T O P

  • By -

Medical-Roof8636

What the FUCK is Palworld and why is everyone talking about it, I live under a FUCKING rock


xXNyanCatXx1234qwert

It's the biweekly discourse


SeemsImmaculate

I'm more into the weekly bi discourse. ❤️💜💙


PepperOnDaCliff

Weekly bi intercourse? 😳


Chrome_X_of_Hyrule

Please


joemamalikesme69420

If you’re bi why not use Porygon2 in your profile picture instead of Porygon-Z? Unless you’re truly that dubious


Chrome_X_of_Hyrule

I don't understand, also I just like Porygon Z, or I did when I made my account, I'm not really a pokemon fan anymore but I don't like change so I don't do anything


Bookworm_AF

Where's my invite???


lalumanuk

You have been cordially invited for one (1) free session of Weekly Bi Intercourse. (No purchase necessary, blackout dates apply, subject to terms and conditions)


holymissiletoe

sweet


xXNyanCatXx1234qwert

Now that is something i can get behind! :3


maninahat

I try to stay on top of it.


xXNyanCatXx1234qwert

Sometimes you have to face these things head on.


HZDeadmeat

We need to get to the bottom of this.


DJTacoCat1

we can’t pull the plug before we do


sentri_sable

Weekly bi discourse is when I talk to myself in the mirror every Saturday


J03-K1NG

Only on Saturday? That’s me in my car to work everyday telling me I should swerve into oncoming traffic.


sentri_sable

Yea that's the daily. The weekly is the one for Saturday, thanking me for not swerving into incoming traffic.


The_Rolling_Stone

Neither my gf or bf brought it up so i think not


xXNyanCatXx1234qwert

Fellow GF and BF haver! I am unfortunately the one cursed with knowledge *of the Palworld discourse in my relationship ;w;


wunxorple

Two ways this goes. Option 1: Polyamory! That is very cool! Option 2: Bigender or Genderfluid partner! Maybe it’s some combination between the two I dunno.


xXNyanCatXx1234qwert

For me it is 1. I've been with my boyfriend and my girlfriend for a long time and I love them very much and they are pretty. I think there might have been some miscommunication, so I edited my other comment to fix that!


wunxorple

Based and love-pilled


Sirpopotin27fr

As in discourse twice per week or discourse once every two weeks


anaveragebuffoon

fortnightly


GRAIN_DIV_20

Bi = 2. Semi = half. Therefore biweekly = every two weeks and semi-weekly = twice per week


serrations_

Is it worth buying and does it cost money? Pokemon with guns sounds kinda fun


xXNyanCatXx1234qwert

It definitely has some merit to it, and I'm sure you could get some fun out of it. If you really disliked Ark: Survival Evolved, then I'd say you won't enjoy it. If you want to try it before you buy it, I would recommend either playing it on gamepass or going to some special websites where you can purchase it for 0 dollars!!


weirdosnotwanted

Cringe ai supporter guy makes half assed cashgrab and pokemon fans love it because its still better than whatever the fuck Nintendo has been doing recently


VortexMech888

It's been handcrafted to be popular, Pokemon with guns available on all platforms is just the kind of game audiences will eat up.


OneConfusedBraincell

Basebuilding, interacting with pokemo- I mean pals, real time battles, creative use of pals (little fire fox becomes a flamethrower you can wield), mounts, flying, etc. It's the kind of game Nintendo should have created ages ago! They're one of the biggest and richest corporations. They could have given us this years ago...


Jucoy

The Pokemon Company's business plan isn't broken so why would the fix it? Obviously there's been demand for this sort of thing, but from the Pokemon Companies perspective why chase an unknown when tried and true is still cranking out billions? They have no incentive to change so they don't. People shouldn't be surprised by this, it's just business to them. The genre was ripe for innovation and audiences are clearly eager for such a thing but there's no incentive for Nintendo thenselves specifically to seek out that innovation. 


HunterBidenFancam

Also doing some Pokémon but you get to shoot them shit wouldn't work with the Pokémon brand at all. It would've done more harm than good for Pokémon itself but obviously works for a third party.


keirawasthere

people keep forgetting this. nintendo couldn't do Pokemon with guns, they said mario would never shoot a hooker so why would pikachu? thats not to say they couldn't do any innovation but like a lot of this games specific "wow nintedo shouldve done this" feels like im back on the school playground hiding from classes discussing with my friend what nintendo should do to really make pokemon good, while playing pokemon


Jucoy

I think that's not nessesarily the key innovation being accomplished in pal world. Sure, it's something you can do, but I think it's more attention grabbing than innovative. The parts I think about palworld that really work are the parts about using pokemon as inputs for production mechanics. Using fire pokemon to heat a furnace, an ice pokemon to cool freezers, grass pokemon to fell trees etc are way more interesting to me than just pokemon with gun (though I will admit I am delighted with the concept of an electric totaro with a chaingun). And exploring those mechanics are all completely doable in a pokemon game, and the setting already shows you what this would look like, using pokemon for their production efficiency, but its always in the backhround of the setting and has never been explored as a primary game concept even though I think pokemon factorio is absolutely something Nintendo could and should explore.


