Day and Night cycle

"Let the fire burn, or the darkness consume you."

Night is part of the regular progression of time following the day, in Dragon's Dogma, night causes different creatures to become active, and requires the use of a Lantern or other light source to see clearly. During night the game takes on a survival-horror approach akin to Capcom's Resident Evil  series. Enemies are more common and dangerous during this time, and one certainly wouldn't want a Drake fight in the middle of it all.

Overview

Looking south across Gransys (256x speed)

See also: Dragon's Dogma World and Lore

The world of Gransys has a traditional day-night cycle - the sun rises in the northeast, and rises through the sky through the day, setting somewhere in the west around two thirds of a day later - the remainder of the time can be considered night - there is no moon, so only the stars, lanterns, and other minor light sources provide illumintation.

One must have a grasp of time in order to avoid the night, so going to Inns to rest is always a good idea as you'll always start during the morning the next day. A full day-night cycle lasts for approximately forty-eight real-world minutes.

The stars in Gransys are generally only visible at night, or near to dusk and dawn. The stars trace a circular path in the sky - centered on a point roughly 45 degrees above the horizon in the north. Of the different constellations one stands out - a small but noticeable cluster that rises above the horizon. Once the cluster have risen 20 degrees into the night sky, dawn is imminent.

Night

Look east across Gransys (256x speed)

Some items can only be found at night. Moonglow flowers grow by the moonlight, generally close to water, and cannot be gathered or found at all during the day.

Many monsters only appear at night, or in dark places such as underground caverns and dungeons - Ghosts, Skeletons and other Undead only appear above ground during the night. The more powerful enemies appearing at night include Wights and Ogres

Bandits tend to return to a camp or building during the night, such as the Mountain Cottage, whilst other humanoids like Goblins become more bold, taking to the roads in ambush parties. Wolves are also emboldened at night.

The people of Gransys generally lock their houses at night, with themselves inside - if the Arisen stays inside a person's home 'til after dark the door will be locked, though they can still exit from inside, they will not be able to enter again until day. Pawns light their lanterns at the beginning of night, and put them away at the end.

Some fish pools contain more larger or giant fish by night, and bundles of wood have been known to have had gold or jewels cached in them at night; Weapon Piles and other gather spots may also differ by night - including one at the Nameless Falls, as well as graves in the courtyard of The Greatwall.

Day

The flowers Sunbright, Grandblossom, Thornflower, and White Orchid only flower during the day. People leave their houses, and mill about, and travelers fill the safer roads.

Bandits may leave their camp and roam the open roads during the day. Similarly, Griffins hunt by day. If you don't kill it before sunset, it will fly back to its nest.

As Gransys occupies the eastern part of the Liogran Peninsula sunrise is usually visible over the sea's horizon to the east. Sunset however is never fully seen as the mountains that divide the peninsular obsure its setting.

Sun, Stars, Shadows, and Time

There is no numbered measure of time to be found in Gransys - no clocks.

It is possible to estimate the time of day by the position of the sun's shadow, or by the position of the stars in the sky. The sun rises just to the north of due east, and sets in the west - sunrise and sunset correspond to approximately 6am and 6pm - thus the direction of shadows as they change from pointing roughly west to east can be used to infer the time of day.

One way to do this is to face south, and then look at your Arisen's shadow. Its position is like that of a sundial - the shadow moves twice as fast as would the hour hand on a 12 hour clock. Straight to the right (west) is approximately 6am, back (north) is 12pm, to the left (east) is 6pm - the sun is not directly overhead at noon - it is slightly to the south. The full range of the shadow is from southwest (before 6am) to southeast (after 6pm).

The stars also rotate in the sky with the day-night cycle, suggesting they are fixed in the sky and the world rotates (or vice-versa) - the axis of rotation runs due north above the horizon, to due south below the horizon. With skill the stars might also be used to tell the time.

The Village Chapel in Cassardis and Gran Soren Cathedral both have bells that toll twice a day - at a third of a whole day after sunrise (at 'noon'), and again a quarter of a day after that (at 'dusk') -each time the bells ring ten times. Darkness comes not long after the second tolling.

