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[Palworld] Craft - Build - Survive - Capture - Battle

LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
edited January 22 in Games and Technology
Let's talk about Palworld!

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It's a (hopefully) legally distinct pocket monster capturing game that is also a fairly traditional craft/build/survive game in the same general vein as ARK and Conan Exiles.

Capture Pals with Pal Spheres, enslave them to work for you in your base, and use them to fight other Pals out in the world and also the Syndicate, who are totally not even a little bit like Team Rocket.

Also, there are guns.

Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jn9LQslOjA

Images:
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Out now (in Early Access) on Steam and XBox Game Pass.

Lucascraft on
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Posts

  • UrQuanLord88UrQuanLord88 Registered User regular
    Ah, the legally distinct monster friend catching game
    I sunk my weekend into this game and while there are definitely barebones sections of the game due to early access (namely story/game-directed gameplay like quests and such), the main gameloop is functional and engaging to me. You gain the majority of XP through catching pals and doing your typical survival base building activities and your character level determines what level of technology is available to you. Three aspects really stand out at the EA release of the game:
    • Tech tree is deep
    • Map is massive
    • Plenty of pals
    meaning that the world is a pretty wide sandbox to play and have fun in.

    http://steamcommunity.com/id/urquanlord88
    urquanlord88.png
    Streaming 8PST on weeknights
  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    It's Ark with Pokemon and a way less tedious crafting system. 10/10, I will pump my Pokemon full of antidepressants before letting them stop working.

  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    I'm loving it so far.

    We've had a few crashes, and the pathing AI is pretty bad. I've had to rescue Pals that have somehow gotten stuck up on the flat roof of my barracks building. And they really struggle with a nearby bridge that is a built-in map feature. I regularly have to go over and pick them up and carry them across the bridge to fix them.

    But other than that, I've already sunk like 8+ hours into it with my bro and another friend.

    The things I'm struggling with right now is figuring out how to prevent certain status ailments from happening. Like for example, our feed box is always full, and yet our Pals are constantly complaining about being hungry. If different pals have different diets, I have not seen documentation of that in game. Or perhaps it's there and I've just missed it. We're trying to keep berries, mushrooms, and meat in our feed box, and yet our Pals still say they're hungry.

    I also don't understand why they get depressed, because we've got a hotspring in the base, which is specifically stated in the item tooltip to help with mental state and restoring their sanity status.

  • UrQuanLord88UrQuanLord88 Registered User regular
    Depression is a status effect that you need to cure with medicines. Also you can always use the pal management building to unassign/assign stuck pals to get them unstuck easily since they spawn near the building when they are assigned. I think I've had pals go hungry if they are stuck in a tree somewhere

    http://steamcommunity.com/id/urquanlord88
    urquanlord88.png
    Streaming 8PST on weeknights
  • FiatilFiatil Registered User regular
    I'm having a blast.

    The first server I rented was a trash fire of overselling capacity and not having nearly the hardware required to run even a few people at once, which was sad.

    But finally just bit the bullet on Sunday, switched providers, and everything is super smooth now.

    steam_sig.png
  • HamHamJHamHamJ Registered User regular
    The most likely explanation is that they are having issues pathing to your feedbox. I am currently in the process of moving my main base because the first one I built was by a pond and my Foxparks in particular just constantly falls into the water and can't get back out. And I'm not building any actual buildings and just making it a giant open plan office because they also seem to get stuck on walls and roofs a lot.

    While racing light mechs, your Urbanmech comes in second place, but only because it ran out of ammo.
  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    Depression is a status effect that you need to cure with medicines. Also you can always use the pal management building to unassign/assign stuck pals to get them unstuck easily since they spawn near the building when they are assigned. I think I've had pals go hungry if they are stuck in a tree somewhere

    There's a management building!?

    I've been throwing these dumb penguins at blocks of ice every 20 seconds

  • FiatilFiatil Registered User regular
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    I'm loving it so far.

    We've had a few crashes, and the pathing AI is pretty bad. I've had to rescue Pals that have somehow gotten stuck up on the flat roof of my barracks building. And they really struggle with a nearby bridge that is a built-in map feature. I regularly have to go over and pick them up and carry them across the bridge to fix them.

    But other than that, I've already sunk like 8+ hours into it with my bro and another friend.

