Starfield players have completely given up on “tedious” affliction & illness mechanic
BethesdaStarfield players have realized that status afflictions can be safely ignored even when they give you a chronic illness.
Starfield has a massive game world with over 1,000 planets to explore, and it may take you quite a while to finish the story. If you get sidetracked by the various side quests, however, you’ll find the game much longer.
There’s also a long list of status afflictions and illnesses that you can get during your adventures in space. However, as many players have discovered, most of the time, they’re not that serious. This is because almost every ailment in Starfield can be cured instantly, and the ailments themselves won’t hinder your gameplay that much.
A post on the Starfield subreddit by ‘Different_Morning’ had players discussing how they will just run around with a dozen ailments but not cure them right away. One player commented how they have: “Broken, dislocated everything, torn everything else, horrifically burned from walking in a mysterious liquid. But it’s fine it only reduces my melee damage.”
Another reason for ignoring these status effects is because of how frequent they are. Getting sick or injured in Starfield is extremely common, and most players don’t bother to micromanage their health.
Besides, as one user wrote, “it’s ridiculously boring to search the 100+ items to find the one that cures you, only to get the same affliction 10 seconds later.” Another agreed to it, saying, “It’s very tedious.” Meanwhile, one other user stated how they got into new game plus while being quite powerful from their last playthrough.
However, what happened next was anticlimactic. “First thing that happens? Fell from a rock a bit too high and sprained my ankle, couldn’t afford the medicine.” Exploring planets and moons is risky business, but your Starfield player shrugs off most of their afflictions. You may dislocate limbs, get lacerated, or even fall sick, but these don’t affect gameplay all that much.
It’s only serious when you’re overburdened, or your health bar gets a penalty that you need to seek a doctor. However, curing status afflictions in Starfield is a piece of cake; all you need is a drug called Panacea. It does exactly what its name suggests — cure every possible ailment. So, the best plan is to keep a few of these with you and only use them after you have four or five afflictions.
To be better prepared in your travels, check out the number of status afflictions you can get in Starfield. Or if you’re always being overencumbered, check out how you can avoid that.