Outside Gransys

It seems that whilst in The Everfall (including its chambers such as the Chamber of Lament) time in the outside world of Gransys does not pass at all.

On Bitterblack Isle, it often appears to be night, as lit by moonlight, though the normal day-night cycle continues in the background - external time runs queerly on Bitterblack Isle - and things affected by it such as Bloodlust may seem random or erratic - Bloodlust is not permanent on the Isle, nor does it activate due to darkness. Resting at Resting Benchs on Bitterblack does not advance Gransys time by any significant amount.

Light sources

See also: Light source

The Lantern is the standard source of light. The arisen's Lantern casts the greatest radius of light - pawn's lanterns only cast a small glow. In general the lantern is essential adventuring equipment. There are numerous other ways to bring light to the darkness - a lit piece of kindling provides good light. The spell Magickal Flare provides intense holy illumination - other spells and explosions will provide temporary lighting also.

In the wider world, there are numerous fires, torches, and braziers that illuminate.

Notes

Time	Event
0 am	Deep night
2 am	Star cluster appears on the eastern horizon
3:30 am	Sun's glow appears in east Olra extinguishes her lantern
4 am	Becomes light Olra disappears from Cassardis
4:45 am	Sun appears on horizon
5 am	Bloodlust ends
6 am	Those that slept at Inns awake Pawns put away Lanterns (Shadows point due west)
12 noon	Church bells begin to toll (used as "12 noon" reference point) (Shadows point due south)
6 pm	Church bells toll (Shadows point due east)
7 pm	Becomes dark
8 pm	Pawns light Lanterns Olra appears at Cassardis
8:30 pm	Olra lights her lantern
9 pm	Day sleepers at Inns awake. Bloodlust starts
One in-world 'hour' corresponds to a 'real world' 2 minutes

• Gransys's day-night cycle lasts 48 minutes "real time", with day roughly 32 minutes, and night 16 minutes.
• Sleeping at Gransys until night will rest until around 9pm; those sleeping during until day will awake at 6am.
• There can be advantages to turning off the Lantern at night - for Archers using ranged attacks certain enemies such as Wolves and others are visible at a distance from the reflected glow of their eyes, making them easy to target. The lantern will overwhelm this effect.
• The Assassin augments Bloodlust, Sanguinity, and Entrancement only activate at night.
  • For the purposes of the Augment Bloodlust night commences at 'deep night', roughly 9 p.m.  These augments' effects continue for a short time after dawn.
• Pawns use of lanterns is a little tardy - the do not light their lanterns until it is well dark, and do not extinguish them until well after dawn. (roughly 8pm-7am)
• Always be wary and listen to sounds carefully, they might help you notice monsters before you run into them.
• Travelling by Ferrystone does not take any significant amount of time.
• Night should not be confused with blindness.

Trivia

Duskmoon Tower and Bitterblack's moon

• Any moon is curiously absent from Gransys' night sky yet one is always present on Bitterblack Isle which lacks a sun, and, there are even places such as Moonsbit Pass, named after one.
• In comparison to the scientific view (wikipedia:Earth's rotation) of the movement of the Earth, Sun, and Stars :
  • The constellations overhead are the same as Earth's northern hemisphere, and are identifiable with sufficient resolution.  For example, in Cassardis, a small cluster of stars that rises in the night sky several hours before dawn is identifiable as the Pleiades constellation. (See Wikipedia:Pleiades)  However the rotation of the constellations differs, and is not along an axis directly overhead.
  • The rotation of the stars in Gransys suggests that if its world is spherical Gransys is in its northern hemisphere, since the northern center of rotation can be seen, but not the southern.
  • The movement of the sun is also consistent with a northern location of Gransys on a world globe, with the time of year similar to either early autumn or late spring (with the axis of rotation inclined towards the sun)
• (Glitch) Not only do monsters disappear with day break, but sometimes creatures and humans will appear from no-where, sometimes right on top of the party, when they are at a place scheduled 'in-game' to have its creatures replaced or re-spawned.