Having run many a D&D game, I can tell you that players generally don't like a hard clock. It can be nice to have a stick to drive people forward a bit but overall the trope of a McGuffin is typically more enjoyable.
People will typically try to clear the clock ASAP and then go back (in a game). In D&D they just ignore stuff because you can only have 1 priority at a time and if one has a stop dead date, you do that. Instead of "Lets go have an adventure and see what is out there in this crazy world" it becomes "HURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRY" .... and then just assume I can grind out XP later if I am underleveled....
Rushing is usually not fun, and I am having a hard time thinking of my favorite "ticking clock" games. Youd think Diablo would have had one as hes entering the world through a ritual, but im pretty sure id have enjoyed it less if I had a deadline to get to him.
Hmm. Well I didn't say skipping things was bad, I just said people tend to do it and they find not feeling comfortable dithering less pleasant than feeling that you have time to fully explore.
I think we just fundamentally disagree on whether or not "skipping" things is bad, if you're so hot under the collar that you're making poor decisions in the interest of self preservation, that sounds like a compelling story to me.
I think this back and forth is more or less the problem people are having. The OP is about how a system of long rests triggering plot cutscenes is at odds with the ticking clock structure of the narrative in the first Act of the game, my problem is with how the ticking clock is sold hard from the start but isn't supported by the way the game is structured, which seems to assume (for you) that the 'ticking clock' of ceremorphosis shouldn't be taken seriously because of course, like you, your characters are well aware that this is the first act of a longer story, so their plot armor is still strong.
Because the transition from ticking clock to mystery is affected by these long rests and from the information you get from the healers you find, it can feel like the drive of the narrative is in conflict with itself.
