Palworld Discussion

[ZedClampet]

I started to post this under "simulation" where I think you would normally put survival games, but that seemed a little ridiculous with Palworld.

Post your gameplay thoughts, screenshots and whatever else you have related to Palworld

I'm having a blast so far. There's a ton I could post, but I'll just start the thread by giving a little tip:

Palworld will very rarely (it's happened to me twice in 50 hours) spawn you under the map. If you go to the "esc" menu and respawn, you will lose your inventory as though you died (if you have the game settings set to lose inventory). The better way to handle getting back to the surface is to always carry a mount Pal. Toss the mount, and it will automatically go to the surface, then press "F" to get on your mount, and it will pull you up to your mount. Viola! You are on the surface again.

 

[ZedClampet]

The first base I made became indefensible later in the game, so I'm building a new "Main" base (to go with my mining base and by breeding base).

I'm a long way from finished with it, as you can see, and half of what I built isn't even in the picture. I'll take another shot of the whole thing when I'm done when I'm on my mount.

https://forums.pcgamer.com/media/mb1-jpg.2571/full

The building system is okay, but it's impossible to actually join two different sections of base together.

 

[Pifanjr]

My hint: if you find another player's base, check their ranch. Pals drop the stuff they generate on the floor and especially if the player(s) is/are not online there can be a ton of free stuff. Including Pal Spheres if they have the Pal that drops those. Not having to craft those is great, stealing them from someone else is even better.

 

[Frindis]

I had an overall fun time exploring and building my base. Sure, I did not like the stamina system or the horrendous pets camping on top of items bugging out, but overall I had a fun time. It is the not game I would play forever though, because I think I felt enough of it through the early base building and settlement aspect.

What I did love the most was flying/climbing around looking at what was around the map. For the most part, doing this early game felt like a real adventure, but unfortunately, as I ventured further and further, the different biomes felt lacking in both fauna and flora. Basically, It told me: You went too far, fuk off!

I can understand that though as this is early access. But, it also tells me that they have some improving to do, if they want old farts like me taking more liking to their game.

 

[ZedClampet]

I had an overall fun time exploring and building my base. Sure, I did not like the stamina system or the horrendous pets camping on top of items bugging out, but overall I had a fun time. It is the not game I would play forever though, because I think I felt enough of it through the early base building and settlement aspect.

What I did love the most was flying/climbing around looking at what was around the map. For the most part, doing this early game felt like a real adventure, but unfortunately, as I ventured further and further, the different biomes felt lacking in both fauna and flora. Basically, It told me: You went too far, fuk off!

I can understand that though as this is early access. But, it also tells me that they have some improving to do, if they want old farts like me taking more liking to their game.

Honestly, I've felt the exploration is as good in this game as in any I've ever played. More Pals in distant areas will help, though.

What I love the most is breeding the Pals to make fusions and Pals with better skills. I've spent a ton of time doing that. Base building with organizing farms and creating better food has also been fun, but also essential since you need the cake to breed.

Setting up purpose-driven bases, like the mining base with the coal and ore has also been enjoyable. Just scouting out the best locations was a blast.

My hint: if you find another player's base, check their ranch. Pals drop the stuff they generate on the floor and especially if the player(s) is/are not online there can be a ton of free stuff. Including Pal Spheres if they have the Pal that drops those. Not having to craft those is great, stealing them from someone else is even better.

I'm not 100 percent sure, but I think the Pal that "drops" them is Vixy, which constantly digs around and finds different things, including the spheres. Might be worth making sure your daughter has one at her base. But I'm not 100 percent sure Vixy is a regular Pal. The one I have is a level 13 boss.

 

[ZedClampet]

I'm playing solo, by the way. I don't get any enjoyment out of raiding bases, so there was no point in playing on a server except that my own base would get raided, and the NPC raiders do a good enough job of that, apart from the one base where I built a maze.