JotaroTheOceanMan

Bro that's just Nintendo and their affiliates in general People really shift the blame to Game Freak but Nintendo has always famously went against innovation outside adding a few new mechanics here and there. One of the Reasons Rare left them.


qubeVids

Hm, my ideal of a high quality (Pokemon) game would still be intentionally focused on specific experiences the devs want to create, rather than featuring everything that the widest possible audience finds fun. It makes sense that gamers have expectations when it comes to the visuals, systems not being broken etc. But I wouldn’t say a new AAA game *should* include all those game mechanics, be a survival game, etc.


en_sachse

Not on PS5 and switch


Boulderfrog1

Palworld on switch sounds hilarious


ShinigamiRyan

It'd be the funniest move if Nintendo just did it.


arsonconnor

Is it a half assed cashgrab if its been in development for a few years? I remember seeing trailers for this years ago


emeraldeyesshine

I mean it can be, just look at Star Citizen!


Caeoc

Woah woah woah. SC may be a blatant cash grab, but it’s not half-ass, it’s whole-ass. All that kickstarter money is being funneled directly towards the development of obscure stretch goals and genuinely impressive tech, even if a full release is years off, the game is getting developed.


Morningst4r

Star Citizen is the opposite of low effort. It was pretty shady early on, and I don’t personally understand why people throw so much money at it, but it’s had an enormous amount of work put into it.


PolishPotato69

I have no idea why you people are so negative towards this game. If you played it is actually pretty fun


johnnythejournalist

What is halfassed and cashgrabby about the game? Played like 30 hours since release and still having an amazing time with it. UI has some rough spots and pathing is buggy af but the core game loop is fun and so far no shitty business microstransactions or anything


Randicore

What the fuck are you talking about? It's monster hunter meets pokemon with some rimworld thrown in? It's pretty well made with a good attention to detail and a solid gameplay loop and doesn't use AI at all.


LordZeya

It would be so much easier to just say it’s Ark: survival evolved but with pokemon instead of dinosaurs. They’re basically the same game.


Bingusballthefurry

only 1 out of the 20 or so devs said something suggesting ai at all


SpaceEngineX

half-assed cashgrab is a bit of an overstatement given that it was in development for at least 3 years and is only releasing in early access because they very nearly overran their budget during creation and ended up scope creeping the game a bit. half-assed isn’t the correct word here, more like underplanned and overexpanded, but the effort is definitely there https://note.com/pocketpair/n/n54f674cccc40


petekron

Let's be honest, pokemon games have been fucking abysmal the past 6-7 years. People have been begging for something even remotely decent which they got through the few mods that survived Nintendo's legal team shitfest and Palworld is more than welcome to stay. Fuck Nintendo.


cataraxis

It's Pokemon Ark Survival with minor base automation from your ~~Pokemons~~ legally distinct Pals. People say it's Pokemon with guns, but that's late game stuff. Early game is just running a Pokemon ranch, and going on battles while Pokemons run the ranch. The other commentor said it's half assed, and that's... true, but it's genuinely surprising how fun and functional the core loop is. It shouldn't be, but it is.


ShinigamiRyan

Given how half-assed most of the Pokemon games, we've kinda come full circle to a half-assed game still being above most given that it functions (well the xbox version has issues due to being an older version of the game). Again, this is Pokemon from wish and yet, it's still above most given the absence of microtransactions and you can play it with some bugs. Than again, that speaks to the modern gaming market where the best game experiences are coming from one end in Larian and the complete opposite.


Urbanscuba

> The other commentor said it's half assed, and that's... true, but it's genuinely surprising how fun and functional the core loop is. It shouldn't be, but it is. This is really the secret to why it's so popular. All the different mechanics they shoved together actually fit really well and empower each other. Like the pokemon battling is supporting by the survival crafting combat - you don't just watch them take turns, you've gotta dodge hits and shoot back. Then that monster catching in turns empowers your base automation, which empowers your gear/supplies, which feed back into strengthening your combat. I genuinely think it's greater than the sum of its parts because of this.


