I'll be honest, when I first played crosscode, I picked up on the visual similarities between Lea and Shizuka right away. Like I'm talking in the cargo hold tutorial section. I thought throughout the majority of the game that the big twist it was heading to was that Lea was an amnesic Shizuka. And everything seemed to check out as the game progressed. The Coma talk with Sergey, The dream sequences, I even chalked up the speech malfunction as an attempt at whoever was behind the red box silencing her as a precaution in case her memories came back. Since the game never mentioned Shizuka by name, I figured that the game was intentionally not mentioning her to hide what I thought was an "obvious twist", that she had been reconditioned to forget her past life by the mysterious red box (the reasons which I was less sure about, or even who the red box was). The final nail was that one dream scene in the dorms, where it was revealed her "brother" was satoshi, the guy she was going after in the prologue. I considered my theory basically confirmed at that point, and was expecting her to figure it out at any moment and for the game to finally carry out the twist. So when Shizuka just waltzed on in and beat lea to the ground? It was an emotional liver punch. Literally all of my preconceptions about the game's narrative where shattered in an instant. And even if it wasn't anywhere near what Lea was feeling, it made me incredibly empathetic to lea's reaction to the actual twist about how she was actually an AI the entire time. I don't know if this was intentional or not, but either way, it was one of if not the most impactful plot twist I've ever witnessed in my life. 10/10 writing.
@@yamnbam4346 Same here. For me it was obvious Lea was Shizuka but inside some kind of machine to recover her memories while she was in a coma. But when Shizuka appeared in Vermillion Wasteland, it gave me goosebumps. I was like "wth they are not the same". masterpiece
My playthrough went much the same, but I somehow correctly guessed that the clone Lukas we meet at Vermillion Wasteland was an AI copy. Didn't get anywhere close to connecting the dots between him and Lea until Shizuka slapped it into me.
>Bursts into an off-limits zone >Obliterates the defensive mechanisms of the place >Finds her clone >Tells her that she is, indeed, a clone, putting the clone's life at risk >Slaps her clone several times >Refuses to elaborate any further >Leaves
Shizuka's assault and explanation, and Sergey's accidental revelation that he was just using Lea as a means to find Satoshi, dealt so much trauma that it wrapped back around to 0, which let her accept the truth.
I agree that Shizuka doesn't do much to warrant forgiveness. She's responsible for Lea's near-death experience. How do you possibly make up for that? Granted, at the Old Hideout, Shizuka changes her tune really quickly. She starts out wanting to kill Lea as violently as possible, and not that long later admits that she should be the one apologizing to Lea. It makes you wonder if she's been indecisive about Lea (and Evotars in general) in the past. Lea, everything else considered, seems to like Shizuka and want her company. In fact, it doesn't seem like Lea is ever angry or hateful towards her. Sure, Shizuka deserves worse (and frankly, I'm sure that Sergey was furious on Lea's behalf, when it happened; Shizuka really did almost ruin everything). So, what conclusions could be drawn from Lea forgiving so easily? I think Lea forgives simply because she wants to. She doesn't want to hate Shizuka. She doesn't have that much capacity for hate, when you consider that her identity is heavily influenced by people like Emilie who have been kind to her. She doesn't want to act like she's better than the situation or better than Shizuka; she just genuinely would rather have Shizuka as a tentative friend than harbor resentment towards her. Lea's learned from others to be compassionate to herself, and "herself" means Shizuka too. Lea's forgiveness comes a little too easily. It's a trait that could make her vulnerable to being hurt by others, so she would need to watch that in the future. But in Shizuka's case, at least, Lea can understand herself enough to trust Shizuka not to hurt her after that. In any case, I feel like Sergey and Satoshi, on Lea's behalf, would have a harder time letting go of what Shizuka did. Sergey witnessed Lea suffer so much and nearly die, and realized too late that Lea wasn't just his only lead, but his only friend. Satoshi presumably also cares about Lea (I mean, he doesn't ever get personal about it, but it can be assumed), and recognizes how close things came to his far-flung plan getting absolutely botched by the person he was most trying to save. These two wouldn't give Shizuka "comeuppance" per se, if they see that Shizuka has learned from her mistakes, but they probably can't move past it as easily as Lea does.
From Shizuka's perspective at the time, we are nothing but an AI in her likeness, and a leftover of the project that ultimately killed her brother. Quite frankly I'm surprised she gave us the time of day
@@zemyla I know I'm a year late, but the delivery of the story didn't seem to imply that. It was heavily implied that Lea had enough unique memories she made as herself that the truth that she was able to latch onto those feelings to deal with the situation, shown by how it flashed scenes with Emilie and Tronny The story's delivery only focused on Sergey's motivation when she was starting to get angry at Sergey for using her.
