Possible broken main quest -- cannot advance in the arena to advance in JKK

[Iago]

I tried searching to see if someone else has encountered this, but no luck so far.  I accidentally triggered something while I was playing that may have borked the game for me.  A long time ago -- no, I have no save games from that far back -- i encountered the burglar in the building outside Praetorian Security while I was sneaking around and I shot him.  I stayed out of sight and no one caught me, but all of the Praetorians throughout the city went absolutely ape slaughtering everyone.  They killed everyone else in that sector, and continued to do battle in any other sectors in which they appeared.  There was a message on screen right when it started saying something to the effect that my actions had triggered a reaction.  Well, it certainly did.  I debated reloading right then and there, but decided that it was a pretty interesting result, and kept going as it was, figuring that I had probably hosed myself with a bunch of sidequests but such are the consequences.  I have been playing for many hours since, and I am worried that I may have hosed myself in the main quest.  I joined JKK and started going through the faction quests, and am now stuck trying to get the Oligarch to notice me so that I can advance the main quests.  So I started slogging through the Arena (and yes, it sucks that the Arena is mandatory when you are playing a build like a stealth sniper) and after beating Pulverizer, Lanista says to rest and come back.  But nothing ever seems to change that status.  I read on the Wiki that you need to talk to Garry outside the Arena, and therein lies the problem.  Namely, he is lying dead outside the Arena along with all of the commoners, ticket takers, and nearly everyone else, thanks to the Praetorians.  I have left the city, travelled around, done a bunch of other things, but no matter what, when I come back to the arena, he tells me to rest and come back.

So is there something else that I can do to either advance the Arena fights, or otherwise get noticed by the Oligarch?  I am stumped, and Google has not been my friend on this one. The various search terms that I tried on these forums did not work, either.    Am I just missing something? 

Thanks.

[Iago]

Well, I hope that it is not really true, but at least so far, it seems to be.  The things is, that even if I had kept a save from that far back, it was really, really far back, and I am not sure that I would really want to replay that much so soon anyway.  I am not the type who replays things over and over again, especially so soon.

So either way, it means shelving the game, and that it is disappointing.  I have not issues with broken quests, and accept that as being valid play design, but being able to break the main quest  -- and with no warning from the game that it is even possible to do so -- is not cool.  I suppose that I may eventually replay the thing some day, but it will not be for years.  And I guess that I will have to play with a guide when I do, to prevent this kind of thing from happening.  I think that it is far more fun to play things "blind," only looking up solutions when you are completely stumped like I am now.  But if you can break the entire game, it makes walkthroughs a necessity.  Shame.

[Iago]

Also, it is particularly annoying in this case because it is so arbitrary.  I am fine with Garry being killed and losing whatever information that I could get from him -- that would be "fair" consequences -- but not so fine with the fact that talking to him is the only arbitrary way to keep the Arena fights going.  Losing information from him is realistic and reasonable.  Having all time cease to operate in Core City because you cannot talk to someone is not realistic at all; it is an arbitrary trigger.   The fights should go on with or without someone who is not even in the Arena itself. 

And I do think that there should be an alternate way to advance within a faction without having to fight in the Arena at all.   That punishes people who want to try a different build than a pure fighter.  I have been able to get through every other part of the game in creative or alternate fashions, or by scoring my kills in a stealthy fashion.   Like the Gauntlet, the Arena should be optional for those who wish to do it.  By all means give them rewards that will be denied for those who do not, but do not punish those who do not by making the game impossible to finish.

[PhrygianDominant]

We're here. Someone on steam forums just recently reported the same issue, and it is due to (as epeli described) the guards entering the house after hearing the gunshots. The door protection was not properly set, so if a commoner sees anyone opening the door, the whole faction becomes hostile to the perpetrator, just like it would to the player. Hence a civil war.

Now, drop us your save (Dropbox or Google Drive or similar is best) and I'll see what I can do. Gary is definitely more important than it might initially appear, but his loss should only affect the Arena. And sorry for the late response.

[Iago]

Thanks.  I will have to do that when I get home tonight. 

I have never used Dropbox or Google Drive before, so it may take me a tick to get it set up.  But yes, I am enjoying the game, and would hate to have to just quit playing it until years later when I finally feel like replaying it.  So if it is possible to fix things, that would be great.

[Iago]

Sent an email with one of my saves uploaded to Google Drive.  Let me know what you can find out.  Thank you for the help!

[PhrygianDominant]

Sent you the fixed save. Let me tell you, there were some interesting scenes there, and it's pretty cool to see how the Coretech or JKK personnel fought against the Praetorians while trying to protect the commoners. Also saw a thug respawning just outside the Praetorian palace and getting killed by an enforcer every time I entered the map. It's like some kind of an eternal infernal punishment or something. Will fix.

In any case, hope you have fun with the rest of the game.

[Iago]

You should have seen the battles while they were taking place!

But I am having no luck.  I copied over the files that you sent, and when I restore that save, Lanista still tells me that I need to come back later.  Was there something that I needed to do first?

[Cappen]

Gary sweet lady of pain, always alone; blind you searched for the truth; I see myself in you, parallel lives; winding at light-speed through time, you're mine

[PhrygianDominant]

You should have seen the battles while they were taking place!

But I am having no luck.  I copied over the files that you sent, and when I restore that save, Lanista still tells me that I need to come back later.  Was there something that I needed to do first?

Nothing. It's the "Iago Fixed" save, right? I made the save right in front of Lanista, and as soon as you speak to him you'll see the option to start the next match. I just checked it here at home, release version, since I still have your save on dropbox, and it's working.

[Iago]

D'oh!!!  I had clicked on the wrong link in your email -- it was my own dropbox link quoted at the borrom, so it just gave me the original files!  Missed the link to the RAR above.

I is dumb.

[Iago]

O.K., I just used it and was able to get through all of the Arena fights up until the last one.  Interestingly enough, the gladiator fights were actually easier than the challenger fights since they were largely one-on-one, at least with a little save-scumming to make sure that they went down in one hit.  (No choice but to save-scum, because if they did not go down in that one hit, they were going to kill me anyway!)  So I left the Arena and saw the messenger punching it out with a Praetorian Bomber.  Literally -- it was a fistfight.  I was able to make it over to them and click the dialogue box on the messenger, which gave me the full dialogue about the Oligarch while he was punching the Praetorian the whole time.  When I closed the dialogue, he got killed.  I must definitely be in unchartered waters if the game lets me talk to people in the middle of a fight!  Anyway, I ran over to JKK, met with the Oligarch, and it looks like I can continue for the time being.  I will let you know if any other unintended consequences give me another roadblock.

Thanks again!

[PhrygianDominant]

That's one dedicated messenger. Anyway, glad to hear it works.

[Iago]

There are definite further consequences, but nothing else game-breaking so far.  I just finished the last quest for JKK and was given the house, but when I went to the store, Jyles is dead.  So no housing for me!