I thought only my girlfriend has enjoyed pointlessly walking and walking and walking and walking and walking and walking and walking and walking and walking among giant mushrooms. I was more entertained watching paint dry than walking across Morrowind. I'd have fast travel over this crap any day.
You, like so many Morrowind-hating tards, are entirely missing the point of the game and gaming in general.
What is the core function of a game? Presenting a challenge and giving you the means to overcome it. Morrowind was the superior TES installment precisely because it did this best than any game before or since.
Getting from place A to place B is not as trivial as it may appear at first sight - there's no default reason why it should be as simple as double-clicking a spot on your map and waiting for the location to load. Morrowind turned travel into a challenge, and provided an extensive selection of tools that made traveling almost as exciting as any 'proper' part of the game like combat, exploration, dialogue, or quest-solving.
For one, there were numerous types of transportation: boats, silt striders, mage guild teleportators. You had to memorize travel routes to get the fastest travel time for your coin.
For two, there were propylon chambers in any of the sixteen ancient strongholds scattered around the map. Bethesda added a dlc quest that told you the locations of each propylon and joined them into a single Master Propylon that let you teleport freely between any of the strongholds.
For three, there was the mark/recall spell system. Mark your home and teleport there any time you wish. Genius in simplicity.
For four, there were levitation, fast running, waterwalking and jumping spells that allowed you to traverse any kind of landscape. Combined with alchemy, you could make very efficient spells that got you where you want in a very short time.
For five, there were enchanted items which provided the aforementioned spell effects without costing mana. You could create your own enchantments (grab soul gems and go hunting Golden Saints), or use pre-existing artefacts like Boots of Blinding Speed, find a way to counteract the "blinding" side-effect and you're set.
Future installments did more than provide a way to mindlessly hop around the map with no restrictions. They also dispensed with each and every tool mentioned above, leaving the player with exactly two options: walking everywhere slowly or fast-traveling instantly. Even modders couldn't return most of Morrowind's travel options. Traveling is no longer a challenge that requires skill, strategic thinking, exploration, character development and all the fun you have in the process. Now it's just a trivial utility. No matter how big of an improvement Skyrim may be over Morrowind, it will never come close to the diversity of challenges and opportunities provided by Morrowind.
The only way walking back and forth in Morrowind, Skyrim, and any other walking simulator is a nice plump ass moving on the screen, Nude mod for the win, fuck yeah!
Gothic? Fuck that. I dont do pointless walking without a visual distraction right in front.
I couldn't agree more!
A level 1 "warrior" is as much of a blank slate as a level 1 classless character that decided to pick up a sword.
Certifiably false. A level 1 warrior in D&D hits a lot harder and takes a lot more damage than a level 1 mage. You could go through the whole game with a party of level 1 warriors, provided the enemies always stayed at level 1 difficulty, however a party of level 1 mages would be nearly-useless due to their non-existent combat skills and one shitty level 1 spell per character after which running around the map from hordes of enemies ensues.
Have you actually played any D&D CRPGs?