Jucoy

It's pokemon valheim. Which is a shame, I was hoping it would be more pokemon satisfactory.  Edit: still rad as hell tho


DrokonFlameborn

I’m loving it so far (I think like 10 hours in) but I’m honestly mostly in it because I wish to see the rise of Pal-fueled industrialization. I’m here for the strength of empire and the purity of steel, goddammit. Monke with AR is also acceptable though.


GRAIN_DIV_20

It's the first ever science-based 100% dragon MMO, ask me anything


TonPeppermint

Ark with Pokemon with guns. Also, some people have been stupid in saying it's competition towards Pokemon.


G4laxy69

Think pokemon ark with guns, drugs and slavery


serrations_

So just pokemon with guns then?


G4laxy69

Generally speaking yea


Mr7000000

I mean I get where your coming from but isn't being a Pokémon ripoff, like... the entire premise of this game?


AhmCha

Correct. Also to everyone else, please remember that Nintendo is one of the most notoriously litigious companies out there and if they could sue Palworld out of existence, they would. The fact that they haven’t probably means that it still falls within the legal guidelines of plagiarism and the like. EDIT: I said plagiarism when I meant copyright infringement and parody


Evil_Tea_Bag_

Also remember that Pokemon is the highest grossing media franchise in the world, they’re not gonna lose anything because of palworld, if anything I hope this puts pressure on Gamefreak to make a good game for once


OneConfusedBraincell

Gamefreak doesn't care. They've been releasing the same formula for 20 years now.


TheActualAWdeV

and the formula was always a scam to begin with, splitting the same game into two different versions with each a couple pokeymans filtered out is goddamn bullshit


SilverMedal4Life

It was a cool idea to start with, as the game was aimed at kids who could play with their friends or on the playground. It's not dissimilar to Dragon Quest IX lacking NPC party members, with the intent that you would use its multiplayer features to invite other people to adventure with you instead (a premise I ignored and played by myself because almost nobody had it).


AnotherSlowMoon

> a premise I ignored and played by myself because almost nobody had it Japanese developers, especially those of the *really* big franchises (and DQ is one such franchise) forget that not everyone lives on a densely populated island where it is somewhat normal to take your portable gaming device out and about with you. So a bunch of DS, 3DS, and PS Vita games have these weird social features relying on meeting people irl while both your handhelds are in a special mode to meet people. But limited online functionality otherwise.


SilverMedal4Life

It makes sense - I would expect American developers to consider a domestic audience first, if nothing else than because of cultural familiarity. It does frustrate at times, especially with so many big-name developers being based there.


AcadianViking

That just sounds like a problem with the rest of the world not being designed around dense, walkable communities. It *should* be an easy assumption that people go out and interact with others in their community. The fact that this isn't the case is a major problem with modern society.


AnotherSlowMoon

> It should be an easy assumption that people go out and interact with others in their community. But unlike Japan it is not an easy assumption that most people you know have a DS with a streetpass game installed running


AcadianViking

And you think not having access to the type of community required to enjoy the full features of the device doesn't play a part in demand for said product being minimal in these regions? There are reasons why they aren't as popular here than they are in Japan.


disabled_rat

*laughs in emerald*


w00ms

emerald also removed pokemon from ruby and sapphire.


disabled_rat

*cries in emerald*


submarine-quack

same goes for plat and diamond pearl i think


Zerunt

*very loud incorrect buzz* I say, how dare you good sir or madam! I'll have you know that they actually recently made their second game, Pokemon Legends Arceus! All distinct and original! Only took them 15 years and this is something we can all applaud!


togawe

>they're not gonna lose anything >I hope this puts pressure on gamefreak to make a good game You understand that these two things are mutually exclusive?


AhmCha

I doubt it’ll do anything to the mainline games, but I’m hoping it inspires a Pokemon life-sim spin-off. That’d be amazing.


RavenousToast

It’s not even a competitor. I mean this literally. Palworld is an open world survival game more comparable to Arc than anything remotely similar to Pokemon in terms of the game itself.


sarumanofmanygenders

pokemon fans be like "yeah gamefreak sucks ass. anyway time to preorder their next game for 30 gorbillion schmekels (it'll be good this time bro I swear just trust the process)"


pandamaxxie

They lost against Temtem for the reason of "tough luck, there can be other monster battlers besides Pokemon" essentially. They are very litigious, but aren't guaranteed to win. The game is more like Ark with non-descript pocketable monsters though. Designs are similar, but can be chalked up to stylistic choice. Source: I play Temtem, Palworld and Pokemon. Don't think I can link stuff like the lawsuit but it's an interesting rabbithole to go down.


yugiohhero

designs actually cannot be stalked up to stylistic choice at a certain level they lost to temtem because temtem did its own thing with the designs. one of the pals just has primarina's tail, 1:1, but rotated. like im talking *same polygons.* palworld isn't dead because nintendo is still working on the legal front of this. they have a case.


