Day-night cycle
As in real life, time passes in several installments of Dragon Quest. The time of day will affect how NPCs behave, which shops are open, and will trigger certain story events to take place.
In addition to letting time flow naturally, players can manipulate the heliosphere by way of casting Tick-tock or using the Night light. Doing either will call in the sun for an early morning.
Mechanics
Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation
It takes 88 steps to shift from day to evening, and another 32 steps for true night to set in for a total of 120 (and vice versa) Several castles will bar entry during night, claiming that the monarch has already retired. Using the Chimaera wing or Zoom spell will reset the time to day.
Time will never pass in the Underworld, as it is shrouded in a veil of perpetual darkness.
Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen
IV retains the 120 step rotation in all versions, with the 3D remakes also adding early morning and evening periods to towns and castles. These new time-frames function identically to day and night respectively, with only the lighting being affected.
During Chapter 3, the time will ultimately change to night if the player works until closing time at the Weapon shop of Lakanaba.
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride
Time will not pass when traveling the world map as a child, with certain scenes taking place at night such as the investigation of Uptaten Towers. In adulthood, time functions as it did in the previous two games. The sample of Lunar Zoombloom and the Wagon can only be obtained at night, as well as 'The Big Book of Beasts' and the Knick-knacks known as the Slime curio.
Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation
Day and night cycles do not exist in any version of VI, with time only passing during cutscenes. In a Febuary 9th, 1996 interview with Famitsu magazine Yuji Horii explains the reasoning for the removal of the feature as:
"The story of Dragon Quest VI concerns the world of dreams and the real world, with the player moving back and forth frequently. Adding in the day and night system on top of the two worlds would make things very complicated, both from a developer's standpoint and a player's point of view."
Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past
Night is not limited to cutscenes in the seventh quest, with the majority of areas in the past being kept in a supernatural gloom until the protagonists liberate them.
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
Time will now pass on its own, even if the player is standing still. Exquisite detail has been utilized for the polygon model of the sun and the prisms of light reflected in the "camera" when the player looks to the sky in first-person view. If the night falls or morning dawns within a town, the camera will shift to the sky for the transition and to load the new activities for the NPCs.
The Night light and Tick-tock do not appear, but the player can opt to rest at an inn until evening instead of morning to fly by night.
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
Time flows on a hidden clock as in VIII, only it will now pass during battle as well. This has no effect on an encounter aside from presentation. Time will no longer pass in towns.
Certain Quests can only be undertaken at night.
Dragon Quest X
Being an online game, time will pass whether the player is logged in or not. The complete shift from day to night takes 36 minutes.
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age
Time behaves similarly to the presentation in VIII, in that time will pass in towns and the camera will briefly shift to the sky if the time of day changes while the party is in town. In this game, a clock is viewable on the map screen. The shift from day to night takes considerably longer than it did in X, necessitating the new camping system for players to exercise control over when they set forth to adventure.
Players can change the time of day by staying at an inn or campsite. However, methods of staying the night that are free of charge but are not campsites do not work like this; staying at a free inn such as the hero's house in Cobblestone will automatically change the time to the next morning.
Dragon Quest Builders
A complete day to night cycle takes a mere ten minutes to finish, with 6 for day, 3 for night, and 1 for evening. Being a real-time game, several monsters can be found snoozing out in the open at night. Ghosts and their brethren will also appear more frequently at night, stalking the player.
