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(SPOILERS) Final Thoughts on CrossCode's Story

Arnox

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Before, I say anything further here, I want to preface this all by saying that I ENJOYED CrossCode's story a lot! Specifically, the characters are very stand-out (for the most part) and the world is inviting and pretty imaginative. This plus some pretty amazing music here and there really serve to pull you in. I also want to say that I do not like writing some of these issues I have with this game out, but I'm a firm believer in constructive criticism, and I also take the time to write these complaints out because I do really like this game and think it's a feat that they crammed so much story and content into one game.

NOW, with that said, there's a couple things I'd like to bring up here that I feel are problem areas with the game's plot. In the beginning of the game, two big mysteries are present for the player. Who is Lea and what is the purpose of the track and the full history of the ancient civilization on Shadoon? As it turns out though, only one of those questions was answered adequately by the end of the game. For me, when I was first presented with these two questions, I began to work out a theory that interweaved both of these mysteries together, thinking that Lea was somehow tied to Shadoon, and that the plot would majorly revolve around the track and the mysteries in it and how Lea is relevant to all that.

Linked to that, I immediately started getting suspicious of Emilie. There were suspect things that I noticed and they began to pile up. Why did she pick me out of a crowd? How does she know C'tron, even in passing, if she's new to this game? Even his nickname? She also seemed rather competent for her level, and then there was the entire First Scholars. Why was Emilie so damn eager to get herself and me into a guild? Clearly this was the group Lea must have been affiliated with, or at least had known about. They must have stumbled upon some great power or knowledge. And on and on, this thinking went for me. I was so convinced of this theory and it hyped me up, heavily suspecting (and hoping) that the game would drop a bomb, revealing Emilie and the First Scholars and make me choose my allegiance!

Haha, nope. It's a story about AI. Shadoon and the Track were a huge red herring. Okay...

There's also other things. Loose threads that aren't really of any huge significance but leave me scratching my head. For starters, what happened to the Omnigliders? There was supposed to be a plot to shut down smaller guilds through economics, but after we find out about this, it never really seems to be brought up again, unless I missed a quest for this or something? And what about the AIs in Vermillion Wasteland? A lot of them went flat out insane/were bugged to hell. How did the main cast round them up at the end when some of them are completely unresponsive? And then finally, to wrap it up, there's a few characters that also left me scratching my head. For one, Shizuka just constantly goes berserk on Lea for no good reason. I mean, yeah, I can see why she was mad at Lea, but she just kept on it CONSTANTLY, and it made her look really cruel and needlessly bitchy. And then there's the Last Minute Heroes. Who I expected to show up at the end at least, but you just see their headquarters once and that's it.

At the end of the day, I'm betting that some content probably had to be cut and the story needed rearranging a few times. If so, this would explain a whole lot of these issues. Nevertheless, sadly, they remain. But anyway, that's my take on this. Let me know what you guys think, and I would especially love to hear things from the devs themselves if they have time! Besides that, thanks for reading and good luck, Radical Fish, on your next game!
 
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