    The things I'm struggling with right now is figuring out how to prevent certain status ailments from happening. Like for example, our feed box is always full, and yet our Pals are constantly complaining about being hungry. If different pals have different diets, I have not seen documentation of that in game. Or perhaps it's there and I've just missed it. We're trying to keep berries, mushrooms, and meat in our feed box, and yet our Pals still say they're hungry.

    I also don't understand why they get depressed, because we've got a hotspring in the base, which is specifically stated in the item tooltip to help with mental state and restoring their sanity status.

    Are you on a dedicated server?

    If so, it's probably related to that.

    There appear to be issues with entering/exiting stasis on dedicated servers at the moment. If you log off, and no one is logged on nearby but is logged into the server, your Pals get tossed in stasis. The simulation of that seems off at the moment, as it seems like they have a need for food but do not actually produce materials (like food to feed themselves) or maybe even eat the food. I also woke up to my pokemon being depressed and starving this morning.

    But if you have someone near your base while you're offline, they appear to behave as normal and eat and gather and don't get tons of ailments. I've also woken up to 5000 gathered wood and all of my Pals being happy and ready to go, in situations where someone was online in a base close enough to mine.

    steam_sig.png
  • AshtonDragonAshtonDragon AKA The Nix Registered User regular
    For how stupid this game is, it's very fun. For what should have been a cheap copy game, it's surprisingly well put together. Not to say that there's no jank, but... you know.

    I played a little bit with a friend just to experiment with the multiplayer (probably will do more of that with a full group later), but mostly been playing it single player for now. I think I'm up around level 20 or so, having a great time.

  • urahonkyurahonky Cynical Old Man Registered User regular
    Fiatil wrote: »
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    I'm loving it so far.

    We've had a few crashes, and the pathing AI is pretty bad. I've had to rescue Pals that have somehow gotten stuck up on the flat roof of my barracks building. And they really struggle with a nearby bridge that is a built-in map feature. I regularly have to go over and pick them up and carry them across the bridge to fix them.

    But other than that, I've already sunk like 8+ hours into it with my bro and another friend.

    The things I'm struggling with right now is figuring out how to prevent certain status ailments from happening. Like for example, our feed box is always full, and yet our Pals are constantly complaining about being hungry. If different pals have different diets, I have not seen documentation of that in game. Or perhaps it's there and I've just missed it. We're trying to keep berries, mushrooms, and meat in our feed box, and yet our Pals still say they're hungry.

    I also don't understand why they get depressed, because we've got a hotspring in the base, which is specifically stated in the item tooltip to help with mental state and restoring their sanity status.

    Are you on a dedicated server?

    If so, it's probably related to that.

    There appear to be issues with entering/exiting stasis on dedicated servers at the moment. If you log off, and no one is logged on nearby but is logged into the server, your Pals get tossed in stasis. The simulation of that seems off at the moment, as it seems like they have a need for food but do not actually produce materials (like food to feed themselves) or maybe even eat the food. I also woke up to my pokemon being depressed and starving this morning.

    But if you have someone near your base while you're offline, they appear to behave as normal and eat and gather and don't get tons of ailments. I've also woken up to 5000 gathered wood and all of my Pals being happy and ready to go, in situations where someone was online in a base close enough to mine.

    Is this just a "wait until they patch it" or is there a solution listed?

  • urahonkyurahonky Cynical Old Man Registered User regular
    I'm kind of tempted to pick the game up even though I know it's EA and I've put some hours into it (and it has some of the worst AI ever) because I think it'd be fun with my kids. However this means I then have to buy a copy for each (since Gamepass and Steam users can't play with each other) and that's really holding me back. And I don't know how good the server hosting is with the game so I might have to pay for a dedicated server which I really don't want to do (though I guess I could use this time to learn how to do it in the Cloud or Azure or something).

  • FiatilFiatil Registered User regular
    urahonky wrote: »
    Fiatil wrote: »
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    I'm loving it so far.

    We've had a few crashes, and the pathing AI is pretty bad. I've had to rescue Pals that have somehow gotten stuck up on the flat roof of my barracks building. And they really struggle with a nearby bridge that is a built-in map feature. I regularly have to go over and pick them up and carry them across the bridge to fix them.

    But other than that, I've already sunk like 8+ hours into it with my bro and another friend.

