How to return to New Jerusalem or other places after game ending?

[NowIsGold]

After solving all puzzles and saving Athena I wish to freely visit every place. That seems not possible unfortunately. Any clue?

[Chika Ogiue]

You cannot. Your only hope is that the developers patch in the ability to select destination when boarding the VTOL post game. But at the moment, you cannot return to the city.

[angore]

Yes, I succeeded, after saving Athena and even watching all the credits, I again enter the game and from the Megastructure, where the helicopter is located, go down the steps, there is a capsule on which I moved to all points, sit in it and select on the map destination. I came back to collect all the stars that I couldn’t collect before the final.

[Yashgyy]

@angore We cannot return to new Jersualem though this way

[Pocahawtness]

My one criticism of the game - it should be possible to return at any point.

[angore]

I agree, you should definitely be able to return at any time, if you wish. Perhaps the authors will take this point into account?

[Alcator]

The 'trouble', so to speak, with that idea is that they would need to develop additional system for getting you back to the Megastructure. If you remember, the VTOL flights are all 'cut scenes' (non-interactive), with heavily scripted movement of other people, with dialogues etc.; and flying from New Jerusalem to the Megastructure is done from the top of the tower.

Which means:
1. They could add some 'teleporter' device to NJ once the game is finished, without explaining where it comes from or why wasn't it available before, and another one at the Megastructure, allowing you to basically just blink between the two spots. Pro: Easy to do; Con: 4'967 Steam Forum threads asking WHY/HOW or accusing developers of having a "PLOT HOLE !!!111one!!!" in the game. Because gamers are jerks. ;-)
2. They could spend several weeks to craft a new VTOL 'ferry service', together with dialogue recording (Voice Actors would have to be paid etc.), for the benefit of - what? 0.1% of players who didn't get the memo that they should explore NJ fully on those THREE occasions they had?? Who's going to pay for that? And wouldn't that time be better spent working on a DLC, which will actually get them paid?

Edit: ... and that's before we even get into the greater ramifications: Allowing you to return to NJ and explore it AFTER Athena is saved means giving every single citizen that you encounter new voice lines with which they'd react to EACH of the three possible endings (as well as their sub-variants).

[Chika Ogiue]

Originally posted by Alcator:

The 'trouble', so to speak, with that idea is that they would need to develop additional system for getting you back to the Megastructure.

Not really. They just need to create a generic loading screen. Select to travel with the VTOL back to NJ, and the game puts up a loading screen, then puts you in the NJ tower. Want to return to the megastructure? Same thing. Return to VTOL, wait for the duration of the loading screen. It doesn't need anything special.

Likewise, the return to NJ would just load the city in its last state: for example, that of when you left the dam for the second time. Or, if the devs felt like it, they could let you select which instance of NJ you visit.

And for endgame, which is when such a system should unlock, none of it would matter, given the game is already completed. Thus, there are no story consequences to worry about or track.

[Alcator]

Originally posted by Chika Ogiue:

And for endgame, which is when such a system should unlock, none of it would matter, given the game is already completed. Thus, there are no story consequences to worry about or track.

Yes, but the people there have dialogues for "What do you think about Athena?" etc. -- and those would all need to be either disabled, or reworked, or enhanced etc.

[Chika Ogiue]

Originally posted by Alcator:

Yes, but the people there have dialogues for "What do you think about Athena?" etc. -- and those would all need to be either disabled, or reworked, or enhanced etc.

Why would they? It's end of game. Game complete. At the point travel could be allowed, players have already seen the six ending variations their playthrough has unlocked. Nothing needs to be reworked in terms of characters or storyline. The save data has already tracked this. The worst that Croteam need to do is keep stored the specific changes over the three different states of the city the player could potentially choose to return to: pre-expedition NJ, mid-point return NJ, post election NJ. That's it. Those changes are already tracked, they're what determine the state of NJ at the time you visit it the two subsequent times you already can.

You're assuming the need for additional character exposition where there is no such need.

So to sum up:
Easy solution -- Croteam allow players to return to NJ as it was at post election.
Complete solution -- Croteam, using the flags set during the player's playthrough offer up return to three states of NJ that the player had access to during their playthrough.

That's it. There is no need for anything else in terms of the base game.

[Alcator]

The reason why you would want to return to NJ is to explore it further, talking to characters you missed, finishing research you missed etc.

I feel like you're not giving it enough thought...

[Chika Ogiue]

Originally posted by Alcator:

The reason why you would want to return to NJ is to explore it further, talking to characters you missed, finishing research you missed etc.

I feel like you're not giving it enough thought...

No, you're giving it too much thought.

The NJ states I mention already take into consideration everything the player has access to in their playthrough. If players want to make significant changes -- impacting the mayor chosen, they start a new game. If they want to just see the characters they missed -- as you state -- they can simply visit the versions of NJ they had access to during their game, with the game then not having to alter anything based on their interaction in the city states post game.

In fact, I'll over think it now and suggest a new game + for the save, which then shows you the choices you made in your last playthrough with different coloured text, so you can then make new dialogue choices knowing what you previously selected. That seems to me what you're over thinking wants.

I'll also add that your face to face interactions with characters in NJ has little affect on the choice of mayor. That is mostly chosen through your Social Media choices during the expedition. The NJ visits merely let you see the effects of those choices as they start to play out.

[games23]

you can fast travel to individual puzzles after you've solved them
you should be able to fast travel back to new jerusalem too