Day and Night

Mar 18, 2010 at 2:00 AM
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While it isn't shown for most of the time, the game goes through a day and night scheme, night being when you're at the Outer Wall, and day being when you're at the Balcony and during end game for the 'normal' and 'good' endings.

However, if you reach the Balcony but then head back to the Outer Wall, it will suddenly be night again.
Overlooked details here by Pixel, or is it something else?

My theory, the Outer Wall is basically frozen in time.
Yes, that's a big jump out of from nowhere to nowhere, almost a bit fanfic, but I'll continue.

The Outer Wall seems to be a secluded time-based area, and it shows from the various time-based structures, such as the clock block outside and inside of the Nikimaru Counter room. The Nikimaru Counter itself also is affiliated with time, being that it's a clock.

That then brings me to another point, that it won't start up unless in the Sacred Grounds. Why would it do that, other than for the game aspect?

Nikimaru has to be the name of someone. I'm going to go off on a limb and say it might actually be Ballos's dog. Yes, that seems to come out of nowhere, but when I first made it through Hell and before I came to these forums, I always thought the dog's name was Nikimaru. It looks like it could be a Nikimaru, and there is nobody else that has it's name. The dog itself isn't ever named, and even though that shouldn't mean we should jump to conclusions and automatically say that it's Nikimaru, it is still a possibility.

But, how did it get there, and why was it put there? My guess, Nikimaru put it there for the true heros who could possibly put an end to it all, since only a hero could get the chest to open, or even get to the Outer Wall.

To how it got there, Nikimaru needed a safe place, away from anywhere that the evil forces of the Demon Crown could get to. The Outer Wall was already a hard place to get to, but as a precaution Nikimaru put guards, such as the Night Spirits, and also put a spell on the area. The spell would basically freeze time, to where it couldn't be found by convenient means, negating things such as Misery's teleporting or Balrog's flying to it. Whether or not Nikimaru actually put the spell or if the Nikimaru Counter did it as a side effect, I'm not sure.

Well, that's about it. I could go on about the Nikimaru Counter, about why it's so important or whatever, but that's for a seperate thread.
Yes, this may seem like just fanfic going on, but it seems to make sense to me and this could have legitamate discussion to it.

tl;dr=Nikimaru Counter did it.
 
Mar 18, 2010 at 2:09 AM
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You can't go back to the Outer Wall, dude. Once you're on the Balcony, the only way out is into Hell or off the Island (spoilers, noobs). It's night until you go into the Last Cave.
 
Mar 18, 2010 at 2:24 AM
Um... Chosen One? Yeah that'll work. : P
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The darkness can also be attributed to the Island's shadow.
 
Mar 18, 2010 at 2:30 AM
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This reminds me of that thread where we talked about how the Island got light in certain places in the first place.


And I am pretty sure we've talked about this before and ended up with the answer that it was a shadow being casted.
 
Mar 18, 2010 at 3:01 AM
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Shadows don't put the moon and stars in the sky, nor do they turn the sky dark. Also, Moonsong and Night Spirits. It is most definitely night. Why is it so hard to believe that it turned from night to morning during your time in the Plantation and Last Cave, and then to midday while you fought the Undead Core?
 
Mar 18, 2010 at 3:06 AM
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You can go back through the Last Cave and get to the Outer Wall. I did that to switch my Nemesis back for the Blade.
 
Mar 18, 2010 at 4:07 AM
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You can? I had no idea. You stick with your frozen time theory, I'll just say it was a graphical omission.
 
Mar 18, 2010 at 5:55 PM
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Remember that 90% of the game is in caves. Including seemingly fecund places like Grasstown and Plantation, as the ceiling is solid rock, the left/right walls are solid rock, and the wall in the distance is solid rock. (Most plausible is that the plants get light from bioluminescent fungi, like in Avernum) So it can be any time you like for 90% of the time. The only levels that break this rule are of course Outer Wall and Balcony. There are two explanations to their time differences:

1. Game design. If the game is played in a linear fashion, and the outer wall is night, then shortly after it would be morning, as it is on the Balcony. Perhaps Pixel forgot that people might go back (or couldn't be bothered to think of something so trivial...)

2. It is entirely possible that the outer wall is on the _dark_ side of the island (Probably the South facing side, since we are in Japan) casting it in perpetual night. The Balcony's time could be anything between early morning and dusk, or frozen in time, or whatever.
 
Mar 19, 2010 at 12:04 AM
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It can't be just a shadow, since you can see the moon and the stars.
 
Mar 19, 2010 at 12:20 AM
Um... Chosen One? Yeah that'll work. : P
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Isn't it possible to see the moon and stars from the bottom of a well?
 
Mar 19, 2010 at 12:51 AM
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If it's night out, yes. Also, thanks for reading my second post in this thread, Mark Hammil.
 
Mar 19, 2010 at 12:53 AM
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Mike73 said:
It can't be just a shadow, since you can see the moon and the stars.

It's a closed in cave with the moon and stars painted on the walls.
 
Mar 19, 2010 at 1:23 AM
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You forgot about the wind. And Kazuma flying away on his dragon. But other than that, your theory checks out.
Seriously guys, the eternal moonlit state of the Outer Wall should not be considered canon, unless you just want to revive the Theories section.
 
Mar 19, 2010 at 1:29 AM
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Captain Fabulous said:
You forgot about the wind. And Kazuma flying away on his dragon.

There is an exit further out obviously.
 
Mar 19, 2010 at 2:48 AM
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I'm not sure how to get around the wind part, but while it would be impossible for anyone to get to the Outer Wall by just flying, it would be easier to get away and escape from it by flying.
 
Mar 19, 2010 at 6:12 AM
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MetaSeraphim said:
It's a closed in cave with the moon and stars painted on the walls.
OMG, those painted clouds are moving! o_O;

thecrown said:
Isn't it possible to see the moon and stars from the bottom of a well?
Not during the day. If you can't see sunlight then you certainly can't see the light from the moon or stars. Your view from the well is of a white circle of light over the exit. It IS night on the outer wall.

Captain Fabulous is right, this is just a common setup for a game without a day and night system and should not be considered canon. They just let the stage/level/map/whatever define the time of day. You are expected to unquestionably believe that Quote never ever arrives at the outer wall during the day, nor the balcony at night.
 
Mar 20, 2010 at 5:17 AM
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Maybe it just takes quote exactly 12 hours to get from outer wall to balcony, so the proper TOD is always displayed.
 
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