    The things I'm struggling with right now is figuring out how to prevent certain status ailments from happening. Like for example, our feed box is always full, and yet our Pals are constantly complaining about being hungry. If different pals have different diets, I have not seen documentation of that in game. Or perhaps it's there and I've just missed it. We're trying to keep berries, mushrooms, and meat in our feed box, and yet our Pals still say they're hungry.

    I also don't understand why they get depressed, because we've got a hotspring in the base, which is specifically stated in the item tooltip to help with mental state and restoring their sanity status.

    Are you on a dedicated server?

    If so, it's probably related to that.

    There appear to be issues with entering/exiting stasis on dedicated servers at the moment. If you log off, and no one is logged on nearby but is logged into the server, your Pals get tossed in stasis. The simulation of that seems off at the moment, as it seems like they have a need for food but do not actually produce materials (like food to feed themselves) or maybe even eat the food. I also woke up to my pokemon being depressed and starving this morning.

    But if you have someone near your base while you're offline, they appear to behave as normal and eat and gather and don't get tons of ailments. I've also woken up to 5000 gathered wood and all of my Pals being happy and ready to go, in situations where someone was online in a base close enough to mine.

    Is this just a "wait until they patch it" or is there a solution listed?

    If you run your base solo, just pack up your Pals when you log off of a dedicated server. Put them in poke bank, they won't get hungry or go insane.

    If you're with friends it will get weird as the workers in your base are shared and can be accessed by everyone in the guild, but the bank is local, so harder to work around aside from just being around the base when people are on the server.

    steam_sig.png
  • ironzergironzerg Registered User regular
    So I've been having a blast playing locally with my three boys. We always form a guild together, and I've stuck to some pretty standard names.

    First, it was always "Kingdom of the Boys" based on a time when we were playing in Minecraft and building a world together. That eventually went up to be the name of any virtual world I create, and I switched the guild name to "Lost Boys".

    But, inspired by my wife's reaction to us playing Palworld, I've come up with a new guild name that I'm in love with.
    a6fip6avor5m.png

  • HamHamJHamHamJ Registered User regular
    The greatest discovery I have made so far is that here is an electric type hedgehog and I can throw him at people.

    While racing light mechs, your Urbanmech comes in second place, but only because it ran out of ammo.
  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    It's taken forever, but I've built the Pal blender essence condenser.

    Line up, penguins. It's time for the weak to provide for the strong.

  • ironzergironzerg Registered User regular
    Have you unlocked the Penguin bazooka power yet?

    We were getting overwhelmed in a raid, and both me and my penguin knew sacrifices were going to have to be made if we wanted to save the base...

  • UrQuanLord88UrQuanLord88 Registered User regular
    edited January 22
    Its probably worth noting that the same dev company have another game called Craftopia that is also in early access for 3-4 years that is essentially the same game without pals. I think they did try to assuage some fears by posting a roadmap for that game
    Palworld could meet the same end like many Early Access survival games (funny how many there are), but I think I've already gotten my money's worth. This time.

    UrQuanLord88 on
    http://steamcommunity.com/id/urquanlord88
    urquanlord88.png
    Streaming 8PST on weeknights
  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    I haven't found a base management window yet, but so far my Pals all seem to be reasonably smart about auto-selecting jobs that are available. Unless they get stuck somewhere.

    My grass monkey sows seeds, my penguin waters the seeds, my fire fox pokemon ignites my forge. All of this happens automatically without having to assign anybody to tasks. Of course, it might be nice to specifically micro-manage that stuff from time to time, if I have a specific job I want done RIGHT NOW.

  • CorriganXCorriganX Jacksonville, FLRegistered User regular
    Im very much enjoying the game, but its also very much stealing the looks of pokemon. If they get sued to shit i'll have had fun playing what I did so far, but I dont begrudge anyone not playing because they don't like how scummy it is.

    Up to level 30 now, really getting into the grindy part of needing metal. And I'm also playing with like 3 friends so I keep restarting other games, which is actually still fun because you can spawn on different islands and get slightly different starter pals.

    n1woEHJ.png
    CorriganX on Steam and just about everywhere else.
  • Dr. ChaosDr. Chaos Post nuclear nuisance Registered User regular
    edited January 22
    Its probably worth noting that the same dev company have another game called Craftopia that is also in early access for 3-4 years that is essentially the same game without pals. I think they did try to assuage some fears by posting a roadmap for that game
    Palworld could meet the same end like many Early Access survival games (funny how many there are), but I think I've already gotten my money's worth. This time.
    There are definitely red flags.

