Time (XC1)

In Xenoblade Chronicles and Future Connected, the time of day is an important aesthetic and gameplay element. Every second of real time advances one minute of in-game time, but the player can set the time to whatever they wish (to the nearest hour) whenever the main menu is accessible. Doing so may change the. Time does not pass during cutscenes, dialogue scenes, NPC conversations, or while a menu is open.

Many s, enemies, collectables and key items only appear at certain times of day. NPC behaviour is controlled in blocks three hours long, while enemy and collectable behaviour is split into four distinct phases: "morning", "day", "evening", and "night". In addition, some battle mechanics (such as ) and many aesthetics (such as music) only care about whether it is "daytime" or "nighttime". While each map in the game has independently-set values for the boundaries of these phases, they all agree on the same numbers.

Some maps, such as the Ether Mine, are entirely underground, indoors, or similarly unable to see the sky. While there is no visible effect on the time of day in these regions, all its gameplay mechanics still apply.

List of time-dependent gameplay mechanics
Ether crystal deposits recharge independently from the time of day and instead in real time, usually a few minutes.
 * position and whether the NPC is currently active at all (including some s in Colony 6), as well as their dialogue
 * spawn times
 * Collection orb spawn times
 * and Quiet Moment availability
 * Whether gems have any effect
 * 's Like Sun!, Love Sun!, Adore Sun!, Pretty Stars!, Amazing Stars! and Bestest Stars! s, as well as 's Power of the Moon skill
 * The Happy New Year! Achievement
 * Area music and aesthetics
 * (certain weather such as Eryth Sea's shooting stars can only occur during the night)
 * Certain key item spawn times (as part of s):

Fixed plot times
Certain plot events set the time of day.

Trivia

 * The game's title screen uses an accelerated time cycle, starting at 5:30 and proceeding at somewhere near 6-8 times normal speed. Each maps' demo mode flythrough has its own times and speeds.