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It is not the same genre and therefore not the same target audience (Story Driven Turn Based RPG vs Base Building Survival)

nrb 3y ago
It's strikingly similar to Pokémon Legends: Arceus though.
- djfdat 3y ago
  In what ways?
  - nrb 3y ago
    The similarities between them that are also a break from much of the rest of the Pokémon series are: - Open world - Player leveling (via star rank in Arceus) to progress in the game - Resource gathering and crafting - Capture monsters with or without engaging in combat (stealth is a viable strategy in both as well)
thereisnospork 3y ago
If palworld had been called 'pokeworld' and featured the canonical Pokemon instead of pals would you still argue the target audience isn't the same? What does the name of the critters really matter? Palworld is the RC cola of the game Pokemon fans have been wanting. Edit: From another angle: what is it about palworld that couldn't have been delivered by a Pokemon(tm) game had Nintendo et al not been asleep at the wheel? (Costing them, so far, hundreds of millions USD)
- ronsor 3y ago
  Re: your edit An experience not bogged down by "brand safety"
  - incrudible 3y ago
    > brand safety Exactly. What I have seen from this game seems off-putting and distasteful for a universe ostensibly designed for children. I also do not buy into the Pokemon should grow up with its audience argument. There is another generation of children growing up, after all.
    - Rebelgecko 3y ago
      The violence really isn't any more graphic than the Pokemon games or TV shows. When you knock out a Mareep/Lamball, it's eyes turn into cartoony Xs and it rolls away. I guess it's distasteful how the game doesn't sweep the slavery aspect under the rug, but that doesn't make the original IP any less problematic
- WhereIsTheTruth 3y ago
  The only reasons Palworld is popular: - Chinese developer with huge home audience You get the evidence just by looking at what language people use in the reviews: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1623730/Palworld/#app_reviews_hash https://store.steampowered.com/app/1623730/Palworld/#app_rev... - The gimmick: Pokemon with Guns - FOMO thanks to the press attention The biggest reason: - Base Building Survival game At it's root it's a survival game, that genre is nothing new and is a hit maker, just look at the popularity of games like Ark and the upcoming Ark 2 And just recently: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1326470/Sons_Of_The_Forest/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1326470/Sons_Of_The_Fores... People's hatred for Nintendo makes them loose sight, nobody will buy "Palworld" plushies or movies
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
geoelectric 3y ago
That’s a quick dismissal. If I weren’t already a Pokémon fan I wouldn’t have bothered with Palworld, because I don’t care much for Ark (the game whose loop it largely duplicates). And the fact that Game Freak can’t seem to code a mainline Pokémon game that runs well on Switch certainly did help whet my appetite. If I’d been more satisfied with Sword/Shield or Scarlet/Violet, I probably wouldn’t have jumped on this one. Unfortunately, neither runs very well—particularly Scarlet/Violet, which was dumped rough and flat out abandoned for performance patches. As the other commenter said, Palworld is not all that dissimilar to the open-world title Arceus, which is coded competently enough. But I like having more to do in my open world than just fulfilling challenge lists. If there’s story in Arceus, I peeled off out of boredom well before it presented itself. At least in Palworld I can build a base, etc. So yes, my interest absolutely had something to do with the decline in Pokémon games for this latest generation. It may surprise you to know that a) gamers cross genres on a regular basis and b) the Pokémon franchise itself is multi-genre (the card game, Snap, and Go! being big obvious examples). Genres basically just don’t matter to this equation. We’re here for the monsters.
Khalos 3y ago
Is that not sort of exactly the point? People love the concept of pokemon and monster collection, and it hasn't really evolved beyond the same RPG formula in 20 years. Nintendo has utterly failed to deliver different experiences in the franchise. There's clearly an appetite for it. I don't think different genres mean a completely different target audience. Most gamers play multiple genres, and there's a massive overlap of fans of Pokemon and fans of Palworld in particular.
- WhereIsTheTruth 3y ago
  Game Freak is the Pokemon's developer, not Nintendo
  - Khalos 3y ago
    Nintendo is the publisher and co-owner of the franchise. They have outsourced development (e.g. Bandai Namco) or licensed to other developers (e.g. Niantic) in the past, and seemingly could have done so more often.
everforward 3y ago
It's absolutely the same target audience: Pokemon fans. There's a lot of us out here that haven't played a Pokemon game since the early 2000's when we played the 3rd basically-the-same Pokemon game and gave up. Frankly, I think Pokemon's adult sales are mostly nostalgia and that the gameplay or genre matters very little. Turn-based RPGs can be a lot of fun, but Pokemon doesn't seem to have notably changed since I played it as a kid. It also exists in a world of competition; Baldur's Gate 3 and Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader are both turn-based RPG's. The Divinity series as well.
- doublerabbit 3y ago
  Ouch. That hit me. Completed Pokemon Blue only using blastoise. Played Sapphire as a rom Bought Soul Silver at an airport to play on the plane to California to see a friend. Never touched Pokemon again.
- shirogane86x 3y ago
  As someone who kept playing Pokemon (and who has casually played online matches since gen 4) the game did change... But not in good ways. The mechanics and the balance got better (even if power creep is a very real thing). In fact, going back now, early pokemon titles are, mechanically, extremely weak (especially the ones before diamond/pearl). The problem is that the single player experience is extremely lacking. The games were never hard, but as the player gained tools they became even easier. The story peaked at Black/White and then kept oscillating between forgettable and downright horrible. The performance of the games has also steadily gotten worse, and Scarlet/Violet is the worst point in the series on that front. By a mile. The problem for me, and for I assume many other players, is that it's sadly a one of a kind franchise. It's probably the one with the most content in its own sub-genre (there's very few catch-em-all type games that hold a candle to it), and it's also the only turn based rpg with a competitive scene on the market. I've probably collectively spent tens of thousands of hours on the franchise over a span of 16 years or so and unless something that can even get close to the experience pokemon gives me gets made, I'm kinda stuck.
- lsaferite 3y ago
  I've never played Pokemon, but I have played Ark and BOTW. Palworld is like a love child of multiple games that I love and does a reasonable job at them (IMHO).

