This is precisely the thing I *don't* want in an RPG, and it is a major turn-off. (It's one reason I haven't seriously played Wizardry 7 myself, that and the base miss chance mechanic.)

If this is going to be done, a better way to do it would be to have time progress when completing quests (so that the player doesn't get screwed out of quest rewards entirely), and make the game short and focus on replayability.

Romancing SaGa has time progress based off the number of battles you fight, and it's a rather obnoxious system, as it encourages people to avoid fighting in a game where the battle system is quite fun. (In the PS2 remake, the difficulty of the battles matters, so easier fights won't make as much time pass.)

Don't you still have to deal with barbarians?
Also, Civ without opponents is kinda pointless:D