 

[Pifanjr]

I played some more Palworld this afternoon and unlocked the ability to fly. It was nice flying around and finding some new Pals, but it did show that besides Pals there isn't much to find in the world (yet).

When I had some more time to play in the evening I couldn't find the motivation to continue with Palworld. I just don't really have any goals I want to accomplish still and the game doesn't give you much direction beyond leveling up your base. I don't really care about catching all Pals just for the sake of it, nor about unlocking all techs just for the sake of it.

I'd probably stick around longer if I could play with my wife or with friends, but I think I'm done playing by myself. Especially since my kid hasn't really been interested in playing more either.

I'm not 100 percent sure, but I think the Pal that "drops" them is Vixy, which constantly digs around and finds different things, including the spheres. Might be worth making sure your daughter has one at her base. But I'm not 100 percent sure Vixy is a regular Pal. The one I have is a level 13 boss.

Yes, it is the Vixy Pals. There are regular versions as well, I caught two this afternoon. They find arrows occasionally too, which is a nice bonus.

 

[Colif]

19 million players worldwide. This game is stealing players from every online game... its funny watching COD players complain.

 

[ZedClampet]

I played some more Palworld this afternoon and unlocked the ability to fly. It was nice flying around and finding some new Pals, but it did show that besides Pals there isn't much to find in the world (yet).

When I had some more time to play in the evening I couldn't find the motivation to continue with Palworld. I just don't really have any goals I want to accomplish still and the game doesn't give you much direction beyond leveling up your base. I don't really care about catching all Pals just for the sake of it, nor about unlocking all techs just for the sake of it.

I'd probably stick around longer if I could play with my wife or with friends, but I think I'm done playing by myself. Especially since my kid hasn't really been interested in playing more either.



Yes, it is the Vixy Pals. There are regular versions as well, I caught two this afternoon. They find arrows occasionally too, which is a nice bonus.

I've played quite a bit longer than you have, but I'm also about done. I enjoyed getting better Pals and making my bases work better, but the game seems to be made more for multiplayer than singleplayer, sort of Rust meets Pokemon. That can keep it interesting a lot longer. Maybe they'll add more singleplayer motivation throughout early access. You wouldn't believe the amount of content they added to Craftopia. It's been, frankly, astonishing, so I have hopes that they will continue to update this with worthwhile content for years to come.

I won't play multiplayer on this, though. I've played a little Rust recently and enjoyed it, but this game probably has a lot of children playing, and there's just no way I could bring myself to raid people's bases without knowing whether the base was owned by an adult or a child. Rather than having fun, I'd just feel immense guilt and regret. Honestly, I hadn't thought about that until you mentioned your daughter was on a server. That pretty much instantly shut down any thoughts I had of server play Actually, I'm glad you mentioned that because I hadn't even thought about it. I'd probably be out robbing 5-year-olds right now...

 

[Pifanjr]

I've played quite a bit longer than you have, but I'm also about done. I enjoyed getting better Pals and making my bases work better, but the game seems to be made more for multiplayer than singleplayer, sort of Rust meets Pokemon. That can keep it interesting a lot longer. Maybe they'll add more singleplayer motivation throughout early access. You wouldn't believe the amount of content they added to Craftopia. It's been, frankly, astonishing, so I have hopes that they will continue to update this with worthwhile content for years to come.

I won't play multiplayer on this, though. I've played a little Rust recently and enjoyed it, but this game probably has a lot of children playing, and there's just no way I could bring myself to raid people's bases without knowing whether the base was owned by an adult or a child. Rather than having fun, I'd just feel immense guilt and regret. Honestly, I hadn't thought about that until you mentioned your daughter was on a server. That pretty much instantly shut down any thoughts I had of server play Actually, I'm glad you mentioned that because I hadn't even thought about it. I'd probably be out robbing 5-year-olds right now...

Considering that Pals don't rest or eat if their chunk of the world isn't loaded, it might actually be beneficial to go into someone's base so their Pals can take care of themselves. And they surely wouldn't notice if you help yourself to some of the stuff their Pals have dropped on the ground.

