Lost a lot of progress. not sure if i'll keep playing

[lightfire]

idk if i'm just really stupid or if it was poorly communicated/signposted. lost like 3-4 hours of progress because i pressed a button in the science level and apparently i helped shodan by blowing up a city so i got a game over. was given no warning as to what it was or if i should even press it. i thought i had to press it to progress but apparently not.

it wouldn't have been so bad if the last autosave wasn't from the medical level 2 hours in at the start of the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game. idk why the autosave hadn't activated at all in the 5-6 hours since then but whatever i guess. my last manual save was near the start of the science level and i've hardly been using quicksaves.

the game has been fun teetering on a boring. having to go back through the maze in science is not a fun idea to me.

[Seamus]

Considering the button isn't enabled by default: No. Others have mentioned the laser.

[lightfire]

they did mention the laser but i had no idea where it was. i thought it would be later on. not in the second area. i've never played the game before. i also have no idea if it enabled by default. that's just how i found it. none of that changes the fact that it's poorly signposted what the button does.

[Seamus]

How dare a game not hold your hand and allow you to make mistakes.

[lightfire]

how dare it waste my time and not explain they very important auto save system and leave me guessing for 7 hours as to how it's supposed to work. no matter how you spin it, that's terrible design.

[Seamus]

No, you really just only have yourself to blame for making assumptions and ignoring the save button.

[Admiral]

You blew up the Earth. Gonratz. If you'd just payd attention to audio logs...
Start again and pay attention to what you learn.

[Osprey]

Originally posted by lightfire:

funny you mention that. the only audio log i found that referenced the button was in the same room as the button and it played as i pressed it.

If it makes you feel better, the same thing happened to me. I walked into the room, pressed the button and was surprised when the game ended and I had to reload a save. Fortunately, I lost less than 10 minutes. When I got back to the room, I found the audio log that told me not to press the button. Haha.

[Pobway]

kill the scientist with the laser

[Cahalith]

For context: The laser button game over is taken directly from the original System Shock. Nightdive Studios deliberately recreated this 'trap' for the remake, and I believe that's because they understood that there's a good design reason for it to exist in the game: It's supposed to drive home the point that you can't just press random buttons on a space station, hoping it'll all naturally work out for you. You need to be aware of your surroundings and your mission objectives. That comes with being an immersive sim.

There is an audio log in the room to warn you against pressing the button. If I recall correctly, there is a big glowing "laser charging" display next to the button as well. And Lansing establishes right at the start of the game that SHODAN is charging the mining laser to fire on Earth. Preventing that from happening is literally your main objective at this point.

[Shakajolt]

TBH I'd play the original. I'm barely into this one yet, and already the changes to the opening and what I think are changes to early dialogue definitely feel like downgrades.
I remember in the original it was made pretty damn clear in audio logs what to do, and if you hit the button, it was most likely on purpose, not a trap or accident.

[lightfire]

Originally posted by Shakajolt:

TBH I'd play the original. I'm barely into this one yet, and already the changes to the opening and what I think are changes to early dialogue definitely feel like downgrades.
I remember in the original it was made pretty damn clear in audio logs what to do, and if you hit the button, it was most likely on purpose, not a trap or accident.

i haven't played the original but i have played system shock 2 and had no issues with a trap like that. i do know the audio logs make it clear the laser is a threat and shutting it down is what you need to do. though they never say where the laser control is actually at. had i known, i'd have kept an eye out for something like it. so if the audio logs in the original did tell you where it was then this is even worse than i thought.
i did decide to trudge through the maze again with my brain turned off until i hit new stuff. i'm now stuck in the reactor with low ammo and tough enemies. is there a consistent way to get ammo in this game or are you at the mercy of whatever is lying around?

[Orogogus]

If anything, the audio log in the remake is more explicit about where to find the laser controls.

Original:
https://shodan.fandom.com/wiki/Destroying_the_Laser
Mission 1: "The laser controls and my notes are on the Research level."
Mission 2/3: " The laser firing controls are back on the Research level."

Remake:
https://shodan.fandom.com/wiki/Destroying_the_Laser_(System_Shock_Remake)
"The laser can be fired from the Research central control after you enter the safety override code number-"

But the original was slightly clearer about labeling the button.

Original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sVWfgpc71M&t=13430s
Remake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7x_UC8qG6w&t=14246s

In both versions there's a very, very clear audio log in the control room that basically tells you what's going to happen when you fire the laser.

Original: https://shodan.fandom.com/wiki/SHODAN_Charging_the_Laser
Remake: https://youtu.be/M7x_UC8qG6w?t=10840

EDIT: Somehow YouTube embeds on the Steam forums start a little earlier than the timestamps.

[Cahalith]

Originally posted by lightfire:

i did decide to trudge through the maze again with my brain turned off until i hit new stuff.

See, this right here is what leads you to accidentally destroying Earth

Originally posted by lightfire:

i'm now stuck in the reactor with low ammo and tough enemies. is there a consistent way to get ammo in this game or are you at the mercy of whatever is lying around?

Pretty much all ammo in the game is limited. You can vaporize/recycle clutter items to get money to buy ammo at vending machines, but the vending machines don't have infinite ammo either.

The only ranged weapon that arguably has infinite ammo is the SparQ Beam, since it draws from your energy reserves, and you can infinitely recharge from the recharge stations.

So use the SparQ Beam and your melee weapons on low-threat enemies and conserve your limited ammo for the really dangerous enemies.

[Orogogus]

Originally posted by lightfire:

i did decide to trudge through the maze again with my brain turned off until i hit new stuff. i'm now stuck in the reactor with low ammo and tough enemies. is there a consistent way to get ammo in this game or are you at the mercy of whatever is lying around?

Are you going into the middle area that's radioactive? Don't go there until later. Otherwise the reactor level shouldn't be difficult. Use the energy gun, and make lots of runs back and forth between the healing bed and the power station to the north. I usually put the SparQ beam on its middle setting since the default lowest setting just doesn't do enough damage, although the highest setting might be better for fighting hoppers.

[lightfire]

Originally posted by Orogogus:

Originally posted by lightfire:

i did decide to trudge through the maze again with my brain turned off until i hit new stuff. i'm now stuck in the reactor with low ammo and tough enemies. is there a consistent way to get ammo in this game or are you at the mercy of whatever is lying around?

Are you going into the middle area that's radioactive? Don't go there until later. Otherwise the reactor level shouldn't be difficult. Use the energy gun, and make lots of runs back and forth between the healing bed and the power station to the north. I usually put the SparQ beam on its middle setting since the default lowest setting just doesn't do enough damage, although the highest setting might be better for fighting hoppers.

wait, it has settings? i just thought it was weak af cause it has infinite ammo.

kind of? i'm just going around the level exploring and i keep running into really strong bots that grind my health down in seconds. i don't have that much ammo to spend on taking them down. i tried making trips back and forth to heal between fights but the damn things respawn and often times new enemies are there too. it's a mess of an area.