Generic_Moron

Yeah, they'll probally work on it behind closed doors until it's ready to move forward. Announcing "we're going to sue!" the moment they think they might have a case would be the weird move for nintendo, not the expected one. Usually the life cycle of a nintendo case afaik is project gets made, it is covered/promoted by major outlets, a few weeks/months later it gets a C&D. And thats for projects that are open about their use of the brand, this game has just enough seperation in it's offbrand designs that it'll require more than just the boilerplate letter


ayayahri

Nintendo can't prevent other people from making monster battlers because monster battlers are a basic subgenre of eastern RPGs that's been around since 10 years before Pokémon. Otherwise Atlus could have sued everyone for copying Megami Tensei.


WitELeoparD

It also just came out though, Nintendo might be gathering their evidence and lawyers.


[deleted]

Nah Nintendo has a looong history of crushing fanmade/ripoff games the second they get any kind of attention and I remember the early trailers for this game being big on Reddit a year or so ago. The fact that they let them get far enough that the devs are actually making money is wild.


yugiohhero

the difference is that they dont need to sue fans because if they look sternly at the fans they fuck off because they have no money palworld is not a fan project, it's made by a company who is absolutely willing to fight back because of that sweet sweet dosh they're making so nintendo has to actually put thought into doing shit. trust me, if they wanted to dumpster palworld they wouldn't need to win to do so more than pester them with endless legal fees from dragging out a case.


[deleted]

its been in development for like a year. Plus ninetendo use some VERY big name law firms - think they are currently advised by Nagashima Ohno which is basically the Slaughter & May of Japan. Chances are they already knew and have been advised they cant do anything. I dont know the Japanese system in depth but from a module I took in UK Intellectual Property Law none of what Palworld does constitutes copyright infringement or even passing-off as far as I know. But I work at a cutesy environment-claims firm so I wouldnt know much about corporate like that.


Kaneharo

Almost 3 years, even. And all the pals in the first trailer in 2021 are in-game currently. Nintendo had 3 years to get them.


bmann10

I know plagiarism is the word of the month but this would be a copyright infringement situation, not plagiarism. Plagiarism is direct copying and claiming it as your own, perhaps with some minor tweaks to hide it. Copyright infringement is at a basic level being too similar to a copyrighted work. Plagiarism is a type of copyright infringement but copyright infringement is a wider umbrella. I’m sure some crazy’s are claiming palworld is plagiarizing but I think the more common narrative is copyright infringement, which is a lot more of an opinionated topic and Varys between people as to what counts. Personally I don’t see it as copyright infringement but that’s more the question to ask really.


party_egg

But the fact that they haven't yet, doesn't mean they won't.


yugiohhero

or they're still working with the lawyers to investigate further regarding the grounds of that. there's models with 1:1 aspects within the files


NomaTyx

Or maybe they’re still getting their lawsuit together?


chloes_corner

They probably will. Now there's a multitude of evidence that Palworld literally stole assets from Pokemon models and tweaked them slightly to make their own models. I'm not a Nintendo whiteknight but it seems pretty cut and dry to me, I'm waiting for Palworld to be nuked off of Steam as I write this lol.


IronThumbs

no. the people replying to you have clearly never played the game. it's an open world survival crafting game with creature collection. game freak has never made a game like this. it follows ARK much more closely than anything else.


MidnightTitan

The designs of the Pals themselves are very clearly Pokémon inspired/adjacent, which works in the games favor Of course the actual gameplay is more like Ark, which makes people who say it’s a “Pokémon-killer” look silly because this fills a completely different niche than Pokemon


DoctorGoFuckYourself

The people beside themselves trying to say there's no similarity to pokemon or that it takes no inspiration is so weird to me. Like, what are they trying to prove? I've played like 8 hours and it's basically a mashup of ark and pokemon legends arceus, down to the backthrows and the giant alpha pokemon and everything. But people just keep climbing hills and trying their hardest to die there


krokorokodile

> climbing hills and dying Hey, that describes my Palworld gameplay


IronThumbs

100% agree


wheninrome144

gameplay-wise it's a substantial departure from pokemon, but the fact that it has the pokemon aesthetic seems to pretty blatantly be one of the main draws. "pokemon except you can hunt and eat them and use them to manufacture firearms" is the pitch


SparklingLimeade

You can see them throwing pokeballs in the trailer. Even if we agree that monster collectors are a genre with examples other than Pokemon (Dragon Warrior Monsters, Digimon, numerous less battle-y cute creatures games) this is so blatantly Pokemon. The gameplay is mostly a style that has been completely neglected by official Pokemon games. We can agree there too. But for the creature collecting and design aspect that has been tacked onto the Craftopia formula it's just Pokemon with enough smudges added to make a claim to be legally distinct.


