Effects of the Day/Night cycle in Infinity Engine games

Ammar

Inspired by the ongoing discussion on the Larian forums about the lack of a day/night cycle and a commonly repeated claim that the day/night cycle did not really impact gameplay that much in the original games, I was interested in thinking about which effects the Cycle had in the original games.

I.e. I recall in Athkatla that the NPCs on the map change & that some encounters with muggers and vampires are only triggered at night. But I wonder about some on the details, e.g. does it affect Stealth? Does it affect monster spawns in the wilderness in Baldur's Gate 1? Maybe we can create a fairly comprehensive list, or there is one already of which I am not aware.

jmerry

Many NPCs, particularly in Athkatla, appear only at certain hours of the day - not specifically day/night, but often related to that. There are some quests that depend on this too, particularly involving thieves' guilds.

Day/night changes lightning conditions, which then affect hiding difficulty. It's a lot harder to hide in broad daylight than in the dark.

Yes, some monster spawns are affected by time of day - generally stuff in scripts, like random travel encounters. That really scary 10-bandit encounter in BG1 is only possible in a fairly narrow time window.

Acifer

- Narlen's Heist, the quest line of the BG1 Thieve‘s Guild, only works at night.
- The Larceny at the Hall of Wonders is much easier during nighttime.
- Alora the NPC appears in the Hall of Wonders after 8 pm and before 4 am and can thus only be recruited during nighttime.

Balrog99

I think the rare random vampiric wolf encounters in BGEE only happen at night as well. Those are a nice source of 2k xp as long as you have a magic weapon or two...