Time-Limited RPG Choices Explained — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:00] The Blood of the Dawnwalker is an RPG where its main mechanic is that every major thing you do costs time, and it's impossible to do everything in a single playthrough.

[00:13] This is pretty unusual in a genre that typically rewards players to do and see everything a game has to offer. I mean, heck, the top mod for this game right now literally removes this feature from the game.

[00:26] So obviously this is something that people are just not used to. So I really want to take the opportunity to try and convince you that Don Walker's take on time is not only mechanically satisfying,

[00:40] it has led to some truly memorable experiences for me that have put me on edge more than once and have gotten me to think about how limited our time truly is.

[00:52] And I want to walk you through my experience with the game's prologue, which I think sells the concept perfectly. And it all starts with the simple task of collecting herbs for your sick mother so she's well enough to go to the evening's mass.

[01:07] A task you don't actually have to do at all, but you probably should. Simple, right? Take the money, whatever's left for Anka. And grab your sword, too. Your father sends protagonist Cohen on his way.

[01:20] You walk out the door and are immediately bombarded by... I'm so sorry to interrupt, but I just remembered that Brinks' cat food is downstairs and it's been there for a while. Do you mind grabbing that by the end of the day? Yeah, no, it's a waste.

[01:32] Sorry for interrupting. No, no, no, you're fine. We're on this video. It's due Friday. It's Wednesday now. I've got, like, plenty of time. I'm good. Great. Thank you. All right, cool. Okay, where was I? Yes.

[01:44] You walk out the door and are immediately bombarded by multiple quest markers. quests that are only available during this single day in the game, and it's impossible to do all of them.

[01:58] But before I start deliberating which quest to even choose, I want to make sure I take care of my poor sick mother first. So, I begin walking down the path to the local healer.

[02:11] But I don't make it more than a few feet before... Hey, hurry! Come over! My sister is requesting I accompany her and my other siblings to the stream due to fear of wolves I initially deny the request determined to stick to my appointed task I sorry I really need to get the herbs for mum first But that

[02:33] creeps in. What if something does happen to them at the stream? Well, it can't take that long. You know what? I've got the time. I'll give you a hand. The game then sneakily plays

[02:45] on my desire to be a good older brother. I waste more time laying down to cheer them up. I teach them how to hook a worm on a fishing pole. Yes, this has led to some excellent sibling bonding, and I do feel like I've learned a few new things about Cullen as a character, but this little

[03:00] detour has already cost me two of my eight time slots for the day. And I really can't be wasting any more time, because I got really important things to do, like getting the cat food slice.

[03:15] Oh, there we are again. I'm sure I'm gonna find it.

[03:27] Yeah, it's there. Okay, day two. Let's get this done. Collecting herbs. Let's do it. I make the long trek from the river back to the village. I stop at the shrine because I earned a skill point from leveling up.

[03:42] bubbling up. But... turns out spending skill points also costs time, so... Nope, never mind. Not doing that. We're heading straight on to the hut of Anka the healer. We have

[03:54] a small little chat, and finally, I get the herbs. Three scoops of this next jar of water that's hot but not quite boiling. Give it to her before mass, and then twice daily. Yep, sounds good.

[04:06] I'll definitely do that. Thank you, Anka. I get ready to leave when, suddenly... You hear that? A storm. Look, it's raining already. Coming down in buckets.

[04:20] Maybe you'll stay a little longer then. Until it clears. Okay, look. I got the herbs. I still got plenty of time. Cohen feeds into Anka. This might move along a potential love interest.

[04:34] I gotta help my boy out here. And honestly, it ended up being a good thing that I stayed. Because the storm ended up knocking down Anka's shed. and she got hurt in the process. And because I stayed I was able to help save her herbs and mend her wounds Honestly a worthy use of two time slots And hey I still got half the day

[05:00] Hello, what's up? Hey, hey, hey, it's me, Kurt. I know you're working from home, you're trying to get the Dawn Walker video done. Is that, um, is that going to be good for tomorrow? Yeah, no, yeah, I'm working on it right now, actually. Like, I'm totally fine.

[05:12] Okay. All right. We'll get, you know, like, you know, the last video kind of getting a little hot. Just, you know, I've got to talk to you. Mm-hmm. All right? Yeah, no, no. Just making sure. No, no, no. I'm fine. I'm fine. It'll be done. It'll be done for sure.

[05:25] Okay, great. Don't worry. Okay, cool. Okay. All right. Okay. I'm going to run to the mills. All right? Okay? Okay. Bye. Bye. Bye. Love you.

[05:37] Kurt? Hey, yeah. Sorry. Just real quick. I forgot. Um, we're having a happy hour at the office. Um, and I just wanted to make sure I accepted the invite. I know you're from home, but you know, if you want to come in, have a couple drinks, just, you know, put in an outfit.

[05:53] Chug, chug, chug! Ahhh! I love you so much, giant bear. I'm excited. Hang out with you and make sure you survive, John Walker.

[06:05] You go sit. I don't go sit! I don't go sit! I don't go sit! okay um so i just gotta make my way back to the house the herbs and then this guy

[06:25] named steely he just starts talking shit at me and then the gang's like hey you should you should deal with this guy and i i'm just like yeah i should and i start chasing him why am i chasing

[06:38] him. This is dumb. You're so dumb. Why did you drink so much last night? Okay, where was I? So I catch the Sealy for some reason, and he's just a dumb kid, so I'm ready to kind of call

[06:54] this whole thing off, and then his dad shows up, and he tells me I need to beat the Sealy with a stick, and I'm like, oh, I'm not doing that. I did not sign up for child abuse, so I end up beating

[07:06] to dad and no one seemed happy with the outcome I just wasted a whole time slot Like that whole thing was completely pointless But finally I make it back to the house and now I shall brew the herbs for my mother

[07:21] She told you how to prepare these. She did, yes. And get to work.

[07:33] Oh, what did she say again? F*** it, man, we'll just pick something. I mean, what's the worst I could possibly have him? With my mission finally accomplished, I spend the few slots I have left in the day training with my dad,

[07:47] and then helping this poor woman whose son's grave was robbed, and I ended up not actually finishing that quest, because I ran out of time slots. But hey, at least I got to math, and everything's gonna work out just fine.

[08:04] So what did I learn from this whole experience? because what I described probably sounded fairly frustrating. Nothing really went my way. I got constantly distracted by stuff. I was stressed out about trying to complete the very simple task of helping my mother.

[08:21] And I didn't even do that correctly. And yeah, all of that is true. And also, that was one of the most memorable few hours I've had with a game in a really long time.

[08:33] I think if there was no time limit and I had just been able to do every quest, engage in every line of dialogue, the things that I did do wouldn't have nearly the weight they would. The fact that I chose to help my siblings had more meaning because I intentionally picked them out of many other things I could have done with my time.

[08:53] The fact that I spent time with Anka felt more meaningful and I felt like I was making the choice to pursue that relationship over other things. RPGs like this tend to want to provide you comfort and allow you to 100% see everything

[09:09] and clearly that is a thing that a lot of people prefer going back to the fact that the most popular mods of this game removes the time feature but I do want to implore people to consider that when you suddenly can't do everything

[09:25] the things you choose to do feel all that more valuable even in a video game.