Elapsed Time of the Story

[Nebulance]

So, as I've gotten back into the game as of late, I was considering a question I had a long time ago... what is the elapsed time of the game? I'm not talking about the number of hours you put in, but how much time do you think passes in the story? The pilgramage across Spira itself must take at least a few months, if not a year. Not to mention the time they spend in each town and city.

what do you think?

[ReloadPsi]

I always get the impression that Sin attacking Zanarkand is day 1, Tidus waking up in Spira is day 2, being found by the Al Bhed and going on a salvage is day 3, waking up in Besaid is day 4, leaving on the pilgrimage is day 5, I have no idea how many days it takes the boat to get to Kilika but it appears to be one day, so they arrive in the evening and perform the sending... therefore heading the Kilika Temple and fighting the Sinspawn is day 6. The ship to Luca appears to be an overnight trip, so the Blitzball tournament is day 7. Then they head down through Mi'hen, apparently on the same day, and operation Mi'hen closes day 7. On day 8 they head towards... well I can't remember much the sequence of the game after that as I only played it twice and have watched a fair few people at least play as far as that :P But it seems they take about a week to reach Djose at least.

As for how many hours or days pass for things like being teleported to the desert, finding Yuna in Bevelle with the airship, time spent on remand prior to the trial, time spent in a cage before being dumped in the Via Purifico, and time spent sitting around recounting the story before entering Zanarkand, spreading the word to have the entire world sing the Customer Services Hold Music of the Fayth... well those are kinda vague. I can't see the game's events taking more than a month because my impression of every RPG I've ever played is that somebody suddenly has their world rocked and suddenly has a duty to rise up and deal with it and abruptly discover their inner bad-ass, but RPG timescales are always a bit tough to gauge.

[Jiro]

I'd say it is fairly short. People don't smurf around once Sin returns, ya know? We know it all takes less than a year at least, because there's no second blitzball tournament in Luca.

[Nebulance]

I'd say it is fairly short. People don't smurf around once Sin returns, ya know? We know it all takes less than a year at least, because there's no second blitzball tournament in Luca.

Ah, good point, I had forgotten about the Blitzball tournament.

[Jessweeee♪]

I always figured 2-6 months. In my head it's around three months.

[ReloadPsi]

I'd say it is fairly short. People don't smurf around once Sin returns, ya know? We know it all takes less than a year at least, because there's no second blitzball tournament in Luca.

Yeah, they never established the length of the Calm. Was it really about ten years?

[Jessweeee♪]

All we know for sure is that Sin was defeated ten years before the start of the game. They don't say when exactly Sin came back, but I'm under the impression that it wasn't too long ago. It feels like it was a recent thing, but there's at least been time for all of Spira to become aware of it.

[Pete for President]

I'd say it is fairly short. People don't smurf around once Sin returns, ya know? We know it all takes less than a year at least, because there's no second blitzball tournament in Luca.

Yeah, they never established the length of the Calm. Was it really about ten years?

As far as I can tell the length of every Calm seems to vary. Ten years was indeed Braska's Calm.

[Sephex]

It felt like a couple of weeks to me. In fact, almost all the Final Fantasy games feel like only a couple of weeks passed, unless otherwise specified.

[Nebulance]

It felt like a couple of weeks to me. In fact, almost all the Final Fantasy games feel like only a couple of weeks passed, unless otherwise specified.

It feels like more than a few weeks... I get the impression it's closer to a few months at least. I'm just thinking of all the time you spend in each place, and how they get dumped in the Via Purifico for a while when they're on trial with Yevon

[Quindiana Jones]

I figured it was 2-3 months, at most. Though we, the player, may spend time dicking about in towns, the characters aren't going to, so I figure you can ignore the random time-wasting that occurs because of the player.

[James_Cub]

There is not blitz tournament in Luca, but you do have the leagues and tournaments that you can play yourself. So, depending on how many leagues and tournaments, you play, you can say that there are more "Luca tournaments". The original one was only shown as such a big event, because it was part of the storyline and it was organized to honour Mika's rule.
That said, I think it's a couple of weeks, maybe two months. However, it does seem that Sin had been around for a while, I honestly don't believe Chappu died in the previous attack (ten years ago) and it seems they have somewhat come to terms with it, so I would say it would have been about 2 to 3 months that Sin had been around before Tidus actually comes into play.

[Heath]

I think that James is right that Chappu must have died more recently than ten years ago. In my head it always felt like a year or two ago.

