Abandon time all ye who enter here

[dskod1]

Discussion on the Time Constraint mechanic​

Preamble
So I haven't finished the game yet but am pretty sure I have gotten through the bulk of it. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in the world and worry about it coming to an end.

One of the things that I loved was at the start of the game when you have a certain amount of time to complete an overall goal before you lose. I thought "This is awesome, time is really going to matter in this game."

Then, after leaving what is essentially the tutorial area, the time mechanic is never used ever again. I thought this was really disappointing and there were many cases where this could be used.

For example:

Spoiler: Spoiler

There was one part of the game where one of the archons marched on a town and I had to go save it. The lack of a time constraint made the problem seem so non-urgent and thus I got busy doing other stuff rather than defending the town. Eventually I did defend the town but it happened according to my own schedule.

Pros of the time constraint

• Made me think twice about resting
• Made time a resource that I had to consider using (IE is going to this village worth using my time)
  
• Gave me a feeling of a sense of urgency

So what do you guys think?

Note: I have played my game on normal difficulty. Please someone let me know if the mechanic is used more on the higher difficulties.

 

[Shinros]

Problem is you have to be careful you should of seen how many topics kept popping up on steam who hate the time restriction for pretty much the tutorial level. I personally I had no problem with it I found it fun and it really drove home the power Kyros wields and his/her wrath.

 

[Dokar]

As someone who is currently thinking of buying this game (long time fan of CRPGs, although I thought PoE was very "meh") the news that time mechanics is not a common occurrence is reassuring.

Funny how people react differently to things. What some consider an engaging "sense of urgency", I consider an abominable source of stress and frustration.

My background within the field of personality psychology makes me think a factor might be how one scores on a scale of extroversion. E.g. research has shown that introverts generally suffer a lot more under time constraints while extroverts often even perform better under the feeling.

 

[dskod1]

@Dokar
If I heard about the time mechanic before hand, I would not have actually liked the idea of it. But playing the first part with the time mechanic I thoroughly enjoyed it as stated above.

I think it would at least be prudent to restrict such time mechanics to a difficulty level. For example they give you a choice at the start of the game to play "ironman" mode. Essentially only 1 save and if you die you have to start the game over, and same with a "companions can die" checkbox. Having a time mechanic tickbox would be equally cool.

 

[Dokar]

Yea, making something optional is always a good path whenever opinions differ. Perhaps making it optional on lower difficulties and compulsory on higher ones could work. However, this doesn't work in cases where it's imperative for purposes of the story/quest that there be a time constraint.

Of course, it's possible to only have an implied, and not mechanically explicit, time constraint à la BG2s chapter 2. You are in a hurry to secure enough gold to rescue Imoen who's been abducted by the evil torturing wizard. The game implies that you are in a hurry and time's a-wasting yet chapter 2 is when most people go about exploring and doing side-quests (even well after securing enough gold to progress the main quest). Whether you wait 3-4 ingame months to progress the main quest or 1 week makes no difference to the story, i.e. the game doesn't punish you in any way for going about sidequesting in your own pace. Some people might dislike this "artificiality" but to me it just makes the time constraint optional.
If you want there to be a time constraint you could just run off as soon as you have enough gold after all.