    They're clearly a talented dev team but between the stuff about the CEO and the various unfinished plates they've still got spinning in EA, its definitely got me kind of hesitating on actually forking over the money for now even if I want to play super bad.

    Dr. Chaos on
    Pokemon GO: 7113 6338 6875/ FF14: Buckle Landrunner /Steam Profile
  • UrQuanLord88UrQuanLord88 Registered User regular
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    I haven't found a base management window yet,

    I was referring to the palbox where you can assign pals to a base. if any assigned pals are stuck, you can just unassign then reassign them to the base to reset them

    http://steamcommunity.com/id/urquanlord88
    urquanlord88.png
    Streaming 8PST on weeknights
  • Jubal77Jubal77 Registered User regular
    I havent played it yet because no real reason. Just playing other games. Lots of people are playing it though. I did laugh at the dev though and how hard they are hitting the "its not AI generated" now that they hit it big. They have done AI generated games in the past so I think a reasonable interpretation is that they used it at least "some" here heh.

    Ill jump in and play it with Ladyjubs this weekend most likely. Arkamon sounds fun for at least a weekend forray.

  • EnigmedicEnigmedic Registered User regular
    ironzerg wrote: »
    Have you unlocked the Penguin bazooka power yet?

    We were getting overwhelmed in a raid, and both me and my penguin knew sacrifices were going to have to be made if we wanted to save the base...

    The firefox flamethrower is also pretty crazy

  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    Its probably worth noting that the same dev company have another game called Craftopia that is also in early access for 3-4 years that is essentially the same game without pals. I think they did try to assuage some fears by posting a roadmap for that game
    Palworld could meet the same end like many Early Access survival games (funny how many there are), but I think I've already gotten my money's worth. This time.

    At this point if an early access game is fun for a few dozen hours I call it a win.

  • Jubal77Jubal77 Registered User regular
    Quid wrote: »
    Its probably worth noting that the same dev company have another game called Craftopia that is also in early access for 3-4 years that is essentially the same game without pals. I think they did try to assuage some fears by posting a roadmap for that game
    Palworld could meet the same end like many Early Access survival games (funny how many there are), but I think I've already gotten my money's worth. This time.

    At this point if an early access game is fun for a few dozen hours I call it a win.

    Gamepass makes it even easier.

  • akjakakjak Thera Spooky GymRegistered User regular
    Yeah, we’re playing on gamepass and I have no temptation to switch to paying for it yet.

    Did you know that you can have an army of Daedream (or Dazzi) following you? All of them in your party will Do The Thing, not just one.

    (I would have titled this thread Moral Quandaries and Berry Picking)

    Switch: SW-4133-1546-2720 (Thera)
    Twitch: akThera
    Steam: Thera
  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    akjak wrote: »
    Yeah, we’re playing on gamepass and I have no temptation to switch to paying for it yet.

    Did you know that you can have an army of Daedream (or Dazzi) following you? All of them in your party will Do The Thing, not just one.

    (I would have titled this thread Moral Quandaries and Berry Picking)

    That reminds me, the game really needs to let me zoom out more. I have my FOV maxed out but can't stand to have Daedream take up so much screen space floating behind me.

  • Blah64Blah64 Registered User regular
    I've been playing in first person VR with UEVR. I am enjoying it greatly.

  • UrQuanLord88UrQuanLord88 Registered User regular
    edited January 22
    also if you're on gamepass, the game version is one behind, v0.1.1.0. Steam's v0.1.2.0

    UrQuanLord88 on
    http://steamcommunity.com/id/urquanlord88
    urquanlord88.png
    Streaming 8PST on weeknights
  • akjakakjak Thera Spooky GymRegistered User regular
    Quid wrote: »
    akjak wrote: »
    Yeah, we’re playing on gamepass and I have no temptation to switch to paying for it yet.

    Did you know that you can have an army of Daedream (or Dazzi) following you? All of them in your party will Do The Thing, not just one.

    (I would have titled this thread Moral Quandaries and Berry Picking)

    That reminds me, the game really needs to let me zoom out more. I have my FOV maxed out but can't stand to have Daedream take up so much screen space floating behind me.

