I was stoked to boot it up and like…what? It’s such a stupid game on all fronts. I get that stealing mechanics works if you’re into that kind of gameplay, but there’s no way that anyone other than pokemon obsessed people enjoy this. Even then, it’s such a poor analog for actual pokemon games. I feel like it’s “success” is all media buzz. Every actual human in my life agrees it’s terrible. Even my partner who is actually pokemon obsessed lol. But the coverage on the internet would have you believe it’s goty contender. I have never felt more convinced that we are living in a simulation lol. I can’t be alone in this, am I? Is there where I learn that I’m that far out of touch? Like, truly, if you enjoy it, good for you. We all have things we love that others don’t get. But like, someone please tell me I’m not the only one lol.
Aaaaaand now I understand why looking at gameplay footage really didn’t look all that fun to me. I generally dislike the crafting survival genre. Even No Man’a sky, with how light on the “survival” aspect it is, and as a space nerd with a deep space exploration fetish, didn’t manage to capture my attention for more than 10 hours. The endless resource gathering and crafting time just inevitably bores me to death after a couple of loops. Feels like work, and I am paying for it?
At least in palworld, you don’t have to craft everything yourself. You can just have your workers craft for you!
In a lot of ways, it’s Ark without the material/food grind, ungodly long taming times, and chance of losing your tames.
It does seem to lack underwater exploration (at least for now).
In short, it’s way less punishing than Ark (coming from a longtime Ark player (1,000s of hours) and someone who played ~15 hours of PalWorld). They also fixed a few of the issues Ark had. Namely ( Ark vs Palworld ):
Tames Dying: (Ark has pemadeath for tames vs Palworld lets you Rez with a short 10 minute timer)
Losing Tames: Tames are objects in the world and can be lost in the world or even despawn VS tames are tied to the player or their base. You can always recall your tame instantly.
Taming: spend 20 minutes to hours sitting next to a knocked out dino feeding it berries, meat or kibble hoping it doesn’t get attacked by wild creatures VS see creature, attack it, get it low on health, optionally ice or electric debuff, throw ball(s) at it.
Land claiming: Pillars spammed in the world claiming every square foot to the point where new players starve/freeze to death trying to find a spot they can place a campfire VS each guild can have 3 bases. The base perimeter size is fixed and is centered on your palbox. You get 1 base at base level 1, a second at level 11(I think) and a third later. Can build outside the base but it will be subject to decay and damage from other players.
Base attacks: PvP and random dinos (oh crap, a Titano is wandering near my base) VS PVE base invasion events the game throws at you.
Getting around: On foot, slow flying mounts with limited stamina that can throw you off VS early mounts + fast travel to specific spots on the island.
Feeding your tames: log in to mount the Giga/T-Rex to kill things to refill the troughs VS setting up farms, assign pals to farm, they plant, water, gather, and fill the trough for you.
I almost see it as the EverQuest vs WoW debate. EQ really brought together many of the gameplay elements together (MUD + 3D) but later WoW comes by and offers a more polished, less punishing, and more casual and fun experience.
Gathering ore and coal to make refined metal is still a tedious chore. In singleplayer, shutting down the game makes everything stop. Online, you have to set up a base near several ores, then another near several coal rocks. Even with 2x capture rates, legendary balls fail often against 45+ pals
The resource and gathering is part of the exploration, and I rarely feel like I have to intentionally spend time gathering anything I particular. As you build up a base you can add resource things the past can use to gather more of the early resources as you find new things.
That is to day if you don’t it at all, then it wouldn’t be a good fit. But if you don’t like it because most games make it tedious, then this one solves the tedium part at least for the time I have played it so far.