My kid is only playing on my private dedicated server though, so I could set the server options to be as easy as possible for her.

It seems like both official and dedicated servers are now being hit by hackers/cheaters by the way. My wife's base had completely disappeared and when she rebuilt it her Palbox occasionally kept disappearing, together with some of her Pals, and at some point she noticed another player appearing and disappearing around her base.

 

[ZedClampet]

Considering that Pals don't rest or eat if their chunk of the world isn't loaded, it might actually be beneficial to go into someone's base so their Pals can take care of themselves. And they surely wouldn't notice if you help yourself to some of the stuff their Pals have dropped on the ground.

My kid is only playing on my private dedicated server though, so I could set the server options to be as easy as possible for her.

It seems like both official and dedicated servers are now being hit by hackers/cheaters by the way. My wife's base had completely disappeared and when she rebuilt it her Palbox occasionally kept disappearing, together with some of her Pals, and at some point she noticed another player appearing and disappearing around her base.

I think there was an update late yesterday that was supposed to address that.

 

[Pifanjr]

Palworld vs. Ark: Survival Evolved shows just how much survival games have changed in 9 years, even when they seem so similar

NotPokémon versus Dinosaurs: How does Palworld stack up against the survival game the landmark survival game?

www.pcgamer.com

If there's one thing other survival games copy from Palworld I hope it's having all the resources around your base available for building and crafting without having to have them in your inventory. One of my least favourite activities in survival games is organising my storage containers and trying to remember where I put a specific thing.

 

[Colif]

Some Most of the descriptions of the pals are hilarious... still sad watching video of it and the person making it keeps calling them Pokemon. Need more games with same graphics so the word association is broken in their minds... just because something looks like something else, doesn't mean it is that thing.

That has never happened before - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_Horse
shouldn't need to tell anyone that given most entertainment is labelled one thing and often isn't that thing... can't believe cover anymore.

 

[ZedClampet]

Some Most of the descriptions of the pals are hilarious... still sad watching video of it and the person making it keeps calling them Pokemon. Need more games with same graphics so the word association is broken in their minds... just because something looks like something else, doesn't mean it is that thing.

That has never happened before - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_Horse
shouldn't need to tell anyone that given most entertainment is labelled one thing and often isn't that thing... can't believe cover anymore.

Speaking of Pokemon, you got to figure they'll be making a Palworld knockoff soon

 

[Colif]

It might take them a while, Palworld didn't just happen overnight, it took 3 years. They knew it was coming but no one had any idea it would take off like this so why invest money into that idea... one ex Nintendo guy interviewed said they saw rip offs like this every day, so how would they know which one would work.... which do you copy? You can't copy them all (this isn't a game of catch all the games in your pokeball).

There will be plenty of cheaper imitations for sure but a good game takes time to make. Can't just be plopped out like just any other AAA game.

 

[ZedClampet]

It might take them a while, Palworld didn't just happen overnight, it took 3 years. They knew it was coming but no one had any idea it would take off like this so why invest money into that idea... one ex Nintendo guy interviewed said they saw rip offs like this every day, so how would they know which one would work.... which do you copy? You can't copy them all (this isn't a game of catch all the games in your pokeball).

There will be plenty of cheaper imitations for sure but a good game takes time to make. Can't just be plopped out like just any other AAA game.

Not that it matters to me what Nintendo does because I don't have a Switch, but maybe whoever is developing the next game already has a decent framework built and can pivot to make it more "survival". But from what I understand, Pokemon games have been pretty bad of late. Would probably be better if Nintendo hired a new developer and started from scratch.

 

[Colif]

Depends on who their audience is
They might be still targeting the young audience who aren't old enough yet to have grown up playing Pokemon games.

Problem is there is a large audience who never stopped playing them and thinks the games are made for them, and doesn't understand why its not changing.

