Basically, most world map events have a 'Did you do it?' flag. They activate when they are loaded in for the first time, and usually notified by an auto-save. If you then leave the area enough to load a different zone, go through a transition, or just plain go far enough away to unload them again, then that turns that flag into "nope, you didn't!", and the event goes to its default end state. Time passed has literally nothing to do with this, unfortunately.
I am happy it works this way. I would hate to miss quests in unexplored areas because time passed while exploring a different area first.
Thanks Niara for clarifying how it works!
@Icelyn:
I needn't be that way.
P:K did this to quite some extent, but I just love to have a morning (along with the light & so on), day, evening and night were it's dark. And also the occasional rain or thunder storm.
And I would love to have a journal, where I see how much time has passed in the world the game is set in.