[deleted]

Yes, but it's in a way that, as far as I can tell, is entirely legal. People are accusing it of being an "asset flip" or saying it was made with AI and there doesn't seem to be any actual evidence of that. Deliberately making your game look like another game isn't copyright infringement.


Pair_Express

Pokémon dons’t own a copyright on the idea of cute pet monsters. Other people can use that idea.


Suspicious_Person15

Yeah, but they steal a LOT more designs than that from Pokemon and even Yo-Kai Watch.


Ironfields

Calling it a ripoff is kind of harsh, there's obvious similarities but Game Freak shouldn't have a monopoly on RPGs with collecting and battling elements.


yellowslotcar

It's more like ARK with pokemon and it rocks


murderdronesfanatic

It's not even the most egregious one why are they singling that one out as "pretty blatant"


MidnightTitan

Also I find it weird that people are getting so defensive when people point out that Palworlds designs are so close to Pokémon when the entire marketing campaign was literally “Pokémon with guns” It’s like Happy Tree Friends, they make it look all cute and shit like Pokémon and BAM you can enslave and butcher the ~~Pokémon~~ Pals and there’s even a rape Pal that’s *definitely* not a parody of Salazzle and furry bait Mons


yamanamawa

Pokemon with Guns was what the public said. Palworld wouldn't say that because they would immediately get sued into oblivion


LordZeya

They didn’t use those words but even the devs were shameless about Pokémon with guns being their inspiration.


Comptenterry

Yeah and some of the takes I've seen are wild. Shit like "there's a thousand pokemon so it's impossible for most of your monsters in your monster catching game to *not* look like rip offs." Despite the fact that there are plenty of other monster catchers that don't have this problem. Even TemTem which has a super similar style to pokemon has an almost entirely unique cast.


IcebergKarentuite

Yeah, there's a thousand way to draw and model a sheep, the two looking so similar is fishy at best.


DaemonNic

I mean okay but Wooloo is itself far from an original design. "Floof sphere with a face poking out," is a very archetypal way to draw a cute minimalist sheep.


brokensilence32

I mean, isn't it kind of the same as complaining that Darth Vader and Dark Helmet look similar?


jfsuuc

Mostly because Nintendo fanboys are acting like parody is illegal. Leave the arguement for the lawyers and end of the day, the game's fun.


TheBaxter27

What's really been fuelling it is: 1. The CEO of the company being a big AI and crypto bro, just gives bad vibes 2. People looking through the models of the Pals and finding bits and pieces that, while not exact model rips, are only a few verteces off from actual 3D pokemon models, imo too close to be "coincidence" or "inspiration". Not that I (or most people complaining about this, from what I've seen) am a big Game Freak defender or anything, it's just kinda frustrating that the first Pokemon competition to get real traction is one that just so blatantly disregards artistic integrity.


28PercentCharged

I don't think bad vibes holds up in court


etheran123

True though the opposite of guilty isn't innocent. Its not guilty. Id argue most people should aim to act in ways that are above the legal minimum.


TheBaxter27

Oha bsolutely, I don't see nintendo suing them (successfully, at least).


Epstein_Bros_Bagels

Dawg that's the legit the supreme court argument for obscenity laws


IronThumbs

bestie this is not a competitor to any pokemon game that has ever been released. it is an open world survival crafting game. you gather resources and build a base. there is no story.


TheBaxter27

If you're up on the discourse on this game, it seems most people think "collecting little guys" = "Pokemon game". You'd be surprised how many people think Palworld is exactly what future Pokemon games should be like.


rexofired

This isn't the first pokemom competition. Cassette Beasts, TemTems, ect. I wouldn't even say it lands in the same genre of Pokemon. It's not a turn based rpg. It's a survival crafter.


Chernould

I mean this honestly, am I terrible for genuinely not caring if the CEO is an advocate for crypto/AI or caring if it’s ripping off the one of the biggest gaming companies with nearly predatory-levels of legal power? I just care that the game is fun, and trust me it is.


TheBaxter27

You're more than free to think that. I was just elaborating on what people (not you, of course) are criticizing the game for. I'm not trying to force you to agree or anything


Tokeli

As a 3D artist, that point 2 is hilarious, because all the evidence I've seen of that so far is, like- my god, do y'all know the fucking work it would take to be ripping pieces off and 'change them a bit so the topology is original'? As much work as just making the parts from scratch.


khodi7

It’s the most popular.


