn't add any information you don't actually have.

It should also take into account starting positions. The first time I had to go to Ghostfence , I got hopelessly lost. At no point should I have been able to just push a button and have my character go to Ghostfence, because my character is hopelessly lost. From Balmora, I could have used the quick travel, but &#111;nce I left the main roads, that option is lost.<br><br>And having a racer-free mode is definitely necessary. <br><br>CM

I got so frustrated travelling between places because of the damn insane fauna (aggressive rats, beetles and cliff racers) I ended up going into the console and just doing centeroncell "Balmora" most of the time to cut down on travelling. I realise that I missed out on several NPC encounters but I didn't care.

I think your idea would work but I suppose how accurate it's going to be is the question. I know that if I had a high level character I'd have no problems doing it, but if you're just starting out, killing racers and rats is a good way to get your skills up. Plus slaughtering annoying NPCs who want you to escort them to some godforsaken place. :)

Travelling is the number #1 reason i stopped playing Morrowind. It sort of improved when i got the teleport/recall spell, but as the AP said, the fauna is so boring/repetitive and always agressive, that not only it takes time to walk to somewhere, but you are also slowed down by creatures you've seen 100x times and that you can instant-kill, except that you are forced to regen/sleep regularly.

I would have prefered a system ala Daggerfall - a unique map, you click on a "known" location, and you're there. Time is elapsed at the same rate you would have needed to travel on feet.

Why is there no horse in Morrowind ?

Guilds travelling is ok, but even in the main city (forgot its name) it takes ages to go from one neighboorhood to another..

Walking is rather slow in Morrowind, i know the skill can improve in time but still.. *cry*

Y.

The easiest way to implement a 3D map like that would be to use the existing in-game graphics/movement routines and move the camera viewpoint.

You could still move into new areas that way, but it would be risky as creatures would be hard to spot from a viewpoint that high.

Perhaps it could be implemented as a spell called "Eagle's Eye" or something.

Personally when it comes to country maps in games, I much prefer an actual map layout. Perhaps a little more colorful with mountain ranges and valleys drawn in and city icons instead of dots, as long is its all 2d. Perhaps with a contour map overlay if I have to make complex movement plans.

But What I would really like to see is silent hills map approach to the country map. With the game drawing in points of interest of and importantance. If you find a mountain pass that lets cut through a mountain range instead of walking around, it would be nice to see a little green line representing that pass so I can use it whenever I need to. If I have reports of enemy troop movements, I'd like to see little red icon representing the troops of that faction at their last known posistion and arrow showing their last known heading. To take it further if it was strategy game ideally I'd prefer to be able to see to all sightings of the enemy on the map so, I can attempt to deduce their plans and movements, which may lead me to an enemy base.

Although I relize I may have gone off on a tanget at the end their... oh well.

I disagree. Part of Morrowind's draw was that there WAS this huge world that you could wander through. As far as 'quick travel' why bother? Most of the major cities had either Silt Strider ports or teleportation. Any place that didn't wasn't too far away. Morrowind's travel scheme was just fine. Running around was, for the most part, very optional.

But that's my two cents on the matter.

Now if you're talking about a world larger than Morrowind's, that's another matter. The level of detail and amount of interesting spots in Morrowind is what made running around worth it at all. If you were in a hurry, you could just teleport/silt strider to wherever you needed to go. If you just wanted to wander around, that was also available. However, wandering around left you with tons and tons of interesting caves and other stuff to see and do. Most worlds aren't that interesting, for a more barren world I'd suggest looking at something more like Arcanum. A valid comparison because it also allowed you to trudge across the landscape by hand(albeit at a horribly slow rate) or simply 'quick travel' by setting waypoints that your characters would directly to, occasionally being interrupted for random events.

Actually, I picked up the Boots of the Apostle from somewhere, and simply flied everywhere for travel ( except real long journeys ). How about implementing a horse you can travel on, at 3X fastest speed? That would rock.

Quote: Original post by Conner McCloud
I think this would only be a good idea if it were limited to staying on established paths.

There was a medieval RPG that actually did this, but I can't remember the name. You could zip to any town you'd traveled to, but I believe you could only go on the roads.

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It should also take into account starting positions. The first time I had to go to Ghostfence , I got hopelessly lost.<br><!–QUOTE–></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE><!–/QUOTE–><!–ENDQUOTE–><br><br>Yup, me too. ;) I ended up fighting my way through cliff racers with armor that had &#111;nly a few HPs and a sword with 7 points of quality (or durability or whatever) left.<br><br><!–QUOTE–><BLOCKQUOTE><span class="smallfont">Quote:</span><table border=0 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width="95%"><tr><td class=quote><!–/QUOTE–><!–STARTQUOTE–><br> At no point should I have been able to just push a button and have my character go to Ghostfence, because my character is hopelessly lost. From Balmora, I could have used the quick travel, but &#111;nce I left the main roads, that option is lost.<br><!–QUOTE–></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE><!–/QUOTE–><!–ENDQUOTE–><br><br>Hmmm… I guess the &#111;nly way for the game to tell if you weren't lost would be if you were &#111;n a path.<br><br>Here's what's weird for me, though: I have this mania for summarizing the boring parts. When I got lost, it was very cool to have to sneak past all the monsters and find places to rest (nevermind my cursing at the time :P) <br><br>What I wanted is the experience I got from games going all the way back to Ultima I (or Final Fantasy or Fallout): That is, is there interactivity here or not? <br><br>What do you lose by allowing the player to skip over the graphic luster and travel just by minimap, even when lost? Isn't it their loss if they choose to summarize the map, miss out &#111;n the beauty, and be dropped back into the normal game because they used this mode rather than scouting the horizon?<br><br><!–QUOTE–><BLOCKQUOTE><span class="smallfont">Quote:</span><table border=0 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width="95%"><tr><td class=quote><!–/QUOTE–><!–STARTQUOTE–><br>And having a racer-free mode is definitely necessary. <br><!–QUOTE–></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE><!–/QUOTE–><!–ENDQUOTE–><br><br>Oy, yes! That's why I'd like a travel by stealth. If your stealth stat got high enough, and the monsters were balanced right, then you'd &#111;nly be interrupted by monsters that were WORTH fighting (heh, like Golden Saints!)

Quote: Original post by Anonymous Poster
I got so frustrated travelling between places because of the damn insane fauna (aggressive rats, beetles and cliff racers) I ended up going into the console and just doing centeroncell "Balmora" most of the time to cut down on travelling. I realise that I missed out on several NPC encounters but I didn't care.

I never used this, but I went through recalls and divine interventions like they were tissue paper. At first it was funny when the music would get all dramatic and I'd tense up and whip out my sword, only to turn and find it was one of those little kwama things... but after the 60th time, it just got annoying and I created a ring of permanent invisibility.

I don't think the designers thought about repetitive encounters, which is one thing that very much can harm an open-ended game.

Quote:
I think your idea would work but I suppose how accurate it's going to be is the question. I know that if I had a high level character I'd have no problems doing it, but if you're just starting out, killing racers and rats is a good way to get your skills up.

Maybe you should be interrupted on that basis? Maybe by level or kill rating, the rats naturally leave you alone. So if you use the quick travel map to move about, you miss out on some things, like caves or flora you could use to sell or make potions. But you zip past the boring encounters.

And if you're looking for something specific like Mudcrab Meat or Kwama Cuttle and you're godly, then you have to wander the map in normal view.

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Plus slaughtering annoying NPCs who want you to escort them to some godforsaken place. :)

Hah! Like half-naked Nords who seem to have always fallen prey to some witch! :)