    Yeah, we box them when we’re puttering around the base.

    Switch: SW-4133-1546-2720 (Thera)
    Twitch: akThera
    Steam: Thera
  • ZetxZetx 🐧 Registered User regular
    Blah64 wrote: »
    I've been playing in first person VR with UEVR. I am enjoying it greatly.

    How do you set it to be first person? I couldn't find an option in UEVR (unless you're manually adjusting the camera? I figured there was an easy button I was missing) or is it because mine is an older version of UEVR?

    Overall I am quite enjoying the game. The way they tie in the Pals with the features of the base is quite fun. I spent a good while hunting down Pals to find one that would do Medicinal work cuz I wasn't gonna hold the F button down for 5ever to get that high end medicine crafted.

  • Dr. ChaosDr. Chaos Post nuclear nuisance Registered User regular
    edited January 22
    The anime adaption is going to be quite something, isn't it?

    Dr. Chaos on
    Pokemon GO: 7113 6338 6875/ FF14: Buckle Landrunner /Steam Profile
  • Blah64Blah64 Registered User regular
    Zetx wrote: »
    How do you set it to be first person? I couldn't find an option in UEVR (unless you're manually adjusting the camera? I figured there was an easy button I was missing) or is it because mine is an older version of UEVR?

    Attach the camera to the player mesh, adjust to the head location, then hide whatever parts of the mesh you want to.
    Or join the Discord & download one of the configs someone else has setup and shared.

  • Last SonLast Son Registered User regular
    CorriganX wrote: »
    Im very much enjoying the game, but its also very much stealing the looks of pokemon. If they get sued to shit i'll have had fun playing what I did so far, but I dont begrudge anyone not playing because they don't like how scummy it is.

    Which ones do you find too close to pokemon? The only ones I've seen so far are ones that are very clearly based on real animals, which you can't really copyright 'wolf but funny colors'.

  • GnomeTankGnomeTank What the what? Portland, OregonRegistered User regular
    After 28 years and 1025 Pokemon, it's going to be tough for anyone to make a game in this space without having some creatures that look like a Pokemon. Unless Pokemon Company takes actual action, and wins, I'm not too worried about it. Way more sketchy red flags here with the company than if there are some Pals that look like Pokemon if you squint hard enough.

    Sagroth wrote: »
    Oh c'mon FyreWulff, no one's gonna pay to visit Uranus.
    Steam: Brainling, XBL / PSN: GnomeTank, NintendoID: Brainling, FF14: Zillius Rosh SFV: Brainling
  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    One that's been bugging me, Pokemon's Meganium compared to Palworld's Dinossum:
    Maganium:

    5pn3jkzo3qer.png

    Dinossum:

    nbaccljanu6d.png

    That's a whole lot more than just inspired by IMO. It's someone idea of the what a Meganium specifically would evolve into at best.

  • lazegamerlazegamer The magnanimous cyberspaceRegistered User regular
    edited January 23
    Quid wrote: »
    One that's been bugging me, Pokemon's Meganium compared to Palworld's Dinossum:
    Maganium:

    5pn3jkzo3qer.png

    Dinossum:

    nbaccljanu6d.png

    That's a whole lot more than just inspired by IMO. It's someone idea of the what a Meganium specifically would evolve into at best.

    Which is totally fine. You don't need permission to riff on ideas. Similar, but not a copy of the same work is legit.

    lazegamer on
    I would download a car.
  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    Yeah but we bemoan the lack of passion and creativity in games, and then buy a million copies of a game that is trying very hard to do as little creative work as it can without getting sued. Just because it doesn’t violate trademark law doesn’t mean it’s hunky-dory. It looks like a game designed to copy trends as close as possible.

    Like there’s riffing and there’s lazy

    YL9WnCY.png
  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    I also wish Pocket Pair were more creative with their art. But otherwise I've been waiting for Nintendo to publish a game like this for 20 years. The game isn't selling as well as it is based on NPC assets alone.

  • FiatilFiatil Registered User regular
    Yeah if it were bad then no one would care really.

    It just happens to be fun. I think they dumped quite a bit of passion in it -- the animations are great and some of the attacks are super fun -- but yeah not so much creativity. Just mixing a few things and doing it well, which I don't think is a bad thing either.

    steam_sig.png
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