Take Your Time/Playing With

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.
 * 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.
 * Or see the Played For Laughs version below.
 * Inverted: No matter how quickly you get to where you have to be, you're always treated as being late.
 * Subverted: 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!
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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."
 * 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: ???
 * Conversed: "So this is the point where everything opens up and I can do whatever I want, right?" "Yup, Take Your Time."
 * 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.
 * Played For Drama: See the Subverted entry.

Back to Take Your Time, when you're ready.