Why is every scene with Shizuka after the prologue absolutely incredible? First this, then her boss fight, then when she appears out of nowhere on a trail of fire to help with the final raid.
The moment you see it is Shizuka coming through the door, you know something's going down... the prologue already established her as, shall we say, not the most friendly person around and she wastes no time laying out her disdain for Lea and the harsh truths she wasn't prepared for. She's brutal when she wants to be...
Fantastic. Your soundtrack is absolutely sick Deniz. It rekindles some of the inspiration I lost and makes me want to make more music. I hope you get the recognition you deserve for this. Godspeed.
That scene, this song and Shizuka herself for some reason made me think of Shizuru Shu from Phantasy Star Portable 2. Not to mention the similar name and black/red color palette.
Sigh... I guess there's no point in hiding spoilers here with you guys. :p Anyways, sigh... I thought Lea WAS Shizuka but her personality might have gotten different somehow from amnesia or something, not that she was some kind of AI clone... :? And... I feel like I should sort of get her point, but I don't. ._. And... am kind of angry and frustrated at her at the moment, attacking poor Lea like that and giving her a mental breakdown. :( Like hell, did she come all the way there just to mess with you actually...? Is she even working for that one evil floating god whatever guy...? ._. Because actually no, yeah, I think I hate her for real now. :( Stupid Shizuka... your own AI is better than you. :p
“Shizuka No” literally explains this entire scene.
I'll be honest, when I first played crosscode, I picked up on the visual similarities between Lea and Shizuka right away. Like I'm talking in the cargo hold tutorial section. I thought throughout the majority of the game that the big twist it was heading to was that Lea was an amnesic Shizuka. And everything seemed to check out as the game progressed. The Coma talk with Sergey, The dream sequences, I even chalked up the speech malfunction as an attempt at whoever was behind the red box silencing her as a precaution in case her memories came back. Since the game never mentioned Shizuka by name, I figured that the game was intentionally not mentioning her to hide what I thought was an "obvious twist", that she had been reconditioned to forget her past life by the mysterious red box (the reasons which I was less sure about, or even who the red box was). The final nail was that one dream scene in the dorms, where it was revealed her "brother" was satoshi, the guy she was going after in the prologue. I considered my theory basically confirmed at that point, and was expecting her to figure it out at any moment and for the game to finally carry out the twist.
So when Shizuka just waltzed on in and beat lea to the ground? It was an emotional liver punch. Literally all of my preconceptions about the game's narrative where shattered in an instant. And even if it wasn't anywhere near what Lea was feeling, it made me incredibly empathetic to lea's reaction to the actual twist about how she was actually an AI the entire time. I don't know if this was intentional or not, but either way, it was one of if not the most impactful plot twist I've ever witnessed in my life. 10/10 writing.
Def intentional. We both picked up on the same twist. I thought they were the same, too. Literally yelled when I saw Shizuka
@@yamnbam4346 Same here. For me it was obvious Lea was Shizuka but inside some kind of machine to recover her memories while she was in a coma.
But when Shizuka appeared in Vermillion Wasteland, it gave me goosebumps. I was like "wth they are not the same".
masterpiece
Well, she IS an amnesiac Shizuka. Because she's literally a copy of her but without memories
I belive its foreshadowed at the very beginning when Sergey appears to just stop time to talk to lea
My playthrough went much the same, but I somehow correctly guessed that the clone Lukas we meet at Vermillion Wasteland was an AI copy. Didn't get anywhere close to connecting the dots between him and Lea until Shizuka slapped it into me.
"hey so you're not real"
"lea"
".. 'kay bye"
>Bursts into an off-limits zone
>Obliterates the defensive mechanisms of the place
>Finds her clone
>Tells her that she is, indeed, a clone, putting the clone's life at risk
>Slaps her clone several times
>Refuses to elaborate any further
>Leaves
Sigma activity
You should stop existing
NOW!!!!!!!
My job here is done
**smirks**
“Have a nice day.”
So many chills
You know, your average traumatic experience
I really felt like Shizuka deserved a little more comeuppance for this stunt.
Especially since Sergey explained what happens to Evotars when they learn the truth. It was almost attempted murder.
Shizuka's assault and explanation, and Sergey's accidental revelation that he was just using Lea as a means to find Satoshi, dealt so much trauma that it wrapped back around to 0, which let her accept the truth.
I agree that Shizuka doesn't do much to warrant forgiveness. She's responsible for Lea's near-death experience. How do you possibly make up for that?
Granted, at the Old Hideout, Shizuka changes her tune really quickly. She starts out wanting to kill Lea as violently as possible, and not that long later admits that she should be the one apologizing to Lea. It makes you wonder if she's been indecisive about Lea (and Evotars in general) in the past.
