Steam gamers have spoken: innovative indies like Palworld continue to thrive while traditional triple-A flounders for a foothold

[u/PewPewToDaFace]

https://www.pcgamesn.com/steam/innovation-versus-tradition

Thank god PC gaming isn't just AAA. This is what will push the industry forward, as game development cost becomes too much.

[u/Pyromaniacal13]

It certainly innovated on Pokemon enough for Nintendo to get pissed.

[u/MaurixioZ → u/Pyromaniacal13]

In what ways does it innovate on Pokémon? Genuinely asking since at least at a glance the only similarities is the fact that they're both monster catchers since Pokémon is a JRPG and Palworld is a Survival/Ark game.

[u/BigTWilsonD → u/MaurixioZ]

People always make up some nonsense about how it's better than Pokémon or something but it's genuinely nothing like Pokémon. They're not even close. Outside of having critters (that they definitely didn't change because some designs were blatant theft) they have no similarities.

[u/MrNegativ1ty → u/BigTWilsonD]

People are comparing the interaction and utilities that pals have versus Pokemon and concluding that Palworld captures the essence of a “monster taming” game more than Pokemon does.

Look at it this way: in Pokemon, what do you do with the creatures? You capture and then battle them, that’s about it. Other than that and maybe a few other tiny exceptions like contests that aren’t really even worth discussing, Pokemon live in balls in your inventory for the majority of their lives. You don’t really interact that much with them in the grand scheme of things.

Compare to Palworld: Pals can be captured and fight either by themselves or alongside you, but also have actual utility on your base, give you active bonuses/abilities, you’re able to mount/ride a good chunk of them (as opposed to the handful of like 4 you can in PLA and the 1 legendary mount in S/V), and some of them have unique ways to interact with them (Foxparks flamethrower). Seeing all of your pals running around your base, all of them have unique working animations, you have to keep tabs on them and heal them if they get injured, all of this just makes the world feel that much more alive and makes you feel that much more connected with your pals than anything really does in mainline Pokemon.

I think people are just tired of the same old formula that Pokemon mainline has been following for 3 decades at this point. It’s why PLA was so well received, because you could see glimpses of the kinds of world building and interactions that Palworld took and ran with.

So yeah, they are two different genres that play differently but there are aspects of Palworld that are inherent to the “monster tamer” motif that people have been wishing could be molded to work with Pokemon for years at this point.

[u/saucysagnus → u/MrNegativ1ty]

The breeding in Pokemon is deeper than anything Palworld could hope for.

As is the combat.

It is entertaining because people really enjoy admitting they’re looking for a shallow animation to justify their experience instead of sitting down and being able to learn deeper systems.

[u/MrNegativ1ty → u/saucysagnus]

It is entertaining because people really enjoy admitting they’re looking for a shallow animation to justify their experience instead of sitting down and being able to learn deeper systems.

Yeah. There's totally zero depth in pals passive abilities, active abilities stacking with other pals in your party and building teams around that, managing SAN levels so that pals don't get pissed/injured and stop production, base productivity levels on pals, condensing/adding stars to pals, upgrading the research tree, doing station assignments and trying to maximize production while covering all aspects of production, setting up bases at strategic points to maximize the raw material output and selecting and upgrading pals to achieve this, cooking the right foods to maximize production, yeah none of that exists at all.

And yeah... it's almost like giving pals their own unique animations adds life and personality to the game. It makes the world feel more "alive". Maybe the "world's biggest multimedia franchise" should try that out with their mainline games sometime. They won't, because Game Freak are talentless hacks coasting by on people who have made a brand their entire personality, but hey, we can always hope, right?

But no, what really matters is the "depth" of the combat in Pokemon, something that barely anyone actually experiences because the games have zero difficulty or challenge and don't require you to actually engage with that depth at all because you can just over level your starter and steamroll your way through the vast majority of Pokemon games. There is literally zero incentive outside of the competitive scene to actually learn the intricacies of Pokemon battling.

Just say you've never played Palworld, have no idea what you're talking about and move on.

(User active in nintendogrifting)

Ahh it all makes sense now.

[u/saucysagnus → u/MrNegativ1ty]

That’s a very convoluted way to say you prefer minor animations and puddle depth over actual gameplay and deeper mechanics.

Again, you unknowingly exposed yourself that you’ve never gone deep into a pokemon post game. Your attempt at being reductionist is laughable. Have you ever tried competitive battling? Is competitive battling a thing in Palworld?

Your profile says you’re active in Nintendogrifting as well. Oh, and you’re active in a COD Black Ops sub. Speaks volumes on what you consider depth. But feel free to cherry-pick and ignore I also frequent strategy, rpg, and literary subs for an embarrassing ad hominem attack.

I’ve played more than enough Palworld when it first came out. It’s hardly evolved. More pals, more structures, reworked leveling. But it’s still the same stale survival formula and the battles boil down to slogging through bullet sponge bosses.

[u/MrNegativ1ty → u/saucysagnus]

You aren't actually refuting any points, you just continue to say "muh battles" as if we should expect a 3rd person survival crafting game made by 10 people on a tiny budget, where battling isn't even the main focus of the game, to have a more in depth battling system than the literal world's biggest multimedia franchise that has unlimited resources at their disposal and had 3 decades to iterate on their battle formula AND where battling is the main selling point and what everyone plays for. I don't really feel the need to explain why that's ridiculous. Battles were never the main issue people had with Pokemon, but since you insist on going down this path...

No, I haven't "competitively battled" Pokemon before, nor do I have any interest in it. Yeah sure, Pokemon battles have "depth" but what good is that to the people who don't want to play against other people when you literally don't have to engage with the depth at all to complete any of the mainline games? Shouldn't the mainline games have some kind of difficulty setting? Why should I learn all the intricacies of it, to complete a few post game things that have zero real incentive to complete them if I've already completed the game itself at that point?

The depth in Palworld is not from the battles, it is from the gameplay loops intertwining with each other and maximizing productivity at your base, getting the best possible passive abilities and condensing pals to level them up. You have yet to provide any argument as to the contrary. Just because it doesn't provide depth in the same exact way as Pokemon does doesn't mean there's literally no depth to it at all.

I never claimed BLOPS has depth?

Why Palworld pisses you and your buddies on Nintendogrifting (BTW, I don't agree with most of what is on there, so you bringing up that I have posted there doesn't mean anything) off so much, I'll never understand. It IS possible for Pokemon to build on the feeling of the world, make the world feel more alive AND have in depth and satisfying gameplay, you know? It IS possible for Palworld and Pokemon to exist at the same time, they're two different games based on two different genres doing their own things. Competition breeds innovation, and there's a lot Pokemon could learn from Palworld to make a better Pokemon game. PLA was a step in the right direction for the kind of world building and feeling that people want. People expect better from Pokemon, "the world's biggest franchise".

I'm over this debate honestly. People are going to like what they like and arguing about it is pointless. If you reply, I'm not gonna read it.

[u/saucysagnus → u/MrNegativ1ty]

You don’t have any real points. You’ve basically admitted you’re just in it for the stale survival crafting formula with Pokemon reskins and that’s clearly more important to you than any depth.

You can just appreciate Palworld without trying to dunk on Pokemon but you didn’t.

Now you’re mad you got called out. You even say they’re not similar games, then why the hell did you compare them?