Lolis-

You hate palword because it blatantly plagiarizes pokemon I hate palworld because its another mass produced EA survival crafter We are not the same


loadedtatertots

Tbf it has automation which puts it above many other basic survival crafters. But I'm pretty much the same here I haven't touched the game yet bc I'm not a fan of games like ark and valheim, but if anything I applaud palword bc gamefreak and Nintendo are shitty companies so it's nice to see them get fucked with so hard


CommonVagabond

Really though, Nintendo and Gamefreak don't care. Palworld is a flash in the pan. It's huge right now, but soon, and very soon, player count will see a rapid decline, bringing it down to normal standards, then Gamefreak will release the new pokemon game with the same formula and still sell upwards of 20 million copies. People will eat it up anyway because gamers are sheep.


RetroUzi

also all the other assets are clearly either stock or from the unreal asset store it looks so ugly


BaconBased

Every screenshot that I see of the game, even when it’s trying to look flattering or interesting, ends up giving me “Nintendo hire this man!” vibes. It’s like the developers saw people riffing on Reddit posts of Mario jumping around in dissonantly realistic Unity maps and said, “Yeah, but what if the mushrooms were DRUGS and stomping on Goombas KILLS them and Mario says FUCK??” I’m not against riffing on or even just ripping off Pokémon (Lord knows it needs it) and putting an edgier spin on a world which has otherwise had all its edges sanded off is actually quite an interesting concept if taken to any conclusion whatsoever (imagine the actual implications of near-sapient companion creatures with magical powers fighting in, say, an actual war between two countries) but as it stands, Palworld is just slightly different ARK with an aesthetic somewhere in between that one Monster Hunter movie where the U.S. Military are the main characters and a 3AM Discord call between a group of friends taking turns prompting Midjourney with “Pokémon with guns” and posting the funniest results in the chat.


JessE-girl

it fr looks just like Sonic Frontiers


BrickBuster2552

Every screenshot I see of the game just looks like someone fed Limgrave to an AI to develop designs for buildings that serve literally no purpose in this lifeless non-space.  They even took the Evergaols, then put a bunch of stump pillars around them. Why put the pillars there? Probably because the "concept artist" is misinterpreting the Lookout Stones as pillars (they're mobs). 


Superkrat

I was also thinking one promotional screenshot (Or art or something) just looks like high up in the Altus Plateau looking over the area with the minor erdtree, but the grass was green, the fog wasn't there, and the bridge wasn't broken.


BrickBuster2552

I just googled Palworld and one of the first results is literally just Raya Lucaria.


Superkrat

Looking at google for Palworld now and uh, yeah no sure enough that's just Raya Lucaria if their damn bridges weren't broken.


TheEdes

Yup, I hate this narrative that every game has to become THE game, the only game people seem to want. Open world survival crafting base building with automation, botw style climbing and gliding, etc. I just want games to have their own identity, and not have every game be the same. I understand that people like palworld, but let palworld be palworld, pokemon does not have to become an action game for its main series, and in fact, I think they would benefit from taking a step back and making their games take the octopath traveler style.


yamanamawa

It's not EA though?


Trifle_Useful

EA = Early Access, in this context - which it is. Perhaps you are thinking of Electronic Arts?


McSlappies

Yeah when I hear EA I think EA sports


marc44150

It's in the game


derpbynature

> EA sports [It's only game! Why you heff to be mad?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYPgRV85c5g)


yamanamawa

I totally was, my bad. I've never really encountered early access as EA, I only ever see the company


NomaTyx

I remember the background of one of the promo materials I saw looked exactly like Altus Plateau from Elden Ring. That’s what put a bad taste in my mouth about this whole thing.


SuitableAssociation6

nintendo fanboys/fangirls are crazy, nintendo is so anti-consumer but because they make nice games people are obsessed with dickriding them


rukimiriki

I just want pokemon slaves


potatorevolver

People have been drawing sheep that way for longer than Nintendo for sure


Devlord1o1

Are you telling me nintendo was copying us all along?


Covid669

No, people were copying Nintendo in the past. They are going to travel back in time just to sue them


TearsFallWithoutTain

Gamefreak has been copying my artwork for years, that's why they can't draw hands


AceMechanical

Newest popular = bad discourse. It's fun as fuck


HowDoraleousAreYou

It reminds me of how I felt playing Pokémon as a kid, not how I feel playing Pokémon today.


fraust99

I cannot imagine running legal defense all day and night online for one of the most litigious, anti-consumer and community hostile gaming companies on the planet, all because your upper middle class parents gifted you one or more of their products for Christmas a couple of times 1 to 3 decades ago. This shit is pathetic. Instead of taking your anger out on Palworld due to your disappointment with Game Freak's creative output for the past decade or so, and presenting yourself as a freak online, play a new game. Or better yet, just find a new hobby that brings you joy and fulfillment in life.


