Basic Trope: No matter how vital and urgent The Hero's goal is, the player can stall and goof around as much as they please before advancing the plot.
- Straight: Albert and his companions are on a grand journey to defeat Emperor Evulz, who is poised to conquer the whole world. ...However, despite the urgency of their quest, Albert is free to wander about exploring the world, taking Sidequests and playing games.
- Exaggerated:
- Emperor Evulz has stolen the Cosmic Keystones and used them to activate the Tyrian Obelisk Fortress, and has kidnapped Princess Velvet and Selene. Using Selene's blood, he intends to perform an unholy ritual that will make him immortal and corrupt the princess into his helpless thrall — only the first of many, as he intends to enslave the entire world! ...This doesn't mean, however, that Albert has to actually hurry or anything; no matter how much he dawdles, he'll still arrive just barely in the nick of time.
- Emperor Evulz has sent out a huge meteor, falling from the sky onto Princess Velvet's castle. Albert supposedly has barely a minute to escape before the castle is hit and destroyed. However, he can still freely explore the castle, read every book in the library, rest for the night, marry and raise a family—and no matter what, he'll still manage to leave the castle right in the nick of time before the meteor strikes.
- Downplayed: Emperor Evulz has taken control of the old sanctuary where the two gods rest! He's in position to awaken the evil god and unleash hell on the world! Albert spends a lot of time being sidetracked during that point, and when he finally arrives it turns out that both gods have to be awakened and Evulz needed Albert there to allow the good member of the two gods to awaken, allowing both to be released.
- Justified:
- Albert isn't aware of it, but the Solmoon Blade is actually vital to the ceremony. Emperor Evulz knows that Albert will come after him, and has decided to let this so-called "hero" do all the work just to let Velvet and Selene think they're going to be rescued.
- Emperor Evulz is a Sealed Evil in a Can that is gonna be released in a few decades and they’re trying to prematurely release him in a weakened state so while the world is in danger it isn’t urgent.
- Inverted: No matter how quickly you get to where you have to be, you're always treated as being late.
- Subverted:
- The game does time you fairly (initially averting this trope), but there is a way to stop that timer.
- After getting Sidetracked by the Gold Saucer, Albert finally arrives at the floating fortress only for Emperor Evulz to announce You Are Too Late.
- Double Subverted:
- Albert will always be too late as part of the plot. If he rushes to the battle, the villain will give a standard You Are Too Late speech, while if Albert was Sidetracked by the Gold Saucer, the villain will point this out explicitly, but it really doesn't matter how late Albert is.
- ...too late to watch the first half of the sacred ritual that would grant Evulz great powers, while the second half calls for Albert's death in that room. Therefore, no matter when Albert arrived, the ritual would be incomplete.
- Parodied: Albert calls Emperor Evulz to let him know he'll be a few days late because of a children's card game tournament. Evulz pleads with him to hurry up: those mercenaries are charging a pretty penny!
- Zig Zagged: Albert and his friends can generally take their time exploring at whatnot; however, there are a few Timed Missions where they must act quickly or fail miserably. There are also a few events that are only available during a certain window of game time, but there's no easy way of telling when those windows open or close.
- Averted: The game times you fairly. If you're late, you're late.
- Enforced: The programmers want players to be able to explore the world at their leisure, rather than feeling they have to rush through it.
- Lampshaded: "Say, Albert, aren't we supposed to stop Evulz? Shouldn't we be doing that instead of playing children's card games?"
- Invoked: "Of course I don't have to hurry up. I'll arrive right on time no matter how long it takes, so leave me alone."
- Exploited: Albert knows that he can take all the time he wants to save the world, so he spends a couple of years honing his skills to perfection, and doing extensive research on Emperor Evulz to learn each and every of his weaknesses.
- Defied: "I'm not gonna take my time! He could be kicking puppies as we speak! I must put a stop to it NOW!"
- Discussed: "You still haven't begun you mission!? This isn't a video game, agent, the enemy isn't going to sit on his ass forever waiting for you!"
- Conversed: "So this is the point where everything opens up and I can do whatever I want, right?" "Yup, Take Your Time."
- Deconstructed:
- People are horrified when they find out Albert decided to spend a day at the Minigame Zone before rescuing a village enslaved by Emperor Evulz.
- People stop caring about Emperor Evulz, who is Put on a Bus.
- The situation becomes similar to that of the "Averted" section. If you're late, you're late.
- Reconstructed:
- Everyone agrees that Albert should take his time and try not to think too much about everyone else lest Samaritan Syndrome drive him crazy.
- Anti-Hero D. G. Savvy arranges for Albert to be indefinitely Sidetracked by the Gold Saucer. Since he never gets back to the plot, Emperor Evulz's plan never advances either, and the world lives on.
- Though, through excellent time management, you can complete every sidequest AND manage to beat Evulz once and for all! Just get a method to turn fuck around with the time and abuse that thing to its very limits.
- Played For Laughs: Emperor Evulz is procrastinating in his garden when he hears Albert bursting through his front gate. He rushes to the ceremonial chamber to finish the ritual, and Albert reaches him just as he completes it. Cue the Boss Battle with two exhausted fighters.
Back to Take Your Time, when you're ready.
