Part 120: Episode CXIV: Cross

Episode CXIV: Cross



Other than not wanting to stick my dick in a vise doing the next set of the Trials of Solomon, we're officially caught up with as much progress in all the sidequests as we can be before being blocked by endgame flags unlocking the final stage. We could carry on with plot progress. But Detective Columbo just walked in and said "but one more thing..." and well, shit. At the end of our Europe world map list of locations the game silently, with zero fanfare or indication, has added Zurich as a location option.



If you'll recall the end of Shadow Hearts 1, that's where Yuri and Alice were heading at the conclusion of the game to go meet Alice's mother.





...It didn't turn out too well.



So, what better an idea than to return there to go visit Alice Elliot's grave and reflect on the past before performing feats of necromancy on her that have never gone properly at any point in at least the last 20 years.



......
Is this...?



Yeah. Alice's grave.
Sorry I had Roger land us at the city and we had to walk 20 miles outside it to get here... I just needed to get in the right headspace, you know?
It's fine. It doesn't hurt to walk that far outdoors in high heel boots or anything.
Thanks for understanding.

Yuri bends over and starts brushing off the grave.



I haven't been here in a while, and it's gotten so dirty.
Sorry for not visiting, Alice. I beat up a Japanese military conspiracy and saved Russia from another wizard while I was gone. It's been a weird few months. But you know how it is with me.



Heh... It's been over a year now...
It might be two years now. With everything going on I've lost track. It almost feels like nothing is consistent lately. What day is it even?
......
Why... did you bring me here?


Music: Memories of Melodies ~ Peace



Yuri takes something off the grave.



<hands something to Karin> To give you this.
A cross?
<nods>



It belonged to my mother.
......
I want you to have it.
Really?
Look... I am in a weird place. I've got a curse that might erase my soul. I'm going to try a crazy resurrection of my dead girlfriend with a 700-year-old monk that might get me killed. Kato is out there doing some ending the world stuff I don't even know the deal with yet...



All of the people that I've ever loved have carried it. My mother and father...



...And Alice.
<sigh> I still feel like an idiot I got this headstone made with the last of my Cash after the old party divvied it up last adventure and... I couldn't remember if her last name had two "L"s or one. It was two... Sorry again, Alice...



......
<scratches head nervously> Hah, I guess that everyone that has carried it has died.
Huh?! R-really?
Mom got killed by zombies. Dad died beating a Chinese sorcerer. Alice... you know...
Ergh... I-It's okay! You don't have to worry. It's not like it's cursed or anything.
That's just me cursed. There was a Chinese fiddle player that was the daughter of my father's good friend that had it for about a decade too and she is still alive.
<remembers Shanghai exploded> Y-Yeah... She... she's still good... Definitely good! Yep! Alive... and good...
<nervous laugh>
Heh... heh...



If I lose my memory... do you think all of the memories locked up in that cross will disappear too?
Yuri...



Karin, I want you to hold it for me so the memories don't disappear... My mother, my father, Alice and me. A part of all of us is in that cross.



I know I shouldn't ask. I feel bad doing it... But... It has to be you, Karin.
I like the rest of the group but... you're the only real choice. C'mon. Am I going to give it to Joachim? He's a vampire. It might kill him. Or Anastasia or Lucia? No... Just no. I considered Blanca but he's Jewish and it'd be weird. And I barely know Kurando.
But... Wasn't Gepetto related to Alice? Shouldn't he have it?
Yeah... But I get the sense he would try to put it on one of his creepy doll dresses. I don't want the memories of me and my family as an accessory on a gross puppet girl.



......
<nods> ...I'll do it.



<nervous laugh>
Hehe.



And the two share an awkward laugh slowly addressing the elephant in the room that... there's not an out for Yuri's curse visible and he's probably fucked this time. Especially, since the third game has barely any connections to the adventures of our Punchboy and that's never a good sign looking into a series.

Music: ENDS



This scene bestows us Anne's Cross returning from the first game. In the first game, this was given to Yuri after completing a series of Pit Fights (see why I just did that last update of bullshit) which resulted in some more backstory about the lead-up to his father's final battle with the wizard Dehuai. And it was... a completely useless accessory! +1 Physical and Special Defense. It gave you a mulligan if a character went Berserk. As in their turn was just skipped so you could heal that status before they got another turn. They'd go Berserk again the next turn. Anyone could wear it and all that business about giving it to Alice didn't happen on screen.

But then again, Shadow Hearts 2 fudges the details of the first game a lot. Alice and Yuri being lovers are... they were clearly into each other. And clearly hooked up at the end. But the furthest it ever got was possibly they went to the bone zone off-screen at a hotel during the ending narration before getting on a train to Zurich. Alice dropped dead the next day on the train ride. Alice was actively dying in the last dungeon and if they had a few weeks of being a real couple it'd be a lot. But let's not dwell on that.



While it was useless in the first game, this is Karin Koenig's exclusive designated best accessory in the game for her as it gives +2 to all offensive and defensive stats. It also grants full protection from all Status and Ring abnormalities and debuffs. And just restores 25-75 HP per turn as a cherry on top. It's probably the single best accessory in the game overall.



...So reads the gravestone inscription.

And with that, we depart from Zurich, never to return. Welp... That was a bit of a bummer. Also, might I mention this is a fucking optional scene you can easily miss? I don't know. This seems vitally important overall if you ask me. To the furtherment of Yuri being in a weird bad headspace that is leading up to the next big plot beat and maybe people should be concerned. I don't know what this series is with essential story beats hidden behind going to specific places at specific times with little indication. Like how you had to go to one hotel room in a location you were in for all of 40 minutes to learn one of the bigger characters of the first half of the game died. You know, the set-up for most of the plot momentum in Disc 2 with Kato, who is I suppose the main villain now by order of elimination.

Now onward to undo that bummer. Probably. Maybe... We'll see...






Video: Episode 114 Highlight Reel