nrb 3y ago

It's strikingly similar to Pokémon Legends: Arceus though.

djfdat 3y ago
In what ways?
- nrb 3y ago
  The similarities between them that are also a break from much of the rest of the Pokémon series are: - Open world - Player leveling (via star rank in Arceus) to progress in the game - Resource gathering and crafting - Capture monsters with or without engaging in combat (stealth is a viable strategy in both as well)

thereisnospork 3y ago

If palworld had been called 'pokeworld' and featured the canonical Pokemon instead of pals would you still argue the target audience isn't the same? What does the name of the critters really matter? Palworld is the RC cola of the game Pokemon fans have been wanting. Edit: From another angle: what is it about palworld that couldn't have been delivered by a Pokemon(tm) game had Nintendo et al not been asleep at the wheel? (Costing them, so far, hundreds of millions USD)

ronsor 3y ago
Re: your edit An experience not bogged down by "brand safety"
- incrudible 3y ago
  > brand safety Exactly. What I have seen from this game seems off-putting and distasteful for a universe ostensibly designed for children. I also do not buy into the Pokemon should grow up with its audience argument. There is another generation of children growing up, after all.
  - Rebelgecko 3y ago
    The violence really isn't any more graphic than the Pokemon games or TV shows. When you knock out a Mareep/Lamball, it's eyes turn into cartoony Xs and it rolls away. I guess it's distasteful how the game doesn't sweep the slavery aspect under the rug, but that doesn't make the original IP any less problematic
WhereIsTheTruth 3y ago
The only reasons Palworld is popular: - Chinese developer with huge home audience You get the evidence just by looking at what language people use in the reviews: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1623730/Palworld/#app_reviews_hash https://store.steampowered.com/app/1623730/Palworld/#app_rev... - The gimmick: Pokemon with Guns - FOMO thanks to the press attention The biggest reason: - Base Building Survival game At it's root it's a survival game, that genre is nothing new and is a hit maker, just look at the popularity of games like Ark and the upcoming Ark 2 And just recently: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1326470/Sons_Of_The_Forest/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1326470/Sons_Of_The_Fores... People's hatred for Nintendo makes them loose sight, nobody will buy "Palworld" plushies or movies

