WARNING: Spoilers are off on Tear Jerker pages.
Base Game
- The prologue; we don't know who Shizuka is nor the context of what's happening, yet it’s abundantly clear that she is desperately trying to help someone whom she cares about and fears for. Although she tears through enemies like paper to reach him, she can only watch helplessly as he dies in front of her.
- The scene where Lea learns why she can only dream whenever she logs out of the VR world Cross Worlds. She's not only amnesic, her body back on earth is suffering a coma and there is no guarantee that she will recover. We've seen Lea emote surprise and concern in earlier scenes, but never like this; as Sergei lays out the details, it looks like she’s on the verge of a panic attack.
- It only gets Harsher in Hindsight with the reveal that Sergie was just feeding her a Motivational Lie. Lea will never recover from her ‘coma’; her life outside of CrossWorlds was well and truly over before the game even began.
- Shizuka's return. It is NOT a happy meeting. Her treatment of Lea is outright abusive; not only does she beat a weaker and unresisting girl, she also delivers the truth of Lea's nature in the most painful way she can, all in a fit of enraged pique. Lea is so distraught that she can barely even move afterwards, curling up into a Troubled Fetal Position, and softly repeating "why...?" to herself over and over.
- It's so bad that all of Sergey's attempts to reach Lea don't work. There's even clear desperation in his voice, knowing she's his only link to finding his friends, and it may be gone from Lea's trauma. Plus, he knows that this could not only cause a Heroic BSoD, but a Heroic RRoD as well; Evotars who realize the truth have been known to be deleted out of being unable to accept it.
Sergey: Lea, please calm down!
Lea: ...why...
Sergey: Sh... Shizuka was just lying! You do not have to... You must not believe her! [...] I cannot afford to lose you! Please!
Lea: ...why...
Sergey: You are the only lead I have!- This may not be the first time either; one of Lea's dreams imply that Shizuka assaulted her in the past, and it left enough of an impression to cause nightmares even after her amnesia.
- A short while later, Lukas innocently assures Lea that they shouldn't give up hope that they'll escape Crossworlds and get their lives back, unaware that she just had that hope taken away from her less than an hour ago. This is too much for Lea, who breaks down on the spot.
- Much later, it's revealed that Lukas was also wrong about himself; He, Lea, and every other prisoner in the Vermilion Wasteland are permanently cut off from the lives they want to return to but will never regain, and they don't ever know it.
- The bad ending. Sergey solemnly tells the First Scholar's Guild that regardless of his attempts, Instatainment refused all attempts at granting Evotars another chance... and promptly banned them from existing, requiring Sergey to permanently erase Lea, Lukas, and Satoshi's Evotars. Emilie can do nothing but stumble to the wall, punch it, and collapse to the ground in tears. Thankfully, A New Home not only made it clear this is non-canon, but even added a scene where Lea goes back in time to make the correct choice.
- Gautham as a character can be seen as incredibly tragic. He started out as a programmer who just wanted to make something fun for people to enjoy, and was blackmailed and coerced into a position where he inflicted horrific torture to sentient artificial intelligence he helped to create. What Sidwell made him do has thoroughly broken him, with the only outlet he has being the design of the challenges for Lea in their various encounters. Once Lea has beaten his final challenge and the team has successfully ruined Sidwell's operation, Gautham gives her a heartfelt congratulation and commits suicide by jumping off Vermillion Tower.
- While the impact is dulled by it being an in-universe scripted event involving an NPC, it's hard not to get at least a little bit emotional over the Old Man from the Core Drill quest-chain giving up his own life force to create the Infinity +1 Sword - if you've watched Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, considering the Old Man is quite obviously a Lawyer-Friendly Cameo of Simon from after the series ends. Giving up his own life so the next generation can move forward is simply, well, something Simon would do.
A New Home
- During the DLC's raid, Evotar Lukas (now called Luke) has a mild temper tantrum because Lukas envied his Evotar's ability to live every day in a game, without having to worry about real life matters. Of course, Luke does not take that well and becomes cold and rude towards Lukas until they are about to fight the boss and Emilie calls him out on his behavior. After the raid, they reconcile, but it is clear that Luke misses the life that was never his to begin, and still has doubts about how he will go with his life as an Evotar.
- The end of Chapter 12. C'tron discovering that not only is he an Evotar, but he's in fact the Evotar of Benedict Sidwell. He's so horrified that when Lea and Sergey question him, he has a massive nervous breakdown, becoming horribly deranged. Lea is driven to tears and hugs him to try and calm him down.C'tron: I must have been playing CrossWorlds a lot. Days... probably weeks on end. Always watching players, gathering information.Lea: [teary-eyed]... Why?C'tron: Because I'm Sidwell! Don't you get it?! I organized the whole thing! The Evotarground! All the intelligence-gathering systems! I pulled the strings! I kept it all running!Lea: [saddened] ...C'tron: That's what I am! Sidwell's Evotar in person! Really, why are you keeping me in this village?! Are you sure you don't want to delete me?! Isn't that what I deserve?!Sergey: Toby, please...C'tron: That name is fake and you know it!! Same with Sidwell! You don't even know my real name!Sergey: So... do you?[C'tron leans back]C'tron: ...Heh... HAHAHAHAHA!! That's right. That's why I'm here. I almost forgot. You want to find him. You want justice! Of course... That's why you won't delete me.Lea: Wait... [shakes her head]C'tron: What is it? Am I not right? I'm your only source of information! That's why I'm here!Lea: [shakes her head, on the verge of tears] Wait!![Lea lunges towards C'tron and hugs him]C'tron: W-What is this now?!Lea: Wait...C'tron: Could you maybe stop doing this?Lea: [shakes her head, teary-eyed] Sorry.C'tron: Hugging isn't a fix for everything, Lea. You shouldn't hug the person that ruined your life.Lea: [shakes her head, teary-eyed] ...Thanks.C'tron: What? Why are you thanking me? Are you entirely broken now?Lea: [shakes her head]C'tron: What is wrong with you?Sergey: Toby... Please calm down... Remember... you spent a lot of time with Lea. Playing CrossWorlds together... as friends. You should not forget about that.C'tron: Really now? Despite the fact that I've been deceiving you the whole time? Hahaha... This is stupid... So stupid... I... I don't get it... Really... I don't even understand it myself. All this time... Ever since we've been playing together... I've been feeling this incredible... dread. I didn't want it to end. I didn't want you to find out. I wished things would have been different. Why would I... Why would Sidwell ever feel this way?
- C'tron is so disturbed by his breakdown that by the next day, he sits in his house alone, unsure on how to keep going. Fortunately, Lea can visit him and cheer him up.
