Fast travel that is just a game mechanic with no story ties in open world games.

Disclaimer: My main experience with games so far has been some Nintendo stuff, Fallout, and The Elder Scrolls.

Of what I’ve played I like Morrowind’s fast travel system the most. You don’t just open your map and click a button, you talk to people or use a spell/item. And NPCs mention these travel systems and story wise would use them.

I like Oblivion’s (and to a lesser extent, Skyrim and the 3D Fallout’s) the least. Time passes like your character walked to where you fast traveled but not much is timed so that has little effect on immersion. Too much of the journey has to have gaps filled in by the player’s imagination because walking on the road normally has a lot of encounters and wandering off to check out random buildings and people. It encourages less exploration and taking some time with the game.

Obviously I want a balance, I don’t want to be walking the same road with 2 wolf encounters a thousand times because it’s between two areas I need to frequent. And I don’t want 90% of my playtime to be traveling. But I also don’t want to keep instantly fast traveling to all places and feel “lazy” and like I’m missing experiences and encounters. And I want more immersion. More character interaction instead of UI interaction.