As an innovative open world RPG, Tower of Fantasy captivates players with its alien planet, futuristic technology, and powerful Simulacra. But one uniqueness that often confuses new Travelers is how time flows differently in Aida compared to Earth. Instead of a standard 24 hour clock, Tower of Fantasy utilizes a symbolic system called Aida Time.
What exactly does this strange new time measurement mean? How do you interpret the various dawn, sunset, sun, and moon icons? And can you actually control the flow of time in this virtual world?
In this comprehensive 2000+ word guide, I‘ll decode the mysteries behind Aida Time, with insights like:
- Defining Aida Time and how it syncs across the game‘s servers
- A breakdown of the Aida Time icons and how to read them
- Multiple examples of when knowing the exact in-game time is useful for events, missions and activities
- Granular detail on how time flows at an accelerated rate compared to real life
- Clarification on whether options exist to manually change the time
- Expert advice on strategically planning your gaming schedule around Aida Time
Let‘s uncover everything you need to master the alien rhythms of Aida and make the most of your time in Tower of Fantasy‘s expansive open world.
What Exactly is Aida Time in Tower of Fantasy?
Every Traveler needs to learn how to read Aida Time in order to fully experience Tower of Fantasy. But what exactly is Aida Time?
Put simply, Aida Time is the in-game clock and measurement of time across the planet Aida. Instead of tracking hours and minutes like Earth time, Aida Time consists of 4 main symbols – sunrise, sunset, sun, and moon.
The game translates these icons into general time periods. For example, when you select the sun icon, Tower of Fantasy displays the Aida Time as "Noon 11:00-13:00". If the moon icon is highlighted on your screen, it signifies the in-game time is somewhere between "Night 19:00-3:00".
So the Aida Time icons give you a general sense of whether it‘s early morning, late afternoon, etc. The exact hour and minutes are not displayed numerically like a traditional clock.
Critically, Aida Time is synced uniformly across Tower of Fantasy‘s servers. This means all Travelers share the same in-game clock and timeline, like inhabitants of Aida would experience. The automatic flow of Aida Time happens based on real world minutes and hours. We‘ll explore precisely how much faster time moves in Aida later on.
But first, let‘s break down those cryptic Aida Time icons so you can start telling dawn from dusk!
Decoding the Aida Time Icons: Your Guide to Reading the In-Game Clock
Learning to read Aida Time is crucial for planning your daily gaming activities and ensuring you catch certain events at the right in-game hours.
Let‘s take a deep dive into each symbol:
Sunrise Icon
The sunrise icon indicates early morning in Aida, encompassing:
- Dawn: 5:00-7:00
- Morning: 7:00-11:00
During these hours, the sky shifts from a pre-dawn purple to a golden sunrise to bright daylight. I‘ve observed some particularly gorgeous morning views off the coast of Cetus Island.
Based on the sunrise icon‘s timeframe, optimal activities include:
- Exploring Cetus Island‘s bioluminescent bays at dawn
- Starting your Artificial Island vitality donation runs at 7 AM Aida Time
- Visiting NPCs like Zeke and Alexa who offer early bird daily commissions
Plan for new adventures in the AM by keeping an eye on that sunrise icon!
Sunset Icon
When the sunset icon is selected on your Aida Time display, you‘ll see the corresponding time period is:
- Afternoon: 13:00-17:00
- Dusk: 17:00-19:00
So this reflects the later daytime windows, when sunlight gradually gives way to a reddish dusk. I‘ve noticed Hilling Mountains has particularly dramatic backdrops during Aida‘s crimson sunsets.
Great reasons to game during these afternoon/evening hours include:
- Joining channel-wide crews to take down the Automatons world boss from 13:00-15:00 when it‘s available
- Completing limited bounties from Banges NPC Yaroslava before they reset at 17:00
- Watching the sunset from Warren‘s rooftop Night Club venue for some stunning photo mode pics!
Scheduling playtime when the sunset icon pops up lets you enjoy peak open world views and access time-limited content.
Sun Icon
The sun icon represents the mid-point of Aida‘s daytime hours:
- Noon: 11:00-13:00
This 5 hour window spans from late morning to early afternoon, when the sun shines brightly overhead. In particular, I‘ve seen the deserts of Banges positively glow under Aida‘s midday sun rays filtering between dust storms.
Noon is also optimal for activities like:
- Joining a crew attempting to summon world boss Phantasia between 11:30 to 12:00 during its small spawn window
- Completing missions from NPC Alice that refresh daily at 12:00 Aida Time
- Charging up with restorative sunlight by activating your SSR matrix [Solar Fortitude]
When the sun icon shows it‘s midday, you‘ll have favorable conditions for challenging fights and replenishing your strength.
Moon Icon
Lastly, the moon icon popping up in your Aida Time display signals the nighttime hours in Tower of Fantasy:
- Night: 19:00-3:00
So from early evening well after midnight, the planet of Aida experiences darkness, illuminated by moonlight and vibrant starry skies. The neon lights of Warren create a buzzing populated hub amidst the nocturnal setting.
Under the moon‘s glow is the perfect time for:
- Watching the spectacular fireworks show at 22:00 from Cetus Island‘s beach
- Going clubbing with friends and NPCs at Warren‘s dance party location, Night Club
- Waiting until after midnight at 2:30 AM to challenge the elusive Scylla world boss
The moon icon represents late night fun, rare boss fights, and literally explosive celebrations!
By checking the highlighted Aida Time symbol and corresponding details, you now have a general sense of Aida‘s full day/night cycle flow – from early pre-dawn through to starlit evenings. Over time, you‘ll intuitively recognize the visual lighting cues of dawn, afternoon or midnight as well.
