Day and night cycle

The day and night cycle is a recurring feature in the Final Fantasy series where time of day progresses from day to night, rather than the time of day being strictly controlled by the plot, remaining constant until the player progresses in the story. Typically, each location has different musical themes for different times of day, and the specific location's battle theme may change as well. The effect can be merely visual, but in some games certain tasks and monsters can only be undertaken during a specific time in the cycle.
==Appearances==
===Final Fantasy XI===
Although the game is technically set in 884 C.E. and as far as the story goes time does not actually flow, the day and night cycle features prominently and can be checked using the /clock command. This affects a number of gameplay aspects, including the appearance of certain monsters (especially the undead) at certain times of day, shop opening times, as well as specific time windows for completing certain quests. Many quests and missions require the players to return the next in-game day to proceed.
Final Fantasy XI runs under a 60-minute per hour, 24-hour day cycle, with 8 days a week, 30 days a month, and 360 days in a Vana'diel year. Due to this flow of time, the game also features moon phases and seasons, which have various effects on gameplay.
Vana'diel time moves 25 times faster than Earth time: 1 Vana'diel hour is 2 minutes and 24 seconds in Earth time, and 1 Earth hour is 25 Vana'diel hours.
===Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII===
The day and night cycle ties closely to the story. Many main and side quests depend on the clock and Lightning has a limit of thirteen days to complete all main quests and collect enough Eradia to advance to the last day. The day–night cycle is not in effect during the prologue in Yusnaan, on the final day, or during any visit to the Ark. Some locations are only open in certain times of the day, such as the Moogle Village in the Wildlands and the Warren in Luxerion being visitable only at night.
There are four times of day and on each a different field and battle theme will play, although some areas are exempt from this rule:
*Morning: 6:00 - 11:59.
*Afternoon: 12:00 - 15:59.
*Evening: 18:00 - 19:59.
*Night: 20:00 - 6:00.
===Final Fantasy XIV===
The day and night cycle generally does not affect gameplay, though most cutscenes will reflect the current time of day, and the musical themes for most areas will switch between day and night themes. Day and night cycle at 6:00 AM and 6:00 PM Eorzean time, while weather events cycle at 8:00 AM, 4:00 PM, and 12:00 AM. Final Fantasy XIV's cycle is intentionally offset from real world time to ensure players that consistently play at the same real time get to experience different in-game times.
Some FATEs, S-rank hunts, enemies in public duties such as Eureka, gathering nodes, and fish will only appear at certain times of day, and several vistas for the Sightseeing Log require specific times as well.
Eorzean Time 	Real Time
1 minute 	2¹¹⁄₁₂ seconds
1 hour 	2 minutes 55 seconds
8 hours (weather cycles) 	23 minutes 20 seconds
12 hours (day/night cycles)	35 minutes
1 day 	1 hour 10 minutes
===Final Fantasy XV===
The cycle of day and night ties to which enemies will spawn on the field. Daemons emerge during the night, providing incentive for the player to camp out or seek refuge in a hotel. Steyliff Grove, Costlemark Tower, and the Pitioss Ruins (all Solheim constructs) are sealed during the daytime. When taking on a nighttime hunt, the player can skip to the evening. An option to advance the time of day at camp was added in patch 1.21.
The world is afflicted with the Starscourge, a plague that lengthens nights, and only the Oracle, Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, is preventing the world of Eos from plunging into complete darkness. The advancement of Starscourge is shown in the game by its day and night cycle. In the beginning of the game, the party wakes up from a rest at 6 AM. By Chapter 8 the party wakes up at 9 AM and the sun already starts to set after 2 PM. In Chapter 12 the party will get up at 10 AM, and in Chapters 13 and 14, the player will not see sun again. In Chapter 15, the daytime length is more lenient. Daemons spawn on the field after nightfall. If they manage to survive until the sun rises, they will begin taking gradual damage.
In Chapters 8 and 15, Aranea may spawn during overworld battles between 00:00 and 03:00 and join as a guest until the battle is over.
Some locations are exempt from the day and night cycle. The cycle is halted when inside the Perpetouss Keep during the "Adventurer from Another World" quest. The Daurell Caverns always have sunny patches with light shining through the cracks in the ceiling, and when daemons step into these parts, they take damage. The time mechanic is no longer in use in Chapters 13–14.
The day and night cycles and cloud formations are done by physical calculations, the lighting and the shadows changing as the day goes on. At night towns light up, with people turning the lights on in their homes. It was decided to be made this way to have a smooth change between the cycles and to have a more dynamic lighting system, reflecting the mood of a certain region/place.
To create the flow of hours, the developers had to get as close as possible to the real world. They would take a photo of the real sun and blue skies and drop it into the game and employ a system called the Sky System to make adjustments. In the real world there is not one minute, or one second, where light is the same. The sun is 400,000 times brighter than the moon, though impossible for the human eye to detect. To get closer to that in Final Fantasy XV, the sun is set to shine more than 100,000 times brighter than the moon; the exposure is adjusted so that the lighting is always just right within the game.
====Final Fantasy XV: Episode Prompto====
After the player leaves the campsite, time starts to flow as the player is free to explore the snowfields. Some sidequests available here depend on the time of day.
===Final Fantasy Agito===
A real-time cycle synonymous with Japan Standard Time (JST) was followed. The cycles were morning (from 04:00 to 11:00), afternoon (11:00 to 16:00), evening (16:00 to 20:00), and night (20:00 to 04:00). It influenced NPC conversations and the amount of bonding points that could be obtained when talking to the original twelve members of Class Zero. The amount of Friend Points needed at the Friend Gacha were reset daily, as the cost accumulated with each spin.
===Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light===
The day and night cycle changes when the player is on the world map. At nighttime, the musical themes for the overworld and the seven towns are replaced by more tranquil rearrangements, different sets of enemies appear on the overworld, and certain events become accessible, such as entry into the Guera Caverns and the mysterious whirlpool in Liberte. Sleeping at an inn returns the cycle to daytime. Day and night are omitted in the second half of the game, after defeating Rolan in Spelvia, due to the spread of darkness over the world.
===Final Fantasy Tactics===
*Twilight (tinted gold): 04:00 - 05:59
*Untinted day: 06:00 - 17:59
*Twilight (tinted gold): 18:00 - 19:59
*Night: 20:00 - 03:59
==Citations==
ru:Цикл дня и ночи
Category:Recurring gameplay components