So lots of the critics I see of it are Pokemon players who want it to be better. People complain about all these Palworld players spamming the pokemon twitter... you seeing it wrong, they only on the feed as they were pokemon players who have seen what could be done if they just changed.

Pokemon company made 5 billion off sales of Pokemon already, its not like they suffering. Nintendo made more money off it than all the Zelda games... (comparison I watched didn't compare to Mario as well, it wouldn't have been fair on Pokemon) so its a money machine.

So question is: Who are Nintendo's core audience? Young kids/parents or adults who grew up playing their games?

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

So question is: Who are Nintendo's core audience? Young kids/parents or adults who grew up playing their games?

Yes. They aim to get the kids and that translates into the bug getting passed on. Theres a lot of Nintendo adults.

I have no idea what Pokemon was like back in the day, but Ive played apparently 70 hours of Legends Arceus and its objectively absolute trash. Its poorly made, with loads of pop in and weird low fps character models that speed up as you get closer with half arsed bland looking landscapes. The core gameplay is bad. Theres hardly any tactics or skill involved in the turn based combat, the story is a joke. I cant say enough bad things about it as a game. If it didnt have the Pokemon name on it then it would have crashed and burned because its frankly embarrassing to put out a video game like that in the 2020s, let alone one from a major developer that should have a crazy amount of money behind it.

The Pokemon sure are cute though, and theres a lot of them to collect.

Nintendos other games are fantastic, beautifully polished, full of so many ideas that they put other AAAs to shame. Theyre a lot of fun to play and perfectly balanced so that the core game can be fairly easy but with added challenges for the adults who want to master them. Cant say enough good things about them, they arent formulaic at all, dont chase trends. They give their devs all the time they need and trust them and it shows in the results.

 

[Colif]

I never played it, I had Nintendo consoles but never Gameboys so I totally missed the game. I was always too old for them.

I can't find a lot about changes. Some lists show 4... which isn't a lot in 20 years.

I think there are a few different series though including a card game.

I think they exploited the monopoly they had and just kept making similar games with slightly better graphics occasionally. But its core didn't change a lot. People liked it... eventually they would tire of it but it didn't matter, endless supply of kids who would replace them. But now there are enough people who got tired of the same old things that Palworld has managed to fill the gap.

They were people who made the game they wanted to play, since Nintendo clearly happy not doing it. Got attacked by those who aren't tired of it yet, or grew up with it and had fond memories, but it was purchased by all those who are tired of it... they on the same side... if Nintendo had made this no one would be fighting... but they didn't.

I don't understand being the fan of a game series. Or fighting for it when the company itself doesn't fight... it happens in all sorts of internet fights. Intel vs AMD, Nvidia vs AMD. Dumb fights... why fight over choices.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I had a Gameboy in the 90's but no SNES or NES. Apparently Pokemon is jointly owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and The Pokemon Company. Its really weird to me that Nintendo doesnt demand more quality from Game Freak but no idea how it all works in practice. The reason I caved and bought Legends Arceus after being pestered is because I'd heard that it was actually pretty decent and tried some new stuff for a Pokemon game. I have no idea what people are smoking, its total gash.

Yea I agree it really shouldnt be the concern of gamers to fight about these things even if they do look exactly like Pokemon. But people gonna people.

 

[Colif]

The reason I caved and bought Legends Arceus after being pestered is because I'd heard that it was actually pretty decent and tried some new stuff for a Pokemon game. I have no idea what people are smoking, its total gash.

it could be it was the best of what they had been fed recently, but it still isn't amazing for someone outside of the cult. I do see some reviews where they amazed they released a good Pokemon... so if that is best recently, maybe it explains the reaction to Palworld. Escape from the redundant game play.

Sounds like its more interested in catching them all than fighting them

So I could understand not liking it.

The end is funny, the answer is Palworld. Maybe Nintendo has to try harder to get the adults back... the ones who aren't fawns who will buy the old stuff still.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

it could be it was the best of what they had been fed recently, but it still isn't amazing for someone outside of the cult. I do see some reviews where they amazed they released a good Pokemon... so if that is best recently, maybe it explains the reaction to Palworld. Escape from the redundant game play.

