Drug use- does it deserve its own topic?

[MisterStone]

So as most of us know the Fallout series incorporated drug use as a major mechanic and plot element. The player could choose to use drugs, but they'd also have to face possible consequences for abusing them, the most notorious example probably being Jet in FO2.

I don't recall drug use having a place in Wasteland at all. This may have been due to external constraints on game design- as I recall a large part of the anti-drug effort the mid to late 1980s focused on keeping drugs out of cartoons and video games.

Anyway, do people think drug use should play a major role in this game, or even be present? In terms of setting it makes sense, and I don't personally care if it's present in the game setting or game mechanics. In this day and age, could it still possibly limit the audience of this game?

In terms of game mechanics, drugs that provide steep buffs can be easy to game, and possibly break various puzzles or challenges in the game, which seemed to be rather common in FO2. I suppose it all comes down to how it is implemented.

[Flamekebab]

I've no objection to drugs appearing. Humans like to get high, particularly when times are bleak.

Personally I rarely use drugs in games (and not at all in reality) but have no particular problem with them being included. Their conspicuous absence tends to make me think "uh, this isn't exactly realistic now, is it?". However if they're mentioned but not available as a game mechanic that's fine too.

[Jake]

Definitely include them if it's at all feasible, manufacture and distribution of drugs (recreational and medical) could be a great source of profit, power and conflict in post-apocalyptia. Drug gangs fighting each other - just like they're doing now!

[Gamma]

Drugs are bad, mkay? But in a more serious matter - we all agree on drugs being a part of today's reality. This should not change after the apocalypse. With drugs and drug abuse comes a lot of interesting story aspects, i.e. the connection between New Reno and Redding in Fallout 2. Everyone remember those gold miners sky-high on Jet.

[TailSwallower]

I think if they weren't in the game I wouldn't necessarily miss them, but I also think there's a lot you can do with them - people strung out because drug-induced oblivion is better than reality, drug-dealing gangs fighting over turf where the junkies don't care who runs it just as long as they can get their fix.

Have quests where the player can decide to shutdown a drug lab and kill everyone inside, or simply take it over for a cash injection, free drugs and plenty of negative reputation across the wastes.

Oh, and from a gameplay mechanics point of view, make the drugs brutal like they were in Fallout 1 & 2 - if you take them you might get hooked, get withdrawal symptoms, overdose, etc. Make it real and dangerous, not like Fallout 3 where they were simply a way to change your stats with only very minor and temporary drawbacks.

[infestor]

in wasteland your char should be able to get high on whatever horrific drug he finds...well, at least huff paint
it would be a nice touch for a high character to see some hallucinations (non combatable images of people etc.) and scream (in text) some lines (mixed with gibberish)

[Tanglebones]

In Fallout: New Vegas, I use drugs like a fiend. It's the only way my sciency/speechy fellow can survive some combats. Conversely, my brother enjoys the challenge of playing completely clean (not even stim-packs). I think that drug use can compliment gameplay (by providing temporary buffs, for example), and there's no reason to shy away from it in a mature game (same for things like sex, slavery, cannibalism, unrestrained mad science), but at the same time, these elements have to make sense in the game world. They don't have to be shoehorned in just because the game is "mature." In fact, I think that "mature" gameplay comes more from offering complex moral choices with no clear "good" answer more than from any given thematic element.

[Abe Sargent]

As long as we don't get something like Stimpacks for instant heals, I'd be fine with drugs. Yuck to instant heals.

[Redhawk]

I want to finally be able to crack open a Snake Squeezin.

[Shane_for_Wax]

It always bugged me that morphine was changed to stimpaks. I am not a recreationally drug user in the slightest, and neither are my characters in the games. But, it would still be realistic to have drugs show up. After all, drugs don't suddenly disappear because some bombs fell down on our heads. Recreational drug use has been around since the dawn of time and we figured out what felt good and what didn't.

Long story short, I would have no problems with it. Just make things realistic. I don't want to be able to take 50 doses of something in a few minutes and still be kickin'.

