I remember that one of the "big" things they talked about in their early demo's was, that the party could split up, scatter all over the map and do different things in different places. I don't know if anyone ever used this feature, but combining this with a time system is hard, as you would have to be able to travel back in time when you switch from one patrol to another. I always assumed this was the reason of not having the day cycle.
(Oh, and the ability to throw your boots at an enemy. I remember that one also being promoted as a sign that showed how versatile this game was, in early demo's. )
Maybe these are things to look out for in the upcoming demo's.
I also remember that we "solved" this design problem with 15 minutes of brainstorming on this very forum:
You just "pause the clock" for everyone when one of the players/split party is entering a turn-based battle and let it progress only when everyone is in real-time mode.
Except the suggestion was never embraced, of course.
I did not see that discussion, but the implication given in the demo's and interviews went further than just battle.
A made up example : You could in principle send a scout to the mountain pass (and discover it was guarded by Githyanki) while at the same time another scouting party went down the ladder to the underdark to see if that path was protected.
Edit : and as said before, I don't know if anyone actually used the feature like this, and Larian never provided a concrete example either, as far as I know.
(Though they did show the boot-throwing feature in a demo )
