---

AndreaDraco, thanks for the answers, most of them were accurate in my opinion (oh, and you are probably right about the part that "Celeste is NOT here", i might have misheard that one).

Anyway, my questions at this point are mostly about two characters: Crawford and Gira.

Crawford... we learn that he is one of the most powerful men alive, one of the richest ones and -suprisingly- wherever he goes, Death soon follows. Is all that power and wealth a result of Ylli's abilities? I suppose not, since he was already wealthy and powerful at the time of the "adoption". If this is the case, what could Ylli's powers offer him in the long term? And how did he know about the "circle" and it's powers in the first place?

Gira... I am pretty sure that she is alive and that she actually helped. First of all we have the warning letter. Then, at some point, I think in some discussion they refer to her in the present tense (not in a past one). Plus, I am guessing that she is the one that is warning Jess from the start of the game and trying to help her discover her powers so she can confront Ylli.



OFF TOPIC: I've noticed that many Australians hang out here! Very cool, since I too was born there, in Hobart, Tasmania! I love the place and hope to return someday!

---

Sidney mentions to Jess that Crawford was the husband of one of the Circle members...

And I reckon that Crawford used Ylli powers - maybe precognition, or maybe brutal force of will, or something to that effect - to overcome (or maybe physically eliminate) his enemies.

---

[quote=Plumgas, when you choose your cards, there's a left/right arrow somewhere on the screen that cycles through all the cards you've chosen in the game, and their meaning or link in the story. FYI to you if you replay it or anyone else who hasn't finished it is SNOOPING in here![/quote]

Thanks jen,

on my second play I did see the arrows at the top, seem to be looking down the bottom on most of the game. I thought it was bit strange when the next button was greyed out.

Play was better this time around, seemed to pick up more of the story that I missed the first time & having the patch improved things 100%

---

Except that if there was a twin, wouldn't it be on the family tree? Ylli, Jess's twin, is there.

---

yeah, i was thinking about that. I actually think Gira might be Sydney, because Gira on the family tree is an offshoot like Ylli (leads me to believe the offshoots are the males with power in the family line). We don't know who Gira's twin is because that's blanked out, but it kinda makes sense. Sydney is rather old, seems to have power, and has ties to Lila (like he continued to watch over Jess when she switched families).

Or i could be barking up the wrong tree

---

A tassy devil,
We won't hold that against you ....

---

Just finished the game then.

Card and ending

I thought I had defeated Yilli but after having a chat with Andreas it turns out that Yilli actually gets away as he fades from his chair, the mask isn't left behind. Meanwhile, the cards I used to defeat him were the ones which represented Devon and Celeste. I gathered that when it can to confronting a sibling, nothing can rival the power of its own biological family...and it worked (to an extent).

Puzzles

As always, I love the puzzles where you need to put the pieces together to make a complete picture (such as assembling a letter or a photo etc...). My favourite puzzle had to be the Blackjack Puzzle...I love those mathematical ones.

The puzzle which annoyed me had to have been the family tree puzzle and the second Oija Board puzzle. Both of which I solved without skipping, but they both took a while for me to figure out.

Favourite characters


I thought Devon was the strongest character here as he greatly influenced Jess's inner strength. Merryman was also a top character...although he reminded me of another PI I happen to be a fan of

Questions

- What are the alternate endings?

- Was Crawford's motivation for taking Yili away to harvest his power?

- Is Crawford still alive? Is this something they're using for the sequel?

Comments (posted from the review I put up on the 3 Cards Forum)

What a masterpiece! It took a traditional genre of game and gave it an original twist. This is what adventure games are about. I loved the story, characters and the gameplay. The puzzles weren't too difficult but they weren't a walk in the park either (both of which are a good thing).

I remember reading that there were three endings? I might go back and see if I can achieve the other two. I won't say which ending I got to avoid spoilers for some of you who are still playing through it.

Suggestions for the sequel:

- any chance of having full screen cinematics?

- an online feature where players can post their "card" stats

Overall, 4 out of 5 stars. I need to remove 1 star for the bugs and the small screen cinematics. Apart from that, perfect!