[Brother None]

Drugs did get a little too prevalent in Fallout. The amount of pre-war drugs still around in Fallout 3 was ridiculous, unless every single American was an addict to every single drug.

But Jet was interesting, because it allowed them to build a mini-empire based on unique manufacturing possibilities. And you can imagine the need for escapism and drugs only increases. So yeah, put em in.

[shaydeeadi]

The hallucinating idea is a great one, especially for when a character overdoes it. Seeing enemies that aren't there and wasting precious rescources on them would be a really smart penalty for being off your face.

Wasnt the morphine Med-x though?

[TailSwallower]

The hallucinating idea is a great one, especially for when a character overdoes it. Seeing enemies that aren't there and wasting precious rescources on them would be a really smart penalty for being off your face.

Wasnt the morphine Med-x though?

Yeah, Med-X was the morphine, not Stimpaks. Stimpaks are some kind of science-magic that we don't have in the real world (which is another small piece of evidence showing that Bethesda didn't know what they were doing - the originals had all these interesting and interestingly-named drugs and Bethesda wanted to add 'Morphine'. Idiots).

Hallucinations worked in Kane & Lynch and in the Fallout 3 DLC, but I don't see them working at all when we're meant to be controlling a group of people and we aren't necessarily seeing the world through their eyes.

[Quarex]

We should get back to focusing on how important Snake Squeezins should be in the game. Because if there is one thing I regret in this life, it is that I have wanted for 20+ years now to drink something that does not actually exist.

Still, though, drugs are always going to exist--people have been producing hallucinogens/pain-relievers/stimulants/depressives for basically all of human history, and this is hardly going to stop just because the world did. That does not mean that pre-war drugs have to be available in any sufficient quantity ... but it would be kind of hilarious to have a side mission where you can investigate rumors of a buried factory, and after finding that it was a drug manufacturing facility, you have to decide if it is moral to flood the world with prescription drugs that would probably lead to as much suffering and death as if you brought back a case of assault rifles.

[Tanglebones]

We should get back to focusing on how important Snake Squeezins should be in the game. Because if there is one thing I regret in this life, it is that I have wanted for 20+ years now to drink something that does not actually exist.

I think Snake Squeezins absolutely must appear in game. I'd imagine them as some sort of quasi-magical healing artifact that has a benefit but also a drawback (because... snakes) like healing powder from FO2 (which would heal you, but temporarily decrease your perception).

[talkingcrows]

Can you make the drug use more serious and lasting than radiation and hydration in Fallout.I was a little disappointed that radiation was so easily cured in Fallout.Maybe a meter that actually shows a real dependence.

[Shaewaros]

Drug use should definitely be included in the game, as well as the fact that it has side effects. Drugs can easily be used as a story driving element in a game, like it was in Fallout2. It all adds to the immersion factor.

[Lord Blade]

I think there should be drugs, and side effects from them.

You can use healing drugs for quick fixes to damage. But you run the risk of getting addicted. The effects might drop, and in time you'll start getting penalties if you don't get your fix until you kick it.

The same would work with other drugs. Once in a while you might use one for a boost. But be careful not to use too much, or you'll have to find a way to cope.

[Ekaros]

I agree drugs do have place in any time of humanity.

Intresting thing would be addiction and maybe to use various different drugs to stop withdrawl effects, but not gain the bonuses. Also there might be tolerance levels, need to use more and more to reach same effect. And these could get better after some time passes...

[Cruxador]

There should be drugs. Even though I personally wouldn't use them, I wouldn't want to lose out on the storylines that could revolve around them. However in general most "hard" drugs should be pretty rare, with people preferring alcohol or marijuana. I'd also prefer real drugs such as Morphine over fake drugs such as Med-X in all cases.

A note on Stimpacks: Something of that nature does exist and is militarily considered but not used. Stimulant injections don't actually heal you, though. It's like a sort of a super adrenaline that lets you ignore the pain and persevere. It's actually generally worsens the effects of wounds because of increased exertion. I would be fine with seeing a stimpack like that which eliminates the penalties to rolls that a character takes from his wounds.