Sounds like its more interested in catching them all than fighting them

So I could understand not liking it.

The end is funny, the answer is Palworld. Maybe Nintendo has to try harder to get the adults back... the ones who aren't fawns who will buy the old stuff still.

Its bad, enough said on my part.

I dont really know what they need to do, perhaps hand the game over to their Mario team and give them 5 years with the idea.

 

[ZedClampet]

Craftopia (Pocketpair's other survival game) had a lot of "scrappy Japanese indie" to it when it first released. They didn't use Google translate. Someone there thought they knew English. Every item description was supposed to be funny and was written in horribly broken English, which made them actually funnier than they probably would have been otherwise.

And their sense of humor over animal and human cruelty was in-your-face (their CEO has always been sort of a troll, and his sense of humor was all over Craftopia). You could capture human females (the same way you capture Pals) and use them for mounts. You hopped on their shoulders, and they would carry you around. There was no point to it other than comedy because they struggled under the weight and were very slow, but that just made it more humorous.

Like Palworld, you could capture animals and use them at your base. Most of the animals were real-world animals, and there weren't nearly as many of them, and what you could use them for was very basic. Some animals, other than human females, could also be used as mounts.

But it was a lot darker than Palworld because when you put an animal in a farm, it worked at a blazing speed until it died. Same thing if you put them on a treadmill to charge batteries. And the main thing you did with animals was to put them on a breeding farm that would generate and hundreds of animals that would unsuspectingly wander into your farming contraptions to quickly work themselves to death.

But maybe the darkest thing was the row of humans at the beginning of the game that served as the tutorial. The traditional thing was to build a bunch of the hamster wheel battery generators and have them all work themselves to death at the same time. Got a lot of batteries that way, as they would respawn and immediately be trapped by the wheels.

 

[ZedClampet]

-475, -80

That's the best place for a "main" base in Palworld. Surrounded by a drop-off means it's defensible from AI raids. Most importantly, you can set your base up to where it contains 2 ore nodes, 2 stone nodes, and a number of trees. This means that you don't have to build the quarry or the lumber area. Your pals will get you ore, stone, paladium, wood, and fiber. And you can fit the entire area of your base on perfectly flat ground. Plus, the nearby Pals aren't dangerously high level, maxing out at around level 12.

The only downside is that the location takes awhile to get to if you are just starting, and I wouldn't necessarily recommend trying to get there until you have your first flyer. After you have a flyer, location really doesn't matter if you unlock the fast travel towers.

I should mention that I just set the Palbox down, so I haven't verified that the raiders can't make it up the rocky sides, but it's a great place for building walls if needed.

 

[Pifanjr]

-475, -80

That's the best place for a "main" base in Palworld. Surrounded by a drop-off means it's defensible from AI raids. Most importantly, you can set your base up to where it contains 2 ore nodes, 2 stone nodes, and a number of trees. This means that you don't have to build the quarry or the lumber area. Your pals will get you ore, stone, paladium, wood, and fiber. And you can fit the entire area of your base on perfectly flat ground. Plus, the nearby Pals aren't dangerously high level, maxing out at around level 12.

The only downside is that the location takes awhile to get to if you are just starting, and I wouldn't necessarily recommend trying to get there until you have your first flyer. After you have a flyer, location really doesn't matter if you unlock the fast travel towers.

I should mention that I just set the Palbox down, so I haven't verified that the raiders can't make it up the rocky sides, but it's a great place for building walls if needed.

My wife is now playing in a PvP server and has made her base in an abandoned mineshaft. It has two ore nodes in it and from what I've seen it's mostly flat and is big enough to fit pretty much the entire base circle in it. It's much harder to spot than most bases built on the surface and the entrance can be walled off with layer after layer of walls, making it much harder for other players to quickly raid your base.