---

I finished the game! I must say I loved it. The gaming elements were excellent and I improved my skill finding the objects related to the key words. The puzzles were great, not too easy and not too hard, except the second turning runes puzzle, I used help there.

My favourite puzzle was the star one, where you had to make a black star and then a silver one. I also liked the oija board.

The story is the best thing of the game, and the audio acting and music were great. I liked to hear Chris Jones voice once again, he is a real talent. The final I got was defeating Illy, though I don't know where he ended and what happens wth Adrian Crawford.

I am already waiting for the sequel, though I don't know how they are going to make it, now that Jess has recovered the memory. I am sure they will find another plot which connects to the kind of gamepla of 3 Cards.

---

I've been horrendously busy lately due to work, but I've finally managed to set time aside to finish the game. I'm the kind of dumbass who goes straight to Gamer mode by the way, which is why I've spent so much time slogging through it like the hard-necked, stubborn wannabe Private Eye I am.

Final Cards

Ended up choosing Knight of Cups (signifying Daniel), as I thought hey; let's give the girl a living, breathing reason to get through this, and Death, as I read on it it signified the confrontation between the siblings. Turned out Jess merely survived, without defeating her brother, and that afterward, she wakes up the day before her 30th birthday.

Puzzles

Loved the rune puzzles, the calculator puzzle, the cipher, the family tree and the one with the spot-the-differences. Absolutely abhorred the numbered gems to add up to 24 on each line, since I fail at math in much the same fashion Uwe Boll fails at filmmaking.

Favorite Characters

Devin Tellus, easily. Also Merryman, but, hey, Chris Jones as any P.I. gives my spine the chills. In a good way, though! (Don't tell Chris I said that!)

Comments

Isn't Sydney, spelled as Sidney, also a girl's name? Who's to say Sydney/Sidney really was a man?

Also, I can't help but puzzle out who the previous male incarnation with the Gift was... Rasputin? Nostradamus? Jesus Christ? Donnie Darko? Jim The Old Guy? Rumors and speculations abound, people!!

It's also my theory that Jess had help from her family, most likely this mysterious Gira, at the time of her being attacked by Ylli and going to see her father Devin / Mystery Tarot Dude. Or, who knows, could just be a Spiritually Gifted Spasm(tm).

Anyway, done with the first play-through.

-Fred

---

Interesting, Fred. Hmm...Sydney...I know who the previous incarnation was! Milo Rambaldi.

---

I finished it this past weekend, but am just now getting around to posting.

What ending did you get? And what cards did you choose?

The first time through something got screwy with my computer and I had to exit out of the game at the screen where you pick your cards. When I opened the game back up it went straight into the "survived" ending. I played through the game again and chose the Hanged Man (Devon) and the Moon (? I think--whichever one was Celeste) and got the defeated Ylli ending.

What puzzles were your favorite and which one's busted your chops?

I liked the family tree and the star box puzzle. The gem puzzle was the most difficult for me.

Your favorite characters?

Merryman; how can you argue against Chris Jones?

Favorite moments?/ Lines?

I don't know if I have a particular favorite moment or line, but I liked the last two chapters where everything started to come together: I thought the story flowed nicely. But, I thought the whole game and the concept of telling the story through flashback, while not novel in and of itself, was executed perfectly.

Questions?

I guess most of my questions would be around Jess's and Ylli's childhoods and the back story there. I.e., was Jess's "murder" a coverup, how did Crawford end up taking power/drawing power from Ylli, and how did Celeste end up becoming a prisoner of Crawford?

Comments

I thought the overall concept was good. I can see where the word association part of the game might get too repetative if used in future games (and sometimes it was tough to discern what an object was supposed to be), but I never felt it was in this game. I enjoyed most of the puzzles, but was a little disappointed that the later chapters had fewer puzzles.

---

What ending did you get? And what cards did you choose?

Let met quote Jen here, as I could have written the same thing:
"I won, defeating Ylli. The two cards I chose were the Wheel of Fortune, and the Moon. They both had ties to Celeste and the "Gift", so that was my reasoning. The Moon card wasn't very strong, a 2 star, but I thought it best, plus I thought they were linked."

