Dragon Age II Day/Night Cycle Preview

Continuing their Dragon Age II coverage from BioWare’s recent Edmonton-based press event, GreyWardens.com has cranked out a short preview that covers the sequel’s (controversial?) day/night toggle option.

Sun goes up, sun goes down. Sun goes up, sun goes down. Following BioWare’˜s Open House media event, it is now known that Dragon Age II features a day/night toggle, accessible from Kirkwall’s city map. You can just insta-switch between day and night. So, does this feature sound useful or, instead, pour cold water all over your immersive, role-playing experience?

Right up until the release of Dragon Age: Origins, that a (mainstream RPG) would not be firmly tucked in at night, according to the slow but steady progression of time’s passing, was unthinkable. In my day, the 24 hour clock became a fundamental characteristic of the RPG genre. I, for one, spent most of the 80s and 90s stalking the citizenry of Ultima’s Britannia, you know, watching everyone sleep, in what many consider to be the RPG genre’s foundational series. Creepy, but indisputably immersive.

I guess I just don’t see the necessity behind such a toggle. Wouldn’t a “rest for X hours” be just as effective? If they’re looking for simplicity, couldn’t they just make the resting period instantaneous and remove any chance of random encounters?