I always got the impression that it took a few weeks, but if you consider that then Spira can't be very big. You'd struggle to walk from Land's End to John O'Groats in a few weeks. I think 2-6 months seems more realistic.

[blackmage_nuke]

I couldve sworn they said the Calms only last 2 years (Sin was defeated 10 years ago)

I'd say no more than 6 months. (I did a whole add up of the events in the game a while back and i think that was the conclusion I came up with, though it mightve been a different ff...)

Or 2-3 months as people have said seems likely

[Formalhaut]

In terms of all the FF games I've played, X has been the shortest (sans XIII).

For me, all the time up to the entrance to Luca would have been say five days at most. After that, it get's slightly more ambiguous. Up until the end of Macalania, you can sort of predict the days as they go on, however after being washed up in the desert it becomes alot harder.

The events at Bevelle might have taken a few days; hosting a wedding takes some prep work, even if it is rather shotgun style. The Calms Lands I see also taking 2-3 days, while Mt Gagazet takes just one day.

From Baaj Temple ---> Sin, I would say it would be say at least 2 months. Maybe even more.

[LostAmy]

I think that James is right that Chappu must have died more recently than ten years ago. In my head it always felt like a year or two ago.


Yeah, Wakka specifically tells Tidus that Chappu died the previous year, and that he heard on the day of the tournament. So it would be almost exactly a year before the events of the gamethat Chappu died.

Personally, I think the events of the game are probably around 4-6 months. Although it doesn't seem like it with the removal of the world map in this game. But think about it; they're going from one side of the continent to the the other on foot.

[Pete for President]

Hoho! I may have found something while starting up a new game!

When Tidus talks to Yuna on the boat to Kilika, Yuna tells us that it's been ten years and three months since Braska and party left on pilgrimage; this was just after Jecht arrived in Spira.

A priest in Besaid Temple tells us: "Ten years have passed since Lord Braska became high summoner. And finally we received a statue for our temple.". This suggests that Braska's pilgrimage took about 3 months.

Of course every pilgrimage varies, but I reckon it counts as a rough indication for our own party. Add some time for the craziness at Bikanel, the post Yunalesca stuff and you get 3-4 months. That sounds very plausible to me.

[Formalhaut]

Hoho! I may have found something while starting up a new game!

When Tidus talks to Yuna on the boat to Kilika, Yuna tells us that it's been ten years and three months since Braska and party left on pilgrimage; this was just after Jecht arrived in Spira.

A priest in Besaid Temple tells us: "Ten years have passed since Lord Braska became high summoner. And finally we received a statue for our temple.". This suggests that Braska's pilgrimage took about 3 months.

Of course every pilgrimage varies, but I reckon it counts as a rough indication for our own party. Add some time for the craziness at Bikanel, the post Yunalesca stuff and you get 3-4 months. That sounds very plausible to me.


Wow. Amazing. You deserve rep for this enlightened information PfP! :D

[Dr. rydrum2112]

Hoho! I may have found something while starting up a new game!

When Tidus talks to Yuna on the boat to Kilika, Yuna tells us that it's been ten years and three months since Braska and party left on pilgrimage; this was just after Jecht arrived in Spira.

A priest in Besaid Temple tells us: "Ten years have passed since Lord Braska became high summoner. And finally we received a statue for our temple.". This suggests that Braska's pilgrimage took about 3 months.

Of course every pilgrimage varies, but I reckon it counts as a rough indication for our own party. Add some time for the craziness at Bikanel, the post Yunalesca stuff and you get 3-4 months. That sounds very plausible to me.

Yeah, makes sense that it takes 3-4months to get to Zanarkand, directly but they got sidetracked into Bikanel & then after getting there probably some more time before attack sin.

I think 5-6months is a good guess.

[Karifean]

Although don't forget that Braska had to take a huge detour - after all, he started in Bevelle, went all the way over to Besaid and then went all the way back so he could go on through the Calm Lands to get to Zanarkand. So basically, he did everything up to the Calm Lands twice. So I doubt it's 3-4 months to get from Besaid to Zanarkand... maybe 2-3 months, I guess.

The spans of time in Bikanel are something that's very unclear. How long did crossing the desert really take? After all, there wouldn't be so many safe spots if it only took two minutes to make it from one to the other. Also, the desert seems near endless in X-2 and they get to specific locations only by hover. Besides, how long did it take the group to locate Yuna as being in Bevelle? I would think at least days if not weeks or months considering a huge wedding had already been organized.

[Laddy]

I dunno. Felt like an eternity. :stare: