Welcome to the third Timecrest Community Spotlight, a new series where we interview some of the wonderful people in the Timecrest community in celebration of the upcoming Timecrest 3, which will be released as a free update to Timecrest on Dec 15.
Today we interview one of our earliest and most engaged Timecrest fans.
Please introduce yourself to our players!
My name is Jane Jordan. I don’t remember now when I started playing, unfortunately but it’s been a long time, off and on for several years, that’s for sure. I think I found out about it on Twitter. I may or may not have actually started playing during work one afternoon when I was bored using my Braille display connected to my phone and having sounds off. LOL! Anyway, I met Ash for the first time one day, and I kept playing during breaks between clients coming in, and I just did not want to stop.
I am totally blind, and I play on my iPhone, with speech only or sometimes with Braille only, depending on my mood.
I don’t remember when I first started engaging on Twitter, but I remember loving to send out tweets to the characters, and they would respond. My first thought was you had a large social media team to help, and it was cool you were doing that. Later, I learned that you have a small team, and wanted to help out tweeting sometimes and chatting. Sometimes if I am on enough I even manage to answer questions—of course I think in the beginning I had a lot, too, but I loved learning and finding out what was going to happen.
I don’t know how many times I have played through the game now, I just know I have to hurry and finish so I can start playing right away when the game drops on the 15th! OK, I won’t relaly be able to start until work ends for the day but you get the idea–I want that wait time between the end of “The Door” and this new part to be as brief as possible. Maybe I can even manage it so it ends before I start my workday, and then I can hopefully download it and dive in after 5pm! We’ll see.
What a great introduction! There's so much to unpack. First of all, how would you compare the experience of communicating with Ash using speech compared to using a Braille display?
I’d say when you are first playing the game, Braille is best, although of course not everyone has access to Braille displays. Anyway, Braille is best for your first run-through, because it gives you time to fully appreciate everything. The writing, the spellings of places and people. Somehow the story flows better with Braille that first time around. It could be that I am just a visual person, ironically, and so what I see in Braille stays in my head longer.
Speech is good once you’ve done the game at least once, because by then you mostly know what to expect, and even if you pick a different path, it’s OK, because you already know most of the characters, so it’s not so difficult. Also, speech works a little better with fast mode enabled, just because you don’t have these long pauses between messages.
What moments in Timecrest are the most memorable for you?
The first time I met Ash, Riley, Roger, A.C., and Elise stand out very vividly. Also, the first time different things happen based on relationship levels, those are still very memorable. :) Ash’s trip back in time, that is still memorable even though I’ve made that trip several times. Re-learning each time the history of Ash’s family, biological and adoptive. The destruction of Valdor—very memorable, even now. Of course, I still get a chuckle out of The Mighty Bat, and I’ll use different responses based on my mood while playing, but I think my favorite is telling A.C. I’m saving a pie for him and Ash’s reactions to it—and the others! I kinda wish I could give all of them pies, even though I know it’s a game! Oh, and Grandma will *not not not* give me her recipe for her pie, so I am kind of sad, but I’m sure whatever apple pie I got for them they would like, because Eric (my husband) has a knack of finding the right kinds, and Heather is very good at cooking them! Hahaha!
And I just remembered something else, when you learn what Elise can do, and I don’t just mean by conjuring up dead basilisks...what she does in Windorshowl, I do believe I took that path, so I’ll get to experience that again.
Since most reading this may not know, a few years ago we added a special scene just for Jane’s version of the game where she got a special item called “The Mighty Bat” as a thank you for being so helpful in the community and introducing so many people to Timecrest. You’ve brought a lot of people into Timecrest who have never played before. What would you say to people who are on the fence about giving Timecrest a try?
Timecrest isn’t your typical text adventure game. It has unique characters—just think, Ash is whatever gender or non-gender you want that character to be, which gives a lot of creative space for players’ imaginations. Yes, there are wait times, but they are for good reasons, while you are waiting for actions to complete, or there are cliffhangers. I love the story and plot—it really feels like it is real, and something you want to stay involved with and see through to the end. And, of course, there’s more than one way to end it, which I just love! Different paths have different choices. It is just a lot of fun, which is why I keep going back to it.
What is the biggest mystery you’re looking for answers to in the story?
Well, we know what caused Chronos to get this way and we sort of know what happened to Ignis, but I want to know if it’s worth bringing Riley or A.C. back or if it’ll cause more trouble than its worth. I also want to know how Chronos is going to use us players to fix his mistakes. Seems he made several.
On that note, what’s your wildest theory or prediction for Timecrest 3?
Ooof, that is a hard one! Sometimes I think nothing is going to end perfectly because real life is like that and, after such events, how can everything be the same or at least better than before? Hard to say. Then again, I wonder if by finishing the game the human connection to Alyncia will end, but that seems crazy. For all I know you are planning a fourth part. I would love to learn what separated Riley and Elise as if they can be reunited...clearly I have more reading of stories to do... But I am back to mysteries, not predictions.
No comment on if there will be a fourth part! People will just have to play to the end of Timecrest 3 to find out. What do you think of the soundtrack? Do you have a favorite song?
I love the soundtrack! I love just turning on the A.C. or Riley track and letting them play.
Where can people find and follow you on social media?
I am @janejordan_44 on Twitter. I’m on Facebook but not very active there. I am also known as Elise’s Minion which I think i called @EliseMinion...