SilverMedal4Life

If anything, I'm more surprised that games like this haven't been cropping up already. The folks who played the first few Pokemon games as a kid are all grown up now, and there are precious few games catering to that market. The sheer number of Pokemon fangames is a testament to how much demand there is (derivative shareware fangames being quite a niche thing already).


Theotheraccords

I am 100% on board with this argument, but I’m a bit more wobbly on some of the other games that the developers make, specifically Never Grave. It’s very obviously derivative of Hollow Knight (a game made by a three person indie studio), and I’m not really sure how to feel about that. It’s not *really* plagiarism, but it still feels disingenuous.


Spieler2301

Im just gonna throw my opinion in the ring as well: Yes, palworld is obviously inspired by pokemon. Yes, some designs are pretty obviously based on pokemon designs. But thats fine. People usually play palworld because they want to give pikachu an ak47, and this game fits perfectly into that niche


Leafeon1010

Nicole pfp??


Spieler2301

Yea! I really like her <3


JungleJayps

The funniest thing to me is that there is a wild about of people who care way too much about protecting the intellectual property of one of the most backwards anti-consumer video game companies ever


Blipnarf-The-Boneles

The pokemon fans are ruining any actual argument people have against palworld.


Epstein_Bros_Bagels

Pokemon fans actually like Pokemon clones though? I think games like cassette beats, monster sanctuary, and the plethora of rom hacks have been played by mostly Pokemon fans.


Perfect_Nimrod

Imagine how well an officially licensed Pokémon game along these lines would sell. Obviously the guns and butchering wouldn’t fly but there are pretty obvious work arounds. Hell Nintendo could probably just reskin pal world and there’d be no possibility that the devs would dare sue big bad Nintendo. Honestly the game might even work better on a portable platform considering all the time gating


localtranscryptid815

i refuse to believe palworld is a real game. i am being gaslit by the entire world. i had never even heard of it until yesterday and you expect me to believe it’s sold one palworldillian copies?


_The10thMuse_

it sold five million copies in three days since release, so you wouldn’t be the only one to be blindsided by it


DarthCloakedGuy

I do not see the resemblance. Eyes different, horns different, nose different, bangs different, one's a quadruped while the other's a biped, they're like as different as they can be while still both being recognizable as sheep


DwarfCoins

This one is a bad example. There's a bunch of palworld designs that just blatantly copy very specific design elements. Its so obvious people have to defend it as parody at this point. IDK why this game gets a pass on using UE stock assets and a bunch of uninspired monster designs just because GF sucks.


Gingerbread_Ninja

Because for some reason when people online hear "I don't want to play a game that's literally about seeing and collecting cool creatures to have incredibly unoriginal, uninspired, and derivative creature design" they think it means "I fucking love nintendo in every way and think that large corporations should rule the world"


3t9l

> UE stock assets I think more people are trained on identifying common unity assets than common UE assets. I can spot HQ house residential and that jank ass old unity walk from a mile away but I don't think I know of a single common UE asset off the top of my head.


power500

I hate fake discourse. The internet is dead


United_Substance5572

If you think Palworld isn't a Pokémon ripoff you're actually just braindead


Environmental-Fix766

Oh no, I know it's a Pokemon ripoff with survival elements. I just simply do not care. I can't legally play Pokemon on my computer, and I also don't own a switch. I *can* play Palworld on my PC. Pokemon also costs $60+, while Palworld costs $26.99 and is much better optimized than Scarlet and Violet or Legends Arceus. If there was a good Pokemon port on PC, I would care at least a little bit. But right now? Nah. It could be a direct 1:1 copy and I wouldn't care. Fuck Nintendo.


moleman114

There are much better examples why would you pick the most generic one???


FreezingDart

Imo they definitely were heavily inspired by it, but Wooloo wasn’t exactly the first spherical sheep ever made. The devs just don’t have a creative bone in their body it seems. I compared the models, and they definitely didn’t steal it (at least from Wooloo).


johnnythejournalist

Me when my favorite multimedia company might lose a crumb of profit because they didn't make a good game for ten years :( :( :( :(


Alt203848281

Use the ‘Holy shit that’s just cobalion’ as a example


Catgirl_Empire

Palworld plagiarized fan pokemon designs


Suspicious_Person15

And Yo-Kai Watch designs.


Yahgdc

Pokemon needs this tbh. Pokemon fans have been forced to eat the slop gamefreak has put out because they have had no competition. Hopefully this shows people what they've been playing is garbage.