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

geoelectric 3y ago

That’s a quick dismissal. If I weren’t already a Pokémon fan I wouldn’t have bothered with Palworld, because I don’t care much for Ark (the game whose loop it largely duplicates). And the fact that Game Freak can’t seem to code a mainline Pokémon game that runs well on Switch certainly did help whet my appetite. If I’d been more satisfied with Sword/Shield or Scarlet/Violet, I probably wouldn’t have jumped on this one. Unfortunately, neither runs very well—particularly Scarlet/Violet, which was dumped rough and flat out abandoned for performance patches. As the other commenter said, Palworld is not all that dissimilar to the open-world title Arceus, which is coded competently enough. But I like having more to do in my open world than just fulfilling challenge lists. If there’s story in Arceus, I peeled off out of boredom well before it presented itself. At least in Palworld I can build a base, etc. So yes, my interest absolutely had something to do with the decline in Pokémon games for this latest generation. It may surprise you to know that a) gamers cross genres on a regular basis and b) the Pokémon franchise itself is multi-genre (the card game, Snap, and Go! being big obvious examples). Genres basically just don’t matter to this equation. We’re here for the monsters.

Khalos 3y ago

Is that not sort of exactly the point? People love the concept of pokemon and monster collection, and it hasn't really evolved beyond the same RPG formula in 20 years. Nintendo has utterly failed to deliver different experiences in the franchise. There's clearly an appetite for it. I don't think different genres mean a completely different target audience. Most gamers play multiple genres, and there's a massive overlap of fans of Pokemon and fans of Palworld in particular.

WhereIsTheTruth 3y ago
Game Freak is the Pokemon's developer, not Nintendo
- Khalos 3y ago
  Nintendo is the publisher and co-owner of the franchise. They have outsourced development (e.g. Bandai Namco) or licensed to other developers (e.g. Niantic) in the past, and seemingly could have done so more often.

everforward 3y ago

It's absolutely the same target audience: Pokemon fans. There's a lot of us out here that haven't played a Pokemon game since the early 2000's when we played the 3rd basically-the-same Pokemon game and gave up. Frankly, I think Pokemon's adult sales are mostly nostalgia and that the gameplay or genre matters very little. Turn-based RPGs can be a lot of fun, but Pokemon doesn't seem to have notably changed since I played it as a kid. It also exists in a world of competition; Baldur's Gate 3 and Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader are both turn-based RPG's. The Divinity series as well.

doublerabbit 3y ago
Ouch. That hit me. Completed Pokemon Blue only using blastoise. Played Sapphire as a rom Bought Soul Silver at an airport to play on the plane to California to see a friend. Never touched Pokemon again.
shirogane86x 3y ago
As someone who kept playing Pokemon (and who has casually played online matches since gen 4) the game did change... But not in good ways. The mechanics and the balance got better (even if power creep is a very real thing). In fact, going back now, early pokemon titles are, mechanically, extremely weak (especially the ones before diamond/pearl). The problem is that the single player experience is extremely lacking. The games were never hard, but as the player gained tools they became even easier. The story peaked at Black/White and then kept oscillating between forgettable and downright horrible. The performance of the games has also steadily gotten worse, and Scarlet/Violet is the worst point in the series on that front. By a mile. The problem for me, and for I assume many other players, is that it's sadly a one of a kind franchise. It's probably the one with the most content in its own sub-genre (there's very few catch-em-all type games that hold a candle to it), and it's also the only turn based rpg with a competitive scene on the market. I've probably collectively spent tens of thousands of hours on the franchise over a span of 16 years or so and unless something that can even get close to the experience pokemon gives me gets made, I'm kinda stuck.
lsaferite 3y ago
I've never played Pokemon, but I have played Ark and BOTW. Palworld is like a love child of multiple games that I love and does a reasonable job at them (IMHO).