Look the passage of time that occurs in games like Baldur's Gate 2 is considerably different from Baldur's Gate 3. In Baldur's Gate 2 you are forced to do side quests to earn money to pay the Thieves Guild in order that they might get you in to spell hold. That is considerably different from having a mind flayer tadpole in your head that is going to cause your flesh to tear off your body and your face to split open. It is also considerably different because you are told immediately upon entering The Druids Grove that the Goblins now could attack the Grove at any time. You are also told that The Druids are performing a ritual and will be completing it at any time now. So there is a much greater story element related to time in Baldur's Gate 3. You are literally told that you have a limited amount of time but then the game does not actually limit you on your time or provide any consequences for taking too long. So the Developers set the stage implying that this is a time-sensitive game but then they don't actually make it a time-sensitive game.
I don't mind games that allow me to explore the entire world map and searched all sorts of things and do all sorts of sidequest, but don't set the stage as a time-sensitive scenario only to make it the opposite and reward players for not caring about the passage of time. If you are going to set the stage as a time-sensitive game and story you need then make consequences for people who do not stay true to the time that they are allowed. You can't first tell someone that they only have a short amount of time before goblins attack only then allow the player to take as long as they want to complete their Quest. Basically when I first played this game I clearly got the point that things were going to happen in a timely way if I did not what I should be doing and I was punished for it. I don't understand why so many are saying that it is logical to punish a gamer for trying to push their characters to actually complete their quests in a timely way.
It's been like that in games almost always. No matter that the game tells you that if you don't hurry up, the evil dragon will burn the city, players know that the dragon will wait for them.