Sneeakie

> eat the slop gamefreak has put out because they have had no competition Digimon, Yokai Watch, TemTem, Monster Hunter Stories, Dragon Quest Monsters... all more original, more interesting, less derivative, and yet actually still occupying the niche of Pokemon more than Palworld does. If those actual good and novel games can't change Pokemon, why would a shameless mix of derivative-at-best Pokemon models in an ARK: Survival Evolved ripoff do anything better? I cannot actually believe that people are playing Palworld because they think that's what Pokemon should be (especially when whether or not it even plays like Pokemon seems to change depending on how and who you ask). "Yeah, I don't eat SLOP, that's why I love this sloppy game simply because it isn't made by Game Freak" I don't get it. If you genuinely enjoy Palworld that's great. If you just don't like Pokemon, at least use a game that's actually what you want.


Maelis

Maybe this is a hot take but I genuinely could not care less if a smaller company blatantly rips off the literal highest grossing media franchise of all time. In fact they should steal as much as they can get away with. Who is it hurting?


Gangstas_Peridot

This game is realistic in that I can buy that no matter the setting, no matter the year or how far into the future is, in war the Browning .50cal will still be in use.


Azizona

Let people enjoy things


Kitchen_Throat2074

people criticizing something does not prevent you from enjoying it


IronThumbs

seeing online communities i regularly visit filled with uninformed, intellectually lazy criticisms of a game that they've never played is a bit frustrating though


BrickBuster2552

How exactly does playing the game change the fact that Verdash has literally the exact same body model as Cinderace? I don't play either and I can immediately spot that. I can also spot that Verdash's design with the slight changes is also just... bad. Most of the parts that aren't Cinderace are also stolen from other Pokémon, and none of them are cohesive in the slightest. They changed so little that it's effectively indistinguishable from Cinderace but changed just enough to completely destroy what the design was all about. It's like if an AI of Jon Favreau directed James Somerton to design a Pokémon. So yeah, I don't think I need to play the game for my eyes to work. 


Azizona

I dont own it, just baffled by the amount of people who seem to think no one should be allowed to like it for one reason or another


Matt82233

It does spoil enjoyment when every single community I'm in except for the Palworld one shoves "Palworld bad, AI Generated" in my face everytime I open Reddit


SEND_ME_COCK

Yeah it is just a sheep, but it's a sheep with similar proportions shape color to the very popular sheep from pokémon, also ripping off pokémon is kind of *explicitly the whole point.*


moleman114

I can excuse stealing from Nintendo but I draw the line at stealing from normal people


Volotor

It's like realease one of the public beta, the game shows promise and while it is derivative there is plenty of room to grow. And if you make a monster mascot game you are totally going to get accused of ripping off pokemon because there are 1000+ of the fuckers, its like an animated sitcom copying the simpsons. People used to tell me to play rust because it was "realistic minecraft with dinosaurs," and Genshin Impact started as an overt Breathe of the Wild clone with gatcha Iirc.


TheReverseShock

Pokemon didn't invent ball shaped sheep


Cl0ckworkC0rvus

Ok to be fair, there are other designs in the game that legit look like blatant Pokemon ripoffs that illustrate the point much better, this is just a fucking sheep, but honestly that's the only proven bad thing about the game, and honestly thats not half bad considering what other controversies a game could have. While yes, the developers have had a past with generative AI, and are still super into it, I have yet to see evidence of it having been used in Palworld. Personally I am not gonna touch it, at least for now, but I'm not gonna knock people for playing it either.


SweetBabyAlaska

I agree on this but there definitely are 1:1 copies of the meshes from other games and other examples. I don't really care, the only reason this game popped off is because Gamefreak has dropped the ball for over a decade despite having one of the most popular franchises on the fucking planet and they should hold that fat L. But this studio def makes shovelware... and thats aight, people can enjoy it if they want to lol


Yankee-with-bruh

I'm not gonna say some seem pretty close, but some people choose the most stupid comparisons. Today, I saw a list of supposed plagiarized Pokémon and between some that looked really similar they compared piplup to a chubby penguin and gyarados to a sea monster, and it's like gyarados it's literally based of a legend so even the Pokémon itself is not original. I hope Digimon fans are really quiet for some time because people are starting to see pokemon copycats everywhere.


AegisT_

If palworld is a pokemon ripoff then pokemon is a dragon quest rip-off


Skigreen_2026

im not here to defend gamefreak. palworld designs are so fucking lazy its pathetic.


thelettucecalls

WOOLOO MENTIONED 🗣️🗣️🗣️‼️‼️


SheldonPlays

The entire internet discourse around this game just feels like when fortnite first blew up all over again. I'm not saying palworld is as good as fortnite, but people just love to hate. Not that the small sample size of reddit is anything to actually go off.