Do you guys think it would be better if you could get over addiction from chems the old fashioned way without a doctor? Or at least make it so we could craft something to get us over addiction...I think so. Also what kind of chems do you guys think will be in the game?

Addiction was handled terribly in both Fallout 3 and New Vegas. Addiction that lasts ...forever? But wait! It gets even more bizarre! Pay a few caps to a doc and he can cure it instantly!

I thought they handled addiction well in Fallout 1 and 2. In those games addiction lasted seven days after the character's withdrawal symptoms develop. That actually makes some kind of sense.

If Bethesda includes addiction in Fallout 4 I hope they return to Fallout 1/2's addiction. I'd rather have no addiction at all than the unimmersive, nonsensical addiction we see in the last two games.

Were you ever addicted to something...? I don't think any alcoholic would be cured just because he don't drink for 7 days...

But you do think he could craft something or visit a doctor to instantly cure the addiction?

Given the super SCEICNE! behind things like stimpacks..... yeah, they probably could craft something that does that.

if you can have your brain replaced, and still be up walking and talking... I have no doubt a chem could be invented/has been invented to combat addiction. Which, we know already exists and is called Fixer in NV. Is it explained? Not really, but SCIENCE makes many things believed to be impossible, highly possible.

For the record, I don't have a problem with the way addiction was handled in Fallout 3 and New Vegas. I just think that if those insta-fixes don't break the willing suspension of disbelief, I don't see how a seven day detox program does.

Fixer doesn't keep you from getting addicted, you could say it merely suppresses the symptoms... and if you continue to use the chem/alcohol... the symptoms return. Could even say, you use fixer to wean your character off the chems/alcohol.

Nothing will prevent addiction. Also, why would it? "Hey guys! I have this great idea! Lets just keep taking this drug so we cant be addicted to anything!"

Fixer cures the addiction. The only way you can get addicted in the first place is by you.

You (being the out of game you) decide to drink/do drugs again. You get re-addicted.

Seeing the pattern?

Yes, I have been. I've kicked hard drugs twice in my life. I'm more intimately acquainted with the effects of addiction and withdrawal than I care to be. Not that it's any of your business.

Addiction in the old Fallouts may not have been perfect. There is always room for improvement. But it made more sense to me than the Fallout 3/New Vegas system. Suffering the effects of addiction, without diminution, for all eternity - but yet being able to cancel it all out in an instant with one doctor's visit - does not make sense to me.

The Fallout3/NV system was just a gameplay mechanism. It was artificial. It was not what I would call a 'realism' or 'roleplaying' game mechanic.

Now that it's mentioned, the seven day detox system doesn't sound half bad. Granted it was a pretty broken system in the past.
One beer, and I'm addicted to alcohol...

Keep addiction lasting forever, but change one minor thing.

When you go to the doctor to get cured, have it cost much more, and have time skip ahead several weeks, to simulate a rehab experience.

Problem solved.

I always know when I'm back on these boards when someone's "minor" tweak to a mechanic is to make it as annoying a pain in the ass as possible.

Maybe you realize that my argument was 'Why should you be healed after 7 days?'? I don't say the thing with the doctor is good... I just said it makes sense that addiction isn't healed after some days...

How is that annoying? It's still instant for the player. Time just passed in-game. The only change in experience is that it makes more sense now. Instead of addiction being cured instantly, it automatically skips ahead a few weeks. It's more expensive to make addiction an actual factor in the game instead of a minor annoyance you can pay off at any time. Addiction should be much more rare in this case, so that it doesn't become repetitive, but when it happen it's a real problem. I never once used any chems in any Fallout game just because i didn't want to risk addiction, but if the chance of addiction is MUCH lower in the next game, then I may take the risk.

Also, try not to be so rude.

I always imagined Fixer to work like Methadone in that it helps you kick the habit. Then again Methadone can be addictive itself.

It should really be a case where your character gets clean, but if you ever even touch the substance again you instantly have the effects returned. That would probably be a better approximation of how addiction really works, with relapses. There should probably be some stat that governs how likely you are to get an addiction, we know in real life certain people are more susceptible while others are more resistant. Could be a cool function in a hardcoe mode.

Well scientists have created a drug that block opiate and alchol dependence/addiction that works really well for some people. Its call Naltrexone and it was approved in 1994, so scientist may have created a better drug that instantly cures addiction by 2077.