Lea, everything else considered, seems to like Shizuka and want her company. In fact, it doesn't seem like Lea is ever angry or hateful towards her. Sure, Shizuka deserves worse (and frankly, I'm sure that Sergey was furious on Lea's behalf, when it happened; Shizuka really did almost ruin everything).
So, what conclusions could be drawn from Lea forgiving so easily?
I think Lea forgives simply because she wants to. She doesn't want to hate Shizuka. She doesn't have that much capacity for hate, when you consider that her identity is heavily influenced by people like Emilie who have been kind to her. She doesn't want to act like she's better than the situation or better than Shizuka; she just genuinely would rather have Shizuka as a tentative friend than harbor resentment towards her.
Lea's learned from others to be compassionate to herself, and "herself" means Shizuka too.
Lea's forgiveness comes a little too easily. It's a trait that could make her vulnerable to being hurt by others, so she would need to watch that in the future. But in Shizuka's case, at least, Lea can understand herself enough to trust Shizuka not to hurt her after that.
In any case, I feel like Sergey and Satoshi, on Lea's behalf, would have a harder time letting go of what Shizuka did. Sergey witnessed Lea suffer so much and nearly die, and realized too late that Lea wasn't just his only lead, but his only friend. Satoshi presumably also cares about Lea (I mean, he doesn't ever get personal about it, but it can be assumed), and recognizes how close things came to his far-flung plan getting absolutely botched by the person he was most trying to save. These two wouldn't give Shizuka "comeuppance" per se, if they see that Shizuka has learned from her mistakes, but they probably can't move past it as easily as Lea does.
From Shizuka's perspective at the time, we are nothing but an AI in her likeness, and a leftover of the project that ultimately killed her brother. Quite frankly I'm surprised she gave us the time of day
@@zemyla I know I'm a year late, but the delivery of the story didn't seem to imply that.
It was heavily implied that Lea had enough unique memories she made as herself that the truth that she was able to latch onto those feelings to deal with the situation, shown by how it flashed scenes with Emilie and Tronny The story's delivery only focused on Sergey's motivation when she was starting to get angry at Sergey for using her.
Why is every scene with Shizuka after the prologue absolutely incredible? First this, then her boss fight, then when she appears out of nowhere on a trail of fire to help with the final raid.
And then she steals the show whenever she appears during the DLC as well. True best-girl material.
Goddamit my heart
Lea didnt deserve this
The moment you see it is Shizuka coming through the door, you know something's going down... the prologue already established her as, shall we say, not the most friendly person around and she wastes no time laying out her disdain for Lea and the harsh truths she wasn't prepared for. She's brutal when she wants to be...
Goddamnit Shizuka
I have no words for this part of the game and this music. I was floored.
when you cross the codes...
Fantastic. Your soundtrack is absolutely sick Deniz. It rekindles some of the inspiration I lost and makes me want to make more music. I hope you get the recognition you deserve for this. Godspeed.
I agree 100%
and thus, they crossed paths...
shizuka no don't do that
You thought we wouldn't catch the Lea at 1:21? Well you were wrong!
There's another one at 2:41.
wdym? like, Lea's theme motif being put into the song?
What would you do, if your own existence was nothing but a lie?
Poor Lea.
That scene, this song and Shizuka herself for some reason made me think of Shizuru Shu from Phantasy Star Portable 2.
Not to mention the similar name and black/red color palette.
1:52-2:02 really reminds me of morphogenetic sorrow from Zero Escape
From 3:05 it just gets terrifying
Shizuka single-handedly almost ruining everything for herself; Sergey; her brother (in Evotar form); and all the other evotars.
1:40
I get some real Professor Layton vibes right here.
Yeah what shook me more was that she wasn't her rather than what she really was and the two things after (spoiler avoided)
This plays when Shizuka meets Lea if im not mistaken...
poor lea
such traumatic event
Is this Chrono trigger jail, legend of zelda, or crosscode?
I cant tell.
This part of the game made me VERY uncomfortable.
Sigh... I guess there's no point in hiding spoilers here with you guys. :p
Anyways, sigh... I thought Lea WAS Shizuka but her personality might have gotten different somehow from amnesia or something, not that she was some kind of AI clone... :?
And... I feel like I should sort of get her point, but I don't. ._. And... am kind of angry and frustrated at her at the moment, attacking poor Lea like that and giving her a mental breakdown. :( Like hell, did she come all the way there just to mess with you actually...? Is she even working for that one evil floating god whatever guy...? ._. Because actually no, yeah, I think I hate her for real now. :(
Stupid Shizuka... your own AI is better than you. :p