The passing of time. - 19/01/21 05:13 AM
Posting on the official boards, Steam and Reddit.
I have seen multiple posts on this subject in multiple different threads and wanted to clear this up since many seem not to know.
Neither long nor short rests affect the passage of time and the game continually tracks the time as you play. Yes I know that when you click on Long Rest it asks if you want to go to your camp and end the day...the thing is it isn't actually ending the day and this is easy to test.
Open your journal(default "L" key). Along the top of the screen is the icons for equipment, character sheet, inventory, spellbook and etc. Right below that row of icons is a 2nd row of 3 icons. From left to right they are...Quests...Dialogue...Tutorials. Click on the Dialogue icon and you will see the current day listed on the left hand side of the screen with a timestamp for each npc you talk to. The time of day is listed in 24 hour military time. Test this yourself by talking to someone and looking at the latest log for that day and see what time it is. Then walk to a different npc and talk to them and look again. You will see that the time is updated a few minutes and listed for the new npc you just talked to.
Doing the above you can quickly and easily test both short and long rests for the passage of time. Talk to an npc and note the time...hit short rest...talk to the next npc and note the time, it will still only be a minute or 2 later according to the timestamp and the exact same thing happens if you long rest. Talk to an npc...hit long rest...immediately sleep to end the day...wake up back where you were and speak to another npc and the Dialogue will show you still on the same day and just minutes after your last conversation with the other npc.
Now it should be noted that there are some situations where the passing of time matters. Off the top of my head(there may be more) I know of at least 3 situations that will play themselves out if activated and not dealt with. The mindflayer and the fisherman on the beach, the girl and the snake in the Druid Grove, and the True Soul Edowin encounters can all play themselves out if you trigger them and leave it till later. For example in the Edowin encounter if you get close enough to trigger the companion dialogue about people ahead and the game autosaves, then you turn around and leave, after a certain amount of time(I've not tested any of these for the exact time limits) when you return Edowin will be dead and his 2 companions gone. For the girl and the snake, my first run I went in and saw everyone there but just decided to leave without talking to them. As I was out and about Wyll actually commented to me about time running out for the girl or some such(I do not remember exactly what he said) and after more time passed it played out(I believe she automatically dies if you don't do anything but I honestly don't remember cause this was right when EA was released).
Hopefully this will clear up some confusion for people.
I have seen multiple posts on this subject in multiple different threads and wanted to clear this up since many seem not to know.
Neither long nor short rests affect the passage of time and the game continually tracks the time as you play. Yes I know that when you click on Long Rest it asks if you want to go to your camp and end the day...the thing is it isn't actually ending the day and this is easy to test.
Open your journal(default "L" key). Along the top of the screen is the icons for equipment, character sheet, inventory, spellbook and etc. Right below that row of icons is a 2nd row of 3 icons. From left to right they are...Quests...Dialogue...Tutorials. Click on the Dialogue icon and you will see the current day listed on the left hand side of the screen with a timestamp for each npc you talk to. The time of day is listed in 24 hour military time. Test this yourself by talking to someone and looking at the latest log for that day and see what time it is. Then walk to a different npc and talk to them and look again. You will see that the time is updated a few minutes and listed for the new npc you just talked to.
Doing the above you can quickly and easily test both short and long rests for the passage of time. Talk to an npc and note the time...hit short rest...talk to the next npc and note the time, it will still only be a minute or 2 later according to the timestamp and the exact same thing happens if you long rest. Talk to an npc...hit long rest...immediately sleep to end the day...wake up back where you were and speak to another npc and the Dialogue will show you still on the same day and just minutes after your last conversation with the other npc.
Now it should be noted that there are some situations where the passing of time matters. Off the top of my head(there may be more) I know of at least 3 situations that will play themselves out if activated and not dealt with. The mindflayer and the fisherman on the beach, the girl and the snake in the Druid Grove, and the True Soul Edowin encounters can all play themselves out if you trigger them and leave it till later. For example in the Edowin encounter if you get close enough to trigger the companion dialogue about people ahead and the game autosaves, then you turn around and leave, after a certain amount of time(I've not tested any of these for the exact time limits) when you return Edowin will be dead and his 2 companions gone. For the girl and the snake, my first run I went in and saw everyone there but just decided to leave without talking to them. As I was out and about Wyll actually commented to me about time running out for the girl or some such(I do not remember exactly what he said) and after more time passed it played out(I believe she automatically dies if you don't do anything but I honestly don't remember cause this was right when EA was released).
Hopefully this will clear up some confusion for people.