But for certain missions and events, you may require even more specific Aida Time precision…
When You‘ll Need to Know the Exact In-Game Time
While the 4 Aida Time icons give you a rough idea of morning, noon, evening etc, completing certain game activities hinges on tracking the exact in-game hour in Aida.
A few examples where monitoring precise Aida Time is crucial:
Limited-Time Bosses
Tower of Fantasy features epic battles against imposing bosses like the Automatons and Phantasia. However, these foes only spawn under specific conditions:
Automatons
- Spawn time: 13:00-15:00 Aida Time
- Location: Warren Area
Phantasia
- Spawn time: 11:30-12:00 Aida Time if cloudy weather
- Location: Banges Region
By keeping an eagle eye on the Aida Time details, you can rally crews to hunt these rare bosses during their small windows of availability.
Major Events
Exclusive festivities like Cetus Island‘s dazzling fireworks also operate on strict schedules. Missing the timing means missing out!
Cetus Island Fireworks Show
- Start time: 22:00 Aida Time
- Duration: 5 minutes
On the dot of 10PM Aida Time, burst of light will illuminate Cetus‘ night sky. So set your reminders not to be late!
Daily Resets
Certain daily activities reset at fixed Aida Times, allowing you to maximize repeating progression.
Bygone Phantasm Challenge
- Daily reset: 05:00 Aida Time
- Access higher Bygone floors again after daily reset
Thus, checking if you‘ve passed 05:00 Aida Time is key to reset your Bygone Phantasm progress each day.
Thankfully, in addition to the iconic time indicators, you can view Tower of Fantasy‘s exact in-game hour and minutes in the top-center of your screen, to the left of the Profile button.
For example, my current Aida Time might show: Dawn 6:48. With this precise detail, I know I have exactly 1 hour and 12 minutes left to prepare for the awesome 10PM Cetus Island fireworks celebration!
So while the symbolic icons provide general time context, monitor those top-center details for mission-critical precision when needed.
Now that you can read Aida Time displays, an even more disorienting wrinkle is…
How Time Flows Faster in Tower of Fantasy Compared to the Real World
Logical assumption: 1 real-world hour passing = 1 hour elapsing in Aida Time. Right?
Wrong.
Reality: Due to alien planet peculiarities, time flows approximately 36x faster in Tower of Fantasy compared to real life.
Specifically:
- 40 minutes IRL = 24 hours (a full day) in Aida
- 1 real-world minute = 36 in-game minutes
That‘s why you can experience Aida‘s entire daylight cycle of dawn, noon, dusk and darkness within a mere 40 real-world minutes of playtime.
This severe time compression is a boon since it allows you to pack more adventure and progression potential into your IRL gaming sessions. But it can also wreak havoc on strategically planning for time-based events.
My first Cetus Island firework show ended in disappointment when I lost track of this accelerated timeline. I logged in 30 real-world minutes prior to 10PM in anticipation. Yet when the launching lights filled the sky right after I joined the server, I‘d unknowingly already missed the 22:00 start time window.
Learning from my mistakes, here are some reference examples of how long to wait real-world vs Aida Time:
| Real-Life Minutes | Aida Time Passed |
|---|---|
| 10 minutes | 6 hours |
| 20 minutes | 12 hours |
| 30 minutes | 18 hours |
| 40 minutes | 24 hours |
So if you login at noon IRL, and need to coordinate your crew for a Phantasia hunt at 11:30 AM in Aida Time the next day, wait 20 real-world minutes. Voila – it will now be 11:30 on the dot the next morning in Tower of Fantasy!
Alternatively, you can perform reverse calculations to plan your real-life schedule:
Desired Aida Time Change ÷ 36 × Real-Life Minutes = Time to Wait
E.g. 12 hours in Aida ÷ 36 × 1 minute = 20 minutes to wait real-life
With great time accelerating power comes great responsibility. Use the 36x speed multiplier wisely!
Finally, a common question around Aida Time‘s temporal peculiarity is…
Can You Change the Flow of Time in Tower of Fantasy?
Many new Travelers wish they could simply alter Aida‘s space-time curvature to instantly jump to a specific hour.
But unfortunately no shortcuts, cheats or hacks exist for manually adjusting the in-game clock.
Instead, Aida Time progresses automatically based on real-world minutes according to Tower of Fantasy‘s servers.
With all Travelers occupying one interconnected open world, time must flow uniformly across servers. So attempting to tinker with your local game clock would disjoint it from the global Aida timeline!
However, while you can‘t fast-forward days away, you can strategically optimize your real-life gaming schedule around desired Aida Time milestones.
My key tips:
-
Use external timers/reminders: Set alarms for when 20 real minutes has passed to cue up your next 6 hour progression goal.
-
Plan major session targets early: At the start of your play period, chart out the key Aida events you want to accomplish, factoring the accelerated clock.
-
Extend your end time if needed: If chasing a late night event, tack on 40 real minutes to your normal session to allow the additional Aida day.
With diligent pre-gaming agenda setting, you‘ll sync your bodily rhythm to Aida Time in no time!
After digesting this guide, you should now have an acute understanding of the space-time fabric enveloping Tower of Fantasy. Let‘s review the key chrono-management takeaways:
- Aida Time consists of 4 main icons – sunrise, sunset, sun, moon – signifying general daylight phases
- Check Aida Time‘s exact in-game hour in your top screen for precision event timing
- Time flows ~36x faster in Tower of Fantasy so factor this into planning
- You can‘t change time – instead optimize real-life schedules around target milestones
From the cosmic temporal anomalies to real-world gaming time budgeting, unlocking the intricacies of Aida Time will enhance your overall Tower of Fantasy enjoyment.
Now go embrace those alien rhythms to become a true Aida native. See you dawn for more intergalactic adventures! The countdown has begun.