What puzzles were your favorite and which one's busted your chops?

To be honest, I can't remember a lot of them (I finished it last weekend), but I do think I liked the rune ones. But then, they were really pretty easy, and they weren't really runes. The star whose lines all added up to 24 was undoubtedly Ylli-spawn.

Your favorite characters?

Merryman and Tellus. Sydney was an interesting character whose history I would be interested in.

Favorite moments?/ Lines?

I loved every spooky bit. Seeing reflections appear and dissolve away in the rear view mirror of Merryman's car, and the shadows in the window at the asylum...wow. Great stuff. And I really liked the music, especially the one with the woman's voice. One thing's for sure -- our former Access boys sure know how to create and maintain an ambiance!!

---

Just finished it. Overall it was okay, I wasn't interested enough in the word association to play any difficulty higher than casual. I ended up clicking the hint button a few times, quitting back to the menu and video skipping to get back to the location and click the hint button some more to get myself through those parts. The puzzles were interesting and well done, with the exception of the oujia boards, which felt like I was more or less guessing my way through.

It wasn't until Chapter five or so that I really got interested, when the plot was starting to unfold. Until then it was Jess catching up on things, and she wasn't an interesting character, especially in voice. My hope for Three Cards to Dead Time is that the animation is improved in the cinematics and for a tool tip to appear when you drag a curser over an object that tells you what the object is. That would definitely circumvent a lot of problems I had looking at the rooms and wondering what some of the smaller things were.

What ending did you get? And what cards did you choose?

I chose the card for Devon and the card for Merriman. She defeated the twin (banished?).

What puzzles were your favorite and which one's busted your chops?

The 24 hour star puzzle was the most interesting, because I got a few people to try helping me with it. I got my boss, my boss got his boss, but ultimately I figured it out at work.

Your favorite characters?

Devon is interesting from a motivational perspective, Merriman is cool.

Favorite moments?/ Lines?

Favorite moment was going to the tower at the end, towards that final confrontation.

---

I just finished on Easy, and as punishment for going on such an easy difficulty level I chose 2 final cards that I didn't think would get me a "You Won" ending, and sure enough I was right. I picked the Tulles and Celeste cards which are synergistic, but both of which were my lowest-rated cards that weren't completely bad. I did this purposefully so I would be forced to reply the game to pick up more and try a harder difficulty...and even now I am excited to play again to go for the win! My only debate is whether to play on Medium or Hard...probably Medium, I had a couple of 1- and 2-star cards when I played on Easy, so I shouldn't up the difficulty too much. Maybe I'll go for medium and pick the Tower and Death on Medium or something like that to lose, then play on Hard for the win LOL We'll see...Hard may be worth it in its own right just because it sounds like the game is so different that way.

I am happy to say that I didn't skip too many puzzles, although I needed a small hint on the end of Chapter 5 (2nd Rune) puzzle, with the final word. I did skip a couple of the mid-game puzzles that I knew I could do given enough time (ironically, I *love* ciphers but skipped that one because I knew I could do it but it seemed like it would take time that I didn't have at the point when I got to it, it was getting late and I needed to save and get some sleep...that alone gives me motivation to go back through it again!)

I am probably going back to UaKM immediately, though. I am about 2/3 through and never beat it before. I just recently beat Overseer for the first time, although I had beat Mean Streets so I already knew most of the story. Pandora Directive is certainly my favorite, but all of them are fabulous, Overseer so far is a close second. I think Pandora Directive from GOG is my next purchase, and I'll play that one on the Gamer difficulty since I have played it before many times (although not for awhile).

Perhaps I will get in another TCM game between finishing UaKM and starting Pandora Directive? Then there is also TCD to fit in at the start of next month! Woohoo!!! So many fabulous stories and great games, so little time!

---

I tried Pandora on gamer difficulty and could never get past the slider puzzle right before the Mayan temple.

Unfortunately there is no hint for that one either on the sequence of the slides.