What's The Time?

[NULL]

Right, first of all i didn't know where the heck this would belong, so feel free to move it.

The questions i want to ask is... BHow much time passes IN the games?
I don't mean between like WW and PH. But rather the events in-game?

Like we know in Majora's Mask we know the game revolves around the same 3 days, so this day spans 3 days. But what about the other games?

Like, if you play the game yourself, you may complete it in 6 hours, but that won't be 6 hours in game.

The times it takes to complete one dungeon, the time of boss battles and the overall games are what i'm trying to discuss.

Sorry if this seems a bit gappy since it's more of a question than a debate or whatever, but i'm just looking for some reasonable timescale.

LoZ:
AOL:
ALTTP:
LA:
OOT: ?? Days ?? Months, 7 Years.
MM: 3 Days.
OOX:
Four Swords:
TWW:
MC: 1 Day.
TP:
PH:
ST:

 

[Zemen]

Well it depends on which game you're playing.

Like you said, MM spans 3 days. OoT varies depending on who plays, how long you play, how many times you play the sun song (the song that changes the time of day) and just in general how many times the sun has set and risen again during the game. I would say that OoT (not including the 7 years in between child and adult time) probably spans a few months in overall time depending on how long it takes you to beat the game.

The above OoT time span applies for WW too.

Other games don't really have this day/night scenario to worry about. For instance, I don't recall TP ever having any varying times of day. The game starts out during the day and then once twilight monsters roam the world, it seems to be in everlasting twilight so it's impossible to tell how many days pass.

The handheld games don't seem to have day/night (unless you're in a graveyard for some games) so I'm assuming those games are literally supposed to take place in the course of a day.

OoA takes place between 2 days. The current day and then Link travels to the past on that same day, so it seems that game takes place in the same day of 2 different years.

 

[Sparky]

Well it depends on which game you're playing.

Like you said, MM spans 3 days. OoT varies depending on who plays, how long you play, how many times you play the sun song (the song that changes the time of day) and just in general how many times the sun has set and risen again during the game. I would say that OoT (not including the 7 years in between child and adult time) probably spans a few months in overall time depending on how long it takes you to beat the game.

I agree with this.

The above OoT time span applies for WW too.

I agree with this as well......

Other games don't really have this day/night scenario to worry about. For instance, I don't recall TP ever having any varying times of day. The game starts out during the day and then once twilight monsters roam the world, it seems to be in everlasting twilight so it's impossible to tell how many days pass.

This I don't so much agree with. Whilst it's hard to tell how time goes by under twilight, it does have a Day and Night system. Hell, A day passes before you even leave Ordon Village. Another one passes after you're first twilight experience.

There are also a few time specific plot events, like the carriage ride, going through the sacred grove area without being in Wolf form..... etc.

The handheld games don't seem to have day/night (unless you're in a graveyard for some games) so I'm assuming those games are literally supposed to take place in the course of a day.

I know the handheld adventures are somewhat smaller, but i'd doubt any of them would take only a day to transpire. A week or two would be a bit more of an acceptable amount of time in my opinion.

OoA takes place between 2 days. The current day and then Link travels to the past on that same day, so it seems that game takes place in the same day of 2 different years.

Like my last reply, I doubt it's only a day. Especially as, if i remember, the tower gets bigger over the course of the game in the past, and a tower like that wouldn't be built that much with the somewhat ancient tools they have available in just one day.

 

[NULL]

Thanks for the posts, interesting point. I know about the whole "depends on the player" but there must be like a set time?

I'm gonna edit my first post to include the names of the games and the proposed times.

Another one to add is Minish Cap, this game takes place over a day, due to the door to the other world only open one day a year.

 

[Sparky]

Are we sure it's only open one day?

I've not got great memory for in game text, but after checking the wiki, the only thing it says on the matter is ".....and opens only once every hundred years.".

I still think MC is longer than just a single day, but i'm open to being proven otherwise.

 

[basement24]

There was a thread similar to this once but I can't find it anymore. It could have been lost to the ages.

At any rate, I think even though there's a day / night system in certain titles that the games are lasting longer than that experience. My main reason for thinking this is because of TP. The talk of the distance from Ordon to Kakariko in order to save the children makes it seem like the trips would take days to complete instead of the less than 10 minute walk it actually takes. Even less by horseback. I know some of this talk of difficulty was due to the monsters that would be in the field they are travelling, but it really felt like they had to seriously plan this event as if it were a long journey.

In general, we may experience multiple days in the game, but it could be that one is a 24 hour period, but it's falsely sped up to move things along. So, it might take a day or two to ride around Hyrule Field in their time whereas it's not that long for us.

Also, something that struck me as odd was the fishing hole in TP. It cycles through the seasons each time you visit it in the same play period. There's no mention of why it is doing so, but I thought maybe it was to say that it had been a whole season since you'd been there last. I know the rest of Hyrule and it's regions were unaffected, but to change the whole map to winter and back again would be a real issue of disc space. To tweak this one little area is something much simpler.

Although, it could be done just for fun, but in playing I thought maybe this whole journey was taking months to complete, and returning to the hole was giving a bit of a visual representation to help show this.

 

[Zemen]

Are we sure it's only open one day?

I've not got great memory for in game text, but after checking the wiki, the only thing it says on the matter is ".....and opens only once every hundred years.".

I still think MC is longer than just a single day, but i'm open to being proven otherwise.

The door does only open every 100 years, but think of it this way. Your birthday only comes once a year. For ONE DAY. My guess is that the door opening in MC is like the door's birthday and it's only open for that one day every 100 years.

 

[Sparky]

The door does only open every 100 years, but think of it this way. Your birthday only comes once a year. For ONE DAY. My guess is that the door opening in MC is like the door's birthday and it's only open for that one day every 100 years.

I see it more comparable to something like exams time.

It only happens once (For serious, at least in my native schooling system, as we do have mock exams) a year, but it's longer than a just a day.

Or at least thats how I see it.

 

[Qwerty0805]

I'm not completely sure, but I remember some people in Hyrule Town using words like yesterday and the other day in the Minish Cap. And at the end of the game, I'm pretty sure Elzo says that he'll miss Link a lot, and one day would be too short for him to get that attached to him.

 

[NULL]

Are we sure it's only open one day?

I've not got great memory for in game text, but after checking the wiki, the only thing it says on the matter is ".....and opens only once every hundred years.".

I still think MC is longer than just a single day, but i'm open to being proven otherwise.

I'm sure, the door is open once every 100 years, So the game spans over a day. unless you think it's 100 years.

Edited my first post for a "time line"

 

[zants follower]

No, I see his point. The whole thing can't span over a single day. When you rest, they say "spend the night?" not "sit here for two seconds and heal?" also, the keeper says something like "did you have a good night?"

 

[Sparky]

I'm sure, the door is open once every 100 years, So the game spans over a day. unless you think it's 100 years.

Edited my first post for a "time line"

I feel you may of missed the point.

I essentially said "I can't find any quotes or text dump text saying the door is only open one day".

Once every 100 years, yes, but not just one day, unless someone finds some text.

 

[Shadsie]

*Skims.*

Twilight Princess had night and day cycles independant of the Twilight. Hyrule Field is different at night than during the day.

I always figured Twilight Princess took place over the course of about a year, maybe a bit longer. That's how it's always felt to me.

Ocarina of Time? I figure it probably took young Link two or three months from the time he left the forest to the gathering of the Sacred Stones, he spent seven years asleep, obviously, then I think it took him 6-months to a year to free the Sages.

This is all just going on "feel" for me. Other gamers' experience may differ.

 

[Hayzer]

Didn't PH happen in 10 minutes?

And I'd say TP spans about a month. Not much more.

OoT spans at least 7 years.

MM=3 days

OoX - dunno. Haven't played them...

MC - dunno. Haven't played it.

And I don't know much of the others either...

 

[Sparky]

Didn't PH happen in 10 minutes?

No. It would be borderline impossible for Link to do all that in 10 minutes.

That sentence at the end is more of a plot device used to make the player, Link and Tetzelda question if it was all just a dream.